At approximately 2:30 pm, Senator Christopher Dodd, (D)CT held a press conference in which he stated that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He stated that he had undergone a physical examination approximately 6-8 weeks ago. His physical revealed a high PSA test result which is indicative of a potential cancer. It was recommended that the Senator undergo a biopsy of the prostate, which he did. The biopsy result was positive for cancer. There are many options available to treat prostate cancer: surgery, radiation therapy, brachytherapy and hormonal therapy. All have advantages and disadvantages; all carry some degree of risk. Senator Dodd has elected to have a radical prostectomy; a complete removal of the gland.

Senator Dodd then went on to state how fortunate he was to have the congressional health plan that allow and pays for an annual physical examination that includes things like a PSA screening test. He invoked the name of fellow liberal Senator Theodore “Ted” Kennedy as he went on about his commitment to getting health care reform passed. In his words, with many people losing their jobs and not being able to afford health insurance, they are at risk of suffering severely from this very treatable disease, among others. The sentiment expressed is very noble on its face, but let’s look deeper, shall we?

It took me 15 seconds or less to get a hit during a web search on prostate cancer treatment in Canada. Now, I only did a superficial look through, but that was long enough to discover that if we had the Canadian system which seems to enthral the congress, and Senator Dodd were in such a program; he would be no better off than the person without health care. You see, Canada does not provide or allow reimbursement for PSA testing as a screening tool. It is only covered for those already diagnosed with prostate cancer. Now, when you consider that the prostate specific antigen test was designed specifically for screening to catch cancer, it seems absurd and bit of a day late, dollar short of effective utility after the fact, doesn’t it?

The average Canadian, as will be the case with the average American should Obamacare go through, is left to suck down lots of “pomegranate juice” to slow the rise of PSA counts. Does that lower the risk of prostate cancer? Who knows? I don’t believe anyone has performed a study that demonstrates the relationship of a low PSA count resulting from drinking pomegranate juice vs a low PSA count due to a healthy prostate. Maybe, the net result is that the pomegranate juice simply masks the growing cancer by supressing its relative marker in real terms: the prostate specific antigen.

Again, going back to Senator Kennedy, one has to ask the obvious in light of the policies he’s advocating as part of his social security/government health care utopia: if the Senator were under the program he advocates, would he be receiving the high cost/high tech care he is receiving as a person in his 70′s, or would he simply receive pallative hospice care to obtund his pain and to maximize his comfort? If the Obamacare bill passes, this latter course is all that will be available to your elderly parents and grand-parents as well as people diagnosed with diseases that severely shortens the life span and limits the expectations for a robust individual productivity potential. Is this what you want?

As is true on most occasions, perhaps, Senator Dodd would have been better off keeping his mouth shut. But, then again, socialism knows no boundaries when it comes to liberty and the true nature of man’s natural rights to live in her/his own rational self-interest.