From the people who are about to take over healthcare....

Here's a Justice System Update, courtesy of Instapundit:

Man Left in Solitary Confinement for 2 Horrific Years … for Suspected DUI. “After Steven’s arrest on suspicion of DUI and driving a stolen car, he was placed in solitary confinement because because officers felt he might be ‘suicidal.’ There, he was essentially forgotten about by the legal system. He was given no health care. His toenails grew so long they curled around his feet. He developed bed sores. A fungus grew on his skin after being denied showers. He lost a ton of weight. His hair grew long and shaggy — he looks like he just got off a desert island. He descended into madness. And his dental problems grew so severe that he was forced to pull out one of his rotting teeth by himself. Eventually, after 22 months, Steven was released after all charges against him were dismissed.”

The poor guy is now batshit crazy, but has won 15.5 million in a lawsuit.  

"His mental health has been severely compromised from the time he was in that facility. That continues to be the same. No amount of money will bring back what they took away from him," Matt Coyte, Slevin's Albuquerque-based attorney, said on Wednesday. "But it’s nice to be able to get him some money so he can improve where he is in life and move on."

And the people who were running the prison?  Still employed there.
The people who paid the fine?  The citizens of New Mexico.

Wait until the same mindset takes hold in our intensive care wards.
Go here to read occasional updates on Britain's National Health Service.  
Go hear to read about the recently formed political party opposed to any NHS reforms!  (Kinda like postmen forming a union to retain 6-day letter delivery in Merigold MS in the age of email.)
Hey, anybody can make a mistake, right?  

On Milton Friedman's Barking Cat

Let's start off with some vintage Milton Friedman:

 In a recent column (Newsweek Jan 8, 1973), I pointed out that approval of drugs by the Food and Drug Administration delays and prevents the introduction of useful as well as harmful drugs. After giving reasons why the adverse effects could be expected to be far more serious than the beneficial effects, I summarized a fascinating study by Prof. Sam Peltzman, of UCLA of experience before and after 1962, when standards were stiffened. His study decisively confirmed the expectation that the bad effects would much outweigh the good.    The column evoked letters from a number of persons in pharmaceutical work offering tales of woe to confirm my allegation that the FDA was indeed "Frustrating Drug Advancement," as I titled the column. But most also said something like, "In contrast to your opinion, I do not believe that the FDA should be abolished, but I do believe that its power should be" changed in such and such a way - to quote from a typical letter.    I replied as follows: "What would you think of someone who said, " I would like to have a cat, provided it barked"? Yet your statement that you favor an FDA provided it behaves as you believe desirable is precisely equivalent. The biological laws that specify the characteristics of cats are no more rigid than the political laws that specify the behavior of governmental agencies once they are established. The way the FDA now behaves, and the adverse consequences are not an accident, not a result of some easily corrected human mistake, but a consequence of its constitution in precisely the same way that a meow is related to the constitution of a cat. As a natural scientist, you recognize that you cannot assign characteristics at will to chemical and biological entities, cannot demand that cats bark or water burn. Why do you suppose that the situation is different in the "social sciences?"

In other words, to wish for an efficient, non-corrupt, economical government service is to wish for a "barking cat".  

Now let's go to something more recent, from the UK's Mail Online.  Britain's dreaded National Health Service has killed something like 1,200 people through sheer godawful neglect, and the government flunkies have responded by (pick one) simply 1) firing those responsible 2) privatizing their system 3) vowing to keep government out of citizens' lives, or 4) paying whistleblowers to shut the hell up.  

Hit the link.  Check out the comments.  A good number of the Brits are saying sensible things, but far too many are wishing for a barking cat.  And there's no such thing as a barking cat, no matter how you design it, or what was intended.  Sad.

If these idiots spent the money on 750 nurses, they probably won't need to gag any one !

The original principle was beyond reproach but sadly I believe it has lost it's way, been allowed to get too big, and 'governed/controlled' by self serving idiotsIf the government was serious about tackling this abuse of power, they would declare all these gagging clauses null and void. Also they would take steps to ensure that the authoritarian, bullying managers who are responsible for this state of affairs, are sacked.

Revelation after revelation but what will be done ? NOTHING ! What will change ? NOTHING ! It never does. This would be bad enough if it was confined to the NHS but it isn't ! Every public sector departments are riddled with overpaid, 3rd rate middleweight, incompetent managers who are never held responsible for their failures as they would be in the private sector. They demand to be paid the going rate for a first class manager but none would last 5 minutes in the real world. There needs to be a complete pay and conditions restructuring from the top down in all departments not just the NHS. Without this things will only get worse !

Being open and honest and fully accountable about problems and accepting and recognising there is a problem is the first step to resolving the problem. Preventing legitimate organisational operational concerns and problems being discussed, resolved and publicly available lead to the same problems being repeated and cause serious problems for patient's blighted by hospital blunders and mistakes. Only by learning from previous mistakes and taking real decisive action to prevent repeating mistakes with a genuine will, can the preventable suffering of future patients be avoided. It does not take a consultant to work this out do why does continue to be the case inquiry after inquiry for decades? The culture of secrecy surrounding mistakes needs to stop now and the superiority culture of the medical hierarchy that say they are always right must end.

Sorry boys.  You can fire all the government managers, you can re-structure your government programs, and you can rant and moan and express your outrage in the comment fields of your newspapers all you want.   

You can't make a barking cat.  

National Death Service - Rodent Edition

I always enjoy the horrifying updates from this dude's blog.  It's called National Death Service, and it displays the daily, weekly and monthly outrages that take place in Britain's National Health Service hospitals and clinics.  The National Health Service supposedly inspired the makers of RomneyCare and ObamaCare. 

One of the current disagreements in the Land O' Limey O'BamaCare is whether or not a NHS patient was attacked by a rat or a field mouse: 

Are You Sure It Wasn’t A Siberian Filigree Hamster?


Staff spotted Mr Ketley stumbling around a corridor with the rat hanging from his neck by its teeth and nurses knocked it off and killed it. Hospital officials said it was a field mouse.

Ah, yes, the well-known man-eating field mouse…

But his mother Pat Boardman told the Mirror: "That's an outrageous claim. He had large, open bite marks.

"I'm appalled that this sort of thing could happen to my son in an NHS hospital in this day and age.

"He was completely helpless and terrified. It's a disgrace. He was very scared and the staff had to show him they had killed the rat to prove it could no longer hurt him."

The field mouse, I guess you mean? If you know what's good for you....

I love that guy. 

In related news, here's something from Walter Russell Mead stating that 50% of all UK nursing home patients are being denied basic services because of bureaucratic ineptitude:

Fans of government health care keep telling us that government can do the job, and they point to countries like the UK as examples where single payer, government run health care systems deliver high quality, compassionate care.


They are either grossly ignorant or they are lying through their teeth.

A recent study by a British healthcare regulator finds that half of all elderly people in Britain’s nursing homes are being denied basic health services.

Half.

Some older people were forced to wait months for a doctor or nurse to treat simple health problems. No doubt they were waiting for the Bureau of Bedsore Management to review the proper procedures before issuing a bandage-changing permit.

Over the polite grumbling of many advocacy groups, the British Parliament can be faintly heard tinkering away at some far overdue legislation. No doubt the grannies will get some relief just as soon as the House of Commons passes some new laws, the House of Lords (whoever they have there now that they have chased the actual, you know, Lords out of it) sagaciously tinkers with it, the Queen signs it, the bureaucrats get all the regulations nicely written, and the memos and administrative procedures get delivered to the proper offices.

You've now been warned.  The path is well-marked. 

Mitt Romney advocated this crap in Massachusetts, and no one twisted his arm to make him do so. 
Mitt Romney wrote USA Today editorials promoting a US version of the National Death Service in 2009.  No one twisted his arm to make him do so. 
This is what the leading Republican candidate wants for you. 

The Teleprompter Jesus has already gotten us on the road to having what the U.K. has.  Rodents chewing on retirees.  May his monitors go blank, may his programmers go on strike, may his battery back-ups die, and may he be required to go to a U.S. Department of Transportation maintenance facility for repairs.   

You don't trust the government to deliver an important overnight package. 
For some reason, a large number of us trust them to delivery healthcare when their Department Of Motor Vehicles fills us with existential dread. 
Our government is notorious for spending $600 on screwdrivers and $1200 for toilet seats. 

The only way to decrease the cost of something is to lower demand or increase supply.  That's why we need a Free Market Healthcare system.  (Please don't ever confuse the current U.S. mess with a free market system.  84% of our medical bills are paid indirectly, either through the government or through insurance programs.)
My pick for the person most likeley to lower the cost of medical care is former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.  He is running for the Libertarian Party nomination for President.  The Libertarian Party supports a rat-free medical environment. 

The picture of the NHS rodent-activated blood transfusion system came from here.    The gravedigger poster came from The People's Cube.  Hit the National Health Service tag below to read more about the ridiculously low standards that British medical teams fail to achieve. 

British Hospitals - People are dying to get in !!

From The Manchester Evening News comes a preview of what we'll experience with our new ObamaCare© medical system:

Two patients died after being left waiting in ambulances outside an over-stretched hospital.
The patients, believed to have been in their 80s, couldn’t get into the Royal Oldham Hospital for seven and 20 minutes respectively.

They were assessed by ambulance crews as ‘very sick’ and were both suspected of having suffered heart attacks.
The A and E department was so busy that all but the most urgent cases were being sent to other hospitals at the time. All five resuscitation beds at Oldham were full.
The two patients were assessed and treated by a casualty doctor and senior nurse in the ambulances.

It is understood neither actually had suffered a heart attack by the time they were admitted – although both later died at the hospital. One died in the resuscitation unit the following day and the other three days after being admitted to a ward.
A probe has been launched after ambulance chiefs reported the incident to regional health authority NHS North West.

Ah, the joys of Socialism.  From the comments, someone named Jay Tilzey writes:

After 35 working years of never bothering the NHS (but paying my contributions) I now need it and am appalled at how badly I am being let down by it. Hospitals are depressing, overcrowded, untidy places, I am rushed in and out of appointments (having waited months for them) without being given a chance to express myself, and find myself almost crippled with pain because of budgetary restraints or overloaded doctors (who should, nonetheless, ensure that their patients are not affected). It is no consolation to me, nor doubtless to the families of these unfortunate people, that many people have "positive experiences".

Only to be rebutted by someone calling himself Bolton Lad:

Thank you for insulting my many thousands of colleagues. It is lovely to know that our hard work and determination isn't appreciated anymore. Next time you need emergency treatment we'll just kick you out the door and you can crawl along to The Alexandra who will turn you away as they don't want blood on their carpet.

The main problem with the NHS is it is used as a political football and every time there is a Goverment change they feel the need to tinker with it. Just leave us alone and let us get on with what we were set up to do. Labour's reorganisations were only just settling in repairing years of cronic under investment and now the new kids on the block are making us change again. Is it any wonder beuracracy is rife.

Sorry, Bolton Lad, but for politicians, that's not a bug, that's a feature.  If you socialize medicine, it's going to be a political football.  Just like education, the roads, the sewers and the dog pound.  Why bother getting elected if you can't kick the political football?  Any time you turn something over to a gang of beauty contest winners, you surrender your control over it, and it becomes a political football.   


Seriously.  Would it not be best to keep the government out of medical care, turn it into a free market system, and let private charities take care of the rest? 


And to readers in the U.S.....  What levels of expertise do you think John Bolton, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Bachmann, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman and Charlie Rangel are going to bring to our medical system when ObamaCare© kicks in?  Those characters are going to make the British look like Seal Team 6. 

At this point, people are seeking waivers by the hundreds and hundreds (with an astounding number from Ms. Pelosi's district.)  What do you think will happen when your broken leg becomes a political football? 

One last thing about the picture above...I was looking for a good picture of the Royal Oldham Hospital, and found it here, in an article about The Royal Oldham's staff wheeling a man outside to die of a brain hemorrhage because they thought he was drunk. 

National Death Service - Now coming to a hospital near you !!!

Britain's National Death Health Service has a target date of treating all patients within 18 weeks. 

Yeah.  18 weeks.  In the U.S., we can grow a cotton crop within 18 weeks. 

Here's The Guardian:

New NHS performance data reveal that the number of people in England who are being forced to wait more than 18 weeks has risen by 26% in the last year, while the number who had to wait longer than six months has shot up by 43%.


In March this year, 34,639 people, or 11% of the total, waited more than that time to receive inpatient treatment, compared with 27,534, or 8.3%, in March 2010 – an increase of 26% – Department of Health statistics show.

Similarly, in March this year some 11,243 patients who underwent treatment had waited for more than six months, compared with 7,841 in the same month in 2010 – a 43% rise.

Despite rising demand for healthcare caused by the increasingly elderly population and growing numbers of people with long-term conditions, the NHS treated 16,201 fewer people as inpatients in March 2011 compared to March 2010, the latest Referral To Treatment data disclose.

In other words, their government-run medical system is accomplishing less, and taking much, much longer to do it. 

Sound familiar?  Like the post office, the public schools, the department of motor vehicles, the federal government, the state government, the county government, and the city government?

If you feel a cold coming on, better get in line now. 

More on Britain's National Death Service

From the UK's Telegraph, on the state of Britain's National Health Service. 

Women in labour have been forced to wait while epidural equipment was borrowed from other hospitals, while other patients have been denied chest drains and radiology supplies, according to doctors at South London Healthcare Trust.

Minutes of a meeting between medical staff and the trust’s chief executive say “cash flow” problems at the trust which has a £50 million deficit, mean vital equipment is regularly not ordered.

But wait, there's more !

The document records: “The trust in different areas had run out of under water sealed chest drains, epidural packs, gynaecological disposables, radiological disposables, and the response to this was 'this was a cash flow issue’”.


Doctors told managers “again and again” that consultants were unable to know that equipment was missing until the last item had been used, when their patient was already lying on the table, according to the minutes of June 16 meeting.

And then....

It says doctors fear that the trust’s hospitals will be left “in the same situation as Mid Staffs” where hundreds of patients died amid failings in basic care.



James Brokenshire, Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, contacted the CQC after eight clinicians told him they feared patients were being put at risk, but were afraid of the repercussions if they were named.

Socialized medicine.  All of the "civilized" nations have it. 
Here's Donald Berwick, Obama's choice to lead the upcoming Obamacare disaster, explaining to a group of British M.D.'s why their system is so freakin' awesome. 

Quangos try to kill you.

You may have heard about a controversial healthcare plan lurching its way through the U.S. Congress? 

Well, go here for more enlightenment.  "Middle Aged Dad", a British guy who commented on some of my earlier posts about Obamacare, is a little pissed.  (His message to us is "Run for your lives, while you still can ! The Quangos are gonna get you !  Run, for God's sake !  It's THE QUANGOS !") 

A Quango is a British derogatory term for any group financed by the government that is not actually part of the government.  [qua(si) n(on-)g(overnmental) o(rganization).]  We'll soon be calling our insurance companies Quangos.  General Motors is now a Quango.  Archer Daniels Midland might as well be a Quango.  Noted con artist Al Gore wanted to be a Quango, but I think we may have prevented it. 

"Middle Aged Dad's" post on his miserable experience with Socialized Medicine had a comment from someone who runs the National Death Service blog.  (Get it?  Get it? In England their Obamacare program is called The National Health Service?  Like, if we implement Obamacare over here, it'll be truly screwed up beyond recognition, and then we'll nickname Obamacare after someone or something that's totally screwed up?  Oh.  Wait.  We've already done it.  Maybe someone can think of something worse.) 
Anyway, if you have any warm and fuzzy feelings about socialized medicine, go to the National Death Service blog, and hit a few random posts. 

Middle Aged Dad has a fairly limited blogroll, but among the honorees is someone named Mark Wadsworth, who declares that "England Is Not A Museum".   Mr. Wadsworth is running an online poll about the Keynesian mulitiplier effect.  There is only one correct answer, and that would be number 3.  Go there.  Take the test.  Hit option 3. 

Happy Saturday morning to everyone.  I'm through surfing for the day.  Gotta go to work.

Ok, I lied.  I was looking for a funny picture to illustrate Britain's National Health Service fiasco, and came across this poster.  This is a serious poster.  It was designed by non-comedians, who weren't trying to be funny. 

1)  Just how pissed off are the Brits, if they have to put up posters warning against abuse of National Death Service staff? 
2)  Go here for the blog post where I found the poster.  If you don't have time for that, just note the multi-culti "We Are The World" NHS staff, as compared to the nasty, ethnocentric colonial masters and warlords on the right. 

Christ almighty, we're in trouble.