Fair and Balanced and the short term memory of a gnat.

For your Monday morning amusement - Fox News never lies - Oh wait ...

Mark Evanier writes: The other day, Bill O'Reilly slapped a Congressman around for saying that Fox News was spreading the lie that if you don't buy health insurance, you'll go to jail. Here's an excerpt from that discussion and it's followed by...well, you can guess what it's followed by...

[Tip-O-Hat 2 News From ME]

Why Not an Open Market for Organ Transplantation?

I was having a conversation with a friend about organ transplantation. The conversation actually followed the post I link to, so this is a bit out-of-sequence. To paraphrase his question, he asks why there is not an open market for people to sell their own organs as they wish?

My short answer is, it is not ethical. Organ transplantation is a difficult decision all around, for the patient, and the doctor, and the donor (at least a live donor). There is great potential to do harm even when the intentions are good. Doctors are pretty serious about "do no harm", and for good reasons. I'm no expert ethicist, but since HIPAA anyone who works with confidential medical information goes through some basic ethics training. I've collected a few articles and a video that describe this in more detail, and also what happens when the intentions maybe be less than pure.

Ethics of organ transplantation

Sanjay Nagral

No other field of medicine has raised so many ethical, moral, legal and social issues as has organ transplantation. Many more areas for ethical debate are likely to emerge.
At present the very term transplant is likely to conjure up an image of shady and dangerous dealings in India. If we wish to improve upon the current situation, the first step is total transparency on the part of the medical profession and open, public, debate on this and related issues. Medical professionals must set ethical guidelines and take action against violators. Representatives of the common people must be included on the committees that will oversee these operations.
We must restore organ transplantation to where it really belongs - not as an example of all that is unethical and commercial but as a modern medical advance permitting one human being to make the gift of life to another.

Here are three article which discuss some of the ethical issues involved with human organ transplantation.

The Ethics of Organ Donation by Living Donors

Ethics of Organ Transplants (Why this is listed under agnosticism and atheism I do not know).


Ethics of organ transplantation, an except of which is quoted above.

Finally, here is an example of everything that transplantation should not be: A negotiable commodity available to wealthy criminals.





The rules for organ transplantation are restrictive because they need to be. I do understand the appeal of the "open market" option that my friend likes, but it opens the door to many evils as well.

Health Care and Immigration Reforms

South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson needs to chill out. So do a lot of other people.

(CNN) -- Two words, delivered with index finger punctuating the air and directed at the president of the United States, made a little-known South Carolina congressman one of the most reviled men on the Internet -- at least Wednesday heading into Thursday.

Facebook and Twitter users largely condemned Rep. Joe Wilson for his outburst toward President Obama on Wednesday night.

As soon as Rep. Joe Wilson was identified as the person whose angry and audible outburst disrupted President Barack Obama's health-care speech to Congress, condemnation was swift -- and brutal.

Wilson's response is at least impolite, but he committed another error, an error that a lot of other people are making too.

Illegal immigration is a serious issue in this country. It was a problem before the health care debate started, and will continue to be a problem when all is said and done. Conflating these two issues is an error and does nothing to solve either problem.

Here is my opinion: American consumers want low prices. American business are pushed to hire illegal immigrants in order to give the low prices that consumers demand. Illegal workers, just like any other workers, need health care. Hospitals and medical professionals are obligated to provide care for those in needs regardless of legal status.
The cost of this health care is a hidden cost and consequence of demand for lower prices. Pass all the laws and build all the fences you like, but the illegal immigration problem will not go away until the American people are willing to put up with higher prices, and I don't see that happening.

Let's stop blaming illegal immigrants for the problem: they are here because we demand they be here. The burden of health care cost for illegal immigrants is a consequence of our own selfish desire for lower prices, and we are already paying for it. Since this already costs us money, the least we can do is reform the system so that it doesn't cost us so much.

I'd like to dedicate this post to my good friend MDC, who likely disagrees with me in every way possible.

Death Panels Deflated

John Stewart's interview with Betsy McCaughey last week was eye opening, but I didn't really understand just what I was seeing until I watched the entire extended interview. In other words, "A lie can travel half way around the world in the time it takes truth to ties its shoes."

Most people don't have time to pay attention to the full story on anything - I surely don't, but if you are so inclined you can find links to all four parts of the interview below. If you are like most people and are in a hurry, maybe just skip to the last part about how Betsy McCaughey no longer has a job.

Betsy McCaughey on The Daily Show
Interview part 1 [With a Hat Tip to Greg Laden]
Interview part 2
Extended Interview part 1
Extended Interview part 2
... and the next day ...
Death panel originator Betsy McCaughey resigns in disgrace
[Image FreakingNews]

Why The Public Option Sucks

[Via The Far Left Side, where you will find much more]

Opposition to the Single Payer System

Environmental Roadie and Assistant Guitar Lawyer Sean Carman offers his views on health care reform domestic airport security. [Via The Huffington Post]

Why I Oppose the Single-Payer System
for Domestic Airport Security

Let me explain. There are any number of ways to ensure that passengers are prevented from bringing weapons or explosives onto domestic flights. Some advocate a "single-payer" system, in which a single entity, say, the United States government, becomes the sole source of funding for airport security. Under this plan, it would be the GOVERNMENT that organizes the provision of security services at all American airports.

That's right. GOVERNMENT employees would write the regulations dictating what items can be brought into the cabins of passenger aircraft. GOVERNMENT employees would operate the security checkpoints at America's airports. When someone walked through airport security, the person watching the metal detector to see if it registered an alarm to indicate the presence of metal in that person's pants would be a GOVERNMENT employee.

As you might begin to see, Sean isn't really talking about airport security at all. Go see what he is up to at The Huffington Post.

More Health Care Reform Thoughts

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

I had another thought, or maybe non-thought, on health care reform. See them at Nothing's Simple.

Sense on Health Care Reform

In the spirit of Mark Clifton's essay, I give you the Daily Show Panel on Health Care Reform:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Healther Skelter - Obama Death Panel Debate
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

And there must be reform. Our current system, for all that it does well, is not sustainable, and is increasingly motivated by corporate profit. Among other things, the insurance industry has created a self-interested bureaucracy that is growing like a cancer.

Perhaps a disclaimer is in order: I an employed by a medical school, and arguably benefit when the health care industry make a good profit.

[Update]
My son asked me my opinion on health care reform after watching that Daily Show episode. And in explaining my views to him it occurred to me that medicine has a well established code of ethics, the first of which is "Do No Harm." Insurance coverage is increasing becoming a key part of health care, but the insurance industry is not bound by the same code of ethics. I think a successful reform should mandate that insurance companies operate within similar ethical guidelines.

[update: typo ... grrr]