50-year-old Tim Alsip allegedly robbed an
Oregon bank of $1 then sat down to
wait for police to arrest him.
"The suspect got the dollar and his wish; police arrived and arrested him on robbery charges."
This man is not alone. There are many such cases in U.S where people commit crimes in order to get medical treatment.
Then there are Repug congressmen and women who want to block Obama's healthcare reform. This healthcare reform does not provide public healthcare but it is some improvement on the existing situation. See the CBC story. Recommend this post
I did a feature series on Ontario nursing home legislation back in the 70s. I explored the minimum standards prescribed by the Ontario Extended Care Nursing Home Act and compared them with standards of the Canadian Penitentiary Service and the care requirements stipulated for prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
ReplyDeleteI managed to show that the levels of treatment being afforded seniors (at least back then) if provided to prisoners of war could be considered war crimes and they were plainly substandard compared to services provided to inmates in our prisons. I concluded that the least advantaged seniors would be much better off in prison than in the dungeons of some nursing homes.
Mound, your conclusion was correct. It is sad. Nursing homes are indeed very poorly run and there is a lot of abuse of seniors too. This is despite that we have public healthcare system.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in U.S. I read a story a while ago that poor young people, who have medical condition which needs attention, commit crimes to receive proper medical treatment in prisons.