bonnie Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956732/posts Wonder where US citizens will be sent for emergency care?? Critically ill [Canadian] patients rushed to U.S. for care Globe and Mail ^ 8 Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 12:34:27 PM by John Jorsett More than 150 critically ill Canadians – many with life-threatening cerebral hemorrhages – have been rushed to the United States since the spring of 2006 because they could not obtain intensive-care beds here. Before patients with bleeding in or outside the brain have been whisked through U.S. operating-room doors, some have languished for as long as eight hours in Canadian emergency wards while health-care workers scrambled to locate care. The waits, in some instances, have had devastating consequences. “There have been very serious health-care problems that have arisen in neurosurgical patients because of the lack of ability to attain timely transport to expert neurosurgical centres in Ontario,” said R. Loch Macdonald, chief of the division of neurosurgery at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. Those problems, he said, include “brain injury or brain damage that could have been prevented by earlier treatment.” Ontario has the worst problem, though it is not alone. British Columbia has sent four patients with spine injuries to Washington State hospitals for care from May to September, 2007, though the recruitment of more staff and opening of new beds have helped alleviate the problem. Saskatchewan has sent patients to neighbouring provinces – such as Alberta, which is working at maximum capacity – for specialized neurosurgical services. But nowhere is the problem of accessing neurosurgery more severe in this country than in Ontario. Since April of 2006, 157 people have been sent to Michigan and New York State hospitals for care. That includes the 62 patients sent so far in fiscal 2007-2008, according to David Jensen, spokesman for the Ontario Health Ministry. When asked if any patients transported to the United States had died, Mr. Jensen said the “ministry does not specifically record the outcomes of health services provided out of country.” Patients being sent to U.S. hospitals are in the midst of acute medical emergencies, including head injuries, broken necks and hemorrhagic strokes, such as a brain aneurysm that has ruptured. Unlike other cases where patients have been sent to the U.S. for care – such as radiotherapy for cancer patients – this is the first time doctors have categorically equated delays in obtaining treatment with poorer patient outcomes. Tim Rutledge, former chief of emergency medicine at North York General Hospital, said physicians are spending “many hours” trying to find neurosurgical services. “When someone starts to bleed in their head, you don't have a lot of time. You have to take these patients stat,” said Dr. Rutledge, who was asked to represent the concerns of Ontario emergency-room physicians before a provincial panel studying access to neurosurgical services. Not only is waiting traumatic for patients and families, he said, but “it's immensely stressful for emergency personnel to watch a patient deteriorate before their eyes while they try to access care.” Deterioration, he said, comes in the form of “loss of limb function, seizures and comas.” THE OBSTACLES Despite the urgency of these cases, patients encounter barriers to accessing care at every turn. The problems include: limited access to teleradiology; limited operating-room time; too few intensive-care beds; a short supply of neurosurgically trained intensive-care nurses to staff them, and too few neurosurgeons. In some cases, neurosurgeons are available to operate, but with intensive-care beds full, there simply is nowhere to put them afterward. Even the method of funding neurosurgical services is an enormous disincentive. Neurosurgery is funded out of fixed, global hospital budgets and is viewed as a financial drain. Orthopedic surgeons, by comparison, are seen as money makers: The more operations they do, the more their hospitals are reimbursed. Tom Chan, chief of emergency at Scarborough Hospital, said the process is frustrating for emergency-room doctors, who are the first to see these patients. Typically, the patients come in having had a seizure or complaining of severe headaches, numbness, confusion, or vomiting. “My hospital is 20 minutes from the best neurosurgery in the country – if not the world – and we can't get to it,” said Dr. Chan, who described the situation as “crazy.” When Alan Hudson, head of Ontario's waiting-time strategy, heard about the problem, he immediately struck a panel to study it. “The solution to fix this is within sight,” said Dr. Hudson, a former neurosurgeon and hospital president. “What it requires is some organization.” To that end, the Ontario government in November provided an additional $4.1-million to Toronto's University Health Network, to do 100 more neurosurgical cases by October, 2008. Catherine Zahn, executive vice-president, clinical programs and practice at the University Health Network, said the additional government funding is having an impact, though she conceded the pace is not sustainable as more neurosurgeons are needed. She stressed that the government and her institution are working together to address the problem. WARNING SIGNS And yet, governments were warned of a shortage of neurosurgical services five years ago. In August, 2003, a report co-authored by Chris Wallace, head of the division of neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital, said that “increasingly, the resources are not available to handle neurosurgical emergencies.” At that time, in fiscal 2003-2004, fewer than five patients were sent to U.S. hospitals for care. One year later, 10 patients were sent. That number doubled in 2005-2006, according to Ontario Health Ministry figures. Dr. Wallace's report mentioned four main areas of concern and made eight recommendations to improve access to neurosurgery and to “plan for the unplanned.” “It has started to reach capacities that are not tolerable and that's what has caused the groundswell and the concern,” Dr. Wallace said in an interview. He described the situation of travelling to the U.S. for care as “intolerable for the critically ill.” Two more reports on the difficulties of accessing neurosurgical services followed. An October, 2003, report by Charles Wright found there was a significant shortage of neurosurgeons in some centres. Two years later, a report by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences said demands were being met by very few surgeons with high workloads, which is not sustainable. Now, a fourth report, authored by James Rutka, appointed by the provincial government to head the neurosurgery expert panel, has listed about 20 recommendations to solve the problem. The report by Dr. Rutka, chairman of the division of neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, was provided to government in late December. It recommends a two-phased approach: allocating additional neurosurgical services to one hospital to address emergency out-of-country transfers immediately, and increasing capacity in more centres in Ontario. Quote Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make, period ... ... Wish more people would realize this. Quotes by Susan Gottesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonnie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 HEY BONNIE A few years about I saw this program on PUBLIC TELEVISION HOW people in CANADA were coming to the U.S. for medical treatment because the waiting lines and waiting list were so long that if these people were to have waited they might have died. dgrimm60 Can hardly wait till we can experience the glories of universal health care. Still wonder where we will be sent for emergency care? Quote Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make, period ... ... Wish more people would realize this. Quotes by Susan Gottesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolaa Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I wonder why we always bring up Canada's healthcare system. What about Britain's or Australia's or Holland's? Any reports on those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Oplinger Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Because Canada is right across the border, and is the health care program most likely to be modeled after. Unless, of course, the Cuban model is more preferable... Ted Quote "As iron sharpens iron, so also does one man sharpen another" - Proverbs 27:17 "The offense of the cross is that the cross is a confession of human frailty and sin and of inability to do any good thing. To take the cross of Christ means to depend solely on Him for everything, and this is the abasement of all human pride. Men love to fancy themselves independent. But let the cross be preached, let it be made known that in man dwells no good thing and that all must be received as a gift, and straightway someone is offended." Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings "Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway" - John Wayne "The person who pays an ounce of principle for a pound of popularity gets badly cheated" - Ronald Reagan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planey Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Why not ask Nan and Aldona about the Australian model? And I believe Nan worked for some time in New Zealand. Graeme Quote Graeme____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonnie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 http://www.cubastudygroup.org/index.cfm?...1&Year=2008 Author disputes Cuban healthcare `myths' Miami Herald- John Dorschner January 11th, 2008 - Before Katherine Hirschfeld went to Cuba for post-graduate studies, she read dozens of academic research papers on the country's healthcare system. All were glowing reports about how the Castro government offered good care for everyone, and that's what she expected to find. Then she went to Santiago de Cuba for an extended stay and saw the system for herself, including three days in a hospital when she came down with dengue fever. The result is a highly critical book -- Health, Politics and Revolution in Cuba since 1898 -- which she will discuss Thursday night at the University of Miami. Her stays were mostly in Santiago, from 1996 through 1998, when she was a graduate student at Emory University and Cuba was in the midst of a dengue fever epidemic that the government tried to hush up. When she experienced the symptoms -- aching joints, fever, nausea, sore throat -- she was taken to a Santiago hospital and placed in a large ward guarded by a man with a gun. She asked to make a phone call to tell people where she was. The guard said there were no working phones. ' `Oh my God,' I thought to myself. 'This place doesn't exist,' '' at least not officially, because the epidemic was a state secret. NO DOCTOR IN SIGHT During her stay, she says she never saw a doctor. She was given one pill -- a vitamin. Fortunately, she had a mild case. Because there were few nurses, she and other patients who were able did what they could for the sickest, especially those who were bleeding or vomiting. Now an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, Hirschfeld says living with a family in Santiago while doing her research made a big difference in her viewpoint. ''Most academic work about Cuba is based on little or no field research,'' Hirschfeld said. U.S. academics often rely on official government studies or do short stays on the island, spending perhaps two weeks, sleeping in government-approved facilities. She found women in Santiago gravitated to the kitchen, where she learned that even preparing a meal was revealing about the economy. ''Lunch is sometimes a counter-revolutionary event,'' because of how the family had to scramble outside the rationing system to find enough to eat. Hirschfeld found even more basic public health problems, such as a lack of running water in the city. Residents compensated by catching rain water in barrels -- breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which transmit the dengue virus. Cubans who needed treatment often used social networks or bartered favors to have doctors see them outside the official clinic settings. If people had to go to the hospital, they tried to prepare in advance, getting surgical thread and bandages on their own, even obtaining drugs from the United States if they could. Hirschfeld says her research showed that healthcare in pre-Castro Cuba was of mixed quality. Many people in the cities received inexpensive, regular care through memberships in clinics, but those in rural areas and those of African heritage were less likely to get care. A clean water supply was problematic because corrupt officials often stole the money rather than using it to maintain and improve the system. When she finished her doctorate dissertation about the problems in Cuba's healthcare, she says it was not initially well received by her review committee, which pointed out that most other academic researchers disagreed with her. She believes her unusual views delayed her getting her doctorate by at least a year. FROM BAD TO WORSE Since Hirschfeld did her research, most experts say Cuban healthcare has gotten worse, primarily because 36,000 doctors and other healthcare professionals are now working overseas, many of them in Venezuela, according to official figures. A dissident doctor in Havana, Darsi Ferrer, told The Miami Herald last year that because of the shortage, ``One doctor now has to take care of four or five offices.'' The situation has become so bad that last month the vice minister of public health, Joaquín García Salaberría, took the highly unusual step of admitting on Cuban television that there were shortages of doctors and nurses. 'It's not guaranteed that doctors and nurses will remain in the doctors' offices, as had been promised,'' García said. Link to Story: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/373512.html Quote Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make, period ... ... Wish more people would realize this. Quotes by Susan Gottesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonnie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 To bad there is not a way to provide Michael Moore and all congressmen and senators,and President of the US with the type of care they are willing to provide for us http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/jun/26/opinion/chi-oped0626sickojun26 What Michael Moore left on The Cutting Room Floor chive for Tuesday, June 26, 2007 What Michael Moore left on the cutting room floor By Helen Evans, Director Of Nurses For Reform, and A Paneuropean Network Ofnurses Dedicated To Consumer oriented Reform Of European Healthcare Systems June 26, 2007 Michael Moore’s denunciation of America’s health-care system is about tohit the silver screen. In the film’s trailer, a desk attendant at a British hospital smiles while explaining that in Britain’s National Health Service,”everything is free.” But for free hospital care, Britons pay an awfully highprice. Just ask the nearly 1 million British patients on waiting lists for treatment. Or the 200,000 Britons currently waiting merely to get on NHS waiting lists. Mr. Moore must have missed those folks. Curiously, though, many American policymakers seem to think that a government-managed, NHS-style system is the answer to all of America’s health-care woes. Before heading down that road, however, America’s leader sought to actually investigate Britain’s experience with state-sponsored medical care. Upon launching its state health service in 1948, the British government promised that it would provide its citizens with all the “medical, dental and nursing care” needed, so that “everyone – rich or poor – [could] use it.” Tomake good on its plans, the government nationalized more than 3,000independent hospitals, clinics and care homes. But today, after nearly six decades of attempting to make socialized medicine work, the NHS is in a perilous state. Consider waiting lists. Across Britain, patients wait years for routine –or even emergency – treatments. And many die while waiting. Indeed, the NHS cancels around 100,000 operations because of shortages each year. In a growing number of communities, it is increasingly difficult for people to simply get an appointment with an NHS general practitioner for a regular checkup. Further, when it comes to keeping patients healthy, NHS hospitals are notoriously unfit. After admittance to state hospitals, more than 10 percent of patients contract infections and illnesses that they did not have prior to arrival. And according to the Malnutrition Advisory Group, up to 60 percent of NHS patients are undernourished during inpatient stays. Consequently, many Britons have turned to outside practitioners for treatment, and the private health-care market has boomed. Today, more than 6.5million people have private medical insurance, 6 million have cash plans, 8million pay out-of-pocket for a range of complimentary therapies, and 250,000self-fund each year for private surgery. Millions more opt for private dentistry, ophthalmics and long-term care. Meanwhile, despite the state’s continued claims that it can deliver quality health care to all, government ministers are increasingly willing to quietly outsource health care to the private sector. In other words, instead of directly providing health care through the NHS, the British government is shifting to simply paying the bills. In 2000, Tony Blair’s government authorized the treatment of state-funded patients in private hospitals for the first time. More recently, the government has made it clear that it would like all NHS hospitals to be recast as Independent Foundation Trusts able to attract private investment. But even with these efforts, the British government has found it hard to cover its expensive obligations. So in addition to waiting lists, substandard care and increased outsourcing, the government has adopted outright rationing to control costs. Through a concept called “Health Technology Assessments,” the UnitedKingdom now empowers government-appointed experts to dictate which drugs,procedures and treatments are available for public consumption. Charged with controlling costs and watching the bottom line, these bureaucrats are expected to save money – not lives. Already, this system has barred the purchase of Herceptin, a lifesaving breast-cancer drug. Alzheimer’s patients have had trouble obtaining Aricept, a drug that improves cognition in those afflicted with the degenerative disease. The criteria for these denials of care are kept from the public. And patients who could be saved needlessly die. Rationing, as history proves time and again, is always a recipe for horror. The U.S. health-care system certainly has its shortfalls. But the solution to America’s woes can’t be found in the U.K. – no matter how many movie tickets Mr. Moore sells. ———- Helen Evans is director of Nurses for Reform, a pan-European network of nurses dedicated to consumer-oriented reform of European health-care systems. Quote Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make, period ... ... Wish more people would realize this. Quotes by Susan Gottesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonnie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 Medical News Today http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/14088.php Public Health News Major parties show lack of care for oral health of Australians Main Category: Public Health Article Date: 27 Sep 2004 - 10:00 PDT Australian Dental Association - An alliance of consumer, welfare and professional bodies has collaborated to deliver a 'report card' that indicates none of the major political parties are sufficiently committed to addressing the urgent, declining status of Australians' oral health. The Oral Health Alliance, which includes representatives from the Health Issues Centre, Australian Dental Association, Victorian Branch, the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, Council on the Ageing, Victorian Council of Social Service, Australian Dental Therapists Association, Public Health Association of Australia, Victorian Healthcare Association, and Catholic Social Services, believes that the major political parties are not proposing anywhere near enough funds to meet the conservative estimate of $317 million needed per year for oral health care. Currently there are over 4 million Australians who are eligible for subsidised healthcare. Of these, over 1 million people are currently on public waiting lists for dental treatment. Additionally, data on hospital admission rates of 0-4 year olds for parts of rural Victoria show that 90% of these admissions were due to high levels of dental decay. Some Australians are waiting up to five years for treatment on public dental waiting lists. Oral Health Alliance representative and Health Issues Centre CEO, Tony McBride says the Oral Health Report Card is being published in the lead up to the Federal election to help voters distinguish between the various policy positions taken by candidates in the election. "Each of the parties was asked to respond to seven key issues. Whilst the Liberal Party did not respond, advice was received from the Australian Democrats, the Labor Party and the Greens." "The Oral Health Report Card draws attention to the crisis faced in oral health services throughout Australia and helps voters better understand each party's response to addressing the problem. Estimates of funding need to address each issue are included for ease of comparison. " The Oral Health Alliance supports the call for the Commonwealth to: -- reduce dental waiting lists, especially in rural areas ($200m p.a.) -- increase the supply of dental care providers, especially in rural and remote areas ($10m p.a.) -- increase incentives for dental care providers to provide public services ($25m p.a.) -- increase health promotion and disease prevention measures ($20m p.a.) -- fund more research into both oral disease prevention and treatment ($2m p.a.) -- provide basic oral health care via targeted strategies to the aged, Indigenous Australians and people with special needs, as per the National Oral Health Plan ($60m p.a.) The full text of each of the parties' response to the seven issues and a Fact Sheet outlining the current Government spending and the crucial oral health issues can be found at: www.healthissuescentre.org.au Quote Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make, period ... ... Wish more people would realize this. Quotes by Susan Gottesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonnie Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 If our elected officials opt out of their current medical coverage,saving the tax payer a ton of money and accept what they want to shove down the throat of the taxpayer,go for it. I don't think that is likely to happen. So much for championing the little guy Quote Everything you do is based on the choices you make. It's not your parents, your past relationships, your job, the economy, the weather, an argument, or your age that is to blame. You and only you are responsible for every decision and choice you make, period ... ... Wish more people would realize this. Quotes by Susan Gottesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolaa Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 If our elected officials opt out of their current medical coverage,saving the tax payer a ton of money and accept what they want to shove down the throat of the taxpayer,go for it. I don't think that is likely to happen. So much for championing the little guy I agree with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted July 13, 2009 Members Share Posted July 13, 2009 dgrimm, if you are sick they take you out back and shoot you. pk Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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