World famous tenor Plácido Domingo has undergone surgery for the removal of a cancerous polyp. The surgery took place at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. The hospital’s spokeswoman announced that the cancerous growth was small and the opera star is expected to make a full recovery.
Let us all hope so. Plácido Domingo has enriched the world with his gifts. In addition to singing the lead role in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at Milan’s La Scala opera house on April 16th, Domingo is expected to return to London’s Royal Opera House in June for the title role in the 1881 version of the opera.
Plácido’s peripatetic lifestyle includes his roles as stage performer, general director of the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera. In addition, he encourages young opera talent.
His website lists his participation as judge in competitions for aspiring performers. We’re not talking American Idol, here. Plácido’s judging has taken him to Paris (three times), Mexico City, Madrid (twice), Bordeaux, Tokyo, Hamburg, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles (twice), Washington, Valencia and a combination of Switzerland (St. Gallen), Austria (Bregenz), and Germany (Friedrichshafen, Isle of Mainau).
It’s a wearing schedule for anyone. It’s anything but placid. For a 69-year old world-renowned performer, it simply goes with the territory. When he was diagnosed with cancer, where did he go?
To New York, of course. To the United States of America. We should be justly proud that this citizen of the world came to us. He could have gone anywhere for surgery. He would be a VIP in any medical facility on the planet. He came here.
When we hear that the American medical system is “broken,” and hear that doctors here will cut off your foot or cut out your child’s tonsils unnecessarily, just for the fees—as President Obama has charged—we should all protest.
The only doctors in the world whom Mr. Obama has commended are the Cuban doctors. Those Cuban medics are good—at routine, elementary-level health care. They are sent around the Caribbean and the world by the Communist government of Fidel Castro. They are sent there for Havana’s propaganda purposes. Doubtless they do some real good. In many terribly poor countries, basic health care—sanitation, inoculation, health education—can bring measurable improvement to people’s lives.
When Fidel Castro himself became critically ill, however, he didn’t call for a Cuban doctor. He summoned specialists to Havana—from Spain. He seems to have made an astonishing recovery.
Plácido Domingo could have gone to those Spanish specialists, too. After all, Plácido is Spanish. But he had access to America. So he flew to New York as fast as he could. He wanted to see the Lady in the Harbor lift her lamp beside the Golden Door. God bless him. Get well soon, Maestro. And may we all recover soon from ObamaCare!
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