This Should Not Happen

If we had universal healthcare coverage in this country (like every other industrialized nation), perhaps we would not have problems like this:

Mother convicted of abuse in daughter's botched piercing

BOSTON --A mother whose teenage daughter nearly died from an infection caused by a bellybutton piercing was convicted Tuesday of endangering her daughter's life by failing to seek medical attention until she was gravely ill.

I am not, by any means, defending the mother in this story, and I am not saying that having a national healthcare system would have definitely prevented this. It seems this mother was incredibly irresponsible, and I do not know whether poverty and/or lack of health insurance was a factor in the monstrous negligence of her daughter. If it they were a factor, then this possibly could have been prevented by a national healthcare system.

Again, I am not sure why this mother did take her daughter do a hospital sooner, and I am sure that sane parents would have done so much sooner regardless of their financial status. However, I am sure there are many less serious situations where parents do have to worry about financial concerns when their child is sick.

No parent should have worry about money when their child's health is at stake. That is why we need to demand universal healthcare coverage for all Americans from our government. Now.