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February 15, 2006
On Poorly Worded Comments
Irresponsible. Outrageous. Fascist. Horrific.
There's a few words that can be used to describe the comments made by Jon Luvaas in last week's Planning Commision forum concerning Enloe Hospital's expansion project. For those who missed it Luvaas basically said that things like backyard BBQ's and a sound night's sleep were things that had to be considered when deciding whether or not a patient deserved to flown by helicopter from scene to the hospial for life-saving treatment. He went on to say that an 83 year old heart attack victim did not always deserve immediate intervention because they were near the end of their life anyways.
Luvaas then wrote a letter to the Chico ER on Sunday defending his comments and saying he was mis-quoted. Hey, Jon. Everyone heard you, it was on live TV. You weren't mis-quoted, you stuck your foot in your mouth and revealed how ignorant you really are of the issues surrounding Emergency Medicine. Later in the letter Luvaas tried to clarify his comments, and basically said the same thing again as he did during the forum. So, what now Jon, you were mis-quoted a second time? The Chico ER has it in for you? Or could it actually be that you are so far out of touch with reality, and what Emergency Services does that you have no business commenting on such a project.
The Emergency (especially pre-hospital) setting is no place to be making right-to-life decisions. Those decisions need to have been made in advance, and an Advanced Directive drawn out, or made after the crisis stage has passed and everyone has had some time to get a cool head back on their shoulders. Perhaps life-saving attempts will be futile, but the patient's demise is assured if they're left in the field with no help.
The fact that Mr. Luvaas would consider a person's age in determining whether or not they deserved the full extent of emergency treatment is horrifying. If we were to do that why not extend the list of Mr. Luvaas' undesirables. We could include the handicapped, still-born children, children with developmental delays, criminals, and people with severe mental retardation. What's the point in saving them? Most of them die young anyways, and they consume a large portion of healthcare resources. Thankfully, emergency medicine doesn't work that way. Race, religion, economic status, medical status, and age don't matter. In an emergency, the best care is provided to everyone. The time to make long-term decisons comes later. That's how it should be, and that's how it is.
Posted by at February 15, 2006 04:30 PM