Too Old for Treatment
Vernon Coleman
Here’s the thing: I know that if I were to catch the coronavirus, or were to catch some other virus which appeared to be the coronavirus or were to develop symptoms (such as a cough) which suggested that I might possibly have the coronavirus, then I would be on my own.
Well, I wouldn’t be on my own, of course, because Antoinette would be here with me.
But some NHS administrators have made it pretty clear that there’s a chance that no hospital would treat me. And, if I’m out of luck, then quite probably, no GP would treat me either.
It seems that anyone over 70 is too old to be treated by the NHS.
And, by and large, private hospitals don’t treat emergencies and even if they did they wouldn’t be able to treat me because all their beds have been rented by the NHS in case the NHS runs out of beds which, judging by the fact that the new hospitals they are building are virtually empty, seems extremely unlikely but there you go that doesn’t alter the fact that the beds are empty but they’re not available to me.
Anyway, if I get the coronavirus then I will either die or live. And the only professional help we’ll be able to call for will be the undertaker.
(In a clever twist on Catch 22, if you are over 70 then, whatever else you have got wrong with you, you will also officially be deemed to have the coronavirus – whether or not you’ve been tested and whether or not you show any symptoms. So, since you officially have the coronavirus you’re not entitled to be treated and if/when you die you will be added to the coronavirus statistics to make the Governmental policies all that much more acceptable to the masses. I do hope you don’t think I am joking because I’m not.)
But it’s not all that which worries me.
What worries me is that life is now a bit like a tightrope walk without a safety net.
If I fall in the garden and break my arm then there’s a chance that I’m not going to be treated. The hospitals are apparently too busy waiting for the young coronavirus patients who might or might not turn up. If I have a retinal detachment then I’ll just have to put up with it. If I have chest pains then it’ll be two aspirin and wait and see what happens.
The prediction I made less than two months ago was absolutely accurate: the coronavirus hysteria has turned the elderly into second class citizens. Or, more accurately, into non-citizens.
And so these are worrying times to be old.
It’s just another side effect of the Government’s hysterical over-response to this jumped up little flu bug.
It’s on my mind so I just thought I’d mention it.
Copyright Vernon Coleman April 18th 2020
P.S. The latest figures show that the total number of deaths is much the same as it always is. Just because everything (heart attack, cancer, flu, varicose veins, rabies, tuberculosis, you-name-it) is being listed as a coronavirus death hasn’t made any difference to the total. And before Ferguson et al claim that the absence of any rise in deaths is due to their advice, I would like to point out that countries which have no lockdown have much lower mortality rates than those which do.)
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