From: "Gary Britt" 

I think you are correct about Petrenko.

I suspect Phil's friend's experience assuming it is being reported
accurately could have been a reflection of the fact that Moscow's subway
system was a fake show pony for the world; a deliberate front to pretend
their economic system was actually working.  They were so out of it and so
projected their own lying behavior on others that Khrushchev would never
believe that all those supermarkets full of food and all that large low
priced housing he was shown weren't just faked up cities to fool the world
with (since that's what the Russians did).

I think all the way to Gorbachov they kept fooling themselves about how
they stood compared to us.

Gary

"JaneL"  wrote in message
news:43bb17b0{at}w3.nls.net...
> "Gary Britt" wrote:
>
> > but then the Russian skaters
> > knowing the pitiful piss poor state of their nationalized health care
> > showed
> > up at the hospital with needles, equipment, bed linens, etc. all
purchased
> > on the black market because that's the only way to have a non-used clean
> > needle, etc.
> >
>
> From what I remember of the story, it was just Victor Petrenko who showed
up
> with his personal hospital kit.
>
> http://www.championsonice.com/skaters/bio.php?useid=9
>
> I have to agree, though, that the stories we're currently getting from my
> brother-in-law's nephew are closer to what I've always read health care
> conditions were in Russia than the treatment Phil's friend received.  The
> nephew is living somewhere outside St. Petersburg, and his wife has been
> hospitalized for pregnancy-related problems several times already during
her
> pregnancy.  He's been rather appalled at the conditions of the local
> hospital and clinics and is considering bringing her back to the US before
> her due date.  I don't doubt that Phil's friend was treated well - I just
> wonder which one is the norm, and if it's a case of where they're located.
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5