> Claim: Italy has stopped treating elderly coronavirus patients due to "socialized medicine."
> Rating: Mixture
> What's true: Italian health care workers who are overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases could be faced with decisions about allocating limited life-saving treatment to those with the most likelihood to live longest upon survival.
> What's false: However, Italy hasn't abandoned elderly patients to die. Instead, Italian health care workers, when faced with more patients than available equipment and capacity to treat them, may possibly be forced to prioritize treatment of those with the highest likelihood of surviving long-term.
The egregious (and slimily political) claim that Snopes needs to refute is that this is due to "socialized medicine." It's not, it's really due to a simple lack of capacity.
"Free market medicine" wouldn't do any better, it'd just prioritize the wealthy instead of the young, leaving the poor to get worse (or no) care and potentially die.
> Claim: Italy has stopped treating elderly coronavirus patients due to "socialized medicine."
> Rating: Mixture
> What's true: Italian health care workers who are overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases could be faced with decisions about allocating limited life-saving treatment to those with the most likelihood to live longest upon survival.
> What's false: However, Italy hasn't abandoned elderly patients to die. Instead, Italian health care workers, when faced with more patients than available equipment and capacity to treat them, may possibly be forced to prioritize treatment of those with the highest likelihood of surviving long-term.
The egregious (and slimily political) claim that Snopes needs to refute is that this is due to "socialized medicine." It's not, it's really due to a simple lack of capacity.
"Free market medicine" wouldn't do any better, it'd just prioritize the wealthy instead of the young, leaving the poor to get worse (or no) care and potentially die.