My Sell By Date & the NHS

I don't think I'm past my sell by date yet, but I am wearing out. This week I discovered that my heart is having trouble pumping blood upwards. Given that I'm 5ft 8ins tall & 78 I don't find that surprising. My heart has been pumping for a very long time without any maintenance. I wouldn't expect my car engine to do that. So my feet & legs swell every day (Oedema) & it's possible that I have fluid on my lungs. 

When you really think about your body you realise what an amazing, complex, system it is. The cells, tissues & organs work together to accomplish the specific functions necessary for sustaining life. We take it for granted & assume it will continue to work. We prefer not to think about our mortality. 

I've had heart problems for decades & have had a pacemaker for well over 10 years. That is a little miracle in itself. Medics are able to accomplish a huge amount in the 21st century for all sorts of disease & ill health. But I do wonder whether we should all take a step back & consider whether the fact that they can prolong life is the right choice. Are we selfish in our expectations of what the NHS will achieve for us & for our loved ones?

Medications & interventions are increasingly costly & amazing. Medical technology grows exponentially. But do we want a life we can live well or do we just want to be alive? Do our loved ones want to postpone facing up to the fact that we all die? It is the natural course of events. 

I do believe that I should be able to choose euthanasia if I reach the point of suffering a lot. 

There is another thing we should consider. Is the National Health Service a complete misnomer? Do medics spend all their time dealing with people who are ill? Yes, it's actually a National Illness Service. That must get quite dispiriting. Should we consider a National Wellness Service instead?

Whatever health service we have or want, it should be a proper partnership. We must be equally as responsible for our own health as the medics who look after us. We all do things that are not condusive to good health, physical & mental. We drink, smoke, take drugs, eat too much, eat a poor diet. We don't exercise enough. We don't pace ourselves & get enough rest. We lead stressful lives. No wonder the NHS is overwhelmed.

I do think we are at a point when everyone should have a frank & open discussion about what we want the NHS to be. We are light years away from Aneurin Bevan who used the Tredegar Medical Aid Society as his inspiration for creating the NHS in 1946. 

The NHS is wonderful, but it isn't fit for the 21st century any more.