Folks, I may raise some feathers with this, but I make no apologies. If you live in NY , I feel sorry for you, but my empathy for you is awfully small, especially if you are my age! I don’t care if you have a great job, live close to your kids and grandkids, and simply like living in a state run by complete idiots. Actually, I have little empathy for anyone who lives in CA, OR, or WA either. And I might even throw in WI, MI, or PA. All these states have gone mad to one degree or another. This latest from the Empire State is simply unbelievable. Stand by Ojiisans, you are next! You elected this fool, so live with it!

New York to Give Preference to Minorities in Receiving Covid Antivirals and Monoclonal Antibodies by bunkerville

One more reason to leave New York. This one is unconscionable. One could reasonably ask why productions of these drugs have not been stepped up. The same question regarding testing. What this leaves of course is rationing. Something the Progressives have had in mind since the Obama days.

There have been rumbles about healthcare for minorities receiving preference. This one takes it to a new level. If anyone thinks it will stop here, think again. Denying treatment based on ethnicity is a slippery slope. Age and disability will be next on the list.

New York Post:

New York City’s and state’s departments of health have reached a divisive and destructive low. In new guidelines rationing scarce, lifesaving oral antiviral medications and the one monoclonal antibody preparation that is effective against the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, they instruct providers to “consider race and ethnicity” and give preference to those who are “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.” These directives are immoral, illegal and bear no relation to the science.

The city’s Health Advisory #39 directs providers to adhere to the state Department of Health’s prioritization guidance for utilization of these COVID-19 treatments that are in short supply. It asks providers to consider whether patients are immunocompromised, their age, their vaccine status and the number of risk factors (medical conditions) they have for severe illness.

The problem with the state’s guidance is the instruction that “nonwhite race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity should be considered a risk factor, as longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.” Hence, all other risk factors such as age, immune, and vaccination status being equal, “nonwhite” and “Hispanic/Latino” patients will be granted superior treatment access compared with whites.

The race-based approach in treatment has already begun to have real-world consequences. One Staten Island doctor said he filled two prescriptions for Paxlovid this week and was asked by the pharmacist to disclose the race of his patients before the treatment was authorized.

“In my 30 years of being a physician I have never been asked that question when I have prescribed any treatment,” said the doctor, who requested anonymity. “The mere fact of having to ask this question is a slippery slope.”

Read more

This approach is not uncommon for the Progressives and harkens back to the days of Obama.

Recall this? Kidney Patients told to accept death, forgo Dialysis –  Asking Kidney Patients to Forgo a Free Lifeline

As they calmly say:

“It was meant to keep young and middle-aged people alive and productive, many of the patients who take advantage of the law are old…  Full story: New York Times

Kidney specialists are pushing doctors to be more forthright with elderly people who have other serious medical conditions, to tell the patients that even though they are entitled to dialysis, they may want to decline such treatment and enter a hospice instead. In the end, it is always the patient’s choice. But for how much longer?

One idea, promoted by leading specialists, is to change the way doctors refer to the decision to forgo dialysis. Instead of saying that a patient is withdrawing from dialysis or agreeing not to start it, these specialists say the patient has chosen “medical management without dialysis”.  ”That is the preferred term,” said Nancy Armistead, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition, a Medicare contractor that collects data and patient grievances.

Obama:

“Our approach lowers the government’s health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself,” Obama said. Really? The only way that will happen is by rationing. You may not like the use of the phrase “death panel,” but make no mistake about it — at the end of your life, in Barack Obama’s America, his death panel will throw you under the bus in a way much closer to reality than metaphor. At  RedState