St. Jude Hospital ads

[ThatsMyBarack]

These ads don't annoy me--just sadden me a little. I think St. Jude Hospital is a wonderful charity that does great things for children fighting cancer. I've even donated money to St. Jude before.

The one problem I have with this ad is: "No child is ever turned away because of a family's inability to pay." It always makes me wonder: Why can't this apply to everyone in every hospital? I think of the movie John Q, in which Denzel Washington actually ends up fighting COPS AND THE LAW to get his sick kid a heart transplant.

[DefenseLawyer]

1. But I assume they only take a certain number of referred cases.

I could be wrong, but my guess is if you just show up there without a referral you will probably be turned away.

[MedicalAdmin]

5. St Jude is referral only and research only

That means that your doctor has to register to refer and then select your kid as a likely candidate to participate in a research project or study. That Mensa that they have to be studying whatever your kid has, they have to select your kid for the study and you have to agree to let your kid participate in a double blind study (so junior might be getting NO treatment and you will NEVER know..

It isn't bad or evil but it is research and you should understand that going in.


More info? http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ca56f9523e70110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD&vgnextchannel=f23fbfe82e118010VgnVCM1000000e2015acRCRD

[DCKit]

8. That's fucking horrible for a hospital that purports to treat everyone. nt

Clinical trial on helpless, homeless, destitute kids, in the U.S..

[dflprincess]

9. Not every child treated at St. Jude's is helpless, homeless or destitute

Kids get sent there from all over the world as well as the U.S. and from varying socio-economic groups. The research done at St. Jude's has benefited kids everywhere. They take the cases that can't be helped anywhere but a research facility.

When I was a kid a diagnosis of leukemia was a death sentence now, thanks in part to St. Jude's, many kids survive it and they don't need to travel to Memphis for their treatments.

If my child were ill and the only chance of survival was a clinical trial, you bet I'd take the gamble.

[MedicalAdmin]

12. Yes - good points but if I may interject a small word.

I think, and this is my opinion but one based on advice from our medical director and by reading the research that our in house CE provides, that the St. Jude approach has a few weaknesses (but what doesn't, yah?).

I think I would try the cancer treatment centers of america before St. Judes if it was my kid. But if your kid gets sick then do whatever you think you have to and I will stand in your corner and try to help as much as I can. I just thought I would mention that there are alternative that are up on the latest in treatments which don't get as much press as St. Judes.

This is not a denegration of that institution. They do good work.

[JVS]

10. In keeping with their namesake, St. Jude's has always been about hopeless causes.

They do the stuff that other places consider a waste of time and money. They keep track of results because if they gain enough experience trying to help the hopeless then the category of what is hopeless is eventually changed.

[MedicalAdmin]

11. No it's not.

First of all not all their patients are helpless or without financial means. It is considered a last hope in many cases and their research has lead to increases in understanding of child cancer and increased the short term outlook for many kids. Unfortunately there are no (er, very very few) long term studies on the effects of chemo on life time mortality and morbidity.

But they are not ghouls. Heck they even say right up front - this place is about research.



On the other hand their fundraising ads do not exactly mention this ...

[RandomThoughts]

2. most people use 'cops and the law' as there excuse for actions.

'cops and the law' only has meaning when compared to an external set of truth. Most think of 'cops and law' relative to them.

So if they compare some law, any law, to some action. and from that any law or any cop in their mind becomes valid. There must be a point of reference to view if the Cop or law is more correct or not.



Most think the cops are on their side. You have to see what side of the bigger outer elements the cops and laws of different types of systems are on also.

If a cop and some law is on the bad side, then fighting the cops and laws is the better decision, becuase they are not cops and laws by their own choice of action not compared to you, but compared to a universal outer concept of what is best for most people.


The label trap 'cops and law' is missuses by bad many times. What are they about, 2nd and 3rd defense helps with that.


Or you have to believe people mean nothing, or hate people, and what side is that again?



Once again comes the idea of judging what is good and bad by certainty, so at the same time you try to learn, and not judge, but correct what you see is wrong, since you can not be sure what is good or bad, and instead try to find what is good in most things as you understand it, from best thoughts on the topic.

Some think 'knowledge of good and evil' is any claim to feel anything is bad or good, no conscious or 'do what ever you want'. It also fits into people having no value or no meaning.

[Denninmi]

3. Think of the medicaid recipients in Arizona now on death row

because Arizona will no longer pay for organ transplants for medicaid patients. Several have already missed their opportunity to get a life-saving organ transplant because they couldn't pay for it.

But, you know, we need to make sure that the uber-rich still get those big tax breaks. They're much more worthy of life than the poor.

[LiberalinNC]

4. I truly free St. Jude's is a wonderful hospital, but they did turn away my

little 5 year neighbor who was fighting brain cancer. Since then, I have not given them any money. Broke my heart when St. Jude's refused him treatment, he died 5 years ago the 26th.

[Ron Green]

6. Medicare for All!

[Kurovski]

7. St. Jude's was my father's favorite charity.

When I was eight I developed Rheumatic Fever. I woke up one morning with ankles purple, the size of softballs. Our family doctor tried to get me into La Rabida in Chicago, a charity hospital, but they had no room. Dad packed me into the car and camped out in reception until they took me in.

They had a private room on the second floor with a lovely view of Lake Michigan. Funny how it suddenly appeared in a hospital with no room. I eventually made it to the "Happy Room", a misnomer to be sure. there were about 50 of us in there.

Dad saved me from developing heart disease by insisting they take me in so quickly.

Later, when my dad was sick in his 60's, he had a poster with pictures of kids from St Jude taped to it, he wrote on it "my inspiration", and saw it every day till the last.

He thought if a five year old could suffer what they did, he certainly could manage.