Health Care
Medical Negligence and the Profit Motive
We have, by now, probably all heard stories about our medical system and the evidence within these stories that there is much higher value placed on self-interest as profit and survival rather than actual care for the people and true willingness to cure the known diseases that are slowly eating away the human race.
Here I would like to share another story that a friend of mine has shared with me, from his own life experience, to again prove how pervasive the ignorance of medical establishment has become even despite the opportunities to learn and thus benefit society when facing various people that do manage to manifest good results in battling with deadly diseases.
So upon doing a routine checkup my friend’s partner was diagnosed with a malignant cervical cancer and since then walking from one doctor to another the only solution offered was to surgically remove the tumor. There wasn’t much explanation offered or any attempt to go deeper into the probable causes or anything else for that matter, but the only accepted way was to follow the standard procedure for such cases which was to write an appointment prescription to meet the surgeon on the operation table. Most people react in fear upon unexpectedly finding such news and of course will trust and follow whatever the apparently knowledgeable doctors will prescribe, but my friend and his partner stopped for a moment and considered other options by doing some research and investigation. First of all they visited yet another doctor who didn’t jump to knife as the first and only option for this type of cancer, instead he suggested an alternative way. I am not able to reproduce the whole path that was walked but I know it included drinking various herbal substances, taking hydrogen peroxide, cleansing the body through some dieting, ensuring proper hygiene etc.
So, about half a year later she went back to the original doctors to have another screening to see if there is any progress with the new treatment and, yes, to everyone’s big surprise there was nothing left of the tumor. Doctors finding it hard to believe sent her to another place to do screening and the results were the same. After another half a year the tests were repeated and still there was no sign of the disease.
Now the whole point is that none of the doctors or any other persons within the medical establishment were in any way interested or asked any questions of HOW she managed to overcome the disease. Such cases are viewed as anomalies that happen by chance to a few and apparently hold no significance or value in the bigger picture. In Europe alone there are about 50 thousand women dying from this disease yearly, a number that should be somewhat concerning as there is a probability for anyone to face this disease in some way within a lifetime. Surely, if anyone is faced with this, one would like to ensure the best, most effective course of action and an outcome for themselves or their close ones, yet we have only a few beings that can direct people on this path. So it’s really sad to see our health “carers” to turn away from real opportunities to advance themselves in the field of healing and become just mainstream followers of the system that focus on, what is called, the disease management which is much more profitable and safe in terms of system responsibility. It’s amazing how our responsibility shifted from doing what’s best for our fellow human beings to doing what’s best for the system and the system as it is designed currently is working only for few leaving the rest enslaved and suffering.
Solution when facing such problems is money just as money is the problem. The proposed new system Living Income Guaranteed will ensure that people no longer live in fear of doing what is best for all. In this new system no matter what happens no one will lose the basic necessities for survival. At the moment if you do not act as the system says, you risk to lose your income and possibly your ability to survive, within the new system however, that fear is removed and finally we will be free to consider each other. Find out more and support the proposal here: The Proposal
- Read the Living Income Guaranteed Proposal to find out what it implies and how it can be financed
- Read the Equal Life Foundation’s Bill of Rights: Our right to life can only be assured with money, and our Bill of Rights has a direct way to be financed with the provision of a Living Income.
- Watch our Equal Life’s Fundamental Human Rights presentation and share it around
- Watch our Live Google Hangouts on our YouTube Channel every Sunday at 18:00 UCT and join in the conversation
Child Safety and Living Income Guaranteed
As a new mother and while I was still in my pregnancy-phase, I spent a lot of time reading about all there is to know about babies. One of these topics is child safety.
By law one is not allowed to leave the hospital by car after you have given birth, unless you have the correct rear-facing baby car seat installed. I read all about the ‘why’s’ and ‘how’s’ and found myself being quite impressed with how they had taken physical science into consideration to make sure one would be traveling safely with one’s baby – because of course, we don’t want any babies to die!
But just as quickly as I found myself impressed with this legislation, the hypocrisy of such a legislation within having ‘child safety’ at its heart; hit me just as fast. At first glance, it gives the ruling structures of the day a caring glow, one that says “I care about your child’s safety and future”. Yet, this legislation is only relevant to the segment of the population that actually owns a car. In South Africa, a substantial segment of the population does not own a car, not because they’re environmentalists, but because they do not have the financial means to acquire one.
These women don’t leave the hospital by car, thoroughly checked by the nurse for a car seat. No, these women carry their babies for miles into rural areas or townships where child safety and well-being are problematic. Are these women asked: “Do you have the means necessary to provide adequate care to your baby?” What law, what legislation is looking after their well-being?
What significance does car seat legislation bear when basic considerations in society are missing towards the well-being and safety of children; and the ability of parents to provide this for them? This ability does not come forward from a mother’s love to her child, but from the mother’s financial capacity. This financial capacity is a necessity to enable the obtainment of those resources and services necessary to ensure a dignified life and upbringing for the child.
The importance of proper childcare is not a trivial matter – as the first years of a child’s life determine to the greatest extent that child’s future physical and mental well-being. These years cannot just receive a ‘do-over’ later and are difficult to remediate.
“The first five years are the most important in a child’s life. A number of critical physical, psychological, cognitive and emotional developmental milestones are rapidly achieved during this period. Indeed the first 1000 days- from pregnancy through a child’s second year of life have been identified as crucial. “Whether a child has experienced chronic nutritional deficiencies and frequent bouts of illness, early in life is best indicated by the infant’s growth, in length and the child’s growth in height. Day-to-day nutritional deficiencies over a period of time lead to diminished, or stunted growth. Once children are stunted, it is difficult for them to catch up in height later on …”*
It is apparent that to have the child’s best interest at heart, is to have proper support available from the beginning. How did car seat legislation come into being? It was noticed that a lot of children were dying in car accidents, which could have been prevented had they been seated differently. Still now, these legislations are updated from time to time according to the flow of information coming in regarding child mortality in car accidents and how they were seated.
So why have we not, after all this time, after witnessing over and over that countless people and children are living in less-than-adequate living conditions and the mortality rates connected to this – adjusted our legislation in such a way that these outcomes are minimized? Isn’t that the most logical step?
Are we not bound to address this issue the same way as we addressed the child safety during transport?
These deaths are preventable and as such it should be our duty to ensure that they are prevented. We get outraged when we read stories about children dying in hospitals, because not all measures were taken to ensure the child’s well-being – negligence it’s called.
We should be outraged about this as well, because it is large-scale negligence.
Providing a Living Income Guaranteed is a logical move forward to address child mortality stemming from any form of lack which could have been prevented if the necessary means had been present in a household.
This is the most pro-active approach within which we as a society can promote child safety and well-being.
For more information visit:
http://livingincome.me
To read the Living Income Guaranteed proposal:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/182616757/The-Living-Income-Guaranteed-Proposal
* http://db3sqepoi5n3s.cloudfront.net/files/docs/130305overview.pdf
Living Income Guaranteed and Animal Rights
Animal rights is a very contentious issue because in a world where there are no human rights, animal rights are defined not as a prevention measure but more as an after-effect measure as a direct outflow of the lack of support we provide to each other as individuals.
If we look at the patterns that emerge when you have a society that allows extreme poverty to exist, the animal starts playing the role of ‘love’ in the life of the poor. The poor feel – and this is not a generalization, this is a pattern – that they are ‘un-loved by the system’ and thus they search for some form of recognition, some form of appreciation and this is defined with animals – then, suffering together when there is not enough money for food is seen as benevolent.
Within the Living Income Guaranteed proposal we suggest that pets should not be a commodity, so that pets are not bred for money and that there is a measure and prevention instituted to ensure this is in fact applied. We also suggest that the veterinary profession falls in the same category as the health-care profession and a medical profession, which are professions that do the work they do because it’s a calling and a personal vocation. With the Living Income Guaranteed one of the effects that will happen with for instance circuses where animals are trained to entertain for the purposes of making money, is that people will instead be able to rather easily become an animal/nature conservationist because their basic needs will be met. Thus, if their calling is to work with animals = they can do so! Thus nature conservation and animal rights will receive a far more effective level of support from the human race within the Living Income Guaranteed system.
At this stage the plight of the animals – especially in countries where there is extreme poverty – has become excessive, this causes the explosion of animal populations that causes more hardship and suffering. The animals form packs and start to work together to try and find food, they are then blamed for their behavior, but their behavior is a direct result of the economic conditions that’s allowed to be existent in the world among humans, it is thus a direct effect of the human influence on them. These types of scenarios will be prevented once the human is no longer under threat by the economy and we stop disregarding each other when it comes to human rights.
The conclusion is that animal rights and human rights are intrinsically linked – the two will develop together. This is why we suggest to all animal activists: the way to truly support animals is to support a Living Income Guaranteed that is sufficient to meet every human being’s basic needs – and their basic needs may as well be a pet, therefore that pet will have sufficient support to have a decent and enjoyable life.
Equal Life Foundation Research Team