Grandma Got Run Over by Obama

It's pretty chilling when the President of the United States suggests that health care dollars may have been wasted on his Grandmother. She had hip replacement surgery after being diagnosed with cancer and succumbed to that cancer a number of weeks later. It begs this question: Why would doctors suggest and carry out hip replacement surgery after the cancer diagnosis if they didn't think it would help? Hip replacement surgery requires extensive rehabilitation that can typically take six to eight weeks to complete, longer for elderly people.

Here is what the Mayo Clinic has to say about the reasons to consider hip replacement surgery.

Why it's done
By Mayo Clinic staff

The goal of hip replacement surgery is to relieve pain and increase the mobility and function of a damaged hip joint. If a stiff, painful hip joint has forced you to cut back on everyday activities, successful surgery may allow you to resume them.

Before thinking about surgery, though, your doctor may recommend other treatments, such as pain medications, physical therapy, exercise, and using a cane or walker. If these treatments are not enough, hip replacement may be the right option for you.

Conditions that can damage the hip joint, sometimes necessitating hip replacement surgery, include:

* Osteoarthritis
* Rheumatoid arthritis
* Broken hip
* Bone tumor
* Osteonecrosis, which occurs when there is inadequate blood supply to the ball portion of the hip joint

Symptoms that might lead you to consider hip replacement include:

* Pain that keeps you awake at night
* Little or no relief from pain medications or walking aids
* Difficulty walking up or down stairs
* Trouble rising from a seated position
* Having to stop activities you enjoy, such as walking, because you're in too much pain

I suggest that the benefits and risks of this surgery were well-considered for Obama's Grandmother. It now appears, however, that Obama was willing to throw those considerations and his Grandmother under the bus to help sell his health care initiatives. This man will take advantage of anything to further his political career. Do you want him making decisions for YOUR Grandmother?

Perhaps Obama's "death panels" should include a representative of his Grandmother's physicians. They seemed to be opposed to limiting health care for "lost" causes.

Here's a parting thought. If the government limits health care to age-oriented issues (Alzheimers, Dimentia, etc.), do you think there will be any incentive to pursue cures for these ailments?

Update: At least the Senate doesn't want to sing the same tune. Do you think Sarah Palin had anything to do with this? Some seem to think so.

I tend to agree. But that's just me.