More Reasons Why We Do Not Want Socialized Medicine

My son was born in December of 2008. We had the plans made long beforehand. And since it was to be an induced labor, we already had the hospital, staff and emergency contingencies all lined up before we even left home that morning. For us, it was no more difficult than planning a vacation.

When I contrast that experience with what I read in the following news story, I thank God that my family and I live in America and not Great Britain.

From Jenny Hope and Nick McDermott of the UK Daily Mail:

Thousands of women are having to give birth outside maternity wards because of a lack of midwives and hospital beds. The lives of mothers and babies are being put at risk as births in locations ranging from lifts to toilets - even a caravan - went up 15 per cent last year to almost 4,000. Health chiefs admit a lack of maternity beds is partly to blame for the crisis, with hundreds of women in labour being turned away from hospitals because they are full.

Again, I have to point out that if something like this ever happened in the United States, it would be the lead story on CNN and the front page story in the Washington Post and New York Times for at least a month.

While it is true that not all births occur in hospitals (babies have their own schedules regardless of what the parents planned), the fact that women in labor are being turned away by hospitals even though Great Britain's National Health Service promises timely care for all, is a scandal all unto itself.

More:

Additionally, overstretched maternity units shut their doors to any more women in labour on 553 occasions last year. Babies were born in offices, lifts, toilets and a caravan, according to the Freedom of Information data for 2007 and 2008 from 117 out of 147 trusts which provide maternity services. One woman gave birth in a lift while being transferred to a labour ward from A&E while another gave birth in a corridor, said East Cheshire NHS Trust. Others said women had to give birth on the wards - rather than in their own maternity room - because the delivery suites were full. Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley, who obtained the figures, said Labour had cut maternity beds by 2,340, or 22 per cent, since 1997. At the same time birth rates have been rising sharply - up 20 per cent in some areas.

Shut their doors to women in labor? Women giving birth in toilets?

Is that the utopia of socialized medicine that was promised to the British people?

I dare say it isn't. And I also say that I don't want such government-run travesties over here on this side of the pond.

Read on:

'It shows the incredible waste that has taken place that mothers are getting this sort of sub-standard treatment despite Gordon Brown's tripling of spending on the NHS.

They tripled spending and they still turn women in labor away from hospitals? Where did all that money go? Who accounts for it all?

Yet another reason why we absolutely do not want socialized medicine in the United States.

You can access the complete atory on-line here:

The Babies Born In Hospital Corridors: Bed Shortage Forces 4,000 Mothers To Give Birth In Lifts, Offices And Hospital Toilets
Jenny Hope and Nick McDermott
UK Daily Mail
August 26, 2009

And here is another horror story for good measure:

Father Turned Away From Hospital With Pregnant Wife Delivers Baby On Bathroom Floor - And Saves His Daughter's Life
UK Daily Mail
August 18, 2009

How The Bailouts Are Faring In Europe

Let's see, the bailout of the banks has failed. The two bailouts of Detroit have both failed. The massive porkulus/spendulus package that was supposed to inject confidence in the economy has failed. How many more failures do we need to see before we realize that socialism is the worng way to go?

If not here in the U.S., then look at Europe. Rachel Marsden has an excellent column for Town Hall.

Here are some excerpts:

Hungary and the Baltic states want to be bailed out by countries like France and Germany, which are having enough financial troubles of their own. Le Figaro newspaper reports that France’s debt is heading for 80% of its GDP (or $27,625 US per person) by the end of next year. France pumped $450 billion US into its banks last year, and another $7.8 billion to prop up French car manufacturers – because the world would be lost without Renaults and Citroens. Germany bailed out its banks last October to the tune of $675 billion US. And now the crippled are being asked to carry the wounded with a massive transfer of wealth.

It didn't work in Europe and it certainly won't work here in the U.S.

More:

So far, the consensus is to deal with such bailouts of entire countries on a case-by-case basis. Hopefully, that means never. Argentina has been digging itself out of bankruptcy for the past few years, and will perhaps one day figure out that socialism doesn’t work. In the meantime, other countries can use the lesson: You can’t keep pouring money into a socialist society when there’s no production occurring to create the wealth you’re spending pre-emptively.

That is what socialists don't understand. Socialism destroys the means of production which in turn destroys wealth. The big mistake that socialists make is that they think the main social goal of businesses is to create jobs. That is wrong. The main social goal of businesses is to turn a profit and from that profit new jobs will be created. That's why higher taxes lead to higher unemployment. Taxes reduce the profit of a business.

Finally:

Now, you might be asking yourself, “Why should I care, as an American?” Well, because President Obama is intent on spreading the misery of this crisis, and it’s unclear at this point how far across borders that misery will reach, or whether we’re looking at some kind of a new economic Marshall Plan to help out Europe. He’s already being prodded in that regard by UK PM Gordon Brown who, like Obama, is tossing money at make-work government projects and, unlike Obama, is facing a toss right out of office as a result. It would represent yet another failure of Obama-style socialism. ... Perhaps I can put this in terms that some Brits can understand: Never before has the detriment of giving a socialist more money to piss up a wall been so glaringly evident.

Gotta love that parting shot.

You can access the complete columnn on-line here:

Hang On To Your Wallets, Here Comes The EU!
Rachel Marsden
TownHall.com
March 5, 2009