(a) Stanford is a research hospital, and the work they do in research hospitals improves healthcare everywhere.

(b) This doesn't preclude him from making other donations.

(c) Even if it were an unwise choice (which I don't believe), it was still a generous thing to do. No one deserves to be called names for giving away $28 million.

This seems to me the meanest (in both senses) comment I've seen on News.YC to date. Ending it with an ass-covering "Just my 2c" just makes it seem that much more contemptible.

Although poorly articulated, I don't think his intention was to come across mean-spirited. I think he meant this money could have more positive impact by doing y instead of x. At the end of the day, since the money was earned through honest work instead of tax revenue, none of us have a say in how he chooses to use it, as many people here have already stated.

So, how does that affect someone's chances for funding...

Maybe he donated to a US hospital because he couldn't find anyone outside of the USA who wanted US$. :-)

More seriously, the quality of health care available to Americans without health insurance is comparable to that in many third world countries; so funding US hospitals (which provide a disproportionate amount of their services to the uninsured, who often don't seek treatment for medical issues until said issues become life-threatening) can be seen as providing assistance to the disadvantages.

Finally -- as other people have said, it was his money. Up to him to decide what to do with it.

"utterly retarded"

When you have $28 million dollars to blow, you will be free to spend it as you see fit. In the interim, perhaps you shouldn't be so critical of a billionaire donating money to a hospital; much larger fortunes have simply been squandered. Not to mention the fact that throughout history the rich have donated untold sums to cultural and arts centers, recreation, etc. All money that could have been spent building hospitals in less fortunate parts of the world, and probably most of which brought nothing but praise to the philanthropist.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others are spending the bulk of their fortunes working in Africa and other developing nations. You would be naive to think that there aren't poor people in the SV area that could use better health care. Like it or not, ER's are the frontlines of care for the majority of the uninsured in this country.

I think it is very noble to try and equalize care in your hometown - especially one with such wealth disparity as SV. I think he hopes to inspire other rich technology tycoons to do the same.

Philanthropy is not the same as investment.

Andreesen is among those who have created markets, companies, and industries more or less out of thin air (by implementing an idea on a digital device that doesn't produce tangible physical goods like a steel factory or something) in a few years. He's giving back in a very generous way. Let's all just recognize how amazing the entire situation is, shall we?

What would he know about developing countries? There's no harm in dealing with what you're familiar with.

I'd say a far greater squandering to complain about would be Brittney Spears wasting $1.47m a year on clothes and booze.

Sure... there's still an enormous problem in our world in that our resources are distributed really poorly. Unfortunately, we haven't come up with any better way of distributing resources than capitalism.

Wow. I was taken way out of context on this one. Cover my ass? I stand by what I said. Yes, Stanford can take care of itself (I googled and its endowment is somewhere in the billions). So its a research hospital, that doesn't mean that the research they do is going to save lives. I'm not saying its not a noble thing to do, just that if you are going to give $28 million and brag about it, it better be for a damn good cause. Stanford Hospital, in my opinion, is not. Peace.

<sarcasm> yeah what a selfish jerk. Nobody should invest a cent into anything domestic until the whole of the third world is brought out of poverty. </sarcasm>

Wait a second! So he donates $28 million to a hospital and you are complaining? You can't be serious.

When you donate $28 million to a better cause I'm sure we'll all like to hear about it. Until then, I hope I don't run in to "people like [you]".

Thinking like this is what keeps people like me from enjoying charitable work.

One of the reasons I find myself with enough time to do a startup is because I cut down so much on my volunteer and charitable work. I just got sick and tired of putting in my own time and money and listening to people like you complain.

I suppose I should thank people like you for helping me refocus my energy on my own efforts. But I won't. Instead, I'll just say, "Shut up and say 'thank you'".

It's a well-known fact that high-profile organizations and events get an excessive amount of funding. It's always been that way.

You do have a point... there could be a much greater need in developing countries. But I think generosity is in short supply in this world. Any charity should be applauded loudly because it helps someone.