I’m finding the discussions in the blogosphere and the opinion pieces in the media pretty discouraging. They’re almost entirely partisan bickering. Individuals on different sides look at the same events and see drastically different things. It’s true of practically every story.
What I think that both Democrats and Republicans are missing is that practically all elected officials are corrupt and the longer they have been in office and the higher the office the worse they are. They have compromised their principles so thoroughly they don’t have any.
Some see that and assert that if only their guys got in things would be different. That’s wishful thinking. They won’t be any different.
Some say that’s proof positive of how useless government is. Sadly, there are some things that desperately need doing that markets and individual initiative won’t accomplish. As bad as it is, we need the government.
So we’re down to bickering.
It’s a case of a loud minority. Most Americans are normies – the partisans who constantly bicker and spend most of their time on politics as a profession or hobby are a minority of the country.
Increasingly, officeholders are being elected by small minorities, cf. Chicago mayoral election.
Brandon Johnson was elected by about 18% of the registered voters.
Its loud minorities AND media which make tons of money by trying to keep people angry. Then you have the effects of gerrymandering which means you have tons of safe districts where you have almost zero fear of losing an election to the other party. Rather, your fear is losing in the primary. In primaries an even tinier minority votes and it tends to be the most radical.
So we get this truly disgusting bill from Florida. It means that if a gay person comes to the ED dying if the ED doc thinks being gay and caring for a gay person is against their beliefs, they dont have to care for the person, even if they are the only doc. I read the bill twice and I dont see any exceptions for emergency situations. This is really extreme and goes against any kind of medical ethics, but it plays well with the primary voters. (We routinely make arrangements to accommodate people’s beliefs in non-urgent/emergent situations.)
https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1580/BillText/er/PDF
Steve
“I read the bill twice and I don’t see any exceptions for emergency situations.”
Read lines 202 – 206.
This bill wouldn’t be my preference, but most of the commentary I have seen ranges variously from overwrought to hysterical. Most have jumped to the conclusion that health care is being “denied.” That’s simply not true. There is more than 1 doctor in Florida. I’ll bet the practical application of this will be vanishingly small, and will be challenged in court and/or Florida legislation will be modified to eliminate doctors rights to make such decisions. Which will lead to more litigation…………
Its a more complex subject than people want to admit. Must a doctor perform abortions? Partial birth abortions? Must they mutilate young children at the behest of warring parents over gender surgery? I also note that the outrage is very selective. I don’t recall the same arguments being made about restriction of services for the unvaccinated. I guess that’s “different,” you see.
Thanks. Was little loopy from muscle relaxant. Overdid playing with nieces. In rural areas you often do have just one doctor. No place of which I am aware forces docs to do abortions or unwillingly participate in gender care.
So this won’t be as bad as I first thought. It does likely mean that in the gray area where stuff is not an emergency but is urgent a gay person will face delays causing minor harm. Or a gay person may face another hour or two of driving.
Steve
Wouldn’t be a problem if gay patients do what I do.
If I have a toothache, or need an appendectomy, I don’t bore the provider with my kaladioscope of sexual fantasies and desires.
Stick to the issue at hand.
Don’t announce your orientation and demand it’s acceptance as a prerequisite to the procedure.
If I count my time as a corpsman I have over 50 years in medicine. I don’t think I have ever had a pt announce their orientation and demand acceptance. What we have are these things called medical records. That info is contained there so even if a gay person tried to not reveal it they could not.
Steve