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From: garyde19962@aol.com [mailto:garyde19962@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 9:24 AM
To: robert.mcnamara@tuhs.temple.edu
Cc: Bruce@ldrlongdistancerider.com
Subject: Comments regarding B.C. Liu

Dear Doctor McNamara,

Please do me a favor and stay out of the business of trying to decide what is best for me. As a physician I would think that you know all about anatomy. However, you should also know that your foot fits nicely in your mouth when speaking about things you have very little knowledge about. For instance the cost of care passed on to society at large for injured motorcyclists.

You assume that the biker does not have insurance, that after the accident, because they were not wearing a helmet, that they'll be in some vegetative state, and that all helmets are safe equipment for some reason.

If you do some research, of course no one is going to give you a grant to do this, you will find that more motorcyclists are insured than other vehicle drivers. I guess this deflates some of your public burden theory about the health care costs being shifted to the unsuspecting public because of these daredevil bikers riding without helmets.

Produce a helmet that is safe for me to wear. Put your signature to a document that should I become involved in an accident you personally guarantee that the helmet will protect me from injury and/or death.

Now let's talk about public burden. In 2004 costs to the US government in health care expenses: smoking related health problems $12.9 billion, obesity for adults $102.2 billion, alcohol $12.2 billion, Alzheimer's $31.9 billion, and my favorite statistic Medicaid fraud $140 billion.

Another one of my favorites is that, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more people are killed by physicians each year than by accidental gun deaths.

There are approximately 700,000 doctors and approximately 120,000 deaths caused by said learned doctors.

There are 80 million gun owners and, in all age groups, 1,500 deaths.

Not everyone has a gun in America but everyone has a doctor. Kind of scary isn't it Doctor McNamara.

How about you stick to trying to make people well and hospitals safe and I decide what is right for my body.

Sincerely

Gary K. Hilderbrand
1206 Woodlytown Road
Magnolia, Delaware 19962

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