More like this
Stephen Hawking defends ‘evil’ NHS
The British scientist says he would not be here today if it was not for tax-funded healthcare
Stephen Hawking, the British scientist who has lived with motor neurone disease since 1963, has been dragged into America's increasingly ugly row over Barack Obama's proposed £1 trillion overhaul of healthcare provision.
Hawking has defended Britain's tax-funded National Health System after he was held up by a US financial newspaper as an example of why the NHS should not be used as a blueprint for the reforms. In a recent editorial, Investors Business Daily claimed: "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."
The Cambridge professor, who is of course British despite speaking with an American-accented vocoder, told the Guardian: "I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived." Hawking was treated by an NHS hospital as recently as April, when he was admitted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for chest infections. Investors Business Weekly has since amended its article, removing any mention of the scientist.
The NHS has been the subject of several outlandish attacks by Republicans and anti-reform campaigners in their bid to defeat Obama's healthcare reforms. Republicans launched a slickly produced TV campaign this week branding the NHS 'evil' and 'Orwellian'.
Last week the most senior Republican on the Senate finance committee, Chuck Grassley, claimed that his ailing Democratic colleague Senator Edward Kennedy would be left to die untreated from a brain tumour in Britain because he would supposedly be too old for treatment. "I've heard several senators say that Ted Kennedy with a brain tumour, being 77 years old as opposed to being 37 years old, if he were in England, would not be treated for his disease, because... when you get to be 77, your life is considered less valuable under those systems."
Hawking had the chance to continue his defence of the NHS further this afternoon when President Obama was due to present him with the presidential medal of freedom in Washington. The Brief History of Time author was among 16 people due to receive America's highest civilian honour, along with Ted Kennedy, Billie Jean King and Desmond Tutu. ·
Comments are now closed on this article
Comments
I'm with Neil McGowan, the neocon liars want to keep the population in fear, and that includes fear of a social health system which provides free care for all, which they see as a threat to their 'private care for the privileged' profits. I've been healthy all my life, fortunately, but my wife wouldn't be alive today without the major surgery she had several years ago. If she'd been an American, she would have died in agony. What none of these fascists ever acknowledges is the fact that the rich can sign up to private health care and do, so there's no threat to anyone. It's not just the old who suffer in America, it's any age if the money isn't available, in the Land of the Free to die miserably.
I am a New Zealand citizen resident in the UK with 'right to remain' in the UK due to my Grandfather's birth here and I cannot speak highly enough of the NHS. I am a working artist, and had cataracts in both eyes diagnosed late last year, which was quite scary and could have been a personal disaster, but I have had a successful op courtesy of the NHS, at no cost to me, and have now begun work again.
I am 70 at the end of this year, so age was obviously not a consideration; there were far older patients than I who had the same op on the same day. I have type 2 diabetes and all meds and treatment are free, including specialist consultations such as the retinal scan each year. I take as much responsibility for my own health as I can by keeping fit and following sensible dietary practices, but the aging process eventually makes it impossible to keep the need for therapeutic drugs at bay. The NHS is, in my view, a genuine national treasure for the UK.
@Neil McGowan: What on earth are you smoking? Even the strange stalking nutters over at Christopher Hitchens Watch would stop short of calling the man "the pure distilled essence of evil". You've just made a list of people you don't like - it's hardly an argument. Yes, in an ideal world Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld would be facing a war crimes tribunal (as should Bush and Blair) for their illegal actions in invading Iraq, but there are shades of darkness. By overstating the case in such a childishly overeager fashion you are hardly contributing to the debate. America faces a fascinating and terrible dilemma, one which we will probably face here in the not too distant future.
Well said Neil McGowan!! Your sentiments are spot on. I would like to add that these evil Nazi's have been spouting out lies of same magnitude for past decade or so, regarding the disastrous so called 'War on Terror'. Whether it is National Healthcare or National Security - their objectives are the same: To keep the population in fear, so that they follow the agenda set by the right wing fascists.
Frankly the entire civilised world needs defending against yankee rightwing nazis. Kristol, Frum, Hitchens, Wolfowitz, Brzezinski, O'Reilly, Coulter, McCain, Palin, Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove - they are the pure distilled essence of EVIL on this planet.