The Miracle in Arizona

In an age where, as President Obama described, doctors want to rip you off by performing tonsillectomies every time your kid gets sick and pharmaceutical companies want to rip you off by pushing the red pill over the perfectly acceptable blue pill, doctors saved the life of a woman who was shot point blank straight her head. Only in America would Congresswoman Giffords have even a fighting chance to survive an injury that most people assume is lethal. No ‘death panel’ did a cost-benefit analysis to ascertain whether it would be worth the effort and considerable expense of what will no doubt be a long and costly recovery. A helicopter, not merely an ambulance, transported Congresswoman Giffords to a Level I trauma unit directed by a surgeon who had established forward operating theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Congresswoman is receiving expert care that is unimaginable even in other wealthy western democracies. This is not because the United States is a wealthy nation. Rather, it is a testament to the value we place on the preservation of human life, a value that is not universally shared in the socialist democracies of Western Europe that some seek to emulate. It is worth taking a moment to reflect and appreciate this.