Reagan Wins on DU! Yep! Hello! Wake up folks

[JanMichael]

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/18910415/detail.html

This is the kid who died because his folks did not take him to the doctor. However, the reporter or court appointed something or other-- PAY CLOSE ATTENTION HERE-- looked in their checkbook and found out that they had a veterinary bill of

EIGHTY SEVEN FUCKING DOLLARS for fleas.

Fucking got that????

HOW THE FUCK IS THIS NEWS.

A vet bill VS HUGE bankrupting medical bills.

Let's all put on our thinking caps and be DOO-bees instead of DON'T--bees


Whadya say?

[Kansas Wyatt]

1. Agreed

Maybe they should have left the fleas on the dog, so the kid would have had flea bites over him that turned into an infection, then they could charge them for neglecting that too, along with not being able to afford a huge bankrupting medical bill.

[Critters2]

2. So someone thinks $87 would've saved this kid?

In our health care system? Seriously?

Idiots.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. They didn't take him to a doctor. Once.

Didn't take him to the ER, nothing. Not once.

[JanMichael]

4. And after reading ALL the posts on DU

about people who are afraid to go to the Doctor or Dentist.....think hard...think really really hard....

Why do you think that could have been?

Come on! The clue stick is tired, and the clue tree is going to drop on you!

There could be a reason!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. Ah, right.

Because some people are fucking stupid.

[JanMichael]

7. You know what? You are right. So we have laws that make

people wear seat belts.

Laws that require helmets when riding motorcycles.

Stop signs!

ALL this shit because "people are stupid."

And yet, we expect....THE SAME DUMBASS MOTHER FUCKERS TO TAKE THEIR KID TO A DOCTOR THAT THEY CANNOT AFFORD.

Do you get that?? Do you??/

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Medicaid. The ER. A free clinic. Fuck, they could've done SOMETHING.

They're either evil or very, very stupid.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. There's a difference between not going yourself and not taking a child...

I don't care about the $87 veterinary bill. If they really couldn't afford insurance for the child then he should qualify for medicaid anyway.

[JanMichael]

8. No. Not really. There is not. Sorry. Beep. Wrong.

Broke is broke. Fear of broke is the exact same regardless of age.

Please spare me the "it's all about my children" stuff. That doesn't work all the time.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. If your financial well-being is more important than your child's life...

Then you aren't fit to be a parent. If you make the decision not to go to the hospital yourself that is an adult decision that you make yourself. When you decide to raise a child you have an obligation to protect that child.

Don't get me wrong, this still shows that our health care system is extremely fucked up. But the parents are still negligent.

[JanMichael]

10. 99% of the reason ANY country needs decent healthcare

is because most humans are too stupid to be parents.

Sleep on that tonight.

[sammythecat]

12. I'll go along with you on that.

Might even be the source of most of our problems. In my utopian world parenthood would be a privilege rather than a right.

[readmoreoften]

13. How the hell were they supposed to pay for CANCER TREATMENTS?

What's the point of going to the doctors if all they tell you is that you need to pay for treatment?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

14. They wouldn't know what the doctor said...

...because they DIDN'T TAKE HIM TO THE DOCTOR. Period.

[Maru Kitteh]

21. I don't see that infrormation anywhere.

I didn't see it in any of the other articles I found either.

[Hippo_Tron]

22. The child would probably qualify for medicaid

But they wouldn't know that because they didn't take the child to the doctor in the first place.

[uppityperson]

16. I was in that position once, swore I would never be again.

Do I take my child to the ER and have a huge bill, or walk around in the cool air and see if the croup stops? Being a health care provider I went for a walk, feeling I knew enough to get help asap if it didn't help or got worse. But it REALLY pissed me off that I would have to consider the choice.

SERIOUSLY pissed me off. Why the HELL should ANYONE EVER have to come up against such a choice? And don't give me "free clinic or ER" stuff since there was no free clinic and walking into an ER with a child would run me $500+ just to sign the papers.

Don't give me "negligent parent" bs about my doing this because you don't know my situation.

It should not EVER have to be a decision but it is. "so what if you'd owed $10,000, isn't your kid worth that?" Yes, my kid is. But waiting until it got bad enough, or not. Having to wait and see rather than being able to just take the kid in. Why? rhetorical question.

[uppityperson]

15. I won't pass judgment on that. Did you notice, about the dog? I hate news mongering.

Poor kid, rip. We need universal health care.

So they took their dog (omg! pitbull!!11111) to the vet for flea treatment. I do not know why they did not take their child to a health care provider, do not know details. But taking a pet for flea treatment of $87 is not much compared to a doctor of ER visit.

Aha, reading further, I see this is what you are saying also. Don't forget to point out that it was a "OMG!!!111" pitbull.

[GreenTea]

17. Yes, Doobies!

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Won't pass judgement on parents

proves we need single payer health care though....

If they don't have insurance... hodgkins is extremely expensive to cure, and "free healthcare" even with S-Chip, is extremely difficult to qualify for today, STILL

[provis99]

19. has anyone considered another possibility?

maybe the parents just cared more about the pitbull than about the kid. Those type of parents exist.

[bridgit]

20. sad but possible