"Death Panel" In A South African Hospital

During the recent debate on expanding the number of people with health insurance in the United States, Sarah Palin (the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate) and her people promoted the expression "death panels" to conjure a fearful time of health care rationing that an overhaul of the insurance system could engender. While their campaign was mainly aimed at fearmongering and has been described as the most blatant political lie of 2009, real death panels are at work in South, deciding who dies and who lives because of inadequate health care. At least in one hospital in South Africa, health care is being rationed because the resources are very limited and that makes the difference between life and death. So, while Sarah Palin and her people used the expression "death panels" to make political points, it is already a reality for some people, especially the poor of South Africa and much of Africa. It is a cruel situation where people live or die based on the size of their wealth. This is not only an African problem although the necessity to fix this cruel situation is even more urgent in the African contexts where there are many poor people than most places around the world.