Letters

COVID-19 skews stats one way or another

COVID-19 deaths boost hospitals' profits more than heart attack deaths? Huh?

That's not me saying it. Rather, videos we see on social media claim it's true. I do know that without this microscopic virus being a catalyst triggering a body's chain reaction of preexisting conditions, many deaths would not have occurred. Many camels' backs would not have been broken and many people would still be alive.

Now, here is what will be really intriguing in the near future: Will 2020 statistics show a drop in deaths from all those other causes such as heart, kidney, lung, pancreatic disease and cancer? That will be a salient graph to view! Surely no one will then claim that COVID-19 was a blessing because it reduced the five major causes of normal deaths ... or will they?

Everyone who now claims COVID-19 it is not the cause of deaths will be in a pickle to explain the opposite very soon. Medical books, we common people and actuaries wanting more money for standard medical research will have a tough time explaining that a trend dip was not a dip. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...”  But you can't have it both ways at the same time.

So, can someone back up the claim that doctors/hospitals fudge statistics to get an extra 20% fee if the death certificate says COVID-19 was the cause rather than, say, a heart attack? If true, who are the legislators instituting a process to defraud us of where our taxes go?

James Bugert

Fort Wayne

An ultimate solution

In response to a letter that appeared on Dec. 20 about capital punishment, I offer a statement I recently read. I cannot recall the author, so unfortunately I cannot give credit to the sage: “I never knew anyone who was executed to ever commit another murder.”

Leonard Johnston

Fort Wayne

Lies are the start of downward spiral

Words from the past still resonate today and apply to major public figures of our time.

“...Above all, do not lie to yourself.

“A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others.

“Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.”

– Fyodor Dostoevsky

Patricia G. Stahlhut

Fort Wayne

CHEERS to Dick Cook and Cook's Orchard for donations of apples this fall. In November, Cook's Orchard provided apples for meals distributed at Faith Lutheran Church. Then in mid-December, Cook's Orchard donated more – 22 bushels of crisp, yummy apples which were distributed to neighbors needing food assistance through both Community Harvest Food Bank and the Faith Lutheran Church meal program. 

Beth Nygaard

for the team of volunteers from Grace Episcopal Church

Fort Wayne