With Obamacare under fire from the Right, Americans are feeling tentative about the new health care law. But this American offers testimony about
the benefits of living under Britain’s National Health Services–and how the benefits of the Affordable Care Act will translate into a safer and
healthier America.
By Wendell P. Simpson
While I was living in London two years ago, I was at a band rehearsal when I suddenly felt very ill, becoming increasingly dizzy and nauseous. I struggled
to stay on my feet until I no longer stand and collapsed onto the floor of the rehearsal space. My band mates, shocked and concerned, summoned an
ambulance–and within moments, I was being whisked away to one of the borough hospitals at Whipps Cross.
I lapsed in and out of consciousness during the ride; I could hear the screaming siren as the ambulance traversed the narrow cobblestone streets of East
London, and, at one point, I vomited as the ambulance bounced along. The ambulance attendants were diligently monitoring me.
When I finally arrived at Whipps Cross, I was shuttled into a triage room where I was surrounded by a cadre of doctors and my crying wife, who was called
from work by a hospital representative. I could hear the doctors talking as they diagnosed me–I had suffered a spontaneous sub-arachnoid hemorrhage of the
brain, so-called because the bleeding tentacled out from the injury site in my head like the legs of a spider.
Looking around, I noticed that I was laid out on a gurney and connected to an octopus-like series of tubes coming from my arms. A series of wires spiraled
out from my head and chest that were attached to a monitoring machine. .Immediately, I was taken to surgery where surgeons put a coil in my head to relieve
the severe bleeding.
I was moved onto a ward in a section of the hospital dedicated to severe injuries. There, I was surrounded by an assortment of patients who had all
suffered severe injuries–one gentleman had a whole section of skull removed after he had fallen from a tree while painting his home–a tree branch had
penetrated his brain; another had suffered eye injuries so severe that doctors had removed one of them. Still another patient had lost a leg in a
motorcycle accident.
The nurses were attentive and kind–and particularly curious as I was the only American on the ward (I had become something of a celebrity). I had a
private TV attached to my wall on which I could watch cable and play games.
The diet I was availed was mostly vegetarian as London has a large number of Hindus and Muslims and the menu was constructed to accommodate not only the
largest number of prospective patients, but the expedition of healing. There was delicious German chocolate cake, ice cream and rice and chocolate pudding
for dessert, and Lucozade beverages, lemonade, soda–or ‘fizzy drinks’ as their called in England– and English tea to drink.
Specialists visited me every day, sussing out my mental and physical recovery. On occasion, I was moved into a section of the hospital that specialized in
brain trauma. I received regular brain and body scans and treatment for my compromised kidneys (diagnosed as hypertensive nephropathy and high calcium. It
has nothing to do with the aneurysm, but doctors had discovered it during exams). Psychologists visited several times a week to talk to me and access the
extent of my brain function.
After almost a month, I was finally released into the care of my wife and was confined to bed for two weeks. Occupational therapists were dispatched to my
home where they subjected me to a battery of specialized vocational rehabilitation exercises, which included puzzles and therapies designed to test my
cognitive abilities. I was also prescribed medicines that treated both the effects of the aneurysm and the kidney issues and had additional tests
investigations scheduled to ensure that renal and mental functions had improved.
Within weeks, I was back to work.
And all of this care cost us zero dollars–or pounds, in the case of English money–because of the all-inclusive nature of National Health Services
benefits. It was truly the time in my live where I was the least concerned about getting sick. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, or as most call it,
Obamacare, Americans will be availed a measure of comfort about illnesses that we’ve never had before. Because the number one cause of bankruptcy here in
America is medical bills, having some relief from that prospect will ease the psychological burden of illness. That in and of itself is a comfort.
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