Local Tennis Player Has Colonoscopy

Great letter in today's Bee Alan and thanks for sharing about the colonoscopy!!

Whom should we believe? The Bee's Two Views (Vision July 29) featured John C. Goodman from the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank, and Ramon Castellblanch, associate professor in the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University.

Mr. Goodman claims Michael Moore's film, "Sicko," is fraught with errors. He cites that "In Britain, 1 million patients are waiting to be admitted to hospitals at any one time." Hundreds of thousands are waiting in Canada and New Zealand.

When I had my colonoscopy, I was scheduled to have the procedure done two weeks later. I waited a week for my eye exam. I wonder if Mr. Goodman wants to leave you with the impression that the statistics he cites all refer to critically needed treatment when, in fact, most of it includes situations I just described.

He just makes a blanket statement, as opposed to Mr. Castellblanch's references to statistics from the Organization for Economic Development and World Health Organization. Now consider who funds Mr. Goodman's think tank. I'm willing to bet Mr. Goodman also said "Fahrenheit 911" was full of errors and that Iraq would be a cakewalk. Has the question been answered?

Alan Cheah

Oakhurst