IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

In a matter of hours, Remote Area Medical set up its massive clinic, for a weekend, in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn. Tools for dentists were laid out by the yard, optometrists prepared to make hundreds of pairs of glasses, general medical doctors set up for whatever might come though the door. Nearly everything is donated, and everyone is a volunteer. The care is free. But no one could say how many patients might show up.

The first clue came a little before midnight. Stan Brock, the founder of Remote Area Medical, opened the gate outside. The clinic wouldn't open for seven hours, but people in pain didn't want to chance being left out. State guardsmen came in for crowd control. They handed out what would become precious slips of paper - numbered tickets to board what amounted to a medical lifeboat.

It was 27 degrees. The young and the old would spend the night in their cars, running the engine for heat, but not much - not at $3 a gallon. At 5 a.m., Pelley took a walk through the parking lot.

"We got up at three o'clock this morning and we got here about four. We've been out where a little while it's cold," Margaret Walls, a hopeful patient from
Tennessee, told Pelley.

"Why did you come so early?" Pelley asked.

"'Cause we wanted to be seen," Walls replied.
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But at the gate, many were waiting when the weekend ended.

In the expedition to Knoxville, RAM saw 920 patients, made 500 pairs of glasses, did 94 mammograms, extracted 1,066 teeth and did 567 fillings. But when Stan Brock called the last number, 400 people were turned away.

"What's going through your mind when you're reading off the last two or three numbers and you see so many more people at the gate than are going to be able to come in?" Pelley asked.

"Yeah, you know, that's the lousy part of this job. I mean, it's nice to be able to know that you've helped a bunch of people. But the reality is that we can't do everybody. At the moment, we're just seeing the thousands and thousands of people that we can, and the rest of them, unfortunately, have got to do the best they can without us," Brock said.

DISGUSTED Andrew Cowper refused to have knee surgery after docs said there could be a dead RAT in the operating theatre.

Andrew, 19, walked out after a consultant apologised for the stench of rotting rodent and assured him staff were trying to find the corpse.

Another example of how great the British healthcare system is, and another example of why the US should have nothing to do with it...

"It is astounding that in this day and age there are nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare professionals who still risk using needles and syringes on more than one patient, or know of such activities and don't report them," said Wanda Wilson, CRNA, PhD, president of the 37,000 member AANA. "Published standards and guidelines dictate that single-use and disposal of these products is the best way to ensure patient safety. Patient safety is our primary focus --- not cost savings, time savings, or any other factor."

On February 29, health officials in Nevada closed the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas after six patients were diagnosed with hepatitis C. The outbreak was traced back to nurse anesthetists reusing syringes to draw up medicine from single-use vials for multiple patients. According to the investigation report of the Southern Nevada Health District, "common practices" were identified that "would allow disease to be transmitted in this manner." Officials are notifying more than 40,000 patients that they should be tested for hepatitis and HIV. (View the investigation report at http://health.nv.gov/.)

In November 2007, reports surfaced in the media that anesthesiologist Harvey Finkelstein, MD, a Long Island pain management specialist, was under investigation by the New York State Department of Health for reusing syringes to draw up medicine from multi-dose vials and exposing thousands of patients to blood borne pathogen infection. On December 14, 2007, the Department of Health contacted approximately 8,500 patients who had been treated by Finkelstein prior to January 15, 2005, urging them to be tested for hepatitis and HIV if they had received an injection from the doctor. (View the investigation report at http://www.health.state.ny.us/.) Finkelstein's record in the nine years prior to the reuse investigation included 10 malpractice settlements.

Did you know that at one time, Michelle Obama was a pre-med, but unfortunately she couldn't handle
Organic chemistry too well.

MM, at least the guy is getting treated. In the USA, one out of three either have no insurance or inadequate insurance.

Walter,
I am not implying that the US system is better, I am simply saying that the British system or the EU's system is not neccessarily better then ours, or that ours doesnt need improvement.

I am saying that I personally think that if we let the market work without govt interference, it will fix itself.

I am saying that I personally think that if we let the market work without govt interference, it will fix itself.

"Yeah, you know, that's the lousy part of this job. I mean, it's nice to be able to know that you've helped a bunch of people. But the reality is that we can't do everybody. At the moment, we're just seeing the thousands and thousands of people that we can, and the rest of them, unfortunately, have got to do the best they can without us," Brock said.

It would be better to have a system under which health insurance, or the equivalent, is imposed.

advocate wrote :

Quote:

It would be better to have a system under which health insurance, or the equivalent, is imposed.

advocate : i trust you have cleared that with mm ?
hbg

You'll be waiting a very long time.

c.i. wrote :

Quote:

You'll be waiting a very long time.

... and i think we may be able to foretell what the response will be .
hbg

c.i. wrote :

Quote:

You'll be waiting a very long time.

... and i think we may be able to foretell what the response will be .
hbg

as i have mentioned before , fire services were at one time only provided to those who had paid for it .

i doubt that mm would suggest that in the 21st century we should only be provided with police and fire services etc. if we had specifically paid for them - and not through general taxation .