Friday, August 31, 2007

When Anecdotes = Data

I realize the title above is never true, but I never enjoy hearing the horror stories that come from places like Canada or Britain, detailing the terrible failures resulting from the socialized medical systems there. The frequency with which I hear them is what makes them so tragic. Again, the plural of anecdote is not data, but they make great illustrations about the shortcomings of such systems.

Anyhow, Captain Ed has a post illustrating yet another disaster to be laid at the doorstep of socialized medicine, this time in Japan. It details the story of a woman who went into labor and was turned away by eight different hospitals. There was a ninth which was going to admit her, but the ambulance crashed on the way there and she miscarried. At that point, the hospital refused to admit her.

Be sure to read the entire thing. Ed rightly asks why, after seeing so many stories like these, anyone would still think that putting the government in sole command of the health care system would be beneficial to anyone. I wonder the same thing myself.

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