# handsomeharry is an idiot **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 22, 2010, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057 "2010-12-22T09:01:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/1 "2010-12-22T09:01:29Z")
I didn’t want to comment in the [original thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=590032), since the OP is mourning the loss of his relative, so this seemed to be the appropriate forum. > [@Help me prepare for a very difficult conversation.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-prepare-for-a-very-difficult-conversation/564860/6): > > Here’s one thing to be ready for: if she is of a certain age, the doctors have already consigned her to the waste bin. I bet before you can say anything, he/she will be clucking about a Do Not Resuscitate order, so, don’t abide by the doctor’s judgement. Doctors can only give you a general guess, and my experience is that they are generally wrong, on life or death matters. If you want your aunt to live, let the doctor know way in advance that that’s your irrevocable decision. DO NOT ASK FOR HIS OPINION! You tell him. If you don’t believe that the patient should be given a little ‘over-and-above’ help, the doc will be way ahead of you, on that score. > > Best wishes, > hh Um, no, you moron. In point of fact, doctors tend to greatly overestimate the prognosis of their patients; there was a study done with oncologists and cancer patients recently which showed this effect. > [@Help me prepare for a very difficult conversation.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-prepare-for-a-very-difficult-conversation/564860/30): > > I didn’t say tell the OP to direct how many CC’s of insulin to give the patient, and you should blamed well know it! > My whole point is/was that for older patients, doctors start to cackle about living wills, or whatever it is called. DNR, etc… the MINUTE an older person goes into the hospital, or even for a checkup. I don’t recall any of my friends with newborns being asked if they wanted one for their children, yet, death comes for children as well as older people. The same choices will be necessary in either event, so, why not the concern for a directive from a newborn’s parent? That’s when a doctor really needs to do it, because with an older person, everybody has usually got a plan, or, at least thought about it! > Doctors will do a good job, within their sphere, but experience doesn’t really count, since each person is an individual. I’ve seen doctors surprised with patients’ recovery. (Not a lot, mind you, I don’t lead THAT dramatic a life) Each person should know that a doctor thinks they know best, but, they only know what they have seen, and put their interpretation on it. And, the older a patient is, the more uncertain, IME, a doctor is about making any judgment. I’m saying, make blamed well sure that the doctor knows what your wishes are. > Don’t get so rude, Dr.s have thicker skins that you imagine. Their fees are a remarkable palliative. > > Best wishes, > hh You utter twit. Of course doctors don’t ask parents about advance directives for their children, for several reasons. One, newborns are far less likely to die than ill elderly people. Two, THEY DON’T NEED A FREAKING ADVANCE DIRECTIVE, because their parents are already making all the decisions on their behalf. I’m unsurprised that you didn’t realize that, since you obviously know fuck-all about living wills, power of attorneys, DNR, or anything else medicolegal, medical, or legal. Idiots like you drive up healthcare spending by insisting that your dying elderly relatives are kept “alive” for months on end by extreme measures. Oh, and your last point is logically incoherent. If doctors want to maximize their fees, shouldn’t they provide the maximum amount of futile treatment? Why would they be “clucking about a DNR order”? Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/2 "2010-12-22T09:20:48Z")
What an unfortunate attitude. Yeah, because you’d have to be an irredeemable prick to take a moment to ask a patient what they want and whether they’ve made any arrangements. I wonder if he has any other secrets the medical community doesn’t want you to know? ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/3 "2010-12-22T09:43:19Z")
Meh, but yea, I agree with you **Shmendrik** , **handsomeharry** seems somewhat ignorant and with an axe to grind. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/4 "2010-12-22T09:45:28Z")
He’s also [a Holocaust Denier and Hitler apologist.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12185803&postcount=137) But [he’s got a degree in history,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13186278&postcount=58)donctcha know. I wouldn’t expect too much from him in general other than ignorance, idiocy, and obnoxiousness. That thread seems to be par for the course. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/5 "2010-12-22T09:57:01Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > He’s also [a Holocaust Denier and Hitler apologist.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12185803&postcount=137) But [he’s got a degree in history,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13186278&postcount=58)donctcha know. > > I wouldn’t expect too much from him in general other than ignorance, idiocy, and obnoxiousness. That thread seems to be par for the course. Doesn’t help that he signs his threads “hh”. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/6 "2010-12-22T10:57:49Z")
Or that he sports that funny little mustache. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/7 "2010-12-22T10:58:43Z")
Come now, a self described Fascist who argues for Hitler’s rationality and challenges what the Nazis are “alleged” to have done and talks about what the situation would be “if” the Holocaust happened and signs his posts with HH? That’s obviously coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/8 "2010-12-22T12:47:19Z")
Since I couldn’t say it in the other [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589980&page=2), **Cat Whisperer** : Good job sticking up for a right-wing troll with extremely insavoury politics. You must feel really proud. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/9 "2010-12-22T13:29:53Z")
Not only is **handsomeharry** right about doctors all wanting to shut off life support so that we can sell new bed space\*, M.D.s also specialize in telling terminal patients that they’ve got X months to live (secretly cackling with glee). The truth of course is that if you go online to buy new WonderGlop™ about which doctors don’t want you to know, you’ll be cured. We’re all individuals and so there. \*Every time a bell rings, **Jackmannii** gets a handsome commission. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/10 "2010-12-22T14:58:06Z")
But aside from the wife beating and the “semi-holocaust” denying and the armchair physician stuff, he’s okay. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/11 "2010-12-22T15:13:06Z")
Also, my wife and I get asked about a living will every time we go to the hospital for anything down to a routine checkup, and we’re in our 30s. It’s standard practice to encourage everyone to plan ahead. We now return you back to your regularly scheduled Nazi bashing. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/12 "2010-12-22T15:50:23Z")
**HH** is an idiot. Bigtime. FWIW- no fee in the world is ging to make me feel happier about futilely trying to resusciate a 90 year old with end stage dementia to salve her family’s guilt because they didn’t visit her at Christmas and never wore the horrid knitted sweaters she sent them on their birthdays. There are better ways to go than stripped to the waist with someone pounding on your chest. If a 90 year old suffers a cardiac arrest, whether they have a DNR or not the end result is ultimately the same (you know the chances of coming back from an arrest are slim, and of coming back with brain intact and for any length of time- pretty miniscule), but if they have the DNR at least it will skip a lot of indignity. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/13 "2010-12-22T16:14:48Z")
> [@alexandra](#): > > Since I couldn’t say it in the other [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589980&page=2), **Cat Whisperer** : Good job sticking up for a right-wing troll with extremely insavoury politics. You must feel really proud. Don’t you mean **Binarydrone**? **Cat Whisperer** didn’t say anything about HH’s comment. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/14 "2010-12-22T18:12:07Z")
WTF?? He’s a holocaust denier?? Wow, I never got that crazy vibe from him, he seemed normal… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/15 "2010-12-22T18:27:03Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > He’s also [a Holocaust Denier and Hitler apologist.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12185803&postcount=137) But [he’s got a degree in history,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13186278&postcount=58)donctcha know. > > I wouldn’t expect too much from him in general other than ignorance, idiocy, and obnoxiousness. That thread seems to be par for the course. To be fair, he’s only a “semi” Holocaust denier. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/16 "2010-12-22T18:33:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > To be fair, he’s only a “semi” Holocaust denier. :dubious: But he can’t explain what the semi-Holocaust was. Personally, I believe it’s best described in a [short story by Stephen King](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trucks_%28short_story%29). ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/17 "2010-12-22T18:58:55Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > He’s also [a Holocaust Denier and Hitler apologist.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12185803&postcount=137) But [he’s got a degree in history,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13186278&postcount=58)donctcha know. I always find this sort of assertion hilarious. “I have a degree in history!” Big Fucking Deal. I teach college history, and i can tell you that there are plenty of people out there who managed to scrape through a college major in history with a whole lot of B-'s and C+'s, and who wouldn’t know a decent historical argument if it reached up and grabbed them by the balls. Hell, sometimes even the A students don’t really grasp, even by their senior year, many of the complexities of history, or the types of understanding required to make a nuanced historical argument. They often only have a basic understanding of how to use primary source evidence, or of how to evaluate competing and sometimes contradictory secondary source arguments. I was a Good Student as an undergrad. I kicked ass in my history courses. But it wasn’t until i was a good couple of years into grad school, with all the reading and all the seminars that make up a good grad program, that i really began to understand a lot of that stuff. Of course, you don’t necessarily need to go to grad school; one of the benefits of history is that, with the right will and commitment, any interested person can teach themselves a lot of this stuff. The advantage of grad school is that you’re always around other people who love the subject, and you learn from one another. But, much as it pains me to say it, simply having a degree in history really means jack shit. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/18 "2010-12-22T19:03:36Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > But, much as it pains me to say it, simply having a degree in history really means jack shit. You lie! It’s the key to getting in on the ground floor of the lucrative history-refurbishing business. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/19 "2010-12-22T19:22:49Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > But [he’s got a degree in history,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13186278&postcount=58)donctcha know. Ah, so he’s unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057/20 "2010-12-22T19:27:16Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Ah, so he’s unemployed. Hey, you take that back. I’ve got a history degree and am employed! (Um, not using the degree of course. That’d be impossible. But I know a lot about Sumeria, you betcha.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handsomeharry-is-an-idiot/565057.md?page=2)