Nearly burned alive

[DocDiggs]

Sick woman saved from cremation by her tears

Chinese peasant who suffered brain hemmorhage was left by family


BEIJING - A Chinese peasant woman who suffered a brain hemorrhage was left at the undertakers alive for cremation because her family could no longer afford hospital treatment, state media said on Friday.

She was only saved by the tears in her eyes.

The case is the latest in a series of tragedies illustrating China’s stretched health care system and the inability of rural workers to meet spiraling medical costs.

You Guoying, a 47-year-old migrant worker from southwestern Sichuan province, was taken for cremation by her husband and children in Taizhou, eastern Zhejiang province, where she worked, the China Youth Daily said.

Fortunately for You, the undertaker realized she was still alive when he saw her move and tears in her eyes, the newspaper said.

“This is not only a tragedy for the family, but also for society,” it quoted Xu Yinghe, a Taizhou official, as saying.

“The fundamental reason is the absence of a social welfare system.”

You was taken back to hospital for further treatment with money donated by sympathetic citizens of prosperous Zhejiang, the newspaper said.

“Three days of treatment cost us more than 10,000 yuan ($1,200),” it quoted her daughter as saying, adding that was the sum of the family’s life savings.

“If there had been another option, who would have the heart to send a member of their own family for cremation while there was still a hope of survival?”

The newspaper did not say if the family would face charges.

Too poor to afford treatment
Vice Health Minister Zhu Qingsheng said last December that about half of all farmers could not afford medical treatment when sick.

A 42-year-old farmer too poor to afford treatment for lung cancer set off a home-made bomb aboard a bus in Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern province of Fujian, in August, killing himself and another passenger and wounding 30.

Also in August, a security guard hailed a hero for fighting off a purse snatcher jumped to his death from a hospital window in south Guangxi province because he couldn’t afford the bills.

In the late 1970s, 94 percent of China’s villagers were covered by cooperative medical schemes. But the collectives were disbanded during market reforms of the 1980s which ended cradle-to-grave welfare for the masses.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.


URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10097472/

[KBay84]

She was very lucky indeed! However, socialized medical care is not the be-all cure-all...

http://www.cablemuseum.org/pages/edu...ory%20one.html

Socialized medicine is a government-regulated system providing healthcare for all that’s paid for by everybody’s taxes. The United States is the only major western country without some form of socialized medical care.

Dr. Tom Lundquist, a family physician from the Marshfield Clinic in Rice Lake, thinks that socialized medicine has its pros and cons.

"It’s nice for people due to the fact that the government covers their expenses, but the problem is the services that they want aren’t available very often. For example, in Canada sometimes people might need a hernia operation for example, and they can’t get one for a year, and the government tells them when they can get it too, you know, because the hospitals are full or there’s only certain hospitals that do certain things, whereas if here, if you need your hernia fixed, the surgeon will fix it Tuesday."

In Canada, an official at Vancouver General Hospital estimates that 20 percent of heart attack patients who should be treated in 15 minutes, are waiting an hour or more for care. The National Post says that there’s an alternative for Canadians in need of prompt treatment: a bus ticket south to the U.S. Dr. Lundquist says that the U.S. system may not be perfect, but you get what you pay for.

"I don’t look to see when a patient comes to see me I don’t look to see really what their insurance is or whether they have a job or whether they … what coverage they have. We just basically, you know, do what needs to be done. And then sometimes they will decide that this test or that procedure is too expensive, they don’t want to do it. Well, that’s up to them. It’s a nice thing to not have to worry about it from my standpoint."

The Europeans have a very simple economic rule: If something is perceived as free, people will consume more of it than if they had to pay for it themselves. Think of it this way: if food were free, would you eat hamburger or steak? Health care is a limited good. There are only so many doctors, hospital beds, and technology. If people overconsume those resources, it drives up the cost of health care.

FLIPside Radio is a science-education program of the Cable Natural History Museum’s Forest Lab Intern Program, which is funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. To learn more about the Museum, or to let us know what you think about this program, visit us on the web at www.cablemuseum.

[KBay84]

Just because Americans are uninsured doesn't mean they can't receive health care; nonprofits and government-run hospitals provide services to those who don't have insurance, and it is illegal to refuse emergency medical service because of a lack of insurance. While uninsured Americans are a problem in regards to total system cost, it doesn't mean health care isn't available. This issue shouldn't be as emotional since there are plenty of government and private medical practices designed to help the uninsured. It is illegal to refuse emergency treatment, even if the patient is an illegal immigrant.

Read all the pro/cons here; http://www.balancedpolitics.org/univ...ealth_care.htm

[DocDiggs]

Originally Posted by KBay84

She was very lucky indeed! However, socialized medical care is not the be-all cure-all...

http://www.cablemuseum.org/pages/edu...ory%20one.html

Certainly not here, but it seems to have previously been effective in China until it was discontinued.

[KBay84]

China has a population control issue, and their people cannot afford to pay med care when so many clearly live in poverty anyways.

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by DocDiggs

A Chinese peasant woman who suffered a brain hemorrhage was left at the undertakers alive for cremation because her family could no longer afford hospital treatment, state media said on Friday.

Horrible. They were willing to let her suffer and be burned to death alive.

She was only saved by the tears in her eyes.

<snip>

Fortunately for You, the undertaker realized she was still alive when he saw her move and tears in her eyes, the newspaper said.

She was even more fortunate that the undertaker wasn't as cold and uncaring as her family.

[SherryGrace]

They are certainly not the first people in the world that couldn't afford medical care for a family member. They could have taken her home to die, instead of having her burned to death.

Stupid asses. Amazing that the whole family was willing to do that. Not a brain or heart amongst them.