Thursday, September 13, 2012

Med-Ridden

By Bill Maher

One of the problems America faces is we have an entire generation walking around whacked out on drugs.  And you can't tell them anything because they're defiant and they think they know all the answers.  I’m talking, of course, about America’s seniors.  They're slurring their speech, falling down and practically catatonic -- and that's just what I noticed watching "The Expendables 2."
An ABC News report regarding a new Dutch study confirms what we already know, that many of our seniors fall victim to "polypharmia," getting prescribed way more drugs than are necessary or healthy.  The report says,
"One in five prescriptions written for elderly patients were inappropriate." and, "By some estimates, approximately 30 percent of hospital admissions of elderly patients are related to medication toxic effects."
And the problem isn't just the drugs.  Our for-profit medical industry cleans up preying on our inability to face our parents' and grandparents’ mortality. The dying are kept artificially alive for weeks, sometimes months, at ICU costs of up to ten grand a day.  A 2010 CBS News/60Minutes report points out,
"Last year, Medicare paid $55 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients' lives. That's more than the budget for the Department of Homeland Security, or the Department of Education. And it has been estimated that 20 to 30 percent of these medical expenses may have had no meaningful impact. Most of the bills are paid for by the federal government with few or no questions asked."
In that 60 Minutes report, a doctor explains,
“Something like 18 to 20 percent of Americans spend their last days in an ICU. And, you know, it's extremely expensive. It's uncomfortable. Many times they have to be sedated so that they don't reflexively pull out a tube, or sometimes their hands are restrained. This is not the way most people would want to spend their last days of life. And yet this has become almost the medical last rites for people as they die."
I'm not suggesting we adopt death panels to decide who lives and who dies, but if we weren't such a pussy nation afraid to address sensitive issues, wouldn't we be having an intelligent, uncomfortable discussion about the difference between prudent senior care and just backing up a dump truck full of cash to the problem?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its not that they are on drugs. Its that they are on the wrong drugs. Sorry Bill, but TV is the first habit they need to kick. No substituting web tube either, they need to smell the roses go to live shows and see the real world for themselves.
With the advent of television culture, people have become lazy, obese, easily herded. Testosterone in adult males is consistently declining, and not just because of the toxins in the environment. More easy women isn't the solution, take my word for it, there are enough easy women. Effective communication is number 2; having something worth communicating is A number 1. Both sexes are stupid from TV and turning queer from lack of live partners.
Methamphetamine has nothing on 24/7 3rd generation TV, and these stupid penguins aren't aren't even hooked on meth. They're hooked on sedatives, Oxycontin, alcohol, anything that can drown out the voice in their head that tells them they are losers, that voice that they know is right.
Fear is the mind-killer.

Zen Grouch said...

What ya' gonna do when there are so many commercials "concerned" with our health telling us to "Ask your doctor?"

Yes, that same doctor who usually has a pharmacy rep or two in the waiting room who always jumps to the front of the line...

But what the fuck, I'm just glad to have health insurance again, so I *can* bitch about all those god damned pill pushing cunts in their business suits, and bag o' tricks.

Laser said...

Everyone is reading the Rolling Stone Matt Taibbi "Greed and Debt" the Truth About Mitt Romney and Bain Capital.

A lessor known writer (RMuse) from PoliticsUSA.com has quoted Taibbi's story and added substantial evidence of Bain Capital fraud issues to the mix.

http://www.politicususa.com/romney-bain-capital-bankruptcy-ring.html

Anonymous said...

Why not give a medicare option to make that last trip to Dignitas in Zurich Switzerland and get your final wish. For $3,500 + airfare one can leave this world a better place. No truckload of cash necessary. All that is needed is the good common sense to know that pain and suffering enabled by drugs and machines are not the way we must go. What is so sacred and scary can be dignified and sensible. Human beings need to know when, where and how to exit when living is not living. Being in a drug induced form of existence causes nothing but pain to all except the ghoules in the hospital,the curiously creepy church going and the thugs in the insurance business.Have your way at last call Dignitas!

Anonymous said...

Check out: theconversationproject.org.

It's a public health campaign launched just last month with the express purpose of destigmatizing end-of-life discussions and helping to decrease the absurd cost and ghastly quality of life patients have when they die.

Anonymous said...

Its not a good time to be going from the accounts payable side of the balance sheet to the accounts receivable side. I must now depend on my superior pre-calculator math skills. Math and my G28.
... as a senior citizen, I plumb forgot how many rounds it took to drop all your friends. Feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?

Anonymous said...

I'm a doctor and deal with this problem almost everyday. The politicians and media all say "we need to have a discussion about this" but no one ever does. It's apparently political suicide. At a medical conference I attended not long ago the speakers actually lamented the fact the there is absolutely nothing being done from a policy standpoint about the absurd end of life care that is becoming more routine by the day. As doctor I'm put in a position to talk elderly children of extremely elderly parents into accepting the most basic law of nature...we all must die. The primary force driving these costs and care are not the docs or hospital...we just don't want to get sued by the crazy guilt ridden daughter who just flew in from California to see her dying mother from who she's been estranged for the past 10 years (this is a real scenario not made up!) The costs are being driven by unrealistic families that bear no personal cost of the care. If the family had to pay just 1-2% of the cost of their family members care we wouldn't need death panels or uncomfortable discussions.

Anonymous said...

Timothy Leary: Beyond Life

Anonymous said...

Who's going to have this talk with Soros? He's taking his sweet time, with all this revenging.

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