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MISSION:
To provide a window into the world of the poor and socially disadvantaged in Vancouver, British Columbia,  without embellishment and most certainly not with indifference.  It is my own project not affiliated with any group or organization.  I speak not from observation alone but also from personal experience, this has become my world also.  I also live one kindness away from being destitute, living in a state of legislated terror, punished for being unemployable.
contributions are gladly accepted, please send images in jpg format and articles/commentary in text format, email them to me at:  to: aletta  poorbashing@aletta.org or feel free to post in the forum
Pages will be added to as my energies permit.
 
 
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don't just take my word for it a collection of articles:


THE SAD TRUTH


Independent contributors:


Poverty Primer - if unfamiliar with poverty, read this first:


In low Places:

When needs become wants:

I did manage to peel myself of the bed at my pup's urging, took him outside, it would appear, just a little late.  Poor dear, he was upset and cared I'd be angry.  I was merely disappointed, at myself.  We walked pleasantly and I was avoiding running into anyone who might want me to talk.  I knew this was one of my slurring morning.  I would come of drunk. I am still trying to retain that air of competence that I had spent the whole of my life building.  Of course the columnist next door, who'd not said boo to me in months, decides to chat, about the puppy...and Basil the woodworker, also wanted to chat, about the puppy, and the building manager.

What relief as I fell back onto the couch, I'd left the bedding out.  I bemoaned that I was never, ever "comfortable". I watched a movie on one of the pay channels.  Nick Nolte is impossible to lip read, and so are actors trying to put on foreign accents.  One day I'd like to have a closed caption capable TV.  By noon I finally found the resolve and strength to get up for some milk and my waking up pills.  I also made coffee.  I clung to the counter top so heavily I loosened the tiles where I was standing.  always more to fix.

Still I felt like a slacker for not being up and at it.  I was cramping, nearly vomiting as I took the pills.  Nothing unusual.  I wondered if I'd have enough energy to make the one phone call I needed to make, or if I could work myself up to painting at all.  I slumped bad onto the still unmade couch.  The lizard rock was starting to help.  By one I got up and sat at the computer to read my emails.  I had to stop a few times to take off my glasses, they made my face hurt terribly.

By two I was dressed, sort of, same old pull up pant, but the shirt was clean.  I pulled my hair back, standing upright in the shower was out of the question I kept pitching over one side or back whenever I looked up. I still felt like a slacker.  What would it take to not feel that way?  A pay check, a to do list that would actually get done, and within the time frame that any normal person could hold to.  I wondered if I would feel that way if I had no legs.  Actually I know I would, I could not take that a an excuse, just a challenge.  If I were blind, I could get past that, my grandmother was blind and she was not slowed by it.  No, this is different.  I am not disabled I am sick.

Everything we see about illness always, without fail, implies that there is a cure, a treatment for every ill.  This is not true, not at all.  There are of course illnesses with treatments or remissions, so a reason to expect better days will be on the horizon.  I have no reason to see better days, I am told to expect worse days, and then die.  I can't accept it.  I understand the reality, but I cannot accept the finality of it, not as long as I can pull myself upright and do something, anything, even if it falls short of my own expectations.

I still feel like a slacker, surely my will can beat this?  I want not to be the only one working on this, I want what the cancer patients get, support, hand holding, involved medical practitioners.  I want what the paralyzed get, physiotherapy, outings, help getting around.  I am getting sooo tired, I'd like an occasional hand up, some time in a hot tub, a massage, just some physical attention signifying that someone other than me thinks it is worth the investment, that I can, may, will get better some day.

I want social workers to not sound disappointed to find out that I am still alive and no closer to kicking it. I want to find some physical comfort, a week of being cared for, really cared for, I need a break from doing it all for myself.  I need a better way of explaining to others why I cannot join in their reindeer games, socially, professionally.  I want a snappy comeback for the old "but you look ".  do they think I don't know that?  do they also think it just happens?  I work at not letting myself go, just on the marginal hope that one day it will all turn around and then I still want to be good looking and vibrant and interesting. I will not let this stinking illness take it all away.  There is so very little I can still control, how I appear is at least one.  Even if I cannot control my heart rate, blood flow or continence, I can dress well and do my makeup and hair, every day.  I will scrape myself up and do whatever Yoga I still can.  Doing that and just that most days is precisely all I can do.  It is who I am, the ballerina cannot let herself go, the artist cannot go without expressing.

I just try not to starts any thoughts with "I want.." or "I would like" my wants are so prosaic these days.  I want some energy so I can clean my bathroom, I want to be coherent so I can make phone calls.  I want to sit by the sea, just to sit by the sea.

How dare this happen to me, then again, what makes me so special it should not happen to me?  Somewhere there may be a greater purpose, I wish the creator would let me in on this secret, but I cede to his/her wisdom that I should not know.  I will not louse up the one relationship I have where the truth is known, that I am not a slacker or a drama queen, I am just very very sick. it is just too sad, and the sadness at knowing it will not happen, makes it simpler to not want.

 
 
 
 

artist and observer
aletta mes, Vancouver, BC Canada

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Seen from the bottom:

Although on occasion some attention has been given to standout cases of neglect by the media, those are mostly second hand accounts, or accounts of special cases where someone has affected a rescue.  Those stories focus on their being exceptional, thus, newsworthy.  Those reports depended on there being someone healthy enough to tell their story or someone to tell it for them.  It is but a small part of the story, the ten percent of the iceberg that is visible, rest assured there is another ninety percent, and here at the bottom we are not doing well at all.

Here at the bottom you find those souls who do not fit into the special categories that still have some resources to draw on.  Resources like:savings, insurance, well heeled loving relatives or friends, service agencies who serve specific groups (AIDS, MS Alzheimer etc.), seniors groups, children's charities.  Those agencies will tell you they are stretched to the limit, and without a doubt they are.  Most publicly funded services are now geared to those who are expected to make recoveries, become tax payers again.

There is a double pay off in supporting patients with those illnesses, they provided the happy endings we all have been conditioned to love and even expect.  So we have "Courage to Come Back" awards, success stories.  Government likes success stories, they can use those for their propaganda brochures released every now and again.  Of course this works most of us are not in such desperate straights, we cannot conceive just how badly off some people are.  Some years when I was working I too was under the misguided notion that people finding themselves kneed deep in their own waste and dying, emaciated, somehow had just not tried very hard, or had denied and help offered.  God forgive me that I ever thought that.  It was just so hard to believe that a government elected democratically could let one of it's citizen's end up like that in such a wealthy society as this.  If my first hand experiences are anything to go by, this scenario happens a lot but it is just too unpleasant to share the stories, hoping if you close your eyes and wish that it will go away.

It won't go away.  I can tell you first hand, it could be you some years from now, there is nothing in place to stop it from happening.  It is ugly so we don not want to look at it, but we should, take a long hard look at what is going on and at the people who allow it to happen. They've prepared for these moments by taking away any ability to fight back no legal aid services to fight for us, no carers to keep us on our feet so we can still be part of society.  We are instead at home, with nothing but a few pills and whatever groceries we can still afford, afraid we will lose the shelter we have.  No one to look in or help keep us safe and just a little happy.  Alone without a joy in our day or a comfort to take pleasure in, waiting, waiting to die or to lose hope, and then die.  Once you've been kept from socializing you are completely voiceless.  I still have this ancient computer, I can still email, that is often my only connection to the outside world.  My contemporaries are not seniors they are younger with families and careers, I understand.  Certainly I wish them well.  Maybe they so often stay away from visiting me because they too do not want to look at where I now find myself, they know, deep down, it could happen to them.

It took many years after I was too ill to work to satisfy all the requirements for my disability status, during that time, even though I had more expensive medical needs I was on only basic welfare, I sold what I could, I found myself begging, literally for scraps.  When I finally qualified I was deeply buried in debt and despair.  Those days we stall had an occasional "How are you?" touchback from our social worker, those have stopped.  Many services have stopped.  I no longer have liquid meals delivered to me.  I cannot afford them they are expensive, nor could I get them home even if I could. Briefly I was given home care, what a lovely difference it made.  It is easier to feel human if your apartment is clean and you've had someone in the house to chat with.  Alas after a few weeks that service was no longer there either.  If there are any services left they require a lot of hoop jumping and research.  That's energy I do not have.  That was the whole purpose of social workers and occupational therapists.  I'd really like to find some things to do with all this time in some capacity but I'd need someone to help me with that, fat chance.  I'm still on a wait list for a volunteer, not that they can help with anything that I really need help with.  My doctor did all he could, the paperwork stating what my needs were: home care, special diet, liquid meals, occupational therapist, speech therapist, physical therapist.  I can get some of those services if I go out to get it, but I am not in good enough shape, so, too bad.

What is staring me in the face is the specter of institutionalized care, there your diapers are free, so is the liquid meal, an occasional bath if they have time.  I've visited a facility or two, if God is kind I will drop dead before ending up in one.  Wide spread neglect plus having to sign away your rights to managing your own life.  I may have too since I do not want to be the anvil around the neck of those who love me, they have their own bullets to outrun.

Government scapegoats us for being a drain on resources - not like all those large businesses they've bailed out - no it is the nickels and dimes bled from essential services to those who have no other option that are to blame if the budget is not balanced.  Of course we are not very visible -WE CANNOT LEAVE THE HOUSE - not to protest, not to access services.  You expect the self-serving bureaucrat to be able to live with all this, but social workers?  How do they justify taking a salary and then allowing themselves to be mandated into taking services away from those who need it?  Why do they not quit en-masse and protest on behalf of those who cannot?  Maybe it would jar the power that be enough to let them do the job they studied to do, and if not, what difference does it make to their clients?  Am I supposed to be buoyed by their new improved web site that requires a more recent computer than I have to access anything that "might" be useful?  Sure as hell won't help those who can't use computers, or afford one.

Imagine the frustration doctors face when they correctly order the needed procedures and services but those are denied because some administrator somewhere has deemed it inappropriate protocol.  Imagine the horror of being diagnosed with an illness not on the list, there are hundreds of these uncommon ailments, seriously debilitating illnesses.  Every crisis we weigh what the end result of seeking any medical help will be: endless waiting in ER, tests that never happen, medications and treatments we cannot afford, no aftercare out on your ass with a pill or two and no one to take you home.  So I avoid getting help, I know this may make for more serious crisis down the line, but I am buying time and hoping in spite of everything that it will get better before that happens.

As if all this is not dehumanizing enough we live in fear of having even less to work with in the future, grocery money which was inadequate way back when buys a whole lot less today, rents will keep going up, fewer medication covered by medicate, more doctors will leave, and hospitals close.  Nurses will go to the private sector where they are paid what they are worth and not blamed for everything falling apart in medical facilities, I do not blame them.  Those who can afford better will get it, outside of BC, but they will get it.  The employed have the option of buying extended insurance so they can also access additional or better health care.  Those least capable of fending for themselves will have to keep doing just that, and the sentiment remains that somehow we must just not have tried hard enough.  Our options are few, buy into some religion that for a time offers help and comfort as long as you do not question their beliefs, that and you must be well enough to stand in line and make friends easily.  You could do what it takes to fit into a "Special" group, become gay, put a rig in your arm, drink, gain lots of weight, become certifiably disturbed, over 65, or blind  Even then as stated you still have to be fit enough to stand in line, make lots of phone calls, attend meetings, cart things home etc.  If I were that fit I'd still have a job.

What did I have planned for my life?  Well, when I first got ill I was ready to change from just working to raise the family, there were plans to work overseas with relief programs, go back to school, finally have the degree that always eluded me.  Enjoy being a grandmother.  Climb, dance live and love.  I was in my early forties, fit, single with two grown kids, life had possibilities.  Then it all stopped.  Now I am being looked at as one of life's losers and the sole reason why this society cannot balance the budget.  Those of us who find ourselves on the scrap heap all have stories, not two exactly the same.  That we even exist is something this government does not want you to consider.  If you had to choose would it still be the Olympic bid?  Do you know for sure one of you will not be exactly where I am today?

My dog died a week ago, he was my good and loyal friend.  When he fell very ill a lady from dog rescue helped get him a vet to come over and see what she could do for him (she probably suspected I had hurt the dog).  She (the vet) was wonderful and my dog died peacefully at home, and this care was a gift.  As much as I love animals and I think pets are wonderful, should the people in this community not also warrant that level of care?

aletta 2004

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On re-designed bus passes:

This government just doesn't know when to stop making the lives of the disabled even harder.  You've already taken away most, and in some cases, all of our support, but then also take the few we are left with and make them as user unfriendly as possible.  There is not one part of this redesign that benefits the user.  No braille dots for the blind to let them know which way to face the ticket, no way for us to attach the pass to our, clothing or hanging from a chord.  With poor dexterity which plagues a good number of us these ar either impossible or almost impossible.  Supposedly your drivers should help us out.  I've had one bus driver lecture me on how this was all the fault of the disabled using passes fraudulently and it cost them (the taxpayer - as if none of us ever paid taxes) a lot of money and wee should be happy we got anything at all.  This comment erupted into an insulting discussion at the front of the bus (where I had to sit)  on how the disabled are always bitching and whining and wanting things for free.  As most of the patronizing class usually do, my presence was complexly ignored.  At least with the old pass you could flash the bus driver your pass - no discussion, no one had to beg for a little help.
 

To begin with the pass is not given to disabled who are not also poor, not given to the elderly except when they are very poor.  Study after study shows just how far below the poverty line we are forced to live.  Our lives are just one indignity after another.  Among our ranks are veterans, people who worked for many years and paid taxes.  See how well off you would be one your savings run out and you have not a hope in hell of ever putting in another day's work.  The message here seems to be that we can have bread crumbs for being scapegoated, as the main reason for the collective bottom line not being quite as padded as we would want.
 

Why should we even pay for these passes, to keep some government employees a couple of jobs doing the paperwork?  We buy them at Christmas time, the month we are give a gigantic Christmas bonus of $25 but also have to pay $45 out of pocket for the bus pass, so really we are down by $20.  For what, to become the target of verbal abuse?  Streamline the system and just send them to all of us poor and disabled/elderly, you damn well know who we are, you already have the paperwork on that.  I haven't taken the bus since that day, coming back it was so hard to pull the ticket up out of the machine I fell backwards.  Everyone had a good laugh.
 

We don't all fit the typical profile of "disabled", I am fifty, have all the standard body parts, I still walk usually unaided, but I am weak and probably more brittle, my dexterity is very poor, it is a huge struggle to even dig the pass out of my purse, some days I cannot do even that.  So if I cannot deal with the new pass I have to stay home.  I'm avoiding doctor's appointments, seeing relatives, going to the bank.  It also makes me very uneasy that I have to show I'm disabled by asking for help, drawing attention to being frail as a woman may not be a safe thing to do - who am I going to outrun, if followed?  Why do I have to have my year of birth in huge type on the face of the pass, is that not my own private business, what next, a bloody armband?
 

Apparently it was not worth consulting the people this would impact most, we could have given some decent tips.  A small tab on one side with a hole so we could keep it on a chord while using it would really be the most simple and most helpful.  I could wear it from the time I leave home, no digging it out, putting it back, no dropping it when picking it up is impossible.  A couple of braille dots on that same tab t remind the blind and nearly blind which way to face it. Some sensitivity training for your bus drivers?
 

Most routes still don't have wheelchair capable buses, many of the bus shelters have been taken away (in the poorer neighbourhoods) leaving us standing and waiting in the rain, and downgraded schedule leaves us standing there even longer.
 

I'd like to see an itemized breakdown of how that $14 million in transit related fraud was the fault of the  previous bus pass design.  I doubt it would make much sense even if you just compared the number of annual pass users next to the $14  million.  We're being used as a scapegoat.  Did someone's friends need a nice government job redesigning a pass that was already working well?
 

We (the disabled) put up with a lot of sanctioned abuse by different ministries, being disabled is a never ending nightmare, as if the conditions our bodies are in is not enough, we have been cut, neglected, belittled, downgraded.  Everyday we face newscasts of government touting how damned compassionate they are HA!  you are literally killing us with you so-called kindness.  Is that the plan to get us into the grave more quickly, clean the poor and unsightly off the streets of Vancouver, for that extra sparkle during the Olympic Games?
 

aletta

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brace yourself -- this is a long one
written after our Premier was busted in Hawaii for Drunken Driving

Welcome to my rant...
Well, guess drunkenness is not just for us welfare bums as previously supposed by the status quo... Way to go Premier Campbell.

In the article it mentions he was a social and not a heavy drinker, frankly who gives a rat's ass whether he drinks a lot or a little, the question is why get behind the wheel of a car??

Another question this brings to mind is how many times have obliging officers waved him through because unlike the cops in Maui they know he's the premier?

He put at risk everyone on the road with him on the road at Maui where he drove.  He has been entrusted with decision making powers, some involving life and death issues, and this is not just a failing of personal choice (to drink or not to drink) but a callous judgement putting lives at risk.   He is not above reproach, at least not in other countries where his cronies are unable to cover up for him.  He should be taken to task.

This is a clear illustration of what is wrong with government in this country, the bastards are allowed to get away with it, time and time again.
 

Something to think about ... source the "The Ottawa Citizen"
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 300 employees and has the following statistics: Can you guess which organization this is?
It's the 301 MP's in the Canadian Parliament. The same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws designed to keep he rest of us in line.  Which one did you vote for?


It was only a few days ago when the list from the Ottawa Citizen was posted of just how many charges had been brought against members of parliament (Ontario, was it not???).  The Canadian Prime Minister has had his share of shameful conducts brought to light.  So what??  Does anything change?  Why is that???

This country let it go when Trudeau gave farmers the finger (in some countries he'd have been lynched) no he's remembered as some kind of hero.  Klein bashed the poor in a drunken night out and, nothing.  Maybe it's because I'm a foreigner that I',m not getting this, but, where's the outrage??? Hedy Fry is caught in an outright lie, and where's the outrage?? Is it because they're doing a stupendous job protecting the status quo from those who would challenge policies?  Is it because someone from outside the inner circle there might be real changes, gag orders might give way to a completely free press, the CRTC might have to go, simulcast and blacking out certain broadcasts might go??

They are a privileged lot and they hog the major part of every pie, they can afford the educations others are excluded from economically, there's a world of freebie junkets for them, lose face in government, get a patronage appointment.

Trudeau's kid is doing his bit for posterity -- Avalanche Awareness -- while people freeze to death on the streets.  Giving out blankets is not a triumph in any real sense, it is "Let them eat cake" all over again. Then there are all those advocacy groups for their kids to get involved with, position, looks good on a resume and the needy can't get anyone to help them out personally on anything.  But, gee it sure looks like some of them are trying to help. HAH!!

The average citizen does not know or care.  As socially conscious as I've always thought I was, I honestly thought there was a safety net to treat the needy and disabled so they could be part of this society, I too was ignorant to how they were consistently kicked back under the rug out of sight.  I fell to the propaganda that anyone poor and destitute wanted it that way, because, after all, there was that safety net.  It took a steep tailspin into my own corner of disabilityville before that fog cleared.  Now I'm being dismissed as someone with a chip on her shoulders.  60 women from my neck of the woods go missing, are also largely ignored as victims because they were sex trade workers.  Honey if I fall down one more incline with no place to turn I may do some pretty desperate stuff as well.  Too many people walk the tightrope of despair and are not even noticed.  No doubt many death certificates fail to include, necessary death could have been prevented with adequate resources.  I still kick and scream, but when I no longer have that ability what then??

Foster care, disability, palliative care, lack of education, housing are not issues for the well off, why would they be, and those for whom it is an issue are not equipped for the fight it will take to have those issues included.  They are crafty enough to keep us at bay with studies and funding for special interests, I have a stack of form letters from different levels of government telling me it is being looked into/studied/reviewed, just FOD letters.  Those well-intentioned workers, they often mean well, but they happily explain it is only policy and they can't help it.  Maybe I'm a freak of nature, but I could not be a member of the team that treats people that poorly.  If I could not change it I would leave and find employment elsewhere.  I'd sooner clean toilets (I have done that too) than let families starve or bee driven to suicide.

We are not even numbers, we are caseloads, reduced to less than and individual number.  My worker is #102, no name, never met this person, left some messages they get bumped to someone else and another form letter is generated.  Surely a monkey can do their jobs, it does not require an MSW or an insight and desire to help people.  It took my MLA several letters and calls to get my caseworker to reply as to why my calls were not dealt with.

They like it when we fight amongst ourselves, keeps us from forming a cohesive opposition to their policies.  I'm am overjoyed (though not optimistic) that the Glove has shown the cajones to print some stories on how people really do suffer.  The media is the main tool we have at our disposal to get the truth out there to the point it may no longer be ignored.

Next problem with all this is who fights when they are too sick or disabled on our behalf, this is the one I cannot find an answer to.  I don't see churches going to bat for the sick, elderly, destitute.  Handing out a bowl of soup is nice but it will change nothing but perhaps delay the inevitable.  The boy's club can count on these issues staying where they are because they only affect those who cannot fight for change.  Not much to fear from those who cannot afford to travel, hire counsel, buy large ads, arrange meetings, photo ops.

We still have the Internet, maybe we can come up with something workable, and let's not wait until and election year, that's too late for many.

I'd like to have been more eloquent but I don't have much to work with lately, but I needed to say to and make the effort now, because there may not be a tomorrow.

aletta mes, january 2003

Tyranny, like Hell is not easily conquered
Tom Paine
So Much for Universality

Apparently I live in the best country in the world.  We spend more per capita on health care than any other nation and get the least bang for our buck.  Did you hear the one about the only MRI machine in Saskatchewan out of order for a day when the cleaning staff accidentally pushed a button that demagnetized the MRI magnet?  Good God! Saskatchewan is geographically larger than most countries with a population that is spread out from arctic to the US border It's a good country if you are not poor or ill.  The two unfortunately coincide when unexpected (what other kind is there?) Illness strikes and leaves you unable to work. If you can collect unemployment insurance you have sixteen weeks or so to get over whatever it is or you a relegated to the disability scrapheap. Initially you will simply get welfare of approximately 500 (single person), the same as a healthy person.  Your need for fortifying foods, rest, over the counter medication, vitamins, eye drops, transportation to doctors and so on are your problem.  If there is reason to think that your illness will go beyond six months, you may then apply for an extended disability claim which gives you approximately 750 per month (single). Essentially this does no more than guarantee you can eat low quality fare everyday (no foodless days as before), no more.  It does not consider that some of us are not well enough to fetch food from the food bank, stand in line for a meal.

That 30 pound weight loss you suffered as result of your condition may leave you needing clothes.  What an appalling time in your life to made to feel worthless and pathetic.  I've been in the workforce sine the early 70's, the best country in the world no longer requires that I have comfort, health or dignity.  It may take a while to get a proper diagnosis, without which you cannot hope to collect CPP (you know the plan you've paid into your whole life.)  Which although not sufficient to sustain a middle class lifestyle would at least provide some extras, including training or education necessary to re-enter the workforce, when/if sufficiently healthy to go back to work.

Further complicating your life is the maze they make you run to get this "diagnosis".  It is not unknown for someone to be ill for many years before the puzzle is solved. That then is when you can apply for CPP and other services as available through a support group (hopefully) for what ails you.  It took Montel Williams with all his celebrity and resources seven years in the US, where you can buy health care. Seven years.  What chance then has a Canadian with less than adequate resources?

Must be new math, but I have some difficulty understanding how a tobacco company collecting less than 50% of the price of a pack of cigarettes with all costs (employees, crop purchase, manufacturing, advertising etc.) is making a colossal profit. The provincial government, on the other hand, earning a chunk sans the costs, can't adequately pay doctors and nurses so they will stay and work here.  When was the last strike of tobacco employees? If the health care system in BC is so stressed financially, how does the government justify taking money from the health care budget and put it towards building Ferries?  How much does it add to the cost of universal health care which in effect, keeps people poor and unable to afford prevention, nutrition or optimal recovery?  Without access to adequate services some of us will not be going back to work and contributing back into society.  The system does not necessarily kill us, it just won't let us be well.  Being diagnosed with an illness is the critical step towards recovery.  Unaware of malignancy, heart problems and other conditions that with adequate treatment leave person able to live, contribute and participate in family, community.

Guidelines and protocols drafted to the requirements of the system provide guidelines to doctors on what they should and should not order for you.  To get the help you want
you will have to clearly exhibit the correct constellation of symptoms in order to have appropriate tests and referrals. The guidelines and protocols are not yet complete and illnesses are excluded entirely if they are rare (orphan). All very half-assed for something lauded as being universal.  Is it universal that a doctor may prescribe the best medication for a condition (let's say schizophrenia) but the patient cannot afford it and gos either without or agrees to take less safe less effective medication. Likely you won't know which medication is not covered until the prescription has been filled and you are asked to pay for it, and, when you cannot, then what?  Does anyone give a damn how that makes you feel?  What right has a bureaucrat in a universal system to decide to counter the Hippocratic oath and deny a patient the chance to a doctor's best efforts?

Very clever of the government to turn and blame the doctor for being the spoilt child and shame them in the media for being cold hearted and greedy.  The government might reconsider, we're not falling for that one so easily.  The people of Prince George took the doctors' side and rejoiced when the battle was won. Throughout history and regardless of the culture the
healers hold a sacred place in society, the medicine man/woman, shaman, or witch doctor were not to be challenged but revered for their wisdom.  It was wise to pay them their fee, your life depended on it.  That hasn't changed.

Let's stop pretending that this is a universal system where no one is favoured. The wealthy don't put up with this horrid system, they don't have to, they can buy it elsewhere (US, Europe.) You'd do the same. Regular people are taking out loans for diagnostic tests, treatments and surgery. You can't jump the waitlist in Canada or open private facilities to citizens of BC, but you can open one to provide services to Americans. Keeping the wealth here and allowing doctors to charge those who can and government subsidize only those that cannot afford it makes perfect sense to me.  Conrad Black and for that matter MLA's with portfolio don't need government health plans, they could afford a either to pay directly or purchase private coverage and that would take money back into the private sector.  By now we are all unpleasantly aware that bureaucracy is a poor manager of money (boondoggle).  It is not in the healers interest or inclination to turn down someone in need (remember the Hippocratic oath), the same cannot be said of politicians.  Simply, who do you look to in matters of health, the doctor, or the bureaucrat.  Make sure you put the blame on the right person and make sure they hear you.

aletta mes, january 2002

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last update 06/2004