I disagree w/the OP premise that lawyers are to blame for the lack of vaccine, and I also disagree w/Baldimo who alleges that Clinton's policies designed to make vaccines available worldwide to children are at blame. What is at blame is the obscene greed of pharmaceutical companies, clearly. Or they would fund studies to benefit the needy, even if they had to take a loss periodically. Most of their profit is a markup of something like $0.185 on every $1.00, with only $0.20 in $1.00 going to research while $0.40 in $1.00 go to advertising... which can only be described as the epitome of greediness.
http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/pharmaceutical-companies.htm
The whole thing reeks of an orchestrated set-up, and I hope it blows up in the face of its architects.
Funny how the whole thing is being laid in the laps of the injured parties and their representatives/advocates...
Hospital (Corporate) and Physician negligence are serious issues.
Without litigation these issues go unaddressed.
Perhaps we need to cap the potential benefits/profits/fees for the Attorneys... but there's little point in putting a cap upon the compensation afforded to the injured parties whose disabilities are LIFELONG.
Those disabled parties, if denied compensation, will inevitably become dependent upon the State for their needs.
The Party of "Personal responsibility" wants to release Physicians, Hospitals, Insurance Companies and HMOs from culpability... or, at the very least, LIMIT their responsibility.
Don't you find that a bit ironic?
princesspupule wrote:So, where's the link to your report?
Did you check the top of the page? Check where it says
source
Baldimo wrote:Both. At least I didn't use Limbaugh as the source, that would have been like Dookie using some of his sources.
You do realize don't you, that the Free Republic link that you posted lists
rushlimbaugh.com
as the source and it is a transcript of Rush's October 14 show?
Bush is doing an overall great job undoing Clintons "mess" Baldino.
would you care to define mess?
this admin is only good at 2 things
1 scapegoating
2 bad decisions
care to argue those ?
Re: No Flu Shot For You!! Healthcare Ruined By Lawyers.
Lash wrote:Republicans have long said the plight of America's healthcare rests largely at the feet of our litigious society--and THAT rests largely at the feet of the Lawyers' Lobby.
I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that lawsuits haven't put us in this current mess with the flu vaccine.
Lawsuits haven't put us in this current mess with the flu vaccine.
(There isn't a straight faced smiley!)
To correct a few facts:
Source
Bush stumbled on a question not raised before, about the U.S. flu vaccine shortage. He said the United States "relied on a company out of England" for the flu vaccine.
Chiron is a California-based company with a factory in England. Bush implied U.S. authorities shut the factory, saying, "We took the right action and didn't allow contaminated medicine into our country," when English authorities shut the Chiron plant.
Also, he blamed lawsuits for the shortage. In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, the frequent vaccine shortages result from two factors:
Vaccines aren't profitable, and drug companies keep merging. In 1967, nearly 30 firms made vaccines; last year only five did, and only two produced flu vaccines.
Re: No Flu Shot For You!! Healthcare Ruined By Lawyers.
Lash wrote:Republicans have long said the plight of America's healthcare rests largely at the feet of our litigious society--and THAT rests largely at the feet of the Lawyers' Lobby.
Which has replaced labor unions as the most major support of the dem party.
The thing I like most about W. is his collection of enemies; it includes all the right people, Soros, Hussein, the beloved leader, Jacque Chirac, the trial lawyers' guild, everybody in AlQuaeda...
Re: No Flu Shot For You!! Healthcare Ruined By Lawyers.
gungasnake wrote:Lash wrote:Republicans have long said the plight of America's healthcare rests largely at the feet of our litigious society--and THAT rests largely at the feet of the Lawyers' Lobby.
Which has replaced labor unions as the most major support of the dem party.
The thing I like most about W. is his collection of enemies; it includes all the right people, Soros, Hussein, the beloved leader, Jacque Chirac, the trial lawyers' guild, everybody in AlQuaeda...
Or just "everybody" for short.
Re: No Flu Shot For You!! Healthcare Ruined By Lawyers.
squinney wrote:
Lawsuits haven't put us in this current mess with the flu vaccine.
(There isn't a straight faced smiley!)
To correct a few facts:
The simple fact of the matter is that we used to have about fifteen companies producing flu vaccine. If one of them screwed up, we lost 1/15 of our supply. Now due to out of control lawering by John Edwards' brethren in the trial lawyers' guild, we have about two such companies. One of them screws up and we lose 1/2 our supply.
Thank you John Edwards, for all the people who're gonna die this year from flu because there wasn't enough vaccine to go around. Thank you Bill and Hill Clinton, thank you Terry MacAuliffe....
Got any stats on lawsuits filed against drug companies due to flu vaccines? Got a comparison of those to the number of lawsuits filed against drug companies in general? Got any numbers on how many lawsuits are filed in general and the percentage of those that are against drug companies for their botching of a flu vaccine?
Don't throw it out there if you can't support it.
Re: No Flu Shot For You!! Healthcare Ruined By Lawyers.
gungasnake wrote:
The simple fact of the matter is that we used to have about fifteen companies producing flu vaccine. If one of them screwed up, we lost 1/15 of our supply. Now due to out of control lawering by John Edwards' brethren in the trial lawyers' guild, we have about two such companies. One of them screws up and we lose 1/2 our supply.
Thank you John Edwards, for all the people who're gonna die this year from flu because there wasn't enough vaccine to go around. Thank you Bill and Hill Clinton, thank you Terry MacAuliffe....
Obviously, this is so simple that I don't understand it:
does it really mean, all companies, which produce flu vaccines, are producing the very same amount? Why does this happen?
We have nearly 20 different companies registered by German health authorities for flu vaccines , among them eight main ones. All of them have a different seize as company as well as of production.
gungasnake wrote:we have about two such companies. One of them screws up and we lose 1/2 our supply
Wasn't this a British company, situated in the UK? (There's no shortage, btw, like there isn't any other country with such a shortage as in the USA.)
It's a company based in California (Chiron) with a plant in the UK.
Maybe you could share the names of those 20 flu vaccine making companies with our president, Walter. He only knows of 2 suppliers, I guess.
Chiron was only founded in 1981.
It's founding vaccines companies are the Sclavo Institute in Italy and Behringwerke in Germany - both more than 100 years old by now, and both producing flu vaccine.
Quote:The simple fact of the matter is that we used to have about fifteen companies producing flu vaccine. If one of them screwed up, we lost 1/15 of our supply. Now due to out of control lawering by John Edwards' brethren in the trial lawyers' guild, we have about two such companies. One of them screws up and we lose 1/2 our supply.
Sigh.
How many times do I have to ask this simple question:
How do insurance companies make their money?
If you can't answer that question, you don't understand why insurance and health care costs are out of control.
Here's a hint: it has nothing to do with lawyers...
Cycloptichorn
Re: No Flu Shot For You!! Healthcare Ruined By Lawyers.
Lash wrote:Republicans have long said the plight of America's healthcare rests largely at the feet of our litigious society--and THAT rests largely at the feet of the Lawyers' Lobby.
I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that lawsuits haven't put us in this current mess with the flu vaccine.
Pretty much proves the GOP position on lawsuits and their affect on our healthcare situation.
So none of these lawyers in the "Lawyers' Lobby" are Republican, ALL Democrats, huh? I don't think anyone can say that with a straight face. It's all the Democrats fault and that's why we should vote for Bush, right? Yeah, o.k., got it.
Quote:I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that lawsuits haven't put us in this current mess with the flu vaccine.
I can say it with a straight face.
If you are blaming our current problems with flu vaccines on
lawsuits, then you are not displaying an understanding of the complex problems facing the health care industry today...
Memo to republicans: not everything can be simplified into a soundbyte!!!
Cycloptichorn
ANYTHING can be reduced to a soundbyte... if you have little regard for accuracy or complexity.
But if your strategy is to make your appeal to the Simpletons... soundbytes are definitely the way to go!
Everyone got talkative in my absence...
RfromP--I don't know where the hell you got that crap you attributed to me. I guess you're one of the growing majority who just make **** up when it suits them.
I've been noticing a lot of that going around recently. The Dems here seem to be incredibly defensive--
Lawsuits are seriously hamstringing this country on a couple of crisis issues--and healthcare is the biggest one.
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Medical Liability Reform: Why it's good for patients
Reforms Promote Access To Care
There are many casualties from America's medical liability crisis - but those suffering most are patients. Across the nation, patients are finding it harder and harder to get access to vital medical services. The reason? Out-of-control litigation is making medical liability insurance either unaffordable or unobtainable at any price. As a result, more and more doctors are curtailing services, being forced to leave litigious states, or abandoning the practice of medicine.
Faced with skyrocketing insurance premiums, approximately 1 out of 11 obstetricians nationwide have stopped delivering babies, scaling back their practices to gynecology only. (Self, April 2002) There are hardly any rural communities left in Mississippi that have doctors willing to deliver babies. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
Nearly 56% of Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans in the 12 "crisis" states identified by the American Medical Association are refusing some high-risk procedures. Nearly one-third of physicians in these states are moving their practices. (BlueCross BlueShield Association, January 15, 2003)
In Wheeling, WV, all the neurosurgeons have left. Trauma patients must now be airlifted to Pittsburgh to receive care. (National Journal, 5/18/02)
In Pennsylvania, 44 doctors practicing outside Philadelphia left the state or stopped practicing medicine in 2001 rather then pay rising liability premiums. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
In Florida, South Bay Hospital in Hillsborough County has lost the services of three specialists in July 2002, including a urologist and vascular surgeon, because the doctors were unable to find affordable medical liability insurance. (St. Petersburg Times, August 17, 2002)
Reforms Keep Health Care Affordable
America's medical liability crisis is driving up health care costs: Direct costs of rising liability insurance premiums for doctors, hospitals and other care providers and indirect costs of **"defensive medicine"** - unnecessary treatment designed to reduce the prospect of litigation.
An April 2002 survey of physicians revealed that nearly 4 out of 5 (79%) have ordered more tests than were medically needed due to fear of litigation. Three out of four (74%) said they have referred patients to specialists more often than necessary. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
Doctors spent $6.3 billion last year on medical liability coverage. Hospitals and nursing homes spent billions more. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
The Federal Government - through its funding of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs - pays an additional $28-$47.5 billion per year for health care due to the costs of medical liability coverage and defensive medicine. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
A study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics estimates that common sense liability reforms - such placing reasonable limits on non-economic damages - would reduce health care costs by 5-9%, generating savings of $60-$108 billion a year. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
Today's System Designed For Lawyers, Not Patients
Patients are losing access to health care... doctors are under siege... health care costs are rising due to soaring premiums and meritless litigation.
Between 1996 and 1999, the average medical liability award jumped by a whopping 76%. In just one year, the median damage award in cases involving OB/GYNs increased by 43%. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
Mega-verdicts are on the rise as, more and more frequently, trial attorneys ask juries for Powerball-sized awards. In 1999-2000, more than half (52%) of all awards exceeded $1 million, compared to 34% from 1994-1996. Since 1995, there have been 21 verdicts in Mississippi of $9 million or more - including a $100 million award. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 24, 2002)
Under typical contingency fee arrangements, lawyers walk away with 30-50% of any jury award to the plaintiff, plus an additional percentage of the award to cover expenses. (Physician Insurers Association of America, Medical Malpractice Claim Expenses, 1999)
Medical liability reform means better access and more affordable health care for the patients who need it. That's why we urge Congress to reform the medical liability system today.
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This is a group of surgeons who compiled this list. But, the facts are verifiable. Stop lining the pockets of trial lawyers. Vote for a cap, so we can afford insurance.
