Officials in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/netherlands" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netherlands</a> are expanding the availability of &#8220;life termination&#8221; for children between one and twelve years of age.
The <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/europe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">European</a> nation will soon permit doctors to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/euthanasia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">euthanize</a> children deemed to have conditions which will lead to “hopeless and unbearable suffering,” according to an <a href="https://www-rijksoverheid-nl.translate.goog/actueel/nieuws/2023/04/14/kabinet-werkt-aan-regeling-levensbeeindiging-voor-kinderen-tot-12-jaar-die-ondraaglijk-en-uitzichtloos-lijden?_x_tr_sl=auto&amp;_x_tr_tl=en&amp;_x_tr_hl=en&amp;_x_tr_pto=wapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a> from the Dutch government released earlier this month. Officials claimed that the new policy only concerns “a small group of terminally ill children” whose “palliative care options are not sufficient to relieve their suffering and who are expected to die in the foreseeable future.”
“This is a very complex subject that deals with very harrowing situations. Situations you wouldn&#8217;t wish on anyone,” Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said in the announcement. “I am pleased that, after intensive consultation with all parties involved, we have come to a solution with which we can help these terminally ill children, their parents and also their practitioners.”
The new policy also seeks to loosen requirements for physicians who attempt to euthanize children since they already “feel reluctance to perform late termination of pregnancy or termination of life in newborns.”
The government formerly required doctors to demonstrate before a committee that the administration of assisted suicide occurred with “due care,” after which the committee sent the assessment to the Public Prosecution Service, where officials would decide whether to initiate a criminal investigation. Officials will now consolidate the committee process and forward the case to the Public Prosecution Service without medical files, meaning that the agency must base any criminal investigation “exclusively on the judgment of the assessment committee.”
Physicians must therefore &#8220;come to the conviction that termination of life is the only reasonable alternative to remove the child&#8217;s hopeless and unbearable suffering&#8221; based upon &#8220;prevailing medical opinion.&#8221;
The announcement from the Dutch government did not specify what role parents of the children play in determining whether euthanasia will be administered. Current law <a href="https://www.government.nl/topics/euthanasia/euthanasia-assisted-suicide-and-non-resuscitation-on-request" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allows</a> children to request euthanasia from the age of twelve, even as parental consent is mandatory until the age of sixteen.
Legislative allowances for assisted suicide, sometimes called medical assistance in dying and abbreviated as MAID, has quickly expanded within Western nations. Canada, for instance, considered <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/canada-moves-toward-assisted-suicide-for-minors-critics-erupt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amendments</a> to the nation’s criminal code last year that would increase the availability of the practice such that a citizen with only a “mental illness” can now request euthanasia, whereas the practice was previously limited to people with serious physical illnesses or disabilities. “You do not need to have a fatal or terminal condition to be eligible for medical assistance in dying,” according to a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/medical-assistance-dying.html#a2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">webpage</a> published by the Canadian government.
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Although the new <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-33.html#h-119953" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> does not explicitly allow minors to pursue assisted suicide, the Canadian government <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/article12/p3a.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that “children’s decision-making about health care issues occurs within a complicated legal framework.” The doctrine of the “mature minor,” for example, “allows children who are sufficiently mature to make their own treatment decisions.” Statutes related to parental consent and mature minor status vary between provinces.
Critics of assisted suicide <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/holds-autonomy-as-the-highest-virtue-christian-physician-reacts-as-canada-erodes-limits-on-assisted-suicide-for-teens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">note</a> that governments with socialized medicine have clear incentives to promote the practice rather than funding treatment for certain patients, thereby ignoring the innate value of human beings and their fundamental right to life.
Death with Dignity, an organization which pushes for expanded assisted suicide in the United States, <a href="https://deathwithdignity.org/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claims</a> that the practice ensures “people with terminal illness can decide for themselves what a good death means in accordance with their values and beliefs.” Authorities in the state of Oregon, which ranks among the most liberal with respect to assisted suicide laws but does not permit minors to be euthanized, said in a <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Documents/year25.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> that 431 people received lethal doses of medication prescribed by physicians last year.

Stylish Scandinavian newborn baby nursery with natural wooden baby cot and handmade mobile hanging over it

Dutch Government Makes ‘Life Termination’ Available For Children As Young As One Year Old

Dutch Government Makes Assisted Suicide Available For Children Between 1 And 12

Europe

Euthanasia

Netherlands

Social Issues

Socialized Medicine

World

A <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/canada-offered-assisted-suicide-paralympian-veteran-wanted-wheelchair-lift-installed-report?intcmp=tw_pols" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disabled veteran</a> requested a wheelchair ramp for her home, and someone in Canada&#8217;s Veterans Affairs department reportedly responded to her request by offering to send her a kit that would help her to end her own life.
Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old retired corporal who is paraplegic, testified before Parliament last week, and she told the House of Commons veterans affairs committee that a caseworker had offered in writing to send her a Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) kit.
Gauthier, who participated in 2016&#8217;s Invictus Games (started by Britain&#8217;s ex-pat <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/prince-harry-takes-a-thrashing-over-un-speech-slamming-the-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prince Harry</a>) as well as the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, said that it had all started when she made a request five years earlier to have a wheelchair ramp installed at her home.
&#8220;With respect to me, I have a letter in my file, because I had to face that as well,&#8221; Gauthier said. &#8220;I have a letter saying that if you&#8217;re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying.&#8221;
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The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/christine-gauthier-assisted-death-macaulay-1.6671721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paralympian</a>, who first injured her back in 1989 during a training exercise, said that she was so concerned about the response that she sent a letter to Prime Minister <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/a-haircut-with-an-ego-dagen-mcdowell-unloads-on-wanna-be-emperor-justin-trudeau/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justin Trudeau</a>: &#8220;I sent a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and that they [Veterans Affairs] offered me MAID and would supply equipment.&#8221;
Trudeau called the alleged response &#8220;absolutely unacceptable&#8221; and added, &#8220;We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying.&#8221;
According to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-maid-rcmp-investigation-1.6663885" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple reports</a>, Gauthier was not the only veteran to receive such a response from Veterans Affairs Canada. In fact, Veterans Minister Lawrence MacAulay said that one such report a year ago had prompted a lengthy investigation — and at least four veterans said someone from the VA had offered them MAID. All four cases, MacAulay said, were tied to the same employee.
&#8220;We expect all Veterans Affairs candidate employees to interact with veterans with care, compassion and respect and the actions of this one employee is simply disgusting. And I condemn this behavior in the strongest terms,&#8221; MacAulay said, adding, &#8220;We remain confident that this is all related to one single employee, and it&#8217;s not a widespread or a systemic issue.&#8221;

Invictus Games

Disabled Veteran And Paralympian Asked For A Wheelchair Ramp — Canada’s VA Offered To Help Her Commit Suicide Instead

Disabled Veteran And Paralympian Asked For A Wheelchair Ramp — Canada's VA Offered To Help Her Commit Suicide

Canada

Justin Trudeau

Suicide

Perhaps no nation has respected its citizens’ freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic more than Sweden. While Australia quarantines close contacts who test negative for the virus in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/viral-tyranny-the-worlds-most-oppressive-covid-19-policies">fenced camps</a> and Austria prepares to <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/austrias-vaccination-mandate-to-apply-from-february-1/">mandate vaccination</a> for all adults on February 1, Sweden has spent two years informing its citizens on best practices — and respecting them to observe them. Throughout Sweden, schools have remained open, public health police have been absent from public life, and masks are virtually nowhere to be found. Supporters held Sweden up as a model for enlightened statesmanship; opponents worried the policy would turn the nation into a Scandinavian slaughterhouse. How have those measures fared compared to other nations?
How did Sweden respond to COVID-19?
At the outset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Sweden&#8217;s top health official, state epidemiologist Dr. Anders Tegnell, encouraged citizens to wash their hands regularly, observe social distancing, and limit contact with other people. Those who could worked from home. But Swedish police handed out virtually no citations to anyone caught violating his stipulations; Sweden trusted its citizens to do what is in their best interests.
Given the limited threat posed to schoolchildren, Sweden’s schools remained open for students through age 16. Secondary schools and universities switched to remote learning — but by June 15, 2020 the government <a href="https://www.government.se/articles/2020/06/minister-for-education-on-the-swedish-decision-to-not-close-down-schools/">announced</a> &#8220;that upper secondary schools can return to regular instruction on the school premises.&#8221;
Not only did the government not mandate that people wear face masks, but some cities <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/951949/why-swedish-towns-banning-face-masks-slow-vaccine-rollout">temporarily banned</a> the use of masks and PPE. While its neighbors had temporary government lockdowns, Sweden never closed down businesses or public life.
Tegnell and other state authorities crafted the policies with the foresight that politicians could not legislate the COVID-19 pandemic out of existence in 15 days. “We will have the virus in our societies — nationally, globally — for many years. How are we going to live our lives for such a long time — and not just surviving, but living?” Sweden’s Health Minister, Lena Hallengren, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xLjSMuROgk">told </a>France 24 news. “I think that has been very crucial for the authorities.”
Some cite the fact that on January 12 the government <a href="https://www.government.se/articles/2022/01/stricter-infection-control-measures-to-be-introduced-on-12-january-2022/">reduced</a> the number of people allowed to attend private gatherings from 50 to 20 as proof that the Swedish approach failed. What do the data say?
What were the results?
All in all, Sweden’s COVID-19 results remain <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/so-was-sweden-a-covid-success-or-failure/2021/10/14/fe2747f6-2cb8-11ec-b17d-985c186de338_story.html">firmly in the middle</a> of the global pandemic, without many of the harms caused by overly zealous attempts to lock up Americans, of all ages and health statuses, in their homes.
Voluntarily compliance: Even without the threat of <a href="https://www.libertarianism.org/topics/coercion">government force and coercion</a>, Swedes <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53498133">voluntarily reduced</a> their social interactions by <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/510922-the-problem-with-holding-up-sweden-as-an-example">70%</a>, according to Tegnell. Trusting citizens to govern themselves worked especially well in Sweden, a <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/trust">high-trust society</a> that values <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/05/sweden-and-the-world-historical-power-of-conformity/">conformity</a> of action.
Economy: Sweden’s economy contracted by <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG">2.9%</a> in 2020, less than half the rate of decline suffered by the European Union as a whole (6.0%) or the United Kingdom, and less than the U.S.
Children’s health: “Closure or not of schools has had little if any impact on the number of laboratory confirmed cases in school aged children in Finland and Sweden,” <a href="https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/publicerat-material/publikationsarkiv/c/covid-19-in-schoolchildren/">found</a> a <a href="https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/contentassets/c1b78bffbfde4a7899eb0d8ffdb57b09/covid-19-school-aged-children.pdf">study</a> from Sweden’s Public Health Agency of Sweden (the Folkhälsomyndigheten, or FoHM) in July 2020 — an assessment that held steady.
“Despite Sweden’s having kept schools and preschools open, we found a low incidence of severe Covid-19 among schoolchildren and children of preschool age during” the first year of the pandemic in 2020, a group of Swedish scientists <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2026670">wrote</a> to the New England Journal of Medicine. “Among the 1.95 million children who were 1 to 16 years of age, 15 children had Covid-19, [Multisystem inflammatory syndrome], or both conditions and were admitted to an ICU, which is equal to 1 child in 130,000.”
That amounts to 0.0000077% of Sweden’s children. There have also been <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107913/number-of-coronavirus-deaths-in-sweden-by-age-groups/">15 deaths</a> of children under the age of 20 (birth through 19), as of January 10, 2022.
Death rate: Sweden’s current <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality">COVID-19 death rate</a> (151.91 per 100,000) is worse than Germany (139.92) but better than countries with much harsher lockdown policies, including the United States (261.32), Italy (235.84), the UK (229.49), and France (191.83).
Sweden’s COVID-19 death toll actually <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9855651/Mask-free-Sweden-close-ZERO-daily-Covid-deaths.html">fell to statistical zero</a> (less than one death on average for two weeks) from mid-July to early August. The United States had 329 deaths a day during the same period; the UK averaged 74 deaths a day.
Mental health: Unlike the United States, where attempted suicides among teenage girls <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/11/suicide-attempts-among-young-girls-surge-by-more-than-50percent-during-pandemic-cdc-says-.html">rose 51%</a> during the pandemic, Sweden’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/529034/sweden-suicide-rate/">suicide rate</a> remained essentially unchanged.
Social cohesion: Swedes seem happier with their COVID-19 regimen than citizens of other nations, such as the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-thousands-protest-against-covid-measures/a-60270076">thousands of Germans</a> who closed out 2021 by protesting in the streets against the latest <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/omicron-germany-to-limit-private-gatherings-after-christmas/a-60206476">tightening</a> of public health restrictions. Swedes have <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/hundreds-gather-illegal-covid-19-182558692.html">mostly</a> eschewed the kinds of anti-lockdown protests have taken place everywhere from <a href="https://yle.fi/news/3-12106388">Finland</a>, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/protest-in-netherlands-against-coronavirus-measures/ar-AASPLj7">the Netherlands</a>, and <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/568843-hundreds-arrested-in-anti-lockdown-protests-in-australia">Australia</a> to the <a href="https://www.fox43.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/anti-covid-vaccine-march-dc-sunday-robert-f-kennedy-jr/65-a322944c-851a-4f81-a7a3-07457f360621">United States</a>.
Health care rationing claimed many Swedish lives — especially the elderly
The story of Sweden’s success has a horrifying component: Its national health care system rationed care, denying treatment to the elderly and overweight — the very people most vulnerable to dying from COVID-19.
Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52704836">instructed</a> hospitals to “professionally weigh the potential benefits” of providing care to patients. In practice, emergency rooms denied admission to elderly patients, sometimes <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52704836">as young as 65</a>, or to anyone who had a Body-Mass Index over 40. Stuck in nursing homes, elderly patients received <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-is-taking-a-high-toll-on-swedens-elderly-families-blame-the-government-11592479430">palliative care and morphine injections</a> instead of potentially lifesaving oxygen and intravenous nutrition/hydration treatments.
In order to spare the nationalized health care system, Sweden’s nursing homes drugged the elderly and let them suffocate to death.
Juliana Jihem is one of the people who <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200916-they-sacrificed-the-elderly-how-covid-19-spread-in-sweden-s-care-homes">blew the whistle</a> when her 72-year-old uncle, Moses Ntanda, died in a nursing home. “I felt that they sacrificed the elderly, and it’s very wrong, ‘cause I think that you should give everyone a chance to survive,” she told France 24.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="‘They sacrificed the elderly’: How Covid-19 spread in Sweden’s care homes" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AAlE6M8pZ2I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;We did not manage to protect the most vulnerable people, the most elderly, despite our best intentions,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52704836">admitted</a> then-Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.
“Swedes pay some of the highest taxes on earth in exchange for extensive government services, including state-furnished health care,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/world/a-wave-of-death-in-swedens-nursing-homes-has-exposed-holes-in-a-famously-generous-safety-net.html">reported</a> The New York Times. Yet when those services were most needed, the government guidelines led care to be withheld and damned its elderly citizens to an excruciating death.
No nation with that on its conscience can call its approach a complete success.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Readers-Pass—Johnson—What-Happened-To-The-Country-That-Refused-COVID-Lockdowns

What Happened After Sweden Took A Hands-Off Approach To COVID-19?

COVID-19

Mask Mandate

Readers Pass

Sweden

Vaccine Mandate

A new report claims that America’s healthcare system ranks last out of 11 wealthy nations, all of which have more government control than the U.S. model. But is this true? Here are the facts.
What does the media say?
The Washington Post’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/05/global-health-rankings/">coverage</a> proved typical: “U.S. health-care system ranks last among 11 high-income countries, researchers say.”
<ul>
<li>Numerous other news outlets — including  <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/566715-stunning-new-report-ranks-us-dead-last-in-healthcare">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=newssearch&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj4ubThs6zyAhWSZ80KHfVrB0oQxfQBMAN6BAgIEAM&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usnews.com%2Fnews%2Fbest-countries%2Farticles%2F2021-08-09%2Fus-ranks-last-among-11-wealthy-nations-for-health-care-study-says&amp;usg=AOvVaw0pUM4QmFRR2SptUyUuspE6">U.S. News &amp; World Report</a>, and <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-trails-behind-other-countries-in-health-care-145243663.html">Yahoo! Finance</a> — carried similar headlines. The report’s dour talking points were reported by websites spanned the gamut from the left-wing U.K. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/05/us-healthcare-system-ranks-last-11-wealthiest-countries">Guardian</a> to the conservative outlet the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/06/us-healthcare-system-ranked-last-commonwealth-fund/">Daily Caller</a>.</li>
<li>Their stories are based on the latest Commonwealth Fund <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/Schneider_Mirror_Mirror_2021.pdf">report</a>, which measures healthcare in 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.</li>
<li>Some U.S. news outlets explicitly claimed the U.S. would do better to adopt a national healthcare system, like the U.K. or Canada. “Unlike other countries surveyed, the United States does not have universal health coverage,” The Washington Post pointed out. “The high performers stand apart from the United States in providing universal coverage and removing cost barriers … and investing in social services.”</li>
</ul>
What does the report say, and is it reliable?
The Commonwealth Fund report — “Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly: Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-Income Countries” — did, indeed, rank the U.S. last. But its rating rests on a number of questionable factors:
<ul>
<li>Part of the issue is the built-in bias of the Commonwealth Fund report. “The survey is designed so that single-payer systems are strongly favoured,” explained <a href="https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/staff-directory/philip-booth">Philip Booth</a>, a professor of finance in the UK and a senior fellow at the free-market <a href="https://iea.org.uk/">Institute of Economic Affairs</a>. “One question asks whether patients have ever had disputes with their insurers. If the system is nationalised with no insurers, this simply will not happen.” Booth said that previous reports have asked whether patients make co-payments at the point of service; but in national healthcare systems, patients pay via taxation before (or, too often, instead of) receiving medical treatment.</li>
<li>This year’s report measures “equity,” which “focuses on income-related disparities” and “divergent” outcomes. “The U.S. consistently demonstrated the largest disparities between income groups,” the report states.  But “divergent” outcomes do <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdR7WW3XR9c">not necessarily imply bad outcomes</a>.</li>
<li>Part of the problem comes from comparing apples to oranges. For instance, the U.S. ranks poorly on infant mortality — but that’s because other nations lower their numbers by not counting some children as having being born. “Is a baby born weighing less than a pound and after only 21 weeks&#8217; gestation actually ‘born?’ In some countries, the answer is no, and those births would be counted as stillbirths” instead of infant mortalities, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161013103132.htm">according</a> to Texas A&amp;M University. “These premature births are the biggest factor in explaining the United States&#8217; high infant mortality rate.”</li>
<li>Part of the problem is the high U.S. rate of violent crime and automobile accidents (which is linked to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-17/a-pew-survey-charts-global-car-motorcycle-and-bike-ownership">high U.S. car ownership</a> and <a href="https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/natgeo-surveys-countries%E2%80%99-transit-use-guess-who-comes-last/9081/">low use</a> of public transportation). “As<a href="https://www.commentary.org/abe-greenwald/the-worst-study-ever/"> Scott Atlas</a> noted in 2011, the U.S. ranked 19th globally in life expectancy, but #1 when all variables except fatal injuries are adjusted for. Even adjusting only for differences in car fatalities and homicide, the U.S. ranked #1 in life expectancy,” <a href="https://bongino.com/media-pushes-deeply-flawed-study-claiming-u-s-has-worst-healthcare-system/">wrote</a> Matt Palumbo.</li>
</ul>
How does U.S. healthcare compare to other nations?
While the U.S. healthcare system faces real challenges, it has demonstrably better outcomes than some of the nations rated higher by the report.
<ul>
<li>U.S. patients spend less time waiting to see a specialist, giving their underlying conditions less time to metastasize. In 2016, 27% of Americans had to wait a month or more to <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/242e3c8c-en/1/3/2/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/242e3c8c-en&amp;_csp_=e90031be7ce6b03025f09a0c506286b0&amp;itemIGO=oecd&amp;itemContentType=book#figure-d1e391">see a specialist</a>; it was 39% in Australia, 52% in Sweden, and 61% in Canada and Norway.</li>
<li>The U.S. system has better outcomes on cancer than the British system. “In the UK there may be up to 15,000 avoidable deaths from cancer every year in people over the age of 75 years,” <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61214-9/fulltext">reported</a> The Lancet in July 2019. “[B]etween 2003 and 2005, cancer mortality rates in the UK were … 31% higher than in the USA among people over the age of 85 years.”</li>
<li>In 2017, the British Red Cross said the UK’s National Health Service had created a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/08/theresa-may-denies-humanitarian-crisis-in-britains-nhs">humanitarian crisis</a>” thanks to long waits, overcrowded facilities, and understaffed offices.</li>
<li>Americans spend much less time waiting in the emergency room than other nations.</li>
<li>In the pre-pandemic U.S., 74% of patients spent less than an hour waiting in the emergency room for treatment, and 44% of Americans waited less than 15 minutes, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhamcs/web_tables/2018-ed-web-tables-508.pdf">according</a> to the CDC. At the same time, Canadians waited <a href="https://ipolitics.ca/2019/11/28/emergency-department-wait-times-on-the-rise-in-canada-cihi-data/">3.2 hours</a>, and the UK has not met its goal of having 95% of patients admitted within <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50397856">four hours</a> in years. More than 5,000 British patients had to wait more than an hour <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/nhs-winter-crisis-thousands-of-ambulance-delays-11203206">inside the ambulance</a> before being taken inside the emergency room.</li>
<li>“In all 5,449 people have lost their lives since 2016 as a direct result of waiting anywhere between six hours and 11 hours” in UK accident and emergency (A&amp;E) departments, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/10/thousands-of-patients-die-waiting-for-beds-in-hospitals-study">reported</a> the Guardian.</li>
<li>The average wait for a knee replacement is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8090168/">twice as long</a> in Canada as in the U.S.</li>
</ul>
What about healthcare rationing?
Critics of the U.S. healthcare system often accuse it of “rationing,” as insurance companies decline to pay for certain treatments. For instance, the Commonwealth Fund report scored the U.S. worst for the number of people who said that their “[i]nsurance denied payment for medical care or did not pay as much as expected.”
While high deductibles (which have <a href="https://www.aei.org/articles/the-aca-trillions-yes-a-revolution-no/">more than doubled</a> since the passage of the Affordable Care Act) and reduced benefits cause headaches of their own, they do not compare to genuine rationing. National healthcare systems can deny treatment outright:
<ul>
<li>The NHS denied care to infants Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans, and it fought a legal battle to prevent their parents from taking them to other healthcare providers who offered their services free of charge.</li>
<li>The NHS denied treatment to cancer victims like <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/623203/Two-year-old-suffering-from-cancer-forced-to-fly-to-US-for-treatment-NHS-refused-to-give">Alexander Vinson</a>, age 2, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-49496837">Charlie Ilsey</a>, age 12, who sought treatment elsewhere.</li>
<li>If the government does not forbid them, families with the means may travel abroad for treatment (often <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/saved-socialism-us-saves-baby-oliver-after-uk-amanda-prestigiacomo">to the U.S.</a>), while poor families wait at home to die. (Talk about “disparities” and “inequities.”)</li>
<li>An investigation by London’s Sunday Times <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-how-elderly-paid-price-of-protecting-nhs-from-covid-19-7n62kkbtb?region=global">found</a> that the NHS kept COVID-19 hospital admissions artificially low by withholding treatment from the elderly based on an “age-based frailty score.” The NHS contests this allegation.</li>
</ul>
This denial of treatment inherent in any socialized medicine system may explain why the U.S. rated highest in the report for the number of chronically ill patients who “discussed with [a] health professional their main goals and priorities in caring for their condition,” as well as their “treatment options,” over the past year.
What’s the verdict?
The U.S. does not have the worst healthcare system of the developed world. The Commonwealth Fund report “lacks context” by skewing its results toward nations that embrace national healthcare systems.
Of course, this is not to say that America’s increasingly government-dominated healthcare sector is without its share of challenges. The U.S. has a very real problem with <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-us-is-the-most-obese-nation-in-the-world-just-ahead-of-mexico-2017-05-19">obesity</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190221083419.htm">addiction</a>, and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-02-07/global-suicide-rate-declines-while-us-rate-rises-study-finds">suicide</a>. But America can best focus on its real healthcare challenges without biased media coverage urging us to adopt socialized healthcare schemes that will only worsen Americans’ health.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Neuron system extending into long hair

Fact Checking The Media: No, The U.S. Does Not Rank ‘Dead Last’ On Healthcare

Fact Check

Health Care

Parents are fighting to keep their two-year-old daughter alive after a United Kingdom judge <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-57276221">ruled</a> in May against the family, stating it&#8217;s in the girl&#8217;s &#8220;best interests&#8221; to allow the hospital to remove her life support.
The parents of Alta Fixsler, 2, contend that their Jewish faith bars them from allowing the hospital to remove their baby from life support and that they are trying to have Alta relocated to a hospital in Israel or the U.S. at no charge to the government-run National Health Service (NHS).
“There is no reason to kill my daughter like this,” the baby&#8217;s American father Abraham Fixsler <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/07/17/parents-fight-uk-court-demanding-they-take-daughter-off-life-support/">told</a> the New York Post.
The Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/why-we-should-everything-to-save-2-year-old-alta-fixsler-comment-674242">reported</a> on the case, Sunday:
<blockquote>Alta Fixsler is a two-year-old girl who was born prematurely and sustained a severe brain injury. She and her parents are Israeli citizens and hassidic Jews. The hospital decided that Alta was “experiencing pain” and has no quality of life and therefore petitioned the British High Court for permission to remove her life support. Numerous pediatric neurologists contest the hospital’s position and insist that Alta does not feel pain. Still, the court gave the hospital the unilateral decision-making power over the girl’s life.
Motivated by the Jewish outlook on the unconditional worthiness of every human life, Alta’s parents have made every effort to save her life and vigorously oppose the hospital’s intentions. Removing life support is prohibited by Alta’s Jewish religion, and is against Israeli Law.</blockquote>
Hospitals in Israel and the U.S. have offered to take Alta into their care, the report noted. United Hatzalah Air, too, has offered to fly the baby to any destination needed without charge.
&#8220;The life-saving effort would not cost the UK National Health Service a penny, yet in scenario that can only be described as Kafkaesque, the doctors in the UK are not willing to release the child to the parents’ family, determined to kill the child instead,&#8221; The Jerusalem Post argued. &#8220;The entreaties of <a style="font-style: italic;" href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/rivlin-pleas-with-prince-charles-to-bring-child-on-life-support-to-israel-670495">dozens of politicians</a>, hundreds of clergymen, and numerous human rights activists from around the globe have fallen on deaf ears.&#8221;
“There are a lot of places around the world where I can take care of my daughter and they would be happy to take care of her long term,” 28-year-old Fixsler said. “Let me go. That’s all I am saying.&#8221;
“The doctors don’t think she has quality of life. But I think she has quality of life,&#8221; the father argued. “This is something very, very painful.”
Family spokesman Yossi Gestetner told the New York Post, “Our value of life is built into our religious upbringing. Orthodox Judaism encourages the continuation of life until all means are exhausted.&#8221;
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-NY) is reportedly pushing to get the family to the U.S. for care. “My heart breaks for the Fixsler family,” he said to the New York Post, adding that Alta&#8217;s &#8220;father is an American citizen and we are going to keep fighting until she is allowed to come. Her life is at stake and she is a beautiful 2-year-old little girl.&#8221;
According to the New York Post, the Fixsler family &#8220;is currently awaiting a hearing to determine if England’s highest court will hear their case. No date for the hearing has been set.&#8221;

Mama hand and baby hand

U.K. Court Rules Baby Can Be Taken Off Life Support Against Parents’ Wishes, Parents Continue To Fight

United Kingdom

Speaking at CPAC on Thursday on a panel discussion called “Prescription for Failure: The Ills of Socialized Medicine,” an orthopedic surgeon ripped socialized medicine, stating that Great Britain’s Princess Diana would still be alive today if she had not been in a country with socialized medicine when her car crashed.
As <a href="https://pjmedia.com/trending/cpac-panel-destroys-socialized-medicine-warns-all-dems-want-it-for-america/">PJ Media</a> reports, Dr. David Schneider, an orthopedic surgeon from Colorado, referenced Congressman Steve Scalise, who introduced the panel. Scalise was critically wounded in June 2017 when he was shot by left-wing activist James Hodgkinson, resulting in Scalise going into shock before he was taken to Med Star Washington Hospital, where he underwent immediate surgery.
Schneider opined that under socialized medicine, wait times for care “are disastrous.” PJ Media noted, “In Canada, the wait time to see a specialist is two years, and then another two years to get the procedure.”
Schneider stated, “People in this country would go crazy if you were told you had to wait four months … Princess Diana was in the car accident in France. They actually don’t have any trauma specialists in France. For the first hour after that accident, she was still in that tunnel. And after an hour, they took her to a nearby hospital and she was alive for another three hours and they couldn’t control the bleeding from her pulmonary artery.”
He added, “There were no trauma-trained people there … I really believe, knowing what I know about her care and comparing it to what Congressman Scalise had, Princess Diana would have lived had that accident happened here in America.”
Peter Pitts of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, who acted as moderator, noted, “Price controls equal choice controls. Socialized medicine stifles competition, stifles innovations,” pointing out two vaccines are being developed for the coronavirus in the U.S.
Princess Diana, after her divorce from Great Britain’s Prince Charles, started a relationship with Dodi Al-Fayed, best known for producing the Oscar-winning film “Chariots of Fire. “
Before the fatal crash on  August 31, 1997, Diana and Al-Fayed were headed to Al-Fayed’s Paris apartment with French driver Henri Paul and one of the Princess’ bodyguards, Trevor Rees-Jones, in a Mercedes S-280 limousine. Though they were traveling through the boulevards and narrow streets of central Paris, investigators later surmised they might have been traveling over 60 miles per hour in an attempt to escape paparazzi, who had been harassing them.
<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/princess-dianas-death">History.com</a> detailed what happened next: “At 12:19 a.m., the Mercedes carrying the couple, Paul and Rees-Jones, crashed into the 13th pillar of the Pont d’Alma Bridge, which traverses the River Seine. They were less than two miles from the Ritz Hotel. Al-Fayed and Paul died at the scene. Diana was taken to Paris’ La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital, but several hours later, at 4 a.m., she died as a result of injuries she sustained in the crash, including a severed pulmonary vein. She was 36 years old.”
History.com noted, “An estimated one million people lined the funeral route from her London home in Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey, where her funeral was held.”
&nbsp;

Diana At Highgrove

Orthopedic Surgeon: Princess Diana Would Have Lived If It Weren’t For Socialized Medicine

Princess Diana