Bill Got out

I lost a friend today,
“Some day I'm gonna leave this dirty little town”. It is a line from a song, it is a state of mind, it is an unavoidable truth. The Song was written by Kieran Kane and is one of my favorites when played by my friend Bill. He had already left it in his mind and my friend left this dirty little town for the last time some time in the night.

It has been a while since I have written about Death, 3 years or so if you want to look back. I am so very proud of the people that helped get my friend to the end. We don't care for people as a community much any more I am told. We were able to help our friend be at home and retain his autonomy and I am thankful to be part of a community that does do that.

I will miss my friend and that saddens me but Bill didn't have to die and that angers me. We need a single payer healthcare system that works. We need to remove every vestige of capitalism from health care. Bill Had insurance but could not find a doctor that would accept the poor pay of medicare. When he did find a physician the war on pain patients conducted by the DEA drove that doctor out of medicine.

I am thankful for the care that Hospice of Humboldt provided for Bill. They are kind, compassionate and provided the kind of pain relief that if he had been afforded it earlier might have led to a better outcome.

At the end of life the vulture capitalists create a system to commodify and profitize death. The system killed my friend because they had worked him to the point of uselessness, (Only in their eyes). Now they were going to have to pay retirement benefits and that eats into profits. Life expectancy is still going up for the wealthy but it is now going down for the working class.

We are going to have a tribute to my friend soon. Some people will play some music and we will remember our friend, a good and talented man, We will also remember the system that hastened his death. In the mean time here is a medley from a Cotton Day concert.