If you’re famous and powerful, your medical care might be awful

If you’re famous, powerful, respected, wealthy, and well connected, try not to get sick.

Your health care just might do you in.

I recently told you about dubious prostate cancer treatments for billionaire Warren Buffett and California governor Jerry Brown.

That’s why this headline from the Alliance for Natural Health caught my eye… “Does Being Famous Get You Worse Medical Care?”

Wow. Absolutely! That appears to be the case with Brown and Buffett, anyway. Doctors should not aggressively treat men of their age for localized prostate cancer. So I’m going to guess their doctors are erring WAY on the side of caution.

Keyword: “erring.” It’s absurd to subject these men to radiation treatments.

The ANH article questions the medical care for another powerful man: President George H.W. Bush. He went into the hospital in November, suffering from “mild bronchitis.”

Complications and a persistent fever required intensive care in December. What was supposed to be “a few days” in the hospital turned into a seven-week stay.

Unfortunately, the President’s experience isn’t unusual.

As I’ve noted before, hospital-acquired infections are common. The CDC estimates that this is the cause behind as many as 100,000 U.S. deaths every year.

So here’s a health tip. It’s for those who can command the finest medical attention in the world. Even when it’s the “finest,” a perfect ounce is better than a ton.

Sources:
“Does Being Famous Get You Worse Medical Care?” Alliance for Natural Health, 1/8/13, anh-usa.org