Several months ago I was diagnosed as having a small hernia requiring repair. Took nearly 5 months to get a date for the operation. Today I received a phone call from the doctors office telling me they have recently been overwhelmed with breast cancer patients requiring operations. Would I consider giving up my scheduled operating room time so one of the breast cancer patients could be treated? I asked how long my surgery might be delayed and they were unable to even give me an estimate.
A little reluctantly I agreed. The reason for my reluctance was that I didn't travel this winter because I didn't know when I might be able to get in to the hospital. Now for all I know my summer may be impacted too.
What swayed my decision was that I have a wife and two daughters and I like to think if they were affected someone might make a similar decision in their favour.
The bottom line is, however, that our system is running so far behind in its ability to look after the population. There is not enough money available from the tax base to change this, we rely on lotteries for funds to cover medical research etc. What will our children be facing in another 10 or 20 years? Comments and opinions please.
Jim
