By ABBY GRUEN
With the increasing number of HIV/ AIDS victims, people all around the world are rushing into being tested. Because of the numbers being scarily high, organizations are beginning to take their social service stations to the streets, literally.
It is said that Westchester has the highest number of HIV/ AID fatalities outside of New York City. “‘We think that about 3,000 to 5,000 people in Westchester are H.I.V. positive,’ Dr. Lipsman said. Unfortunately, he said, 20 percent of those who are positive don’t know it.” With numbers that high, it could scare anyone into thinking that they could be the next statistic.
In December, health services have taken vans across the city to not only test for HIV and AIDS but for high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Some people might be worried that this act of testing people might not be affective, but I think that this is probably the easiest way for people to get tested. It’s not like they have to go to a doctor to go, but they could, for instance, be grocery shopping, see one of the vans, and decide that it would be a good idea to get tested.
Initially it might startle people to see medical type vans, waiting to test people, but I think that this method is less intimidating that going to see a doctor.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Monday, November 10, 2008
On Washington State’s Ballot: Doctor-Assisted Suicide http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/31death.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Prior to reading this article, I had never heard of such a thing as “doctor-assisted suicide”. The title of the article definitely was an obvious shocker, but through reading it, I was some what upset of what our world has come to.
It was eleven years ago that Oregon was proclaimed as the first state to allow physician- assisted suicide. Over the course of having past this law, about 341 people have taken there own lives with the assistance of a doctor. It has been quite a surprise to Oregon officials that not more people have taken “advantage” so to speak, in the newly stated laws. Also, it’s peculiar that no other state as begun to follow Oregon’s lead in the physician suicide laws.
To me, this law is absolutely ridiculous. People that are suicidal should not be given the assistance with their suicide attempts; instead, they should be given the help that they need through proper therapy and or medication.
But on the other hand, the story about Karen Janoch makes me feel sympathetic towards her situation. “In April 2004, Karen Janoch, terminally ill with liver cancer, took to her bed and, under Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, swallowed a lethal dose of drugs amid friends at her apartment in Eugene.”
With stories like Janoch’s, it seems that this women had little time left to live and wanted to leave in a more peaceful setting with a pain-free death. So with that being said, it hard to hear about a person, such as Janoch, and hear about them having to suffer through so much.
Prior to reading this article, I had never heard of such a thing as “doctor-assisted suicide”. The title of the article definitely was an obvious shocker, but through reading it, I was some what upset of what our world has come to.
It was eleven years ago that Oregon was proclaimed as the first state to allow physician- assisted suicide. Over the course of having past this law, about 341 people have taken there own lives with the assistance of a doctor. It has been quite a surprise to Oregon officials that not more people have taken “advantage” so to speak, in the newly stated laws. Also, it’s peculiar that no other state as begun to follow Oregon’s lead in the physician suicide laws.
To me, this law is absolutely ridiculous. People that are suicidal should not be given the assistance with their suicide attempts; instead, they should be given the help that they need through proper therapy and or medication.
But on the other hand, the story about Karen Janoch makes me feel sympathetic towards her situation. “In April 2004, Karen Janoch, terminally ill with liver cancer, took to her bed and, under Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, swallowed a lethal dose of drugs amid friends at her apartment in Eugene.”
With stories like Janoch’s, it seems that this women had little time left to live and wanted to leave in a more peaceful setting with a pain-free death. So with that being said, it hard to hear about a person, such as Janoch, and hear about them having to suffer through so much.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/nyregion/long-island/12Rhospital.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=greenwich%20hospital&st=cse&oref=slogin
As lucky as we all are to being living in such a fortunate town as Newtown, it is common that we take the littlest things for granted. Whether it be a great meal to eat every night, or a safe place to live, it’s hard to say that we all sit down and are thankful for what we are given every day. For the ones that are not as fortunate as we are, we then see how grateful we really are, and then we appreciate things that we are given.
In the New York Times, an article was written on the problems with immigrants coming into hospitals expecting treatment, for even the simpliest things, such as a cold, because of their lack of health care coverage. “For Immigrants, Checking to See if the Doctor Is In” talks about how “Greenwich Hospital, like many other hospitals in the New York area, is increasingly finding itself providing uncompensated medical care to poor, uninsured and often illegal immigrants”.
Although it would be impossible to have every hospital in the United States follow the lead of Greenwich Hospital, it really would help benefit the unfortunate people receive proper medical help. This could be our giving back to the society gift that would be the life or death end of someone.
As lucky as we all are to being living in such a fortunate town as Newtown, it is common that we take the littlest things for granted. Whether it be a great meal to eat every night, or a safe place to live, it’s hard to say that we all sit down and are thankful for what we are given every day. For the ones that are not as fortunate as we are, we then see how grateful we really are, and then we appreciate things that we are given.
In the New York Times, an article was written on the problems with immigrants coming into hospitals expecting treatment, for even the simpliest things, such as a cold, because of their lack of health care coverage. “For Immigrants, Checking to See if the Doctor Is In” talks about how “Greenwich Hospital, like many other hospitals in the New York area, is increasingly finding itself providing uncompensated medical care to poor, uninsured and often illegal immigrants”.
Although it would be impossible to have every hospital in the United States follow the lead of Greenwich Hospital, it really would help benefit the unfortunate people receive proper medical help. This could be our giving back to the society gift that would be the life or death end of someone.
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