Friday 2nd October 2009
Age discrimination.
Thank you for taking time to read this page.
I read somewhere on the Internet recently that doctors, nurses and other staff in hospitals had received instructions that if an elderly patient of more than "six score years and ten" (the biblical recommendation for an average life) had a stroke or heart attack no attempt at resusitation should be attempted. I have tried to find this again but without any luck. If fact I had come to think I had imagined it until I can across this leaflet (see left) in the Age Concern office.
This confirms what I had read. One man in this leaflet says:
"For years my doctor said my back pain was 'old age'. When I moved house my new GP found I had a tumour the size of a football. It could have killed me. I'd never have been treated this way if I was younger"
"No attempt at resusitation should be attempted". This just about sums up the attitude of our sick society nowadays. Looking at it from our lords and masters viewpoint; namely the British Government, the more old people they can dispose of, the less money they have to pay out in state pensions and benefits.
No longer needed.
To these masters of the world, our sick and elderly are exhausted resources. No longer human beings. Just resources that have been expended that should be left to die in dirty and disease ridden hospital wards. Now that they have squeezed the last penny out of them in the form of high taxation and low wages throughout their working lives, they are trash to be got rid of.
Another example shown in this leaflet is a lady; her age is not mentioned, who tells her story:
"I had a leaky valve in my heart. The attitude from doctors was 'What are you bothered about at your age?' I stuck to my guns and said I wanted this job done"
Many people are not offered medical treatment because of their age, regardless of their need.
Since I became an old age pensioner I have noticed a change in attitude towards me by doctors and other medical staff. Several years ago, just after I reached 65 I developed a pain in one knee. My doctor prescibed painkillers rather than investigate the cause. The pain got slowly worse so he reluctantly sent me to see a physiotherapist. All she did was to put conductive pads on my knee joint and connect a "Tens" machine to them. I had this treatment for three visits of half-an-hour each time, and then I was informed that was all the treatment I could have under the National Health Service!
Restricted services.
It's not only proper healthcare that is denied to old people; insurance, credit and allowances for carers and the disabled are all among the services resricted for the elderly.
Age discrimination.
At this present time it is legal to force workers to retire at 65, because at that age you are considered "past it". I remember in 1997 when Labour were elected Tony Blair promised that he would make age discrimination illegal. Here we are in 2009 and this is yet another promise that the Government hasn't kept. The following statements appear in the leaflet:
The Government must provide fair access to health and social care.
The Government must abolish forced retirement at 65.
The Government must outlaw age discrimination in financial services and benefits.