4 ms·

You're not logically wrong, but I'd value a few moments of empathy for the author of the article higher than this comment.

seibelj 7y ago
I have empathy for the illness but the author seems to lack appreciation for the incredible system working to keep her alive. The article is sad for the illness and also is a polemic against the capitalist system that allows her to survive whatsoever.
- robotresearcher 7y ago
  Bah, she can be grateful for the system later if and when she survives, her fingernails have grown back and she can button up her own shirt. Meanwhile, I found the insight into her situation educational and heartrending. If you step on a lego piece, do you immediately yell 'what a valuable and well-crafted toy product', or 'fuck that hurts'?
  - seibelj 7y ago
    The details of what it’s like to live with that disease are insightful. I have a more raw understanding of what that is like now. But intertwined with the article is a critique of every single bit of the system, and larger society, that is fantastically successful at keeping an ever increasing number of such patients alive. The author critiques the economic system, the hospitals, the doctors, the genders of the care staff, the drugs themselves, whether she even deserves to live given the potential to harm the environment, and on and on. I’m an optimist, and in her position I would be so thankful that I have the opportunity to survive. My brother beat a horrible kidney disease at 6 years old that necessitated a 12 month hospital stay, and his memory from that period has been wiped. I do not hate the capitalist system that saved his life, I am very very grateful for the doctors, researchers, and support staff that saved him - as is he.
    - jcims 7y ago
      I generally agree with you, but after being a bystander to almost two years of treatments and probably half a million in medical bills being handed over to insurance, I can say with certainty there's a lot of fuckery and twisted incentives in the system. Yes amazing things are happening too, but there's a lot to get pissed about, and I'll give her some room to vent.
    - robotresearcher 7y ago
      You've explained clearly that you would be a more grateful, appreciative suffering aggressive cancer patient than the author, whose choices doomed her to suffer alone.
      - seibelj 7y ago
        HN comment section serves to allow us to debate and discuss the linked articles. The author explicitly chose to make her editorial not only about her situation but a larger critique of society, throwing bombs at everything. I’m not going to give her a pass because she has cancer as I vehemently disagree with her.
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    - markbnj 7y ago
      Did you read this part? > In the capitalist medical universe in which all bodies must orbit around profit at all times, even a double mastectomy is considered an outpatient procedure. After my mastectomy, the eviction from the recovery ward came aggressively and early. The nurse woke me up from anaesthesia and attempted to incorrectly fill out all the questions on the exit questionnaire for me while I failed in an attempt to argue with her that I was not OK. I told her that my pain was not managed, that I had not yet actually gone to the bathroom, that I had not yet been given instructions, that I could not stand, let alone leave. Then they made me leave, and I left.

seibelj 7y ago

I have empathy for the illness but the author seems to lack appreciation for the incredible system working to keep her alive. The article is sad for the illness and also is a polemic against the capitalist system that allows her to survive whatsoever.

robotresearcher 7y ago
Bah, she can be grateful for the system later if and when she survives, her fingernails have grown back and she can button up her own shirt. Meanwhile, I found the insight into her situation educational and heartrending. If you step on a lego piece, do you immediately yell 'what a valuable and well-crafted toy product', or 'fuck that hurts'?
- seibelj 7y ago
  The details of what it’s like to live with that disease are insightful. I have a more raw understanding of what that is like now. But intertwined with the article is a critique of every single bit of the system, and larger society, that is fantastically successful at keeping an ever increasing number of such patients alive. The author critiques the economic system, the hospitals, the doctors, the genders of the care staff, the drugs themselves, whether she even deserves to live given the potential to harm the environment, and on and on. I’m an optimist, and in her position I would be so thankful that I have the opportunity to survive. My brother beat a horrible kidney disease at 6 years old that necessitated a 12 month hospital stay, and his memory from that period has been wiped. I do not hate the capitalist system that saved his life, I am very very grateful for the doctors, researchers, and support staff that saved him - as is he.
  - jcims 7y ago
    I generally agree with you, but after being a bystander to almost two years of treatments and probably half a million in medical bills being handed over to insurance, I can say with certainty there's a lot of fuckery and twisted incentives in the system. Yes amazing things are happening too, but there's a lot to get pissed about, and I'll give her some room to vent.
  - robotresearcher 7y ago
    You've explained clearly that you would be a more grateful, appreciative suffering aggressive cancer patient than the author, whose choices doomed her to suffer alone.
    - seibelj 7y ago
      HN comment section serves to allow us to debate and discuss the linked articles. The author explicitly chose to make her editorial not only about her situation but a larger critique of society, throwing bombs at everything. I’m not going to give her a pass because she has cancer as I vehemently disagree with her.
      - deleted 7y ago
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      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
  - markbnj 7y ago
    Did you read this part? > In the capitalist medical universe in which all bodies must orbit around profit at all times, even a double mastectomy is considered an outpatient procedure. After my mastectomy, the eviction from the recovery ward came aggressively and early. The nurse woke me up from anaesthesia and attempted to incorrectly fill out all the questions on the exit questionnaire for me while I failed in an attempt to argue with her that I was not OK. I told her that my pain was not managed, that I had not yet actually gone to the bathroom, that I had not yet been given instructions, that I could not stand, let alone leave. Then they made me leave, and I left.