{"id":547,"date":"2025-06-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/?p=547"},"modified":"2025-06-16T17:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:27:21","slug":"readers-endorse-doctor-migration-and-shun-elderspeak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/12\/readers-endorse-doctor-migration-and-shun-elderspeak\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers Endorse Doctor Migration and Shun \u2018Elderspeak\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letters to the Editor<\/a>\u00a0is a periodic feature. We\u00a0welcome all comments<\/a>\u00a0and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names.<\/em><\/p>\n

A podcast producer and director emeritus of WOUB Public Media zeroed in on our article about restless doctors, sharing his thoughts on X:<\/em><\/p>\n

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This must be Trump and Kennedy’s idiotic plan to make American Healthy Again\u2026https:\/\/t.co\/jABfhALnXI<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tom Hodson (@thodson) May 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014<\/em> Tom Hodson, Athens, Ohio<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, Canada Welcomes American Doctors!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article \u201cAmerican Doctors Are Moving to Canada To Escape the Trump Administration<\/a>\u201d (May 30) presents us Canadians with welcome news. In every part of Canada, in every province, there are not enough doctors. In our city of Victoria, for instance, many people do not have a family doctor because so many doctors have retired; those who are left are unable to take new patients because their lists are full. Walk-in clinics are overbooked, the emergency rooms at the hospitals all have overfull waiting rooms and doctors and nurses are doing 12-hour or longer shifts. We need doctors and will welcome American doctors here with wide-open arms.<\/p>\n

There are many aspects of Canada\u2019s health system that could help lure American doctors to join us. The mortality rate for infants and mothers in the USA is worse than in Cuba. Ours is much better. We do not have a director of national health preaching against the use of vaccination. Our national record for health care during the covid pandemic emergency was second to none. Our women\u2019s clinics are not plagued by political ideology. Our society has always been more open than that of the USA to immigrants and others of all races.<\/p>\n

Doctors who agree to work for the armed forces receive special benefits. The experience is known to be valuable and rewarding.<\/p>\n

I would also recommend Quebec as a great place to live and work. This would present a valuable opportunity for doctors and their families to learn French. France has a wonderful health service and would be a great place for family members to study and work. Germany is also a great place for medicine and health care. An added plus, besides learning the German language, is that the medical schools and universities, once they accept students, including foreigners, do not charge tuition. No post-graduation debt in Germany. That has proved to be a great policy for Germany. It attracts brainy students from all over the world and ensures the continuing high level of the German health system.<\/p>\n

American doctors, Canada is an excellent option for escaping from the threat of autocracy. It can be a very positive step to leave the USA after realizing that the world is open to you and your family. Canada fits Americans comfortably. As our Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Donald Trump in his Oval Office, \u201cCanada will never, never, never be your 51st state.\u201d So, American doctors, pack your luggage, come on over and join us. We will welcome you very warmly and help you in every way we can!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Philip Maxwell, Victoria, British Columbia<\/em><\/p>\n

A Seattle reader delivered a diagnosis on X:<\/em><\/p>\n

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So I guess this article and the Dr. Interviewed are far left progressive. The US is better off without them.https:\/\/t.co\/N7e3UZrb6A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Daniel Arroyo (@danielarrmaga) May 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Daniel Arroyo, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Tellin\u2019 It Like It Is, Baby<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article \u201cThe New Old Age<\/a>: Honey, Sweetie, Dearie: The Perils of Elderspeak<\/a>\u201d (May 9), hit home for me.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, my health plan referred me to an ophthalmologist\u2019s practice. After one appointment, the woman who was supposed to schedule me for my next one called me \u201cSweetie.\u201d I don\u2019t remember what I said, but I took umbrage and walked out.<\/p>\n

There were other problems (the doctor who examined me didn\u2019t introduce himself, for one thing). I went home and wrote a complaint letter to my health plan. They gave me another referral and reported the practice to Medicare.<\/p>\n

I only wish I had read this article a month ago. I had a biopsy in a hospital last month, and one of the nurses spoke to me as if I were a 2-year-old. I would have been prepared to deal with this then.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sue Kamm, Los Angeles<\/em><\/p>\n

The director of the Pitt Band at the University of Pittsburgh threw down the gauntlet on X:<\/em><\/p>\n

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Any who addresses me with “Elderspeak” will be dealt with harshly. You’ve been warned.https:\/\/t.co\/iaHAfVlCqN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Harry Bloomberg (@pittbandphoto) May 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Harry Bloomberg, Pittsburgh<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Gamble With Children\u2019s Lives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Concerning Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s recommendation that healthy children needn\u2019t receive the covid vaccine (\u201cTrump\u2019s Team Cited Safety in Limiting Covid Shots. Patients, Health Advocates See More Risk<\/a>,\u201d May 23), have pre-vaccine complications such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children been forgotten? A western Michigan child<\/a> lost both<\/em> hands and both<\/em> feet to MIS-C and will go through life with prostheses. Please remind people of these serious complications which, though infrequent, cannot be reversed. Not vaccinating is playing Russian roulette with your child!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gloria Kohut, Grand Rapids, Michigan<\/em><\/p>\n

An upbraiding on X came from a reader Down Under:<\/em><\/p>\n

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This decision \u2013 apparently made without any expert consultation \u2013 will have international ramifications, especially among the vaccine sceptical. https:\/\/t.co\/hOaOuWBX3T<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Lesley Russell Wolpe (@LRussellWolpe) May 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Lesley Russell Wolpe, Sydney, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n

Core to California\u2019s Prosperity: The Fruits of Immigrant Labor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I found your article to be incomplete when it comes to offering the perspective of undocumented immigrants (\u201cAfter Promising Universal Health Care, California Governor Must Reconsider Immigrant Coverage<\/a>,\u201d May 13). According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants contribute $8.5 billion<\/a> to the California economy. It is disingenuous to present the cost of medical expansion to undocumented immigrants as a type of handout, when it is widely known that undocumented immigrants work without any prospect of receiving the benefits of their work in social programs. The fact that Gov. Gavin Newsom made the effort to expand benefits to undocumented workers was the right thing to do, and we should work toward rearranging funding to continue the expansion and not retrench during a time when unidentified people are apprehending undocumented workers on their way to work and more than ever face the possibility of suffering human rights abuses. If you, as a news organization, don\u2019t do them justice by inserting their contributions into the discussion, then you are being complacent to their dehumanization.<\/p>\n

I grew up in Oxnard, California, and my entire life was surrounded by the fruits of farmworkers\u2019 labor, many of whom were undocumented. If you drive up and down Rice Road at 5 a.m. every day, you will see hard-working people who, during the wintertime, have to stay during the night to warm up the crops. That type of love and dedication to their work \u2014 not for their benefit, but for their families and the state of California \u2014 should be recognized. I invite your readers to look for \u201cFresh Fruit, Broken Bodies<\/a>\u201d by Seth Holmes to start understanding the physical toll that working in the fields takes on young immigrants, even when they arrive as healthy bodies. Still, after years of working in the fields, they face a multitude of health problems and overall physical deterioration. They give their bodies in exchange for an American dream that may or may not materialize.<\/p>\n

Undocumented farmworkers fill just one essential sector of the American labor economy that does not stop even during fires or pandemics, so please do better in highlighting the humanity of folks who are more than just the work they produce. It is essential to state that if it weren\u2019t for their cheap labor, the Golden State would not be so golden. Look at Florida, where the criminalization of undocumented workers is leading to labor shortages now intended to be filled by children.<\/p>\n

Health care is a minimum that can be provided for undocumented workers, not because of any other reason than health care is a human right, and undocumented workers pay their fair share in unclaimed social benefits. Health care for all!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jennifer Diana Figueroa, Oxnard, California<\/em><\/p>\n

A sociologist who directs social policy at the Niskanen Center, a nonpartisan think tank<\/em>, weighed in on X:<\/em><\/p>\n

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No matter what advocates told themselves and policymakers, it was never politically sustainable:\u201cIt\u2019s making people look at the health care that they can\u2019t afford and ask, \u2018Why the hell are we giving it for free to people who are here illegally?\u2019\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/uOUIqhJJKJ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Josh McCabe (@JoshuaTMcCabe) May 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Josh McCabe, Lowell, Massachusetts<\/em><\/p>\n

Improving a Prisoner\u2019s Life Sentence<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was very impressed with \u201cPrisons Routinely Ignore Guidelines on Dying Inmates\u2019 End-of-Life Choices<\/a>\u201d (May 15), authored by Renuka Rayasam. I have visited prison twice: once to San Quentin as a member of the Berkeley YMCA wrestling team in 1963.<\/p>\n

Then, in 1999, I was privileged to be appointed to a new American Hospital Association committee, the Circle of Life Awards Committee, which was created to recognize the most outstanding and innovative hospice and palliative care programs in the country. Among the many applicants in the first year was the Louisiana State Penitentiary Hospice, and it was selected as one of five finalists for a site visit in 2000. I indicated my interest in being a member of the site visit team. This prison, commonly known as Angola, is the nation\u2019s largest maximum-security facility, and we were told prisoners sentenced to life will die there because there was no parole in Louisiana for such a sentence. We were also informed that there was a long waiting list of inmates wanting to be hospice volunteers because the program was so highly valued.<\/p>\n

My most distinct memory of our visit was a conversation with a volunteer who said he had just come from bathing and feeding a terminally ill inmate who said, \u201cI love you.\u201d The volunteer was visibly emotional when noting he had never heard these words before, not from his father whom he never met nor even his mother. These comments clearly demonstrated the beneficiaries of the program were not just the patients; they were also the volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Paul B. Hofmann, Moraga, California<\/em><\/p>\n

On X, another reader from Australia dove into a discussion about fluoridation of drinking water in response to our coverage:<\/em><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/t.co\/Um9QawAqKD<\/a>RFK making tooth decay great again<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan Jago (@dj1au) March 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Dan Jago, Melbourne, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n

How Fluoride May Hijack Thyroid Health<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stories about fluoride seem not to mention the chemical\u2019s impact on thyroid health (\u201cWith Few Dentists and Fluoride Under Siege, Rural America Risks New Surge of Tooth Decay<\/a>,\u201d March 27). This seems an oversight because it\u2019s estimated that 10%-20% of the population will have thyroid issues in their lifetimes.<\/p>\n

When I was an unmedicated hypothyroid person \u2014 not taking any supplemental thyroid hormone \u2014 I frequently had cavities. After filling the cavity, my dentist would do me the favor of treating my teeth with fluoride. And then followed a period of lassitude so severe I felt my job was at stake, definitely placing me in the \u201cfat and lazy\u201d category, as described by Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority Chairman Andy Anderson in your article. It took me several treatments to make the connection.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t get cavities now and haven\u2019t for about 20 years. I think my now-appropriate dosage of supplemental thyroid plays a role in that.<\/p>\n

Studies about thyroid and fluoride vary in their conclusions. Thyroid deficiencies can have widely varied effects on our widely varied population. There may never be widely accepted guidelines. But people should be careful about what they put in their bodies.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joy Mullett, Houston<\/em><\/p>\n

A self-described information technology health care entrepreneur stated his opinion simply while sharing the article on X:<\/em><\/p>\n

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FLOURIDE is poison!https:\/\/t.co\/Oaw0p1JG4N<\/a> Daily Health Policy Report&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz\u2013TOtkdDDnhvAyd8nDZIAFejJobpsKBnLP5smKnlslyZjSC6tT9BHFfvtjE8tnngMhNn7huZCl4MKi1CdAi0QtZkvWmew&_hsmi=353879828&utm_content=353879828&utm_source=hs_email<\/p>\n

\u2014 Earl Winter (@EarlWinter8) March 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Earl Winter, Nashville, Tennessee<\/em><\/p>\n

KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n

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