Conservative Musings

Safe and Clean Abortions?

I was always told that making abortion legal would move us away from unsanitary and unsafe back alley abortions.  Then why this?

In an emergency order, the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has suspended the license of Lexington gynecologist Hamid Sheikh to practice medicine.

An investigator for the Attorney General's office reported that she found expired medications, unsanitary conditions, and missing or inoperable equipment in the office of Sheikh, who has performed abortions at his Lexington office since 1975.

One Medicaid investigator, a nurse, found ”medical care standards dramatically out of compliance“ in Sheikh's office, according to documents that accompanied the medical board's June 5 order.

And a Medicaid fraud agent told the board that seven patients reported ”highly negative experiences, commonly involving a lack of medication and being told by the licensee not to scream during the procedure.“

One patient told investigators that Sheikh ”took no history, vitals, nor did he verify her pregnancy,“ according to board documents.

”She was given a Valium for the pain ... . During the procedure the pain was unbearable and she fought them and kicked over a tray. After the procedure she was given a stained sheet to cover herself with.“

-Colonel Steve

Ted Kennedy and Socialized Medicine

Robert M. Goldberg makes the great point that Ted Kennedy's recent medical conditions would have not been solved so quickly had socialized medicine been the norm in America.

One day after an MRI detected a tumor, Kennedy was quickly diagnosed with a malignant glioma - a rare and often-fatal form of brain cancer. Less than two weeks later, his tumor was being removed by one of the world's experts in brain cancer at Duke Univeristy Medical Center. He'll follow up with chemo and radiation therapy tailored to the genetic makeup of his cancer to keep the cancer from spreading.

He'll likely take Avastin, a drug that in experiments with brain cancer has extended survival by months. A new cancer vaccine being developed in partnership with Pfizer could extend his life by six years.

Of course, with his wealth and power, Kennedy would get good treatment anywhere. But the same care is available to every American.

Not so - if we make the health "reforms" called for by Kennedy and other liberals.

Filmmaker Michael Moore gives their standard line when he says: "There are problems in all health-care systems, but at least Europeans and Canadians have a health-care system that covers everyone."

Problem is, governments that promise to "cover everyone" always wind up cutting corners simply to save money. People with Kennedy's condition are dying or dead as a result.

Thank God we haven't socialized medicine here in the United States.  Yet.

-Colonel Steve

Medicine Meets Engineering

Some years after I graduated from J. B. Speed School of Engineering, they added the engineering discipline of bioengineering.  I thought of the folks who are in this program when I saw the story behind an Alaskian bald eagle that lost a major portion of it's beak.

The eagle, named Miss Beauty, has been transferred to Birds of Prey Northwest in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  While there, Miss Beauty has had a team organized to help design her a new beak.  Part of that team includes the engineers from the Kinetic Engineering Group.  Take a peek at their story.

It will be interesting to see what will come of their designs.

-Colonel Steve