It makes me sick. We need to start punishing criminals. They in some cases have more rights than we do. We need to put them to work for their keep (hard labor). How about the jobs they say only illegal aliens will do?

Dear Dr. Alvarez,

Your insightful comments reminded me that the actual pronunciation of Bernie Madoff’s surname is “Made-off” , as in “He made off with lots of good people’s life savings.”

That he will continue making off with taxpayers’ money for the rest of his natural “miserable life”, as you put it, is indeed ironic. But how can we argue with a man’s legal rights, just because he blatantly discarded the legal rights of so many?

As a physician, could you enlighten the rest of us by commenting on Mr. Made-off’s mindset. How can you explain that this caring father and congenial human being could fool so many for so long?

Please comment on the development of what appears to be a sociopath and what society can do to reverse or offset the impact of such people who are white-color criminals and worse. Surely a dispassionate medical assessment is called for in this case, no?

As a former congregational rabbi and as a gerontologist I’ve dealt with many senior citizens, but I’ve never heard of somebody as sweetly nefarious as Bernie Madoff. Please tell us…how could this have happened?

Rabbi Ed Weinsberg Ed.D. (Sarasota, FL),
author of Conquer Prostate Cancer:
How Medicine, Faith, Love and Sex
Can Renew Your Life (www.ConquerProstateCancer.com)

I couldn’t agree more.

It is hard for me to feel real sorry for people who were naive enough to invest because some guy said they should. They were hoping to REALLY make out on his promises instead of investing in FDIC insured accounts.

And Madoff will only loose his freedom to make choices. Oh wait I like having choices, it’s called freedom.

They only reason this thing went as long as it did is because all the narcissistic people involved were too proud to blow the whistle. Don’t tell me someone wasn’t suspicious.

Hi Doc Manny,

Lets face it, the U.S. of A. is the most compassionate nation on this planet! The Constitution guarantees its citizens a slew of rights and smart-alecky lawyers, such as those Harvard Law School trained ones run off with them plus a very liberal judicial system exacerbated it further. In the whole process, everyone forgot the duties which the Constitution also implies but which got blurred out by the interpretation of the libertarians.

No wonder the first destination of every immigrant is the old U.S. of A.

Dr Alvarez writes: “At a time when 45 million Americans are living without the benefits of health insurance, and reform is the hot topic on everyone’s lips, it’s quite disheartening to know that the only people with a constitutional right to government-funded health care are convicts.”

Assuming that the term universal encompasses the word quality is simply incorrect reasoning. Nonetheless, this is what you are suggesting. And your thesis simply begs the question. Do you believe that Madoff’s prison healthcare–albeit, at tax payer expense–is going to be anything other than horrendous?

True, healthcare for all Americans is a noble ideal. But as the British and Canadian attempts have shown, it is a non realizable pipe dream. Take Britain, for example. Their attempts at digitizing patients medical records were twelve billion dollars over budget. As of 2006, they had already spent twenty-four billion dollars and still had no clue if the project was realizable. The system is still not working.

Also, the issue of security comes to mind. One of the biggest data breaches to date was the compromise of millions of healthcare and financial records from the Veterans Administration.

Goverment-run universal healthcare sounds great in a Brave New World society. It is, however, a falacy. I’d like to see how Senator Edward Kennedy and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginzberg would fare under a system such as this. Actually, I can answer my own question. They would never be subject to it

Don’t drop the soap in the shower, Bernie, or your cell mates will do to you what you did to hundreds of people. Hope you enjoy your stay, hopefully a long one !!!

Nicely put.

I would like to see a trial I would like to know the facts of how this man could get away with this and how he did it for so long> Also how does his family retain all the money , why do they not have to give up there life style as so many of us who were taken are suffering. And yes should have to pay for his jail time. His family including his grandchildren should have to pay for all the wrongs this family yes his sons knew what he was doing doing , the public is not stupid.

HE SHOULD BE SHOT, lets set some example for crooks

M Hyman,
Did you even read Dr. Alvarez’s article? Nowhere in the artical does he equate universal healthcare to quality healthcare. Not sure where exactly you took that from. While I can’t speak directly for the 45 million uninsured americans, I’d wager a bet that they’d rather have some form of healthcare than none. Even if the healthcare they received was inferior in quality. Dr. Alvarez’s point, I believe, is that it’s somewhat acinine that Americans who can’t afford to provide themselves and their families with healthcare are funding healthcare for criminals. Even if that healthcare doesn’t allow for an annual trip to the Mayo Clinic for each convict, it’s still pretty disheartening.

How in the world do you equate electronic health records (EHR’s) with universal healthcare? Those are two completely seperate topics. Even if the US keeps with their viewpoint that only the wealthy are entitled to healthcare we will still venture down the road of EHR’s as a possible way of containing costs.

In closing, sometime back the World Health Organization stated that healthcare is an inate human right, and to date the US is the only industrialized country in the world that has not accepted that view. You say Britain and Canada are inferior to us, well before making those comments I’d invite you to do a little research. Despite spending 2-3x more/capita, the quality of US healthcare consitently ranks far lower than countries that have implemented universal coverage.

Response to Comment by Jay.

True, he did not say it directly, but he more than suggests it. You read between the lines–so do I.

Moreover, electronic record keeping is an integral part of the president’s health goals. He’s said it time and time again. And to date, the government–on both sides of the aisle–have proven that they cannot be entrusted to manage anything, especially the healthcare of citizens.

The United States Constitution does not guarantee free healthcare to its citizens. Moreover, there are no legal rulings to date suggesting that it does. If such a plan is enacted, it will be by decree rather than by constitutional interpretation.

The World Health Organization can opine all it likes. It’s mother organization, the United Nations, gave the Nobel Peace Prize to the terrorist, Yaser Arafat. So do not suggest that this organization or it subsiduaries have any credibility. Its previous Secretary General, Koffi Annan, was as corrupt as Bernie Madoff. Its current one is not much better. As I write this, it has not been able to account for donated pieces of priceless works of art nor can it state where millions of dollars in its treasury have gone.

I state facts and you talk metaphysics.

You write, “Despite spending 2-3x more/capita, the quality of US healthcare consitently ranks far lower than countries that have implemented universal coverage.” Did you just arrive from the planet Pluto? We both know that this statement is–to put it politely–false.