Brilliant column by Ira Stoll

Reader comment on: Nicholas Kristof's Roommate With Cancer

Submitted by Eliot Ames (United States), Oct 15, 2012 18:08

This column perfectly illustrates Mr. Stoll's genius. He thinks clearly and analytically, all the more difficult when the facts might sway a less keen observer of human nature and of journalism only to feel sorry for Kristof's former roommate. One of my closest friends from college also died of cancer, with full medical insurance, not to mention considerable personal wealth, at the age of 57. He ignored his internist's advice to see a dermatologist about what was, in fact, skin cancer. It metastasized into a brain tumor and killed him.

All the health insurance and personal wealth in the world cannot persuade those who choose not to get checkups to get them, or those who get them to pay the slightest attention to what their physicians advise them to do.

I feel as sorry for Kristof's college room mate as the next person; one of the many reasons I feel sorry for him is that he allows his former roommate to use his story to try to reelect Barack H. Obama.

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