Prescribing Choice Sam Aurelius Milam III Late in November of 2019, I developed a symptom that suggested that I might have a health problem. The exact nature of the symptom doesn't matter here. What matters is that it suggested that I might have a health problem. I've commented from time to time that, because I'm undocumented, I'm effectively prohibited from receiving medical treatment. A visit to the Good News free clinic, in Gainesville, Georgia, verified that the policy at that clinic hasn't changed during the past 10 years. See Good News Bad News, in the July 2009 issue, and my editorial reply on page 3 of the June 2012 issue. As a matter of policy, the Good News free clinic denies medical treatment to undocumented people. To my surprise, an interested member of my family was able to find another clinic in the local area, Medlink Gainesville, that was willing to accept me as a customer. So, we made an appointment. We had to pay in advance but at least we got into the place. I gave blood and urine samples, and was then informed that the analysis of them would cost extra, which we paid at the time. I was weighed and had my blood pressure checked. I spoke briefly to a doctor, Dr. A., who poked my abdomen and back, looked into my ears and mouth, listened to me through a stethoscope, checked my blood pressure again, and asked a few questions. It seemed to me like a very superficial examination, but that was the extent of it. Dr. A. didn't mention anything that she'd observed during the physical examination that seemed to indicate any particular health problems. Also, she didn't seem to be interested in my symptom. Instead, she wanted to talk to me about my blood pressure. I asked her if the blood pressure had anything to do with my symptom, and she said that it didn't. How she was able to know that without first diagnosing my problem is a mystery to me. She said that she was interested in blood pressure because it's a "silent killer", to use her words. Then, she gave me what she called "homework". Without even asking me if I owned a blood pressure cuff, she told me to check my blood pressure twice a day, make a chart, and bring it to her on my next visit. Maybe my blood pressure might be too high but blood pressure wasn't a concern that I took with me to the clinic. That was her issue, not mine. Maybe her "homework" was a good idea, or maybe not, but I didn't do it. I wouldn't be able to show her the blood pressure chart anyway, even if I made one, because I can't afford another visit. Instead of providing treatment, diagnosis, or even an opinion, Dr. A. referred me to another doctor and prescribed a CT scan. The second doctor and the CT scan were at different clinics. Dr. A. didn't know if either of those clinics would accept an undocumented person, or what any of it would cost if they did. She didn't seem to care. Maybe it was just a handy way for her to acquire some co-bagholders. I don't know. A few days later, I received an additional and unexpected bill from Medlink, which we paid. Other than the negative results from the blood and urine samples, I didn't get much for the funds that I paid to Medlink. Later, I learned that the CT scan, if I'd taken it, would have cost me $5,000, which is far more than the total amount of my remaining funds. I was also told that the second doctor wouldn't see me until I got the CT scan. I never learned what the second doctor would have cost but, whatever it would have been, that ended my pursuit of any further medical treatment. By the end of December, the symptom had mostly faded away. Was it a false alarm? Was I saved by having strong ancestors, or by the grace of God? I don't know about such things, but one thing is sure. The doctor didn't fix the problem. One other thing is sure. I can expect that, eventually, another symptom will develop, one that doesn't go away. For now, I'm back where I started before the symptom developed, except for one thing. That one thing is my claim about being prohibited from getting medical treatment. I didn't get any treatment, diagnosis, or even an opinion, and I couldn't afford to continue the process, but I did get into a clinic. So, strictly speaking, the prohibition might not be entirely effective. However, the fact remains that, even if I do manage to sidestep the prohibition, then the treatment will still remain inaccessible. It's easy for me to condemn prohibition
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but not so easy to condemn inaccessibility,
which is more complicated. In my opinion, inaccessibility is also more insidious. For some of my thoughts about that, see Trapped by the Safety Net, in the July 1998 issue.
The larger significance of the experience is that it tends to support my
belief that the medical establishment is a tool of the police state.
Consider that any refusal of a person to submit to the government's authority
inhibits or eliminates that person's ability to be employed, to obtain insurance,
or to have any other means of gaining access to medical treatment.
All medical services, procedures, treatments, and products are prohibited
unless they're authorized by the government. Nobody, however competent,
is permitted to provide any such thing unless he's licensed by the government.
All of that licensing and regulation doesn't protect people from medical
malpractice. It protects the medical establishment from competition.
More important, it manipulates people into submitting to the authority of
the U.S. government. Whoever controls the medical establishment, and
access to it, controls the people. There isn't any way to provide all of the treatment that's desired by all of the people. See Trapped by the Safety Net, previously mentioned. Even so, I believe that the situation could be greatly improved by making all of the licenses, permits, and approvals optional on all pharmaceuticals, procedures, treatments, and practitioners. A doctor who wants a license should be able to apply for a license. A doctor who doesn't want a license shouldn't be required to have one. A pharmaceutical firm that wants FDA, AMA, etc. approval should be able to apply for it. A firm that doesn't want it shouldn't be required to have it. If anybody could practice his own version of medicine, without being harassed, inhibited, or punished by the government, and if anybody could seek any medical treatment that he wanted, then I believe that things would be much improved. Somebody like me wouldn't be limited to a $5,000 CT scan, available only at a licensed institution, only after being prescribed by a licensed doctor. Instead, he'd be able to look around for something less expensive. I believe that a much better medical care system than the one that we have now would result from such unregulated freedom of choice. Letters to the Editor Sam Your article "Informed Consent" [Informed Choice, page 1] - Jan 2020 Frontiersman was very much on point. May I post it to The Voluntaryist site and use it in a future hardcopy newsletter? Please let me know if this is all right by you. —Carl Watner, editor The Voluntaryist, P.O. Box 275 Gramling, South Carolina 29348 www.voluntaryist.com Yes, you may use the article. As always, I request that you use it exactly as I wrote it, without any editing. —editor Dear Sammy.... On another subject, I realized today that I have created a unique conundrum for myself, and about myself. About 2 months ago I wrote an op-ed for your publication entitled "The Truth as a Metaphor". In it I clearly explained my thoughts and ideas on the subject. I had intended to share it with you and your readers in order to help with their search, and your search, for the Truth. I wrote it, and proofed it, and reread it, and realized two things at once. First, I realized that it was oddly self-serving. Something that I had not intended. And second, the article had become just another metaphor for the subject about which it had been written. Hence, the conundrum. It wasn't what I had intended. So I put it in a file and waited. Waiting is something that we all do, and I continue to wait. Sometimes we are rewarded with enlightenment, or just a cliché, that will help us along our way. Today I heard mine and I took it to heart. I now know that I am waiting for "one road to become many". I hope you have a great tomorrow.... —T. M., Winter Park, Florida Hey Sammy, Just a quick note, in regards to your Dec. 2019 Frontiersman, about the pictures in your article "Strange Explanations" [December 2019, page 3]. The more I view those photos the more disturbed I become about the "smudged" one. For starters, the "not smudged" photo, I already pointed out [January 2020, page 4], why bulldoze a huge lot, put a fence around it, in the middle of the forest, unless you want privacy, and why leave a patch of forest inside the fence line? Look at it, they drive around it so much there are clear dirt roads and the cars are somewhat, neatly parked (crammed in), into somewhat straight lines. But it's the helicopters that don't make sense, there are aviation junk yards in Arizona and Nevada and New Mexico. I've seen them, and the helicopters there have their rotors removed and like the cars are in the photo, they cram the
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bladeless helicopters into a parking lot formation. But, in the photo, it looks like the helicopters were hastily landed in a,
wherever space is available, first come, first land service. As for the "smudged" photo, to me, it doesn't look smudged. It looks like the Ukrainian government possibly knew they didn't want the satellite to record what was going on there, that day and hours. So they set the camera on time lapse. Look at the road at the top of the photo, it's clear. If time lapse were running the blurry, straight lines could be vehicle lights being driven around. The bright spots could be "flares" or parked cars with their lights on, and why? If they were holding human hunting parties in the woods, within the fence line, in the middle of the woods, and someone became unaccounted for, imagine the frantic search party within the fence line. Thus, on a time lapse photography, the search lights themselves would "run" together and "smudge" whatever was happening down there. So, peculiarities — —the woods within the fence line, —the helicopters aren't stored in a junk yard fashion like the cars (look at the driveways around the helicopters). People are landing, and then being driven, where? Enough so that dirt roads are around the helicopters. —Also, in the clear photo at the top of the photo, you can see either a long, rectangular building or trailer, or probably a tarp, tent. Probably a staging point for whatever goes on in the woods. Please, tell me what you think. You write, in "Informed Choice" [January 2020, page 1] that a lawyer told you, you had failed to follow Big Brother's mandatory procedure for terminating citizenship. What is the proper mandatory procedure? In your "Letters to the Editor", T. M. from Winter park Fl, wrote [January 2020, pages 2 - 3] that the ancients had sciences, tech, and pharma memories that flowed into the next cycle after the last die off and history repeating itself.... Of course, there is no way for us to prove otherwise, but I have an inkling that we go back a lot further than we know. Also, the answer to Howie in the Max's question [January 2020 page 5], I don't know about OnStar. But Ford has been putting independent batteries, hidden, for their satellite and G.P.S. systems for almost 20 years. So if Ford has it, I imagine OnStar does it too. For G.P.S. systems, having a battery that is inaccessible prevents car thieves from disabling the system easily, allowing cops time to track in case of Amber alerts, car jackings, etc. —S.H., a prisoner Long ago, I realized that the U.S. government and the Soviet government had more in common with each other than either one of them had in common with its own people. So, if you're speculations are correct, then maybe there's an Unnamed Agency in Ukraine, similar to the one in the U.S. In fact, maybe it's all one big international unnamed agency, like on The X-Files. I don't know what the government's procedure is for terminating citizenship. I expect that it won't result in the termination of obligations but only in a change to a different set of obligations. I don't know of an established procedure to rid yourself of obligations to the government. Each of us will have to figure that out for himself, according to his own circumstances. A hidden, inaccessible GPS battery doesn't make things difficult only for thieves. It also makes it difficult for a car owner to disable the government's ability to detect his location. —editor Hello my good friend!! So sorry it's been so long since I've wrote. I did write a few months back and I got a return to sending. So at first I thought you may be out of print. But I've been receiving your newsletters through reroute from [location withheld]. Thank you. I'm here at [location withheld] getting treatment for my PTSD. This is a much better place than [location withheld], & other programs I've been at this prison. Anyway, I'm wishing you and your family a happy holiday season. Also the photo in one of your latest Frontiersman I've cut out and fit it in my photo album. Well, you stay strong and positive. I always find your writing interesting. Even if I don't agree with everything you write, you challenge my own ideas and make me think. Do you like Philip K. Dick's fiction? He's one of my favorite authors. Your brother in struggle. Truly —R. D. H., a prisoner
P.S. You are one of the most intelligent people I know. Respectfully —R. D. H. I presently have six books by Philip K. Dick in my collection. It's been a long time since I read them so I don't presently recognize the stories from their titles, although I'd probably recallthem if I started reading them again. However, I usually keep only books that I like so I probably liked them when I read them, years ago. —editor
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Acknowledgments My thanks to the following: El Dorado Bob; Betty; and Eric, of Ione, California. — editor Websites http://frontiersman.org.uk/ http://moonlight-flea-market.com/ http://pharos.org.uk/ http://sam-aurelius-milam-iii.org.uk/ http://sovereign-library.org.uk/ Rules of Grammar Signs of Getting Older Frontiersman Availability — Assuming the availability of sufficient funds, subscriptions to this newsletter in print, copies of past issues in print, and copies of the website on CDs are available upon request. Funding for this newsletter is from sources over which I don't have any control, so it might become necessary for me to terminate these offers or to cancel one or more subscriptions at any time, without notice. All past issues are presently available for free download at the internet address shown below. Contributions are welcome. Cancellations — If you don't want to keep receiving printed copies of this newsletter, then return your copy unopened. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby given to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must apply to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions — I consider letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you want to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders, please inquire. You can use editor@frontiersman.org.uk for PayPal payments. In case anybody's curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. I don't accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it. — Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
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