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Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

bbc.com

311–320 of 495 posts

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#311

It's worth noting that if the suspect is in Israel, and he nerds to be tried in the US it might be an uphill battle trying to get him extradited. https://jacobin.com/2023/02/israel-law-of-return-extradition...

It definitely seems uphill but not infinitely so.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55795075.amp

Though that case, returning an alleged, now convicted child rapist took decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malka_Leifer_affair

As a not-Israeli Jew the reluctance of the Israeli government to send alleged criminals for trial overseas doesn’t make me happy, but I also remember that there are some reasons for this.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#312
post #41

The root cause of the problem is that parents and children need to raise funds for cancer treatment in the first place.

There's a benefit to having a service tied to the individual receiving the service. For starters it put price pressure and competition on providing the service. When someone else is paying for something you don't have a signal of efficacy, in terms of pricing or quality.

To put another way, if I were facing some terminal illness I would want to have full control of picking the service even if it costs money. Sure, I would want "the best" specific to me and have someone else pick up the tab, but that's a fantasy, because no system or third party has as much skin in the game as me. That's why things like elective surgery are so cheap and competitive.

The problem is why do these treatments cost so much? What prevents competition and innovation. And my argument it's largely due to regulation and third party payer system

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#313

I have reported these ads to YouTube multiple times, because I tracked down their scam websites, but YouTube didn't delete them anyway. Common pattern they had was: - similar or same domains - same messaging on their website YouTube could have taken action, but it choose not to

Yep. Lately I've been getting dozens of scam ads for pulse oximeters being sold as Glucose meters, with a big ol' FDA logo plastered over the top of the video. A flagrant violation of regulations around medical device marketing.

Here's Google's response:

  We understand you are concerned about the content in question, but please note that Google's services host third-party content. Google is not a creator or mediator of that content. We encourage you to resolve any disputes directly with the individual who posted the content.
...which is a lie, among other things.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Hah.. so whose brain is washed with propaganda, yours or mine? Definitely mine right? Your convictions are as extremely deluded as a Palestinian suicide bomber's, to my ears.

Tell me which of the claims of fact I'm wrong about.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some American cities I’ve noticed a lot of seemingly homeless women with kids standing on street corners, that are actually Romanian scammers (“gypsies”). People have caught them drugging their babies to make them compliant with sitting under the hot sun all day. And at the end of the day they climb into a Benz because they aren’t actually in need. It really sucks for the people who are truly in need.

> at the end of the day they climb into a Benz I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for $200, Alex.

It has happened.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=CynYgP8PcWc

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#317
post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't work like that in Austria. Or my doctor's were unwilling to fake urgency to bypass the waiting system for me. Anyway, do you not realize the fault with the system in your logic? Because if everything becomes urgent in order to bypass queues, then nothing is urgent anymore. It doesn't fix the problem, you're just scamming the system to get ahead of the problem.

I don’t think the parent implied lying about urgency.

How else do you interpret his statement: "Your doc has a lot of influence on how urgent things are"

If it's not lying then it's another word that ultimately still does the same outcome of putting you ahead of the rest.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#318
post #312
post #41

The root cause of the problem is that parents and children need to raise funds for cancer treatment in the first place.

There's a benefit to having a service tied to the individual receiving the service. For starters it put price pressure and competition on providing the service. When someone else is paying for something you don't have a signal of efficacy, in terms of pricing or quality. To put another way, if I were facing some terminal illness I would want to have full control of picking the service even if it costs money. Sure, I…

Time and time again large competing forces in the market are found to have colluded instead of directly competing with each other to drive price/cost down. What is it that still makes you believe that two (or n-number) of providers won't collude to charge an astronomical amount for a life-saving treatment?

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are multiple lists here in the NL. I called for a surgery and got put on the fast list (she said that if it weren’t urgent, it would be over a year wait). Your doc has a lot of influence on how urgent things are and how far you are willing to travel. I got in to see a therapist in a matter of weeks, because I was willing to travel out of the city; otherwise it will be months. The doc can see the lines and give…

Doesn't work like that in Austria. Or my doctor's were unwilling to fake urgency to bypass the waiting system for me. Anyway, do you not realize the fault with the system in your logic? Because if everything becomes urgent in order to bypass queues, then nothing is urgent anymore. It doesn't fix the problem, you're just scamming the system to get ahead of the problem.

In my case, there was no faking urgency. I was pointing out that urgency puts you in a different line that gets priority (basically, cancellations from the longer line).

For some other things, you can travel further away to where there is less demand for what you need, and if you're willing, you don't have to wait as long. These are all different "lines" and they're the ones doing the schedule.

Re: Children with cancer scammed out of millions fundraised for their treatment

#320
post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think the parent implied lying about urgency.

How else do you interpret his statement: "Your doc has a lot of influence on how urgent things are" If it's not lying then it's another word that ultimately still does the same outcome of putting you ahead of the rest.

They do? If they misdiagnose something, you can end up in the slow line instead of the fast one, or vice versa. Compared to them, you have no influence.
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