Paul,

What I know or don't know about Maori or Maoris doesn't make any difference to the story, and you don’t say anything about that. Do you think that it is OK for medical attention to be based on race and not on the seriousness and urgency of the condition of individual patients, irrespective of who they are?

ttbn,

"New Zealand surgeons have been told that they should consider patients' ethnicity when deciding on who should be operated on first!"

What has been said, and you failed to mention this is; "A new algorithm used in SOME New Zealand hospitals means Maori and Pacific patients for ELECTIVE SURGERY will be pushed higher on waiting lists than those of other ethnicities." My Capitals 'The Guardian'. That is different from what you are saying. Maori have been excluded for years from proper health services in NZ. I know you don't like personal stories, but I'll tell you one. My wife's mother died of breast cancer in 1969, aged 42, after being push out of a public hospital in NZ, left to be cared for by whanau (family) at home, including my wife who was 19 at the time, while she slowly deteriorated and finally passed away in great pain and suffering. So don't tell me about any health care advantages Maori might enjoy. Like in Australia the gap in all areas is very wide indeed

Hi Paul,
Well, what was done to your wife's mum was wrong.
Certainly wasn't what one might consider fair or dignified.
But turning the situation around 180 degrees and putting one group first above everyone else isn't right either.
Now they are doing to 'everyone else' because of race the same as what was done to your wife's mum all those years ago.

Politicians are stupid.
Bunch of incompetent fools.

Some issues shouldn't be about the political correctness of the day;
- It should just be based on fairness / merit right from the start regardless of what any particular group of voters say or think.

Hi AC,

On reading the article in 'The Guardian', it shows that the original claim made here is a biased beat up, which is far from factual.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/20/new-zealand-starts-giving-priority-to-maori-and-pacific-elective-surgery-patients

Watching the links Jose' posted, they indicate to me, Tom Mayo is presenting a reasonable and moderate argument in favour of The Voice. There is nothing to suggest he is some "raving radical", as some believe. For the Kudos Kid, there's no hint of Communism, but I'm sure he'll find some, somewhere.

Different doesn't mean wrong. Your story might be wrong; certainly if it comes from The Guardian.

Never mind. What happened in the past is in the past and, as with Australia, the present generation can't be held responsible for what past generations did. And, race-based politics is never right.

Hi Paul,
I wasn't talking about 'The Voice' or Thomas Mayo.
I was simply reflecting on the story about your wife's mum, and what ttbn had said about the New Zealand medical policy.

There's many different ways you could create an algorithm to give an end result.
Reading an article linked to the one you added here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/111604620/half-of-mori-and-pasifika-deaths-potentially-avoidable-study-finds

"It found 47.3 per cent of deaths of Pacific people and 53 per cent of Māori were attributed to potentially avoidable causes, such as cancers, heart disease, car crashes and suicide. For non-Māori/Pacific people, it's less than one quarter.

The study authors said the healthcare system needed to recognise and address the role racism played in creating those disparities."

How does racism cause cancers, heart disease, car crashes and suicide?
Maybe these people didn't take good care of their on health?
What is it white peoples fault if Maori's have a higher rate of motor vehicle accidents?
I ask myself why blame other people for the way you feel about yourself, the way you take care of yourself, drink, eat food that's not the best for you.
Make poor choices in your life and headed off a cliff towards suicide.