Should the feds know more about your child than you do?
If you think parents have a right and an obligation to know about their children’s health, think again. The Health and Human Services Department is working to “clarify” the laws (which they created without your vote in the first place) concerning your right to see your children’s medical records.
Current federal regulations require a minor’s consent before mommy and daddy can see junior’s medical records. The Secretary of Health and Human Services wants to amend the regulations to allow parents to access these records without their children’s consent – but only IF the provider agrees.
And you know what THAT means – if there is anything in the record that would incriminate your child in what the medical provider considers to be your “overly moralistic” view – an STD, for instance, or a clandestine visit to the abortionist – you’ll most likely never see the record. You see, “Der Kommissars” at Health and Human Services see themselves as the protector of the child’s “rights.” Evidently, you as a parent have no rights. This isn’t privacy – it’s lunacy!
To avoid having to make any real decision, the feds may ultimately leave the matter in the hands of the individual states. This is where things go from bad to downright ridiculous. For example, some states require parental consent before a minor may have her virginal and pristine ears pierced. Yet these same states restrict the parent’s access to their child’s records concerning contraception, abortion, or STDs. Ludicrous, isn’t it?
Planes, veins, and altitude deals
Last month, a British rugby player filed suit against an Australian airline after a blood clot that formed in his legs during an extended flight moved into his lungs and became life threatening. This is not an isolated occurrence, either. In the United States, the press has dubbed this alarming incidence of high-altitude blood clotting – with consequent embolism and (often) death – as “Economy-Class Syndrome.” However, distinguished professors of medicine in England report that the risk is the same no matter what kind of deal you got on your seat. (They didn’t correlate the incidence of embolism with buttock size, but maybe they should have.)
About 143 patients have DIED from deep vein thrombosis (the technical term for what happened to the rugby-playing plaintiff) in the hospitals around Britain’s Gatwick Airport alone. Most of these cases occur after long-haul flights. The problem is a serious one – and not only in England, but worldwide.
According to a report in the London Telegraph, airlines are supposed to encourage passengers to move about the cabin. But the more time you spend out of your seat (or unbuckled in your seat) the more likely you are to experience permanent paralysis or death if a sudden downdraft propels you straight up into the ceiling – it can happen in a heartbeat. Besides, all that foot traffic will make it impossible for the flight attendants to cart out those vodka martinis I love so much.
The solution is simple: Learn how to exercise in your seat. Wiggle your toes. Flex your ankles, knees and thighs. Tense and relax your thighs and calves. Scrunch your butt-cheeks together. Easy, huh? So why didn’t the airlines think of this, instead of recommending in-flight, middle-of-the-aisle jumping jacks? Perhaps the effects of thrombosis have deprived their brains of oxygen
