Chalk this one up as another argument against socialized medicine.
Europe’s socialized healthcare system is on the verge of collapse, thanks to the threat from coronavirus.
Coronavirus tends to be far more fatal in the elderly and those with pre-existing healthcare conditions. Italy—the hardest-hit country after China—is now weighing an “age limit” to access care, prioritizing those with a higher chance of survival.
The Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care suggested, in a leaked document, that the elderly could get shut out of care altogether:
“It may be necessary to place an age limit on entry into the ICU,” the society wrote, in a report. “It is not a question of making merely valuable choices, but of reserving resources that could be very scarce for those who are primarily likely to survive and to those who can have more years of life saved, with a view to maximizing the benefits for the greatest number of people.”
Translation? The Italian government will effectively sentence older people to death—in order to shift the limited resources of socialized medicine towards protecting younger patients, who are more likely to survive and will, either way, have more time to live after recovering.
After first being diagnosed in Wuhan, China, the virus has quickly spread across the world—with Italy being the hardest-hit country after China.
More than 5,800 people in Italy have been diagnosed with coronavirus—and a further 233 people have been killed as of Saturday night. Most of the deceased are over the age of 60.