A Gentle Reminder

Obamacare remains a controversial topic. Is it socialized medicine? What can we expect besides Death Panels and soaring deficits?

Let's look to Canada where government-sponsored healthcare has been in effect for years. Our Neighbors to the North appear to have avoided most of the pitfalls that Fox News so stridently warned against here in the US, but the Canadian Broadcasting Company uncovered a veritable "smoking gun" in the health care debate. A patient who was awake during an eye procedure overheard surgeons and nurses discussing a hockey game. He expressed concern to the CBC that this "idle chatter" could lead to a mistake. The Provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons then issued a "gentle reminder" to its members regarding professionalism in the operating room.

Those Canadians, always so polite with their "gentle reminders".

That's where Obamacare will inevitably lead - doctors and nurses talking sports when they should be concentrating on the business at hand. Those Canadian surgeons should copy what our red-blooded American scalpel jockeys discuss in the Operating Room - their golf games, tax shelters, and anonymous Cayman Islands bank accounts.

Of course, in Canada, hockey is more important to doctors than yachts, sports cars, and trophy wives. Responding to an uproar from its members, the Provincial College modified its "gentle warning". It only holds when operating on patients who have not been sedated. Dr Canuck is free to discuss the Canadiens' chances against the Bruins during open heart surgery, but not when stitching up one of the players.

That's the problem with government-sponsored healthcare. Too many rules. Too much confusion. Too many "gentle reminders".