Proof of failure of socialized medicine

The Associated Press reports that on Aug. 17, a set of quadruplets was born in Grand Forks, Montana. This multiple birth -- identical quadruplets -- was said to be one in 13 million.

The parents had driven 328 miles from Alberta, Canada, because they were told the large city of Calgary did not have enough neonatal intensive care unit beds to handle this birth. Well, the good old USA could handle it.

Among the many deficits of the Canadian system is a shortage of every kind of bed, from neonatal to nursing home. Know-it-all bureaucrats sitting in plush offices make the decisions about hospital expansion. Michael Moore's movie, "Sicko", lauds the supposed superiority of the medical systems in Canada, Cuba and all countries that have socialized national health systems. Yet we see over and over that people come to America from all over the world to receive prompt advanced medical care when they are faced with a life-threatening crisis.

It will be interesting to see where the overweight Mr. Moore will go for his predictable triple-vessel heart bypass. It will not be Havana, Cuba, or Calgary, Canada, but more likely Cleveland Clinic or Mayo Clinic, or Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, or Edward Hospital in Naperville -- somewhere in the USA.

As we listen to the presidential candidates, we need to beware of any of them who hold up Canada as a model for socialized medicine. Instead, we should watch the Canadian people who are "voting with their feet" against Michael Moore-style medical care. If we adopt that kind of medical care, to what country will we flee when we have such a medical crisis as the Canadian couple with quadruplets?

Priscilla Weese

Wheaton