A news story is being reported of a 13 year old young man that is being required to have medical treatment by the court in New Ulm, Minnesota. It seems that the boy has cancer, and doctors say the without treatment he has a very slim chance of survival, but with chemotherapy, he has a 90% chance. So why didn't his parents want him to have the recommended procedure? Their beliefs were against it.
I personally have seen the result of failure to have medical treatment when it is available. In my past youth, I worked at the Coors bottle wash facility in Golden Colorado, and an accident ended up taking a life that could have been spared with a blood transfusion I understand. The injured fellow refused due to his religious beliefs. I always thought to myself that it was a shame that loss of blood killed the guy if a transfusion would have spared him, but it was HIS choice.
If you have ever had a medical procedure, you know how many forms you must sign to get the work done. It seems that doctors and hospitals don't want to accept any blame for treatment errors or mistakes so to get treatment, you just about have to sign all your rights away to sue if they mess up. Of course gross negligence isn't included in the release forms, so most folks just go ahead and hope for the best from the "experts" they are trusting their lives to.
In the Minnesota case, what right does the government have to make medical decisions for the family? The 13 year old young man has seen with his own eyes that his parents decision was wrong in the eyes of the court about what he might just consider the most important issue in his life... HIS life. Will this young man lose respect for his parents because of a court order?
What about all those release forms for medical treatment? Will the parents have to sign them, or will the court take that responsibility too? I'm betting that the court will do no such thing! What if the parents can't afford the medical bills... will the courts pick up the tab? I'm again betting the answer is no. Perhaps the publicity of this event will force the hospital and doctors to not seek money in this case, but I think that unlikely as well. Doctors call their work a practice, and to fair, no two people are exactly alike so medicine is really just a best guess. Sure there is a lot of learning involved, but all too often things go wrong either with the treatment given or medicines prescribed. Just about everybody has heard from the medical profession itself that it's wise to get a second opinon so it seems obvious that mistakes are often made.
As a cancer survivor, I can tell you that the cure can be as bad as the disease for a lot of people. Some of us come through treatment with little damage for others to see, while some of us become horribly disfigured or otherwise permanently effected. Some people would rather be dead. Consider all the, in my opinion, needless cosmetic and enhancement surgery performed to look better and you can soon figure that the way you look is of primary importance to some. With court ordered medical treatment, an extreme example of this might be that a child that isn't attractive enough based on a court decision could be forced to have surgery to meet the "standard". Unlikely I admit.
To me, that Minnesota court is way out of line, and is an example of the courts making policy and not following the law. So I'm not a lawyer and this is just my opinion, but to force a family to do something against their beliefs should be cause for concern for every American. This family is not allowed to chose the medical treatment plan they felt best for their family, so how long before the government steps in and takes over more family decisions.
Who decides child medical decisions? It seems that at least in Minnesota, the court will decide for you. I wonder what a Nebraska judge would do?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Uninvited
My mother has a story of uninvited guests that visited her family when she was a girl. The story goes that Sunday dinner was more often than not interrupted by specific uninvited visitors showing up just in time for the customary fried chicken. Now as I recall the story, my grandmother was a good sport about this for quite a while and the people were always asked to stay for dinner instead of being rushed out the door.
Now I really don't know how long this went on, but I guess grandma got tired of the uninvited guests showing up on such a regular basis that she devised a plan. After dinner, but before the "guests" left as was their custom after eating, grandma put the dirty dishes on the porch for the dog to lick clean. Still before the guests could leave, the plates were neatly stacked and placed back in the cupboard. It is my understanding that the guests stopped showing up for dinner uninvited ever after.
What brings this story to mind is that over the weekend, one of our neighbors from church "invited" us to stop by and meet a family relative at another of their relatives house nearby. Now while it is true that we're neighbors of the people who own the place we were (un)invited to, we were not invited by those folks to come visit, so I felt pretty strange just dropping by a family get together of someones family being invited by a somebody that doesn't live in the place we were being invited to.
Margie and I hemmed and hawed about going at all, and finally decided that we would call first so we just didn't appear at the door for no apparent reason, and make sure it was OK to stop by. Well, there was a reason really for us to drop by, you see one of the guests at the house had previously stated that they wanted to meet the folks that live on the hill near where they had grown up and had even participated in a barn dance there when she was young (me and Margie).
To make the story a lot shorter, I'll just say that we were welcomed and had a great visit with Carolyn and Don from Kansas and the rest of their assembled family. We had been invited there for dinner before and told to stop by anytime, and we were told again to stop by anytime! Though I always get caught off guard with a statement like that as city folk never make that statement, I hope those folks know they have the same drop by anytime invite at our place. Life is a lot different around here!
Now to be sure, the folks owning the place we visited have been very friendly to us since we moved in, but I will always remember my mom's story of the dog and uninvited guests, and just dropping by someones house probably won't happen often, especially at dinner time.
Now I really don't know how long this went on, but I guess grandma got tired of the uninvited guests showing up on such a regular basis that she devised a plan. After dinner, but before the "guests" left as was their custom after eating, grandma put the dirty dishes on the porch for the dog to lick clean. Still before the guests could leave, the plates were neatly stacked and placed back in the cupboard. It is my understanding that the guests stopped showing up for dinner uninvited ever after.
What brings this story to mind is that over the weekend, one of our neighbors from church "invited" us to stop by and meet a family relative at another of their relatives house nearby. Now while it is true that we're neighbors of the people who own the place we were (un)invited to, we were not invited by those folks to come visit, so I felt pretty strange just dropping by a family get together of someones family being invited by a somebody that doesn't live in the place we were being invited to.
Margie and I hemmed and hawed about going at all, and finally decided that we would call first so we just didn't appear at the door for no apparent reason, and make sure it was OK to stop by. Well, there was a reason really for us to drop by, you see one of the guests at the house had previously stated that they wanted to meet the folks that live on the hill near where they had grown up and had even participated in a barn dance there when she was young (me and Margie).
To make the story a lot shorter, I'll just say that we were welcomed and had a great visit with Carolyn and Don from Kansas and the rest of their assembled family. We had been invited there for dinner before and told to stop by anytime, and we were told again to stop by anytime! Though I always get caught off guard with a statement like that as city folk never make that statement, I hope those folks know they have the same drop by anytime invite at our place. Life is a lot different around here!
Now to be sure, the folks owning the place we visited have been very friendly to us since we moved in, but I will always remember my mom's story of the dog and uninvited guests, and just dropping by someones house probably won't happen often, especially at dinner time.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Aerial Assault
If you watched the movie Independence Day, you know one of the hero's of the science fiction movie was Russel Case. Old Russ was a Viet Nam fighter pilot, became a crop duster with an alcohol problem, and gave his all getting his payback... you see, Russ was abducted by aliens. But I digress.
What brings Russ to mind however is the aerial assault going on around our place. We had fun watching a crop dusting plane make his passes over the foot and a half tall wheat. With the tree wind breaks and power lines in the area, the pilot sure has to keep a lot in mind.
Just delivering the chemicals over these large fields takes many passes. How the pilot keeps track of his position to get uniform delivery of his payload is a mystery to me. I suppose I should have researched crop dusting more, and I suspect GPS technology is used. All I can say for sure is a lot of skill has to be involved.
What about the hazards of low level flight? The pilot we watch around here is really low and abrupt altitude changes up and down over the trees made me cringe to think how the pilot must be slammed into his seat.
A quick check of government statistics shows that pilots are in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. I didn't find out how crop dusters rank in that scheme of things, but to be sure, they have a dangerous job!
I learned from my farming neighbor that the assault is against fungus, and the price to beat it is plenty high. It never ceases to amaze me how much expense can be involved in modern high tech farming.
What brings Russ to mind however is the aerial assault going on around our place. We had fun watching a crop dusting plane make his passes over the foot and a half tall wheat. With the tree wind breaks and power lines in the area, the pilot sure has to keep a lot in mind.
Just delivering the chemicals over these large fields takes many passes. How the pilot keeps track of his position to get uniform delivery of his payload is a mystery to me. I suppose I should have researched crop dusting more, and I suspect GPS technology is used. All I can say for sure is a lot of skill has to be involved.
What about the hazards of low level flight? The pilot we watch around here is really low and abrupt altitude changes up and down over the trees made me cringe to think how the pilot must be slammed into his seat.
A quick check of government statistics shows that pilots are in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. I didn't find out how crop dusters rank in that scheme of things, but to be sure, they have a dangerous job!
I learned from my farming neighbor that the assault is against fungus, and the price to beat it is plenty high. It never ceases to amaze me how much expense can be involved in modern high tech farming.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Waiting Line
A few years ago, John Travolta starred in a movie called "Michael". Michael it turned out was one of God's archangels, and the movie featured several memorable lines with one of my favorites being "I invented standing in line".
We've all seen people standing in lines on the news now and then, and have likely spent some time waiting in a line for whatever ourselves. The last presidential election showed pictures of hundreds of people waiting to cast their votes, new movies can have lines several blocks long, and even stores can have a line of folks waiting to get in for sales and the like.
On a recent road trip, we happened to have the opportunity to visit a membership warehouse store that opens earlier for certain members. It turns out that folks that opted for the business membership get the the opportunity to shop an hour earlier than the general members. The unfortunate part of this story is that the business members probably outnumber the general members.
We were with a business member when we arrived at the store about 5 minutes ahead of the scheduled opening time. There were about 10 or 15 people in line when we arrived, and since I hate standing in line, we waited until we noted the line moving after the doors were unlocked to exit the car and head for the store entrance.
YIKES! I am apparently not the only person that doesn't like Michael's standing in line invention. As we heading for the door, so did about 300 or so other folks intent on getting in early and avoiding the rush... yeah right! I've seen more organization and less pushing and shoving at a cattle pen that at the door to the membership warehouse, and as you well know by now, I'm no cow expert!
If there had been some super sale on an item perhaps the waiting line's aggressive behavior could be understood, but there was no big sale. It was just a bunch of city folk in a hurry to get their shopping done and cutting in line to get in faster was a common complaint as I heard several folks say... "I was here first".
City dwellers I come in contact with seem to have a very different set of priorities than me. Pushing and shoving to get into a store is pretty low on my list of things needing to get done expeditiously, but I have to admit that it's nice to have a set of rules to get the job done... even if the general population doesn't follow the rules now and then.
I guess standing in line is kinda like speed limits... following the rule seems to be only a suggestion unless someone is there to enforce the rule. It seems that common courtesy and general safety are not as important as we like to think when we speed down the highway or force our way in a line. Rules are made to be broken is a common phrase I've heard over the years, so go ahead and break the rules all you want... payback will not be required unless someone catches you and you painfully discover that breaking rules occasionally has consequences... at least in this lifetime.
We've all seen people standing in lines on the news now and then, and have likely spent some time waiting in a line for whatever ourselves. The last presidential election showed pictures of hundreds of people waiting to cast their votes, new movies can have lines several blocks long, and even stores can have a line of folks waiting to get in for sales and the like.
On a recent road trip, we happened to have the opportunity to visit a membership warehouse store that opens earlier for certain members. It turns out that folks that opted for the business membership get the the opportunity to shop an hour earlier than the general members. The unfortunate part of this story is that the business members probably outnumber the general members.
We were with a business member when we arrived at the store about 5 minutes ahead of the scheduled opening time. There were about 10 or 15 people in line when we arrived, and since I hate standing in line, we waited until we noted the line moving after the doors were unlocked to exit the car and head for the store entrance.
YIKES! I am apparently not the only person that doesn't like Michael's standing in line invention. As we heading for the door, so did about 300 or so other folks intent on getting in early and avoiding the rush... yeah right! I've seen more organization and less pushing and shoving at a cattle pen that at the door to the membership warehouse, and as you well know by now, I'm no cow expert!
If there had been some super sale on an item perhaps the waiting line's aggressive behavior could be understood, but there was no big sale. It was just a bunch of city folk in a hurry to get their shopping done and cutting in line to get in faster was a common complaint as I heard several folks say... "I was here first".
City dwellers I come in contact with seem to have a very different set of priorities than me. Pushing and shoving to get into a store is pretty low on my list of things needing to get done expeditiously, but I have to admit that it's nice to have a set of rules to get the job done... even if the general population doesn't follow the rules now and then.
I guess standing in line is kinda like speed limits... following the rule seems to be only a suggestion unless someone is there to enforce the rule. It seems that common courtesy and general safety are not as important as we like to think when we speed down the highway or force our way in a line. Rules are made to be broken is a common phrase I've heard over the years, so go ahead and break the rules all you want... payback will not be required unless someone catches you and you painfully discover that breaking rules occasionally has consequences... at least in this lifetime.
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