Reprise: I Just Saw an Ad For 'PatientsUnitedNow.com' (by Nash Vegas)

[BurtWorm]

Reprising because I, too, just saw this fuckin' ad.

(By the way, the ad makes the case that "some in Washington" want the government to run health care, a la the Canadian system. Of course this is partly true. Some *all over the country* want a Canadian-style single payer system. The ad isn't designed to be accurate however. It's designed to spread fears among morons who have been trained like circus seals or lab rats to palpitate at the mention of "socialism" that "Obamacare" is all about single-payer, which Obama made clear he has no interest in. Between you and me, I think that's unfortunate, but I'm not going to stake my life on single-payer now. I will be stunned if we get anything resembling a public option. I know many in this forum think this is a whimpy position to hold. Maybe so. That's where I am, nevertheless.)

Without further ado, the original post by Nash Vegas ( :applause: ):


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6097949&mesg_id=6097949


NashVegas (1000+ posts) Sat Jul-18-09 06:46 PM
Original message

Edited on Sat Jul-18-09 06:50 PM by NashVegas
On CNN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWKqIxkup3U

FYI, Shona Holmes, the woman in the video is a famous case. She was treated at the Mayo clinic and they use her as a case study:


Shona Holmes was in trouble: The list of her symptoms included headaches, sleeplessness, dizziness, low libido and, worst of all, rapidly deteriorating vision. Her family doctor in Canada ordered an MRI, and a brain tumor was detected. But it would take months for her to get on the appointment calendar of a neurologist or endocrinologist in Canada.

"I knew in my gut that I had to see someone and could not wait five to six months," she says. So she called Mayo Clinic and got an appointment the same day.

...

Dr. Naresh Patel, neurosurgeon, diagnosed Holmes as having a Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC). The rare, fluid-filled sac grows near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and eventually can cause hormone and vision problems. Dr. Patel joined forces with Drs. David W. Dodick, neurologist, and Michael D. Whitaker, endocrinologist, to work on Holmes' case.

Their further tests revealed an increase in the size of her cyst over a short period of time as well as progressively worsening vision. "I was concerned that the pressure on Shona's nerves were causing her to become blind," says Dr. Patel. "We needed to remove the cyst to save her vision."


Her TV commercial script SHOULD say: "I could have died if my tumor was malignent." But it wasn't. It wasn't even a tumor - it was a cyst.

PS - I wish we could find out if the Canadian government paid for the surgery, etc.



The organization behind it is being dug into by several others. Some findings:

From The Wonk Room on Think Progress: http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/pun /

Now, operating under the name Patients United Now, Americans for Prosperity — which is mostly funded by large multinational corporations — is masquerading as an organic grassroots movement outraged over the Presidents health care proposals:

After orchestrating and funding the so-called Tea Parties movement, Americans for Prosperity — a nationwide front group founded and funded by the right-wing polluter Koch Industries — is launching an ad campaign characterizing President Obama’s effort to reform the health care system as a government take-over that will ration care and care and deny treatments.

Americans for Prosperity is notorious for its fake grassroots efforts, funneling millions of dollars into conservative campaigns designed to undermine Democratic initiatives. As Lee Fang put it, “AFP is a professional AstroTurf machine”:

- Hosted ‘Drill Baby, Drill’ rallies around the country.

- Financed Joe the Plumber’s tour against the Employees’ Free Choice Act and other anti-EFCA rallies.

- Started NoStimulus.com, “a grassroots website that we hope will be a focal point for the widespread frustration ordinary Americans feel at the runaway government growth that we see during good economic times and bad.”


http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/