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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024

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We'll know more with time, and perhaps I have been primed by reading the fake one. But the whole back surgery thing seems way too à propos not to factor in. I still haven't seen any convincing evidence that drugs played a part here, however.

In any case this is my interpretation of:

I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. But many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.

Yes the back issue probably has some significance to his warped perceptions. Feels victimized, decides to blame insurers as somehow the ones causing his back pain. Maybe opioids triggered a schizophrenic break.

In that passage, what I see is thought disorder, delusions of grandeur, and paranoia

My understanding is that back surgery is very rarely helpful and usually makes the pain worse. People are always upset to find the surgery is not covered, but there's a very good reason for it. It doesn't work.

Back surgery works for severe disk herniations, but the mechanism is that it removes pressure on the nerves. The nerves die under pressure resulting in partial paralysis if surgery is not done within 48 (ideally 24) hours. Nerves don't regenerate/grow after age 30 or so.

I'm reading a lot of stories on reddit of people whose back surgeries were delayed 2 to 6 months over insurance stating that a surgery would not be paid for without a diagnostic MRI (which is fair), and a diagnostic MRI would not be paid for without weeks of physical therapy first (which is unconscionable).

aren’t private MRIs pretty cheap in America? I would just bite the bullet and pay for one if it was that dire

I think they’re about $1000.

Okay so not “cheap” but definitely obtainable