By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD
For all those who favor government controlled health care, this is for you:
Tafida Raqeeb is a five-year-old girl who suffers from a rare condition called arteriovenous malformation, which caused a blood vessel in her brain to burst. She was taken by her parents, Shelina and Mohammed, for treatment at the Royal London Hospital where British doctors told the parents that there was nothing they could do for Tafida. The little girl is now in a coma.
In a repeat of a story that we’ve heard many times before, the British doctors are refusing the parents’ request to release Tafida for treatment elsewhere. The “elsewhere” is the Giannina Gaslini Institute in Genoa, Italy, a facility which has experience in treating arteriovenous malformation and whose medical staff have opined that there is a “good chance [Tafida] will emerge from the coma she is in.”
The Italian doctors have been in contact with the British doctors now treating the girl, so they have all her vitals. However, the British doctors are refusing to allow Tafida to go to Italy, saying it is better for her to be left to die. In furtherance of their belief, they have gone to court for permission to “pull the plug” on Tafida.
Tafida’s parents have taken the case to the High Court, arguing that they are the only people who have the legal right to make decisions for their daughter. While the little girl languishes in the hospital in a life or death condition, the court has scheduled arguments for September, thus postponing a decision until fall.
This, of course, seems to be a pattern in British hospitals under that nation’s socialized medical regime. You will recall the case of Charlie Gard, a one-year-old with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. His parents were trying to take him to the United States for experimental treatment at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital. Rather than releasing the child to his parents, the British doctors went to court for the right to remove his breathing machine where the court sided with doctors and allowed the hospital to unplug Little Charlie, who quickly died.
Then there was the similar case of two-year-old Alfie Evans who suffered from GABA-transaminase deficiency. His parents wanted to take him to the Vatican-owned Gesù Bambino hospital for experimental treatment. Not only was the Roman hospital ready to receive Alfie, the Pope had ordered a plane to stand by to fetch Alfie.
But alas, the British medical establishment knew best and a judge ruled that Little Alfie was to remain in Liverpool’s Alder Hey hospital where he finally died.
This, of course, proves our American politicians so right when they campaign for government-run health care: The all-knowing government system will always make the correct choice for the patient, as it did for Charlie and Alfie, and are trying to do for Tafida.
To prove the government’s point is the story of eight-year-old Ashya King from Southampton who suffered from a brain tumor. Concerned about the enlightened treatment the British system was providing, his parents, Brett and Naghemeh King, sought to take their son out of the hospital for treatment elsewhere. The infallible socialist system refused since it always knows what is best.
But in Ashya’s case his parents abducted their son from the hospital and ran, which, of course made them fugitives from the law. The government then conducted a continent-wide manhunt for Ashya’s parents and they were finally arrested in Spain where they had fled and found treatment for their son.
Unfortunately for the infallible British doctors, Ashya did get treatment in a Spanish facility. Five years later the boy is cancer free and has no brain damage. But, of course, the parents are criminals: They defied the all-knowing state.
Remember that when you hear our presidential candidates prattle on about eliminating private health insurance and turning us all over to a state-run system. Charlie, Alfie, Ashya, and now Tafida should be our warning signs as we pray for Tafida.
On a happier note, two recent cases involving institutions of higher education have recently been favorably resolved.
At the University of Florida, while all students had to pay an annual activity fee, campus groups were given unequal access to the fees. The Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) had its request for funding to host two conservative speakers denied. This was followed by the usual lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Florida.
Under the university’s policy, the student fees were to provide student organizations free expression, but the school allowed the student government to determine the allocation of funds.
In response to the lawsuit, the university changed its policies for allocation of student fees, making it more equitable, and agreed to pay the YAF $66,000 to settle the lawsuit.
“Thankfully, in response to this lawsuit, the University of Florida recognized the errors embedded within its policies by adopting changes that no longer force YAF members to pay into a system that funds opposing viewpoints and discriminates against their own,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Caleb Salton.
In California, Moreno Valley College had terminated Professor Eric Thompson after finding that the professor was harming students by exposing them to the view that environmental factors, rather than biology, might account for same-sex attraction. Calling Thompson’s actions “unprofessional,” he was suspended, then fired for “dangerous” and “immoral” discussions.
Thompson was represented by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), which prevailed against the college in both arbitration and a subsequent appeal to the superior court.
“The [college] believes that any discussion of the traditional notions of family are, or should be illegal. Two judicial officers have now concluded that the [college] is wrong,” said PJI attorney Michael Peffer.
“We are encouraged by this court’s decision to protect Professor Thompson’s voice of reason from being squelched out of the classroom. Our legal team is on the battleground of college campuses to protect the First Amendment rights of teachers and students,” said PJI President Brad Dacus.
And, while we are on the subject of colleges, Colorado State University created a fun new document on inclusive language. It lists words and phrases to avoid — and why — along with suggestions for more politically correct substitutions.
For example, “cake walk” is a suspicious term because “slaves would covertly mock white slave owners through exaggerated dance to mimic white aristocrats.” So say, “That was easy” instead. “Hip-hip-hooray” is also frowned upon because it “developed from the German ‘hep hep’ which was a harmless, adorable call shepherds would use when herding their sheep. But during the Holocaust, German citizens started using it as a rallying cry when they would hunt down the Jewish citizens living in the ghettos.” So instead, only use the word “hooray.”
Apparently “paddy wagon” is on the questionable list because it “either stemmed from the large number of Irish police officers or the perception that rowdy, drunken Irishmen constantly ended up in the back of police cars.” “Police car” is therefore a safe choice. “Peanut gallery” also runs afoul of polite conversation, because it “intends to reference hecklers or critics, usually ill-informed ones” and “names a section in theaters, usually the cheapest and worst, where many black people sat during the era of Vaudeville.” “Audience” will do just fine, says the guide.
There are other cautionary words, such as “uppity,” “thug,” and “grandfather clause” included that, for reasons of space and sanity, we needn’t get into, but you get the picture. But silliness continues. This all reminds me of the MSNBC contributor, former FBI assistant director of counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi, who claimed that after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, President Trump gave a coded heads-up to Nazis’ when he ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until August 8.
Why? you might ask. Well, that’s very simple, the eighth letter of the alphabet is “H” thus the date represents “H H” which everyone knows is short for “Heil Hitler.”
I’m going to bed. I have a headache now.
(You can contact Mike at: Deacon
Mike@q.com.)
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