I have to admit, I stole this catchy heading from NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. As you may guess from the title, he is talking about the mark that the Baby Boomers (how I despise that term–it sounds like a bunch of cartoon characters) left on the U.S.

Among his observations were some interesting stats on health and wealth, when it came to the extremes of our society–the oldest versus the youngest.

Traditionally in America, the people most likely to be poor were the elderly. As recently as 1966, for example, 29 percent of Americans over 65 were below the poverty line, compared with only 18 percent of American children.

But that same year, Medicare took effect to provide medical care for the elderly, and Social Security adjustments steadily reduced poverty among them. We were suitably embarrassed that old people were eating cat food or scavenging garbage cans for food, so we reallocated resources to the elderly.

So thanks to a helping hand from the government, the elderly began to fare better. Kristof notes that in 2003, the number of elderly living below the poverty line had fallen dramatically since 1966, to 10%. So we did make progress.

On the other hand, the proportion of children below the poverty line is still 18 percent, the same as it was in 1966. And while almost all the elderly now have health insurance under Medicare, about 29 percent of children had no health insurance at all at some point in the last 12 months.

One measure of how children have tumbled as a priority in America is that in 1960 we ranked 12th in infant mortality among nations in the world, while now 40 nations have infant mortality rates better than ours or equal to it.

When it comes to children, however, we have failed. Do we need to exchange children for the elderly? Isn’t there enough money, enough resources, to make sure that both ends of the spectrum are taken care of?

Two new studies have found that vitamin D and calcium supplements do not protect mobile, high-risk, persons over the age of 70 seniors against future bone fractures.

And, as it tends to go with these studies, they contradict earlier research that demonstrated that vitamin D and calcium supplements reduced the risks of fractures in elderly women.

So who do you believe? Should you snatch those supplements out of grandma’s hands? Or if you are over 70, should you just flush them down the toilet?

Many of the newspapers that published this story didn’t go further than just the “reporting.” That Vitamin D and calcium didn’t prevent fracture. So if you read about this from a watered down Reuter’s story, for example, the true picture would be very unclear.

Fortunately, there still do appear to be journalists and news services interested in delivering more than blips and snips of news items.

Basically, the two studies looked at a total of 8500 adults over the age of 70, who were living in their own homes, and maintaining an active life style. All of them had already suffered from at least one bone fracture. They were randomly divided into two groups–half received the supplements, half placebos. At the end of 2-5 years, the researchers found no difference between the two groups.

So do we conclude that supplements can’t prevent fractures from this?

Hardly. Both studies are full of flaws. One glaring problem is the low compliance rate of the people in the study. Like, if you’re part of this study, then you’re supposed to take your pills. But only about 60%, and even lower in many cases, took their pills on any sort of regular basis. Obviously, that is going to have a huge impact on results.

In an accompanying editorial to The Lancet study, Philip Sambrook, M.D., of the University of Sydney in Australia, wrote, “It is difficult to see how the authors can be sure there was ‘no evidence that the true differences may have been obscured by poor compliance,’” based on the fact compliance declined to 63% after two years.

Another problem may have been the dosage. Acording to CTV.ca Reinhold Vieth, a leading vitamin D expert who works in the pathology department at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, thought that the dose of vitamin D used in both studies may have been too low.

Also, the populations may not have been large enough to demonstrate the benefit of supplements. Earlier studies show the reduction in fractures to be in the 30% to 40% range. The smaller study (about 3,000 people) did not have enough participants to detect a reduction in fractures of less than 30%. The second study may well have missed the effect as well.

Finally, another glaring problem was that the “vitamin D status of the trial population at baseline remains largely unknown.” In other words, it was largely unknown if any of these patients were deficient in vitamin D and calcium to begin with. Supplementation is not going to help those who are getting adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals through their diet. To see if supplements really make a difference, then you need to look at a population who is deficient at the beginning of the study—and almost no testing was done to check levels of vitamin D and calcium at the start of either study.

What poor reporting does is merely add to confusion. Even if there were no flaws to either study, the results still don’t mean that an older adult should stop using supplements, especially vitamin D. Many people are deficient in vitamin D, primarily because of the lack of time spent outside. Even the researchers have said that this doesn’t mean the older individuals should stop taking calcium and vitamin D supplements. Their results don’t show that the supplements prevented fractures, and that in some cases, bone building medications may be needed. However, calcium and vitamin D are necessary for overall health, including bones.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s ROBO DOC! The absolutely fantastic fully automated doctor who can be in two places at one time. The doctor who is immune to virulent microbes, who never needs to sleep, use the bathroom, smoke a cigarette, or do anything remotely human.

So are robots the new wave of medicine? Surely, after the expense of building them, they’re a lot more cost-effective than the real thing.

Detroit Medical Center now has 10 of these 5-foot,7-inch, 220-pound machines. They can’t actually work alone just yet. There is a live, human doctor somewhere, somplace, plugged into the Internet controlling the thing, but imagine being a patient and having “robo doc” come into your room?

The beauty of it is really pretty simple. Doctors can be two places at once. They can be in the office or even at home looking at charts and records and be at the patients bedside at the same time.

According to this article on CBSnews.com, they are meant to help doctors, enhance their work, but not replace them.

Now, I wonder why they are needed at all. Everything a telecommuting doctor would need can be computerized–charts, x-rays, lab results, and so on. He doesn’t need his robot helper to access them. I can only guess that so far it is cheaper to have ten of these things wandering around the hospital, rather than just having a computer by the patient’s bedside. Because that’s really all that this is.

All patient rooms can be hooked up to a main computer system, and if they need a doctor, they can just call. Or tell the nurse, and then the doctor can get back to them via their bedside computer. But as I said, it is probably less expensive right now to have walking computers that roam the hallways.

Now, how soon before the robots start performing surgery? How soon before they start demanding better working hours and an increase in their pay.

Stay tuned to the future….

Not much news about the new Pope. After the hoopla surrounding his selection (will he be a “good” pope or “bad” pope) the news has quieted down. And well, the Pope’s the Pope. It would be nice if the Vatican was a little more in touch with the real world, but how much can you expect from an organization run by a group of celibate old men–who live in the lap of plush luxury.

But the Pope came to mind again today, when I read a comment from someone on a bulletin board, who expressed his disappointment at how so many Catholics (who had been writing their less than enthusiastic opinions), were so disgruntled about the new Pope. In his mind, Pope Benedict (I forget the number) is a defender of the faith, and of the “hard truths.”

What exactly is a “hard truth?” Many people pass off outright lies as hard truths, ie, the WMDs in Iraq, for example. Or that banning nail clippers from being taken on board an airline will deter hijackers.

Other “truths” are less obvious, and more in the eye of the beholder. That is, the truth is strictly subjective, and often not based in anything concrete. Like for instance, the idea that the Catholic Church must stick to its traditional teachings, and not be swayed by the blasphemy of the modern era. The hard truths, such as what this person was referring to.

But on closer look, truth be known, the church has changed in many ways since its first incarnation. Popes, priests and all clergy used to marry and have kids. That is an historical truth. The obsession for celibacy was quite a recent “change” in church doctrine.

The famous and revered men of the Bible also were not restricted to one wife. King Solomon had several hundred. Sex outside of marriage, at least for men, was considered quite normal. Abraham had sex with another woman, and a child. Jacob was married to both Rachel and Leah, and screwed around with the maid servants on the side. The guy must’ve had quite a bit of stamina, but nevertheless, nobody thought anything of it.

And just to note, the Bible also had no prohibitions of slavery and spoke of it as quite normal. And it was, several thousand years ago. But do we think that way now? Does the church still think that it’s okay to “take slaves from neighboring countries?” It says so in the Bible. Personally, I don’t think that either Mexicans or Canadians would make good slaves, but that’s just me.

So to say that the church must stick with outdated so-called truths is ridiculous. The doctrinal rigidity that the new pope has called for, with its selective emphasis on sexuality and sex-based prohibitions, is no less ideological than the secular movements he deplores and no more likely to save the church from the perils of modernity.

Perhaps instead of being so obsessed with sex, and condemning people for trying to responsibly control the size of their families and prevent themselves from contracting AIDS (those blasphemous condoms!) maybe the Vatican might concentrate more on the REAL problems going on. Like poverty, hatred, racism, child labor, torture, hunger, and so on. Perhaps Pope Benedict might pause for a moment, and consider what Jesus might consider to be important, and act accordingly.

And we have indeed! Aside from being a terrific rust remover, and a great polishing agent for the chrome on your car, our friends in India have found yet another use for Coke.

Farmers in India have discovered that common colas, like Coke and Pepsi, can be sprayed on crops and function as an effective and affordable pesticide. Although the Coca-Cola corporation says this is impossible, literally hundreds of farmers now claim the soft drinks kill the bugs on their cotton plants as well as any other pesticide.

Indian farmers have come up with what they think is the real thing to
keep crops free of bugs.

Gotu Laxmaiah, a farmer from Ramakrishnapuram in Andra Pradesh, said he
was delighted with his new cola spray, which he applied this year to
several hectares of cotton. “I observed that the pests began to die
after the soft drink was sprayed on my cotton,” he told the Deccan
Herald newspaper.

So now just imagine what this stuff does to the inside of your body, when you actually consume it. If it can remove rust and kill cotton pests, can it be healthy to have floating around in your bloodstream?

Read the article from the Guardian

I was just curious to see if any news service even mentioned the standard guidelines, and how this physician had just chosen to ignore them. I spent a few minutes looking through all of the news feeds over the past two days. The result of my quest? There was only one sentence in one article which basically said that “five embryos were implanted to increase the chances that at least one would take hold.”

Sorry, but that’s not how it’s done. Two maximum for a woman like Teresa Anderson. She is young, healthy and fertile. And if those two didn’t take, then they would do another pass, with two more. Doing it twice is much safer, eliminates the risk of have more than twins, and in the long run, a far better decision economically.

An article on Voice of America (the only one I’ve seen) mentioned that the surrogate mother had elevated blood pressure and other complications, and so the babies were delivered a week earlier than planned. So she was already having problems from carrying five babies, just as predicted.

And I was correct, the littlest one does have a hypoplastic left ventricle, which is going to require multiple surgeries and probably a transplant at some point. The other four are expected to spend three weeks in the hospital, while the fifth (the one with the heart defect) will probably not be coming home any time soon.

So again, every article is focused on how the surrogate mom has refused to accept her agreed upon fee. And nothing, not a word, about the standard guidelines for in-vitro fertilization and how this doctor violated them. Amazing, how not one journalist interviewed the physician who implanted the embryos; how not one journalist interviewed fertility specialists to get their opinion on this; how no one bothered to even consider the obvious.

And while the surrogate mother was exceedingly kind to forgo her fee, after walking around for 33 weeks with five fetuses inside her, and suffering from high blood pressure and other complications because of it—one really has to wonder, didn’t she pay attention to what was being done to her body? One would think that the idea of implanting five embryos might sound a little frightening, and that she would seek an opinon on it, or even just look up basic information on the Internet. Wouldn’t you think she would want to be sure that she was not going to endanger her own health–even if just for the sake of her own two children?

Sorry if I’m less than enthused about this story, but ignorance and malpractice just don’t strike me as heroic and heart tugging. Maybe it’s because I worked for too long in newborn intensive care, and know that premature birth should be avoided at all cost. There is no way to avoid it with multiples beyond twins, and this physician had to have realized that there was a good chance that all five embryos would “take.”

It is interesting that the only place where I have even seen this angle mentioned is on nursing boards. Nurses who work in OB/GYN, or in the NICU, are questioning this physician’s motives. One referred to him as a quack, another as a “quack out to make a name for himself.” My sentiments exactly.

One of the “big” stories of the day–surrogate mom gives birth to quintuplets and refuses to accept the $15,000 agreed on. Now, that was very nice of her. Carrying around someone else’s quintuplets, undergoing a Caesarean section, and really, putting your own health on the line.

Teresa Anderson, the surrogate mom, is 25 years old with two children of her own. She had hoped to use the money for her education and to help her own family. But now she says that the biological parents will really need that money to take care of the quints. One of them has a serious heart defect, which from the description, sounds like a hypoplastic left ventricle–which is usually “cured” with a transplant. So yes, the parents do have a long road ahead.

What is Wrong With This Story?

Is this a weepy, heart tugging tale of sacrifice, goodness, love, talcum powder, lullabies, and all those other sugary niceities? Well, it is, but what is completely missing from the media is any accountability on the part of the physician who implanted the embryos. Any mention of a serious breech of medial protocol, and as I see it, severe medical negligence/malpractice.

What the hell was this doctor doing, implanting five embryos into the surrogate? Is he mentally ill or what? Or was he just trying to carve out some glory for himself. Look, see! I did it! I created the first surrogate mother giving birth to quintuplets! Look at me! I’m a God!

The reality is that what he did was horrific. There was no reason to put five embryos into a healthy 25 year old woman with no history of infertility, in the “hopes that one would take.” Two should have been the maximum. Instead, he put the surrogate mom at risk, as well as the babies.

As it is, they were born at 33 weeks. They were fortunate. Many quints come much earlier. Two required respiratory assistance. Multiple births are always premature (beyond twins). They have a huge potential for extended stays in the NICU, and for future developmental and physical problems.

And he put the surrogate mother’s health on the line by having her carry five babies. And for what? His glory.

The biological parents, while weepy over the birth of their 5 boys, are soon going to have to deal with the reality. Five kids to raise, all at once. And one with a serious heart condition. Is this doctor going to help them out? Provide them with money to feed and clothe the kids? Pay for healthcare? Provide childcare?

Basically, there is NO WAY you should ever transfer FIVE embryos at one time, unless you are trying to get an upper 40’s to early 50something-year old pregnant. This was highly irresponsible and bordering on malpractice. And it is in complete violation of the standard practice guidelines.

It is amazing how the media has completely ignored this aspect of it. And where are the doctors? The specialists who know how wrong this was? Why has no one come forward and condemned it?

Practice Committee Publishes Guidelines On Number Of Embryos To Transfer

The ASRM/SART Practice Committee has published new guidelines to assist ART programs and their patients in determining the correct number of embryos to transfer in an IVF case. Informed by data drawn from the most current published CDC/ASRM/SART yearly report, the Committee has refined its guidelines to help members formulate treatment plans for their patients that will minimize the incidence of multiple pregnancies.

The Practice Committee of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Guidelines on the number of embryos transferred, Fertility and Sterility, Vol.82, No.3, September 2004.)

These are their guidelines, plain and simple. So why is no one from this organization stepping up to the plate and condemning this action?

This story should not be glorified. Maybe the surrogate mother didn’t know better, but she should have questioned the doctor as well, and done a little research. This story should not be viewed as heroism and magic, but as a clear case of medical ethics which are careening out of control. And the doctor who did this should be reprimanded by his professional organization.

We can blame it on the hot sun, baking down day after day. Surely, that’s enough to fry some brains, don’t you think? Okay, I’m just trying to to be nice, and and offering a plausible excuse for the absolutely, intelligence-defying edict which has emerged from Florida’s Board of Governors–the board that oversees the state’s public universities.

In reality, it does seem that a band of cretins has hijacked the bureaucracy of Florida’s higher education. A group of people with a mental deficit that defies reason. And you wonder, how can people this dumb remember to wipe themselves after using the toilet? Or remember that one must chew and swallow, in order to get food into the stomach.

Okay, this is the story. I know the suspense is killing you. Florida has a shortage of decent places to work, so naturally, there is a shortage of nurses. But to solve the problem, along with a perceived shortage of teachers and engineers, the Board has declared an edict:

They want 50% of all university degrees to be awarded in various targeted areas within eight years. In other words, by command of the Board, 50% of all students attending the state’s 11 public universitities will be on either the nursing, teacher or engineer track. The board’s plan would require adding as many as 100,000 students to the system by 2012-2013.

From the Tampa Tribune:

It’s an edict meeting opposition from university leaders, who question how students can be shifted into different career paths just because the state wants it.

UF President Bernie Machen bristled at what he said was the board’s “simplistic'’ approach of dictating which majors the universities should cut or expand. Universities are not like factories, where you can “close this [assembly line] and double that line,'’ Machen told the Board of Governors.

So let’s see, the kids who would be entering college in 2012 are now about ten years old. So does the Board propose going around to Florida’s elementary school and tagging all the ten year olds? White for nurse, green for teacher, yellow for engineer. You will be a nurse, or you die!

Maybe the state can threaten the families, like cutting off their water and electricity, unless they promise to sacrifice their first born to the nursing/teaching/engineer professions.

Of course, the morons did not say how they expect the state’s 11 public universities to reach this goal. I suppose that the schools could only offer classes which lead to those three professions, and then students would have a choice of either going out of state, or to a private school in Florida, or getting forced into a profession they don’t want to work in.

Also left out of Thursday’s discussion was how much increasing the number of college graduates would cost. A consultant’s report showed that the board’s plan would require adding as many as 100,000 students to the system by 2012-2013 but did not definitively cite the cost, saying there are many variables.

Darn, those insignificant little problems. Where are all of these students going to fit? Who is going to teach them? Will they have to build more classroom space, hire more teachers, and build more housing? Who will fund this massive project?

And in the case of nurses, you also have to arrange for space to do clinical rotations. That is a major problem right now. How many students can you bombard one hospital with?

Reading stuff like this just makes me want to scream. This mentality of increasing numbers of students to solve the woes of the industry, without taking a look at why there are shortages of these people in selected professions to begin with.

Many students don’t want to major in education because of what they see as the teaching profession’s low pay, poor esteem and lousy working conditions, all things over which the universities have little control, the university presidents said.

Quite a brainstorm. If you want more students to be teachers, raise the pay to a living wage, clean up the schools, and make teaching a prestigious job–as it is in other nations. Then you will have more teachers then you know what to do with.

Same for nursing. I worked for a brief time in Florida, and I have to say, it was like going back in time 20 years. If I hadn’t lived it, I wouldn’t have believed it myself. This was a while ago, and I would like to think that things have improved. But then, when I see the salary ranges that nurses are reporting, and read about some of the working conditions–no, doesn’t appear to have changed much.

I suppose that this seems like a good idea to the hallowed Board of Governors. Force students to become nurses, mass produce them on an assembly line, and in fact, create a surplus. That will bring wages down even lower, and relieve area hospitals of having to make any changes.

You know, I’ve read a lot of really stupid things about the so-called nursing shortage, and all of the scatter-brained plans to deal with it. But this one really tops the list. I think that all of the people in the group that came up with this great suggestion should be locked away for a two week psychiatric consultation, and then be re-educated as to what country they are living in (things may be getting bad, but we still have the right to choose our careers), and drilled in the art of free choice. And if they still don’t get it, then they should be sent back to school, and forcibly trained to work in one of those three jobs.

To my story on the nurses in the UK that I posted earlier. The reasons that nurses are leaving the profession include poor pay which fails to reflect the level of responsibility, abnormally high levels of work related stress and frequent verbal and physical attacks on front-line staff (such as acute admission psychiatric wards).

That comment was from a nurse. The Royal College of Nursing explanation was similar: Increasing numbers of nurses were leaving the profession because of inflexible working hours, fear of violence in the workplace and dissatisfaction with changes to the pension scheme.

It seems workplace violence is a real problem in UK hospitals. Why is nothing being done about it? Do nurses have to fear for their health, safety, and very lives?

There is violence in the workplace in the US, no doubt about it, but most nurses don’t cite it as a primary reason for leaving the profession, or at least, for getting the hell out of hospital-based nursing.

Perhaps the UK nurses should start arming themselves with semi-automatic machine guns. At least they can then protect themselves, as it doesn’t appear that the government gives a damn about British nurses.

Poor Monsanto. Sniff, sniff. The European Union doesn’t want their contaminated corn in animal feed. Or anywhere else on their continent. Genetically engineered crops are banned in many parts of the world, despite the efforts of Monsanto and other biotech companies to “convince” them otherwise. Just saying that it’s safe is not enough. There are too many concerns about frankenfood that remain unanswered, and that the biotech industry prefers to ignore, hoping that the question will just go away.

EUROPE BANS ANIMAL FEED TAINTED BY U.S. FRANKENCORN
Due to contamination by an illegal variety of genetically engineered corn, Europe has banned all imports of U.S. corn gluten animal feed. Up until now U.S. Farmers have been exporting $450 million in corn gluten every year to the EU. Several varieties of GE corn are illegal in the EU, and almost no GE corn is grown by EU farmers, due to European consumer concerns about its impact on human health and the environment.

Farmers, consumers, and concerned scientists are protesting at US Embassies, Mexican Consulate offices, grain ports, corporate offices (Kraft, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Monsanto) as well as major grain trade centers, including the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the Winnipeg(Canada) Commodities Exchange.

Check out Organic Consumers for more information.

We are not alone in our poor treatment of nurses. In fact, compared to many countries, working here in U.S. hospitals is akin to paradise.

The U.K. is losing nurses at about the same speed that a hungry shark devours a piece of choice meat. The Royal College of Nursing has warned that Britain is facing a huge nursing exodus, and that they all better get off their ass and do something about it. You know, pay less attention to the love life of Prince Charles and give the dire circumstances of healthcare a little more priority.

The NHS (National Health Service) must double its recruitment of nurses to buck the trend, according to a report published at the outset of the RCN conference in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

This compares with 20,000 new nurses joining the register and 12,000 imported from overseas.

So now what does this say about nursing in the UL? Well, it really must suck big time if more than half of all new nurses are imports from overseas. And the UK has won the dubious award of being the biggest nurse poacher of all time–as they have concentrated recruiting efforts on developing nations who can ill afford to lose the few nurses they have. But if you are a nurse in Ghana, maybe earning $70 a month and working in a hospital that is so crowded that patients are lying in corridors, and where medical equipment is at a minimum–well, the horrendous working conditions and the paltry pay offered in the UK in like being offered life in Shangri-la.

But as quickly as the British can poach nurses from elsewhere, the nurses take off for greener pastures. As in the U.S., or Canada, or even Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.

The article goes on to say that by 2014 annual recruitment will need to reach 66,000. Isn’t amazing how no matter where you look, all the government dweebs and so-called experts seem to focus on is “boosting the numbers.” Never mind about plugging the exodus. Just find ways to mass produce new nurses, or steal them from somewhere, and stuff them into broken systems.

And so it goes….some things never change.

I don’t eat cows or any other animals, so I feel a little far removed from this. Still, it is disturbing if these allegations are true. And since the USDA is not responding–either denying it or admitting it–you really do have to wonder. Silence generally indicates guilt, that the spin doctors haven’t come up with anything witty to counter with, or are having trouble spinning their double talk.

From Organic Consumers

The USDA has been covering up cases of Mad Cow Disease, according to a USDA veterinarian in charge of monitoring cattle for the fatal disease. On the eve of retirement, Dr. Masua Doi confessed to sketchy testing since 1997. “I don’t want to carry on off to my retirement,” said Doi. “I want to hand it over to someone to continue, to find out. I think it’s very, very important. How many did we miss?” Doi’s concerns are shared by other USDA contracted scientists, like Dr. Karl Langheindrich who runs a test lab in Georgia and says the appropriate animal parts are not sent to him for accurate testing. In addition, two weeks ago, U.S. agriculture inspector Lester Friedlander offered testimony to a Canadian House of Commons committee revealing the U.S. has been covering up Mad Cow cases.

Another interesting article, by Dr. Michael Gregor, discusses how the U.S. is violating guidelines from the World Health Organization in regards to BSE. Here’s a small excerpt:

The United States is violating all four concrete recommendations laid down by the World Health Organization to prevent the spread of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), or Mad Cow disease, into the human population. Inadequate testing of the brains of U.S. cattle is likely missing hundreds of cases of BSE and inadequate testing of the brains of human dementia victims is likely missing hundreds of cases of the human spongiform encephalopathy, sporadic Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.

New research suggests that some of these cases of the sporadic form of CJD may be caused by eating BSE-infected meat. Until we follow the guidelines set forth by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and enact science-based safeguards proven to work in Europe-such as a total ban on the feeding of slaughterhouse waste, blood and excrement to farmed animals, and dramatically increased surveillance for both these diseases-the safety of the American food supply will remain in question.

The entire article is lengthy, but recommended reading if you are a carnivore–lest you’ve been duped into thinking that our meat supply is safe. The US only tests a tiny fraction of cows for Mad Cow disease (and I mean tiny), whereas the Japanese test every single cow. That’s the main reason why they are refusing to commence re-importing US beef. They don’t trust our testing methods, and who can blame them?

In 2002, the U.S. only tested about 20,000 cows before and during slaughter, while Europe conducted 10 million checks on cattle in 2002, including tests on all cattle over 30 months of age. In 2004, the U.S. promised to increase testing, to 40,000 cows. Not a whole lot, when you consider how many millions are killed. There are a number of scientists who believe that we have had low level Mad Cow disease in the US for years. Since most people who die of diseases such as assumed Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia do not undergo autopsies, we have no idea if they actually died of Creutzfeldt Jakob–which may have been acquired from sick cows.

A great editorial in today’s NY Times, about the Bush agenda to tear down the wall between church and state. This is not what our nation was founded upon, and it is a devastating direction for a religiously, culturally, and ethnically diverse nation such as ours to be heading towards. I am certain that the brilliant men who founded our country, and who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are probably gagging from their celestial viewpoint.

Most unfortunately, women’s health bears the brunt of the religious zeal. But so what’s new about that. Women bore the brunt of repression under the Taliban, were told to return to the kitchen and procreate under the Nazis, were marginalized in the early days of the Islamic revolution in Iran (although that situation has gotten considerably better), and bore the brunt of the witch burnings by the Catholic church. So the Bush administration is in good company, it seems.

Fantatics always attack women first. Or should I say, women always do worse anytime a right wing or ultra-religious government takes control. Ironically, under socialist and communist governments, women’s rights improve. Interesting conundrum, isn’t it.

The Bush administration and Congress have turned over issues bearing on women’s reproductive rights to far-right religious groups opposed not just to abortion, but to expanded stem-cell research, effective birth control and AIDS prevention programs. The Food and Drug Administration continues to dawdle over approving over-the-counter access to emergency contraception for fear of inflaming members of the religious right who deem any interference with the implantation of a fertilized egg to be an abortion. This foot-dragging may be good politics from one narrow view, but it harms women and drives up the nation’s abortion rate.

The result of this open espousal of one religious view is a censorious climate in which a growing number of pharmacists feel free to claim moral grounds for refusing to dispense emergency contraception and even birth control pills prescribed by a doctor. Public schools shy away from teaching about evolution, and science museums reject scientifically sound documentaries that may offend Christian fundamentalists. Public television stations were afraid to run a children’s program in which a cartoon bunny met a lesbian couple.

No, not of nurses. They tend to completely burn out, sizzle to crispy-crunchy rather than melt.

I’m talking about a real meltdown, the now insidious name of Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, one of four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine melted down. The effects on health and the environment were like nothing seen before–well, except after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But this was different. Japan was a somewhat isolated groups of islands, but the Ukraine is stuck right smack in the middle of Central Europe. And rather than be hit by an all powerful bomb, these effects were more low-level and chronic. The accident contaminated thousands of people with low-level radiation, and more frightening, was that our supreme lack of knowledge about radiation. The extent to which people were affected depended on where they were when the accident occurred, the prevailing wind, their eating habits and general health, and so many other factors that the experts never considered.

As devastating as Chernobyl was, it was an eye opener for the U.S., whose politicians at the time believed that a nuclear war was somehow “winable.” The Chernobly melt-down gave a bird’s eye view, on a tiny scale, what the outcome of a nuclear war might be. Handling the damage was overwhelming, so imagine this scenario spread out on a much wider scale?

Nearly two decades later, the health effects are still being felt. The International Chernobyl Conference in April 1996 documented 800 cases of thyroid cancer among exposed children younger than 15 when their diagnosis was made. People who chose to remain in the contaminated zone are dying at rates 18% higher than the national average. Also, 10 times as many people are getting thyroid cancer each year since the accident as were before it. Birth defects, as of yet, are not on the rise.

Nursing shortage to get worse

Dropout rates increase for student nurses.

Aggravating California’s critical nursing shortage, nearly a quarter of all students studying to be nurses in Los Angeles community colleges dropped out in 2003-04 more than 35 percent higher than the statewide average.

College officials say the drop-out rate is so high that it is becoming one of the most significant bottlenecks in an already-strained system that produces two-thirds of the state’s nurses.

This is from the Press Telegram, a newspaper published in Southern California. The article has that attitude of “shock,” like “I just thought that all we needed to do was bolster the ranks in nursing schools.”

From the eyes of all of the experts, the great nursing shortage of the 21st century stems from a lack of nurses entering the profession, not a mass revolt bolting from it. The simple pin-headed logic (which doesn’t force hospitals and other facilities to take any of the blame or make any changes in the way they do business) is to entice more people into nursing. They figure that once they’ve got these people warming seats in the classroom, the problem is over.

According to the article, the solution for the high rate of attrition is to push for tighter admissions standards that “would help prevent unprepared applicants from ever entering the system.”

The high dropout rates in the community colleges were blamed primarily on the fact that students often juggle the demands of full-time jobs and family duties. Other students struggle with English, or find themselves under-prepared for the demanding courses.

It is really pathetic, but even in a situation like this, they just can’t acknowledge what is really going on. If the true reasons were the ones given above, ie, struggle with English and family demands, then you would see drop out rates across the board. Nursing is time consuming, but most people drop out before they get very far in the clinicals, which are the most time intensive. What you would see is a drop out rate among people taking demanding majors, science courses and so, across the board.

Sorry, guys, but the drop out rate has another reason. Not only are many of these students ill-prepared, they also haven’t a clue as to what nursing actually is about. Thanks to the mass advertising campaigns, such as the moronic Discover Nursing by Johnson & Johnson, nursing is being touted as this slick and sophisticated career, that “anyone” can do. Yes, the ads basically tell you that “you can be a nurse.”

Cool. Now let’s hear another fairy tale.

While I shudder when I hear of nursing being referred to as a “calling,” in the mode of Florence Nightingale, it is also not a job for everyone. But yet, nursing has been held out like a carrot to a hungry rabbit–millions of hungry rabbits, in fact–who were laid off from jobs at the turn of the millennium.

Sorry pal, but switching from being a computer programmer to a nurse is just a little bit different than switching to accounting, or even becoming a pharmacist. But nursing is presented as this sophisticated, clean, well-paying profession with endless possibilities. The sparkling faces profiled in Discover Nursing never tell you what they actually do, only that they “help people.” They never go into detail, and try to keep quiet about what their job might actually entail.

Of course, anyone with half a brain would wonder, “If nursing is as great as these ads claim, then why the big shortage? Why aren’t there enough nurses?”

The advertising and spoon-fed media try to work around that by talking about the nursing shortage as though its simply a matter of an aging nursing population, and that other jobs attract younger people. Of course, you still have to wonder again, “If nursing is so great, then why can’t it hold its own with other professions? Why aren’t young people going into nursing?”

The high rate of attrition is primarily caused by two things. One is that once in the program, when people find out exactly what nursing is about, and see the actual working conditions in many of the hospitals, they’re outta here. This is not the glorious career they were promised–hmmm, nothing was ever said in the ads about nurses pulling trash and linens, working mandatory overtime, and being cursed out by a patient (with admin taking the side of the patient and disciplining the nurse).

Yes, once they see what nursing is really about, and the hard physical job that it is, they quit.

The second reason is that many nursing instructors are power hungry assholes, who delight in making nursing students quiver in their boots, and in making them feel like morons. This has been going on since Florence Nightingale’s time. Some instructors feel like they have complete power over their students and they revel in it. I suppose it’s something like the female version of the guy who thinks his dick is too short, and tries to make up for it by being cruel and sadistic to those under his thumb.

And since teachers are in such short supply, the nursing school hierarchy tends to support the teacher, regardless of how they treat their students. I’ve heard of teachers flunking students they simply didn’t like, or who refused to kiss their ass. Students who were quite capable. But clinical rotations are very subjective, so it’s the student’s word against the teacher, and guess who the school usually sides with?

So again, we have students who are intimidated and leave, those who refuse to be pushed around by some crazed bitch, and so on.

But this article doesn’t mention any of these reasons. Again, fantasy reporting at its best.

Anecdotally, some students are reporting attrition rates as high as 60% in their programs, and not just in community colleges. The drop-out rate in nursing programs nationwide, and in both four and two year colleges, is high. Thanks, in part, to Johnson & Johnson. And to all those who think that the nursing shortage can be solved merely by polishing the image of the nurse on paper and on celluloid.

I love how this article calls the drop-out rate a “bottleneck.” And one of the most “significant bottlenecks.” It seems so shocked that students would dare to drop out of nursing school, but in reality, nursing programs have always had high attrition rates. Some higher than others, but it’s always been a fact of nursing education. Back in the good old days, when women didn’t have much of a choice of careers, many stayed and put up with the demeaning garbage delivered to them during their training. But the times have changed.

I just finished a lengthy project on Heliobacter pylori, a nasty little bacteria which got its name because it resembles a helicopter. It’s not big news, as it’s been 20 years since scientists first figured out that H. pylori was responsible for a large majority of ulcers. Not good news for the companies making antacids and other anti-ulcer drugs. All those zillions lost if the ulcer could be resolved with a mere one week course of antibiotics.

Anyway, there’s only so long you can sit and write about gastritis, duodenal ulcers, gastric reflux–well, you get the picture–without starting to feel queasy.

Now, I need to finish up another project on atopic dermatitis–better known as eczema. So I go from gastric rumblings to itchy skin….what a life! My next project is going to be a round-up of the best cafes in Paris, or maybe in Provence. I need a vacation from diseases, ailments and defective body parts!

This is today’s record breaking news from the Courier-Gazette (from McKinney, TX):

They have discovered today that they don’t have enough nurses. Ohmygod, is this news or what! Earth shattering. The call of the wild. We woke up this morning and surprise, we are under staffed.

Here are some choice pickings from this hot news story:

As a shortage of nurses continues coast-to-coast, local colleges and hospitals are doing whatever they can to keep up with the growing need for health care professionals.

Oh really? Like forcing nurses to work mandatory overtime, and telling them on the day that they are schedule to leave on vacation (already paid for) that they have to work? Like refusing to purchase safer equipment to help avoid needle sticks, and then fighting tooth and nail to keep from paying workman’s comp when a nurse injures herself on the job? Is that what you are referring to?

Oh yes, and the local schools. Like requiring your teachers to have a MS or PhD and then paying them less than they would make as a staff nurse–with a community college degree? Is that what you mean?

In 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services listed Texas as one of 30 states estimated to have shortages.

Duh, well it’s a big state with a large population. Of course there are going to be shortages.

Officials project that a six percent deficit in qualified nurses will grow to 20 percent by 2015, based on a number of factors including an increase in population, an aging baby boomer generation and the large number of women who entered the field in the 1970s now retiring or exiting the industry.

Notice how these articles always omit the nurses who are leaving the profession, or at least hospital work, for reasons other than retirement.

* According to a government report, unless more young people choose to go into the nursing profession by 2010, nearly half of all nurses will be older than 50.

Again, the simple numbers game. Just stuff the schools with new recruits, and we’ll have enough. Yes, we do need more young people to choose nursing, but we also need them to choose it and stay on the job.

At the Medical Center of McKinney, hospital administrators have begun a recruitment campaign to bring in more nurses and expects to add 15 to 20 nurses to its staff within the next year.

I’d love to hear their plans for bringing in new nurses AND keeping them on the job.

Trying to stay ahead of the curve, the hospital is offering $500 to anyone who refers a friend for a job. Half of the money is given once the person has completed three months of employment with the remainder distributed after they have been on board for six months.

Wow, what tactics. I’m sure I’d run to take a job, so that the person who refers me gets $500. That surely puts them above the rest. Maybe they should do something to actually attract nurses, like offer lower nurse:patient ratios, higher pay, great health insurance and other benefits and a superb pension plan? Does that compute, I wonder.

The first 50 people to make referrals are entered into a drawing to win a vacation to Las Vegas.

“We were looking for something different to stand out in the market, to get us prepared for the growth,” said spokesperson Sandra Fulce.

I can’t even comment on that. It’s just too pathetic for words.

The rain that never came. Well, I take that back, it did rain late yesterday afternoon, but not nearly in the way that was predicted. The forecast called for thunderstorms with hail, so we basically cancelled plans for an outdoorsy type day. It was overcast all day, but didn’t rain until after 5. And even then, no storm.

Oh well. Just as well the trip was postponed. Weekends are not good for birthdays because everything is so crowded. Best to go out and about during the week, and since I have flexibility, why not?

But I’m glad that it rained on my birthday, it’s supposed to be good luck and good energy. And I found a penny, heads up. This is going to be a great year!

And…as of today, I have not missed a day of blogging since December 12, 2004.

Thought for Today: “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” — From Act Two of “Twelfth-Night,” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. So this is a very literary day. I always thought it was an omen that I should be a writer, so what was I doing wasting my time as a nurse?

I’ve followed that omen and moved into a writing career. Now it’s time for the next step–literary greatness!

Today is my birthday and I will be out and about, and hopefully enjoying myself. So this will be my only post for today.

I have never worked on my birthday, and like to think of it as my own private holiday. So…hasta manana!