Sharon and Quality of Medical Care for Everyone Else

I see that Ariel Sharon might be coming out of his coma after several surgeries to treat a series of strokes. Well, good for him. What strikes me about this is that I recall seeing on several news channels that had he not been the prime minister, doctors would have declared him dead. And they certainly wouldn’t have performed the surgeries that may have saved his life.

First, let me say that the news in a 24-hour cycle is notoriously inaccurate. It wasn’t the doctor making these statments but a reporter, who could have garbled the whole thing up. And I know that world leaders will get a distinctly different standard of care than the rest of the people. That may be unjust but it is a reality. But what concerns me is that if the reporter had it right, the Israeli doctor was basically saying that he would have let a regular person with a stroke like Sharon’s die, rather than try to save him. If more information about this comes out, it will be worth looking into.