Hillary and Health Care

The Clinton Campaign has a lot of potential to teach us about what is wrong with the American health care system.

Back last fall, her health slipped just a bit, but that's to be expected as we grow older. She was active, healthy and engaged through the fall and early winter. But then on January 3, she slipped and fell. She landed in the hospital for a couple of days, but quickly bounced back five days later.

She spent the next several weeks recovering, but ended up back in the hospital by the end of the month with a complication from her earlier hospitalization (you know, like a DVT).

She was expecting to be discharged and back to her usual state of health by February 5, but unexpectedly took a turn for the worse. Complication after complication arose, and by the end of February she was in the ICU.

But then on March 4, she rallied. Sure, she was still in the hospital, but she had been transferred out of the ICU back to the floor. She held her own through the month of March, except for a couple of minor set backs. Her family was expecting her to be back in full force again, though the doctors were still expressing caution at her condition - still on oxygen, etc.

By April, she was rallying again. But despite being up and walking for the first time in months, she was still transfusion-dependent. Nonetheless, her family was making plans to get the house ready for her return.

And then it all fell apart in May. She was rushed to the ICU, intubated, and placed on pressors. She was suffering from multi-organ failure. But the she continued to insist (during sedation holidays) that everything be done to save her. The family agreed that she would want everything done, even if there was just a slim chance of saving her. And even though it was possible that she might be weaned off of dopamine within a week, the overall prognosis was still grim.

Regardless, because the patient wants everything to be done, we continue to pour millions into the effort, realizing all to well that it will not effect the final outcome, or improve her quality of life in the final moments.

In this way, Hillary is like so many Americans -- fighting to the very end, unable or unwilling to accept the reality of what is to come. All the while, tying up resources that could be put to better use. Hillary is modern medicine.