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This column reflects the opinion of the writer. Learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column.

Hospitals, patients in crisis

Our local — and huge for the size of our population — hospitals are asking us to avoid falling into any manner of peril (stroke, heart attack, broken bones, etc.) since they no longer have staff and capacity to deal with those maladies.

Why? Because now unvaccinated people are straining their facilities with COVID symptoms. The hospitals thus must ration health care for other crucial issues unrelated to COVID. That’s a moral and physical crisis when deserving folks can’t get taken care of because others choose to flaunt the best judgment and pleadings of the scientific and medical community — as well as the Golden Rule prominent in all religions.

A friend in Minnesota, a true combat veteran of Vietnam, has just finished a terrible four weeks of radiation treatment so he can have an operation for cancer in another four weeks after he regains some strength. He is very worried that his operation may have to be delayed because facilities may become even further overwhelmed by unvaccinated COVID patients. That delay could have serious, life-threatening results for him.

There must be a way to ration ICU hospitalization for those who choose to go maskless and unvaccinated.

Bob Gregson

Spokane

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