doctor Bob":10juf3hs said:
As was Britains cancer crisis on BBC1, lots of young and middle age people losing their lives and savings. Theropies stopped mid way through, one lady spending £250k to have private treatment stopped by NHS. The effects and deaths will be considerable.
Difficult balancing act, but it seems like cancer care just stopped, so I suppose it wasn't a balance at all.
For me with parents who are 87, I know they have had a wonderful life and I will be devastated when they die, but would I (I know they wouldn't) put them before a young woman with 3 kids and potentially years of forefilling life ahead of them, NO.
Very easy to have the caring attitude for instant death (days and weeks) and forget about the long term deaths over the next few years. Seems selfish and unthought through.
Please (general broadcast) don't start frothing at the mouth, it gets people no where and just stops me responding, also I will not respond to pointy finger accusations, be rational and nice :lol:
Certainly won't be me Bob, the only time I get red faced is during strenuous exercise and no froth gets near my mouth unless it's on top of a fashionable coffee. :lol:
I agree with much of the above, remember that despite being accused of wanting to protect life at
all cost that is not what I meant or believe. There are very different balancing acts and nothing is ever black and white. I just have an opposite view to yours regarding lockdown in that I think it should have been sooner, and very firm then perhaps we might have come out of it quicker as well. There is little doubt it was handled badly, information was sketchy and confusing along with the usual political digs from all sides that always happen however no matter which political party was in office the outcome would just as likely have been chaotic.
I do think that comparing your parents with a young woman and 3 kids is a red herring as unless you were to stand them together and say "either you or you is going to die now" and you can't do that. :roll: Perhaps if the woman had terminal cancer but if so she's going to die anyway and if she was treated in hospital at the height of the pandemic then she would quite possibly be infected while there and die. That happened to the mums of 3 of my friends btw.
Would you stand in front of your parents and say you have to die so my business can thrive? Maybe you would but I seriously doubt it, I couldn't as I would find a way to survive hard times but not the guilt of killing my parents. Is that analogy any more silly than yours?
People screaming about loss of income to protect the old and that the country will be in debt for generations have been happy enough to contribute to that debt by claiming free £10k / 25k handouts, rate holidays, grants, interest free loans whilst still being allowed in many cases to work and earn, I consider that to be hypocritical, had I still been in business I'd have taken them as well just wouldn't have screamed about the consequences. The old they are protecting, many living hand to mouth on a poverty line state pension got nothing from the state apart from the extremely vulnerable in receipt of a weekly food parcel, They are not shouting they're just happy to be alive as is their right after a lifetime of work and contribution to the economy. Caring is what is supposed to make us human but inevitably the greed and self preservation traits surface for all to see.
As far as staff being seconded to the front line and underused, again not a black and white argument as in some areas including parts of the north east they were much busier than that and very close at times to being at the limit. I have family working in Newcastle RVI who took the first 2 C19 patients in the UK so I also get info first hand.
Not all cancer and other treatments were cancelled either, at least not in my area though most were and not all appointments cancelled by the NHS, many were cancelled by patients themselves who were scared of catching the virus while in hospital. My wife was one of those though not a cancer sufferer and they were right to be worried as the nature of their illness makes them vulnerable whatever their age. Same applies to referrals as people were scared to go to the doc but that's a different argument and some blame can be directed at media hysteria.
I also have family working in various medical capacities in other N.E. hospitals, a niece who's a GP in Cheltenham and another a specialist nurse in a London hospital so am hearing very different stories to yours.
There's no easy answer and we all look at it differently and are influenced by our own circumstances but whatever happens going forward is going to be a mess for all of us.
Good to see that you at least, unlike others are astute enough to look at other income avenues going forward, hope the mutt project is successful.
