Enjoy it while we have it. Three more years of Bush policy, and we may no longer have a planet Earth. Or at least, one that we recognize or want to live on.

And check out the Google logo for today. It’s really cute.

The United States spends far more on health care than other advanced countries. Yet we don’t appear to receive more medical services. And we have lower life-expectancy and higher infant-mortality rates than countries that spend less than half as much per person. How do we do it?

An important part of the answer is that much of our health care spending is devoted to passing the buck: trying to get someone else to pay the bills.

I’m about to rush out and enjoy a little sunshine (I’ve been cooped up for two days trying to get these fascinating articles on H. pylori and atopic dermatitis done), so here’s a link to columnist Paul Krugman’s interesting piece in today’s NY Times.

Can this really be true? Is the dairy industry so desperate that they are now trying to tout milk as a diet food? That if you drink milk and eat other dairy products, the pounds will melt off like butter (no pun intended)?

How on earth can drinking milk enable you to lose weight? I suppose that if you drink milk instead of eating, then the pounds will disappear. You’ll be hungry and constipated, but that’s the only link that I can think of.

According to this press release, the dairy industry is making this claim based on results from two small studies conducted by the same researcher which—no surprise here—were sponsored by the industry.

Physicians Group Complaint to Federal Trade Commission Faults
Milk Industry’s Advertising Claims

Dairy Products Weight-Loss Claims Are Untrue, Says PCRM in FTC Petition

WASHINGTON—The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) today charged that the dairy industry has used “false and misleading” advertising in its multimillion-dollar campaign suggesting that milk causes weight loss, and petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking it to put an immediate stop to a series of advertisements.

Named in the FTC petition are the IDFA; Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI); the National Dairy Council; the Dannon Company, Inc.; General Mills, Inc.; Kraft Foods Global, Inc.; McNeil Nutritionals, LLC; Lifeway Foods, Inc.; and advertising agencies Draft Chicago, Lowe & Partners, and Weber-Shandwick.

So much for the bad rap that marijuana gets. That our God fearing drug czars go ballistic at the thought of a SICK patient using marijuana to ease their pain and nausea, or even prevent them from going blind–as in the case of glaucoma. Of course, the official War on Drugs has been a dismal failure, and not only for the obvious reasons.

You see, while our drug experts and pin-headed authorities are throwing all of their energy into poor little marijuana, a mild hallucinogen with very powerful medicinal qualities, one of the major problems is completely ignored.

Now, buckle your seat belts because the news isn’t pretty. About 18% of teens (that comes to 4.3 million kids) use the prescription drug Vicodin to get their kicks.

Yes, it’s prescription drug heaven out there. OxyContin and drugs for attention-deficit disorder such as Ritalin/Adderall followed with one in 10 teens reporting they had tried them. Oh my, holy drug czars, what should we do? Ban the drugs? What to do about a misused prescription drug?

The problem runs even deeper. Forget prescription drugs, which are harder and more expensive to acquire. Why hassle when you can just pop into Rite-Aid or Walgreens, and take your pick of the litter. The shelves of the average pharmacy are just loaded with goodies. About 2.2 million teens, or 9%, had experimented with cough syrup and other such products.

So are we going to lock up 13 year olds for drinking Nyquil? Or lapping up a bowl of Robitussin?

Oh, and by the way, the same survey found that marijuana use had declined. Only 37% reported smoking marijuana, compared to 42% six years ago.

Perhaps the spin maestros at Johnson & Johnson might read this story, and see how it relates to their sugar ‘n spice version of the nursing shortage. Maybe they can tweak the Promise of Nursing so that it somehow, has relevancy in the actual working world. Maybe they can change the title to something along the lines of The Promise of Respect and Decent Working Conditions.

Here is a story that is more typical than one may think. You may think “oh, poor nurse,” but think again. Imagine if you are the patient. Or if it’s your grandmother, son, husband, or best friend.

I started a new job as an ICU RN in January, and work for a large University hospital. I work 12 hour shifts, and pushed them all together (worked 6 in a row) so I could take a short vacation. On the morning of the last shift, 2 hours before I finished, they told me I was mandated to return at 3pm, although I only finished work at 7.30am. Even if I wasn’t about to leave on vacation, that would only give me about 5 hours of sleep.

Sorry, but I believe a day off is a day off unless it’s an emergency. I need to be able to have a life and plan things and not live by the phone waiting for the call from work.

This nurse is going to quit her job and work through an agency. She will make more money, and work when she wants to. Ane when she hands in her resignation, the nurse administrator will probably just sit there and scratch her ass, and wonder why on earth this person is quitting? Is it so unreasonable to ask a nurse to forfeit a vacation for the good of the hospital? Whatever happened to those devoted martyrs who believed that nursing was a calling and who were ready to sacrifice themselves any time of day or night?

What’s with this new-fangled idea that nurses dare to have a life beyond their enslavement–oops–I mean job?

This hospital is very short-staffed, and they “solve” their problem by forcing nurses to work overtime. Like it or not. It hasn’t occurred to them that if they sucked it up and used agency nurses, or hired on per diems, and stopped forcing nurse to work when they don’t want to, their staffing situation might improve. But that’s a truth they don’t want to know about. It is cheaper to force nurses to work overtime, all things considered.

Now, how would you like to be a patient in the ICU in this hospital? A critically ill patient, being cared for by a nurse working her 16th hour, who only had 3 hous of sleep before coming in to work?

But Johnson & Johnson thinks that we just need to have gala affairs and raise funds for the Promise of Nursing. And put up websites which never show a world like this one. All nurses on the Discover Nursing website are well rested, refreshed, and blissfully in love with their work. They aren’t forced to work 16 or 20 hour shifts, and certainly aren’t given 5 patients in an ICU unit (maximum should be 2). No, in the mythical world of Discover Nursing, all is well, and life is good. Nurses get to be themselves.

Another brainstorm to solve the nursing shortage! Actually, this is nothing new, just a continuation of the high profile campaign that Johnson & Johnson is running–lots of glitz and hype aimed at “introducing nursing” to the world, as if no one had ever heard of it before. I guess if you want to believe that current working conditions and the actual job that nurses perform (even in superb work environments) has nothing to do with the shortage, then I guess you’ll go head over heels with the Johnson & Johnson ditherings.

As part of continuing efforts to alleviate New York’s growing shortage of nurses, a statewide coalition of hospitals, nursing schools and nursing organizations will join forces with Johnson & Johnson on March 16 at the Promise of Nursing for New York gala. The event is expected to raise $750,000 for New York nursing school grants, fellowships and scholarships.

So last month, the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future sponosred a gala event to “raise money” for nurses.

Since 2002, the Promise of Nursing galas have raised nearly $6 million nationwide with events in 11 cities. Additional galas for 2005 include Orlando, Fla., March 24 and Boston, April 27. In total, The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future is expected to raise an additional $2.5 million in 2005 to help ease the shortage.

So what are they going to do with that $8.5 million? Do something useful with it, like give it to hospitals for zero abuse training? Give it to hospitals to hire ancillary staff so that nurses don’t have to mop up floors when a patient pukes (gee, it would be nice to have housekeeping stick around pass 4pm)? Give it hospitals to hire on more nurses, be it temps, travelers, per diem or permanent, and thus bolster staffing? Use it pay for refresher courses for nurses who have been out of the job market for a while and now want to return? Use it to help hospitals reduce paperwork, move to more efficient systems, and thus make nurses lives happier?

No, of course not. It’s the old “we need to train more nurses,” and “we need more nursing programs,” and “the only way to stop the shortage is to bring in more new nurses.” But that’s the safe way. Standing back and really seeing the reality is a big no-no. Especially for Johnson & Johnson, who surely doesn’t want to offend any of its pals in the hospital industry.

“It’s imperative that we attract more people and funding to the nursing profession so that our hospitals will be prepared to serve the growing number of people in this region,” said Maureen White, senior vice president and CNE, North Shore – Long Island Jewish Health System. “This is a great time to be a nurse, and the money raised through this gala will directly support the education of tomorrow’s nurses here in New York.”

Now that is typical canned comment from a hospital administrator. Not that “we need to see what we’re doing wrong and why nurses are getting the hell out of the profession,” or “we need to stop the revolving door in our facility and improve the work environment.” No, of course not. Facilities turn a blind eye to the number who quit, and just keep whining that they’re short staffed. And in reading horror stories posted from nurses all over the country, it is obvious that a great many facilities couldn’t care less about improving the work environment. If anything, as they bleat for more nurses, they continue to make their workplace intolerable.

Discover Nursing the Johnson & Johnson Method

Johnson & Johnson has this thoroughly idiotic website called Discover Nursing. It’s sleek, glossy, and oh-so-sweet; filled with pictures of well scrubbed fresh faced nurses, all with perky smiles in their spotless scrub clothes. The main problem of the website is that it really tells you nothing about what, exactly, a nurse does all day. They make it sound like all a nurse does is go prancing through the hallways, giving patients a warm smile, fluffing pillows, saving lives, and “helping” others–all without getting your hands dirty, of course.

This is what their website says on the opening page:

The job outlook is tough these days, but one job is in high demand– nursing. Did you know that well paying jobs for Registered Nurses are available in almost every city in America? But it’s not just the job market that makes nursing a good career choice. As a nurse, you have the opportunity to save and improve lives, to teach people how to achieve better health, to advocate for patients to make sure they have the best health care, every day. Learn more about a career in nursing.

They have statistics about the nursing shortage, but neglect to say why there is a shortage in the first place. Uh, they leave out that profound little detail of why nurses are leaving this glorious profession in droves, many within five years of graduating nursing programs.

The nursing profiles are a riot to read. The nurses profiled tell you all about how they love their job, how they help people, how they have flexible hours (gee, I guess none of them get stuck doing mandatory overtime), and how “I’m doing what I love best.” I think my all time favorite quote was from a nurse who said, “I get to be myself as a nurse.” Wow, is that profound. Who else would she get to be? I assumed that only actors and criminals changed their identity for their line of work.

What is absent from all of the profiles is any indication of what these nurses do all day on the job. There is no description of the job, the work environment, or their responsibilities. In addition, some of the profiles are from students, so how on earth can they speak of the glories of nursing before they’ve ever held a paying job as an RN?

But yet, Johnson & Johnson has spent something like $20 million on this nonsense. Twenty million to tell the public, “I get to be myself as a nurse.” Well, them’s fightin’ words. I’m sure that errant nurses who have strayed far and wide will come rushing back to hospital work, once they realize that they, too, can be themselves once again. I know that I’m dusting off my license. It will be sooo nice to be myself again. Then again, who I have been these past few years???

There is plenty to say about the issue of pharmacists denying care, and refusing to fill prescriptions that they believe are “morally wrong.” I do have a lot more to say on it, and have been dispensing news about this issue, along with my opinion, in bits and pieces so as not to create a mile long diatribe.

But if it wasn’t so pathetic, this quote would be amusing. There is an organization called Pharmacists for Life, which believe that birth control pills are somehow evil and immoral, and that pharmacists should be allowed to dispense their own morality instead of drugs. Bleech! Anyway, you really have to wonder about the mental sanity of some of these people, as noted from this CNN article:

Yet some want additional legislation to protect pharmacists who believe certain birth control drugs are forms of abortion, Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, told the Reuters news agency. The group provides legal advice and support to pharmacists.

“They’ll force women to kill their children … It will be like China. It’s the next logical step,” she told Reuters.

It is rather disturbing to see people like Karen being quoted as some sort of authority and knowledgeable source. In reality, it appears that her brain is busy orbiting another dimension in another solar system, trying to fan the flames of controversy, and hopefully raise needless and totally unwarrented hysteria.

I would love to see Karen’s evidence that doctors will begin to “order” women to abort children. Or that women are being “forced” to kill their children. Can Karen and her band of merry men come up with some evidence, other than their own perverse imaginations?

No, of course not. In fact, if Karen and her clan had bothered to do their homework, they would see that in fact, the opposite is true. The birth control pill has been on the market since the early 1960s, and abortions became legal nationwide in 1973. In some states, such as NY, they were legalized even earlier.

It used to be quite common, back in them good ‘ol days that Karen is lamenting for, for disabled and retarded children/babies to be shut away in an institution and parents told “to forget that they were ever born.” A baby born before 30 weeks gestation had about a 90% chance of dying. President Kennedy’s own son, born at 32 weeks, died of respiratory failure.

In the early 1990s, I wrote a book on abortion for an overview series geared toward teens. This particular series was on controversial topics, and the book was just supposed to present the facts, and well, the viewpoints on both sides. And in looking through the literature from the 1960s onward, the same garbage was repeated over and over again. The same gibberish that poured out of Karen Bauer’s mouth in the CNN article, is merely a rerun of what was pronounced in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. The same nonsense parroted repeatedly.

Gasp, they said. Legalized abortion was the beginning of the end. It was the start of the slippery slope to killing the old and infirm, the disabled, babies born less than perfect, and so on. Women would be “forced” to kill their children, abortions would be mandatory if the babies were less than perfect, and so on.

The same arguments went on for decades, and strangely enough, it never happened. Decade after decade, the dire warnings never came to pass. But yet, they kept trying to fan the flames of hysteria.

Now, if Karen can shut her mouth long enough to take a look around her, she will see that the times have indeed changed. Abortion has been legal for 32 years in our country, and what has happened? Are disabled babies being killed? Are disabled and premature babies being left to die? Sorry, pal, but you’ve got your data screwed.

In the years since abortion was legalized, a bill was passed in 1975, which required federal funds be used for disabled children in public schools. Yes, in the post-abortion era, schools were now required to make accomodations for disabled children. Imagine that, Karen, they were being permitted to go to school. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities and to prevent discrimination in the workplace. Oh my God, in an era of legalized abortion, such a bill was passed. This must mean that doctors are not killing disabled children. And neither are women being forced to abort them.

Our technology has advanced to the point where premature babies now routinely survive. We have performed surgery in-utero to correct deadly birth defects (ie, repair the defect, not kill the baby), we have developed a dizzying array of devices to help disabled persons function independently and go to school and have careers, etc. Fifty years ago, a baby with Down syndrome was very likely to be shut up into an institution and left to vegetate. And today there are children with Down Syndrome who are graduating high school.

So sorry to burst your bubble, Karen, but in the 35 years of legal abortion, and the 40 odd years of oral contraceptives, your dire warnings have not come to pass. Pray tell, when is this assault on the women and babies supposed to begin? When is this “next logical step” as you put it, slated to take place? As someone who has worked in newborn intensive care, I can assure you, the exact opposite is taking place. We are aggressively saving babies, and trying to keep them from developing physical and mental disabilities. If anything, I would say that sometimes we may be a little too aggressive.

You really do have to feel a little bit sorry for someone like Karen Brauer, because her inane babbling really does distract from the real issues. And it is difficult to believe that she really thinks that this is true, unless she truly has her head so deep in the sand that she’s staring into Middle Earth. You really have to wonder how an educated woman, who works as a pharmacist, could publicly say something that stupid and not be overcome with embarrassment.

But then, there are people who scream about the sanctity of life but think it’s okay to blow up abortion clinics. Or that killing is okay as long as it’s not a fetus.

Well, most of it anyway. The deadly flu samples which were mistakenly used in testing kits that were sent around the world have gone to meet their maker. They are dead, gone, sent far away to flu virus heaven, or wherever deceased germs go.

According to the BBC, the only flu critters left fluttering their wings are still in the U.S., but then again, the bulk of the testing kits were shipped within our borders.

“There are still some laboratories in the United States that haven’t confirmed the destruction of the samples they were sent,” said WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng.

But, she added, 98% of the samples in the US have been confirmed as destroyed.

The viruses were sent to labs in the following countries:

Europe: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy
Americas: Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the US
Asia: Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan
Middle East: Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

Not surprisingly, I haven’t seen anything further in the news about the company who made this error. So far they have refused to comment. But how was such an error made? This demonstrates true negligence and ignorance, and certainly, a severe breakdown in protocol.

And what is going to happen to the company? Will they be fined? Shut down until they clean up their act?

I’m sure this incident will just disappear from the airwaves, without any of these questions answered.

Until the next time it happens….

Now, this really can be the future of our healthcare system if we all continue to walk around with our eyes shut. Importing foreign nurses is about as close as hospitals have gotten to outsourcing. I’m sure that many of them are looking at other industries, such as manufacturing and IT, and just drooling. How can we do that, they wonder. How can we make better use of cheap foreign labor and maximize our profits?

Well, voila, here’s a potential avenue to the riches of cheap overseas labor for hospital patients. With a few modifications, this system can be the dream that the hospital industry has been waiting for.

From BoingBoing:

Sweat Ship: offshore coding operation planned in San Diego

Three San Diego entrepreneurs plan to start a cut-rate outsourcing plant for software development three miles off the coast of Los Angeles aboard a used cruise ship moored in international waters.

Wired with a fat T3 pipe fed by microwave, SeaCode would employ 600 developers – the bulk of them non-U.S. citizens – who could crank out code around the clock at a lower cost and higher rate of efficiency than their American counterparts. The beauty part (at least according to the proponents) is that business would be booming, the headquarters could change sail wherever business took it, and RnR would be just a half-hour water-taxi ride away. In your neighborhood.

Given that Joseph Ratzinger’s ascent to the papacy was greeted with extremely mixed reactions (about half of those waiting to hear the news at the Vatican did not cheer or even clap, and some walked away when he started to speak), there is no doubt that some people are going to attack his past.

As much as I find this man’s views highly offensive ( even his name “Rat” says something), his interlude with Nazism was nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So let’s clear the air. Yes, he joined the Nazi Youth at age 14, but that was pretty much standard for every German child. If you didn’t join, then you fell under suspicion, and this might have meant dire consequences for him and his family.

Second, he was in the German army. He was drafted, like every German male who was able to stand and breathe on his own. He was an anti-aircraft gunner, defending the city of Munich. Defending civilians. Now, I just read that he deserted the German army towards the end of the war. That I hold against him, because he was defending civilians and trying to keep enemy planes from bombing homes, ie, killing children, the elderly, and so on.

So was he a coward? I don’t know. I guess he had his reasons for desertion. Maybe he was going to be sent to the Russian front, who knows.

But at any rate, Ratzinger’s life during those awful times was nothing to be ashamed of. And anyone who condemns him for joining the Hitler Youth or being drafted into the German army, please tell me what you would have done. Please tell me that at age 14, you would have been a member of the underground; you would have been putting together a plot to kill Hitler; you would have packed your bags and sailed to the U.S…yadda yadda yadda.

Now, if it comes to light that Ratzinger sleeps with a copy of Mein Kampf under his pillow every night, and is planning on reopening Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen for homosexuals, upitty women who use birth control, and liberal priests, then we have something to worry about. If he’s planning on organizing a holy army to march into the terrority of “heretics” and “cleanse” the land of nonbelievers, then we have a problem.

He did say that the church was full of “filth.” Was he referring to pedophile priests who have infiltrated the church like bands of cockroaches? Was he referring to corruption in the Vatican? Or was he referring to the modern and liberal views of an overwhelming number of clergy around the world, or those Catholics who are divorced, use contraceptives and gasp–may have even had an aborton?

It is important for him to define “filth,” if he doesn’t want to get tagged as being having Nazi-ish viewpoints.

But for now, he seems to be just a silly old man who’d prefer to be living in the year 1088, when the Church had real power over the population.

Out of every single Cardinal that could have been selected, what emerges is a reactionary who seems hell-bent on returning the Church to those glory days of the Crusades and Inquisition. Oh, and women. Breeders they shall be, forever more. I imagine that if men could become pregnant, then birth control would be a sacrament.

Here’s a very brief history of some of the “highlights” in Cardinal Ratzinger’s career, from the BBC:

Cardinal Ratzinger has been head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition – since 1981.

He has described homosexuality as a “tendency” towards an “intrinsic moral evil”. During the US election campaign, he called for pro-choice politicians to be denied Communion.

Great guy, huh. Just what the 21st century needs, a man entwined in narrow, outdated doctrine.

And speaking of “intrinsic moral evils,” I would love for the new Pope to go visit a Catholic family living in dire poverty, one preferably with several malnourished and sickly children (maybe even one or two dying of malnutrition); with a mom and dad who labor for pennies in a factory or as farmworkers; and tell this family to “keep on breeding.” That it is a sin for them to control the number of children that they have. No matter that mom is worn out from childbearing and malnourshed herself. No matter that they can’t feed, clothe or educate the ones they have.

Better yet, threaten them with ex-communication if they dare to visit that new clinic that opened up down the road. Tell them that God will love them better if they just keep producing kids, and that they will go to hell if they dare try to control their family size.

What does an old celibate man, living in the lap of luxury, know of such things?

Or, let’s send the good new Pope to Africa, and have him speak of the evil of condoms. Especially to the married women whose husbands are HIV positive. But holy father, one of the women might ask, what should I do? My husband will beat me if I refuse sex, or throw me out? A condom is a good compromise.”

Will the new pope tell her that it is better to submit to her husband, and it is “God’s will” for her to become infected? Or will he tell her that a little beating is better than committing a sin by using a condom? Or will he tell her that it is better to be cast aside–but in which case, she can’t actually divorce her husband because that’s a sin too.

Of course, I could be wrong about the new Pope. Maybe he will have a revelation and see that he is really the one who is sinful. Maybe he will be haunted by the ghosts of “good Catholics” who died because of church beliefs. You know, like the good wife getting beaten up by her drunk husband, but who stayed with him because the parish priest told her that divorce is a sin, and then the husband finally killed her.

Anyway, I see this as a very sad day for the church. I imagine that his reign will lead to more division in the church, more people leaving the church, the continued shortage of priests, and continuing negative views of the church by the world at large.

The church’s viewpoints of women have always been rather sickening. John Paul II, although he was still very conservative, began to embrace the idea that women were entitled to a life beyond the kitchen, and out from under their husband’s thumb. It was hoped that a new pope would take these ideas further, and begin to embrace a larger role for women in the church, and at least open to a dialog on subjects like birth control and divorce.

But I highly doubt that Cardinal Ratzinger is going to be the one to do that. Maybe he’ll even reinstitute witch burnings.

Isn’t it interesting how Bush is willing to meet with groups who support capping medical malpractice payouts, but has repeatedly refused to meet with patients who have been actual victims of malpractice? Surprised?

Anyway, just in case you happen to be in our fair capitol on April 20 (incidentally, that’s Adolph Hitler’s birthday–just thought you’d want to know, and how fitting for the occasion), you may want to come and listen to hear patients tell their side of the story.

Victims of Medical Negligence Will Be On Hand to Tell Their Stories at the Capitol at 1:30 pm on Wednesday, April 20

Patients Will Ask AGAIN for White House Meeting that has been Repeatedly Declined

On a day when doctors will travel to Washington, DC to lobby in support of President Bush’s medical malpractice proposal, patients who have been harmed by medical negligence will be on Capitol Hill at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20 to demand a meeting with the White House and to tell their personal stories. The White House has repeatedly refused to meet with patients – but it has agreed to meet with groups who support limiting patients’ rights.

WHO: Patients injured by medical negligence

This is an email from my cousin, that was sent to me and about a million other people. She is very political, very motivated, very involved, and very very worried about the state of things in our nation.

Now I don’t want to start getting heavy into politics, and try to limit my foray into Bushism and other ananities only as they relate to health. But my cousin’s elegant worry monologue is about health–some of it obvious as she refers to reproductive rights and the holier than holy pharmacists who think that they have a right to deny care (I will write more about that one, never fear)–and some of it not. Basically, though, all of her concerns are about both our mental and physical health, and the overall health of our nation. If people continually fall into the cracks, if Social Security is no longer there for our elderly and infirm (Bush thinks that minimum wage employees are going to start keeping stock portfolios!), and our environment is increasingly degraded in the name of profit–then we all suffer.

So here are her worries. They are mine as well, I have to say.

I worry that:
*we’re giving up checks and balances with the so-called nuclear option being rammed through by Senator Frist. Right wing judges will hasten our worries.

Isn’t there something we can do?

….which means, no new Pope yet. An African cardinal is in the running, Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze. The Catholic Church has not had an African Pope since Gelasius I in the fifth century.

I don’t know very much about his views, but I think it would be extremely ironic (okay, obscene) if this man were to become Pope and carry on with John Paul’s more medieval views. Like, no contraception. No condoms, even in nations devastated by AIDS.

Can an African sit in the Vatican and preach that condom use is sinful, and that it is better to die from AIDS? Of course, if all were faithful and abstinent, AIDS would not exist to any great extent, but that’s not how it is in the real world. Women, especially, need to protect themselves. The women who are faithful in marriage, but their husband is HIV positive. Can an African pope actually tell the people of his continent, and in particular the women, not to use condoms?

I would like to hope that if Caridinal Arinze does become pope, he will open his eyes to the reality that is Africa, and move towards changing church doctrine.

Well, one can hope….

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Albert Einstein. I don’t think I need to explain who Einstein was, but on April 18, 1955, a man heralded as one of the world’s greatest scientists made his passing.

The year 2005, just to add, is also the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s “miraculous year” in which he published three revolutionary papers, at the tender age of 26. The year 1905 was an extraordinary year for Einstein, as he established the existence of atoms, laid the foundations for quantum theory, came up with his theory of relativity and calculated the most famous equation of all time: E=mc2.

All by age 26.

In addition to being a brilliant scientist and a Nobel Prize winner, Einstein was also a committed pacifist, who lobbied for a single world government. So how is it that a committed pacifist would play such a prominent role in the development of the atomic bomb?

From Deutsche Welle:

In the area of peace and conflict studies, Einstein’s positions are still current, said Thomas Held of the German Foundation for Peace Studies. Einstein had spent a good deal of time contemplating what a political means to peace might be.

“He wasn’t a pure pacifist,” said Held. Einstein had also thought about the limits of civilian means toward peacekeeping, and had asked himself when the military would need to intervene. Thus Einstein, fearing the Germans would build atomic weapons, wrote a letter to then US President Franklin D. Roosevelt recommending the Americans build an atom bomb. It was a recommendation he later regretted.

While Einsten did not directly participate in the invention of the atomic bomb, he was instrumental in facilitating its development.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki horrified Einstein, and he devoted much of his later years campaigning for nuclear disarmament and civil liberties. In November 1954, five months before he died, Einstein summarized his feelings about his role in the creation of the atomic bomb: “I made one great mistake in my life… when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification – the danger that the Germans would make them.”

In 1933, Einstein accepted a position at the newly created Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and left Germany right before Hitler came to power. He never returned to Germany, and spent the remainder of his life in Princeton, NJ. At the age of 76, he died Princeton Hospital, was cremated and his ashes scattered in an undisclosed place, far from the eyes of the public.

Guess what? After making a promise not to raise rates after its merger with Anthem, Blue Cross rates are going up up up in California. Is anyone surprised?

This is a press release from one of those pesky and utterly annoying to the profits-of-big-business consumer groups, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

Governor and Insurance Commission Called on To Investigate Double-Digit Premium Increases in Wake of $4 Billion WellPoint/Anthem Merger

Consumer advocates called on Governor Schwarzenegger and Insurance Commissioner Garamendi to investigate double-digit rate increases being imposed on Blue Cross customers in a letter sent today. State officials must ensure that Blue Cross and its parent company, WellPoint, are honoring their commitment to not charge Californians for costs resulting from its recent merger with Anthem, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said.

The nonpartisan nonprofit FTCR cited legally binding commitments made to the state, prior to giving regulatory clearance to the merger, that an estimated $265 million in executive bonuses and $4 billion in financing charges would not be passed on to patients and business owners. The merger created America’s largest health insurance company.
FTCR noted that two WellPoint executives also received salary increases this year of 15-20%.

In the letter, which included profiles of Blue Cross patients who have received 20-50% rate increases this year, FTCR wrote:

“You must now investigate these rate increases and force the company to refund any overcharges resulting from the $4 billion in financing costs, executive bonuses and other costs associated with the merger. The legally binding agreements you signed with company executives give you the authority to act. Your duty to protect California patients demands it.”

In recent months, patients and business owners around the state have contacted FTCR frustrated by massive rate increases to their Blue Cross policies. The group is conducting health care town halls throughout the state with patients, business owners, doctors, nurses and hospital executives. The goal of these convenings is to find solutions for affordable health available to all Californians. A consensus theme from these events is the need to rid the health care system of waste and inefficiency.

This is the letter that FTRC wrote to the governor:

Governor Schwarzenegger
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95816

That was the original name of the one of the most prestigious facilities in New York City. It opened in 1855 with 45 beds, with the primary intention of treating the indigent Jewish population. And so it seemed it be the case—of the 216 patients admitted in 1855 – 1856 only 16 could pay.

In 1862, the hospital opend its doors to a more diverse clientale by
admitting soldiers injured in the Civil War. The following year, Jews Hospital also accepted patients who were injured during the infamous Draft Riots.

Any ideas yet what hospital this is?

Okay, to continue on. In 1864, a formal nonsectarian policy was adopted, but this policy was not widely recognized. I wonder why–could it have had something to do with the name of the facility? So to remedy that, a name change was in order. Hint: A very famous man named Moses took 40 years to cross a piece of dirt bearing this name (generally it takes just a few days but Moses apparently took the scenic route).

On April 17, 1866, Jews’ Hospital was renamed Mount Sinai Hospital after it opened its doors to patients of all religions. Today, Mount Sinai is renowned for its commitment to medical research.

It seems that you can’t have it all. Well, I take that back. You can have it all but in your zeal to have it all, you need to watch what your doing. Take China. In their move towards a market community, and adopting the conveniences and lifestyle of more industrialized nations, many are throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Here’s something for the appetite; about 18 million adults in China are obese, 137 million are overweight, and 64 million have metabolic syndrome-a condition where a number of risk factors for heart disease are present.

Obesity has been relatively unknown in China for decades. Their traditional diets were very healthy, they walked a lot and rode bicycles, and did not have many of the conveniences that we take for granted. But now, as McDonald’s and Coca Cola and Pepsi have infiltrated, along with other Western style fast food; as automobiles become increasingly common; and as young Chinese shun vegetables and rice and instead yearn for a Big Mac….they are getting fat. Yes, fat.

Metabolic syndrome is particularly insidious because it really leaves you at risk for so many nasty ills. It is characterised by a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors, including abdominal obesity, raised blood pressure and glucose concentration, and abnormal blood lipid levels. Both metabolic syndrome and obesity are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. And it is no surprise that even though it was once very rare, cardiovascular disease is already the leading cause of death in China.

Welcome to the modern world! You can’t have your big Mac and eat it too, without paying a hefty price for it.

It is really sad to see. China has more than a billion citizens to provide healthcare to, and the last thing that they need are the illnesses of “modern” living.

China Daily

Acording to the Nevada Nurses Association, the state ranks near the top of Western states in nursing salaries. Nevada doesn’t have a state income tax, so even though nurses make more money in neighboring California, they actually end up with more disposable income in Nevada.

The Nevada Hospital Association spends $3 million a year recruiting nurses to come to Nevada and offers $1 million in scholarships. And yet, despite all of the wonderful trends, Nevada has fewer nurses as a proportion of its work force than just about everywhere else in the country.

And the Nevada weenies are totally stumped. They just think it’s because they “can’t recruit nurses fast enough.” That growth is faster than their ability to recruit nurses. That all they need is to swell the number of students in nursing programs.

And of course, they are completing ignoring the other side of the coin–are nurses leaving Nevada hospitals faster than they can be replaced? Are they fleeing nursing altogether? Moving into jobs that don’t require them to be abuses as badly as they are in Nevada hospitals?

For a real look at what’s going on; nurses in Nevada are trying to get a bill passed making it illegal for employers to fire them for refusing an assignment because they feel it’s dangerous!

Duh, can that have anything to do with the shortage in Nevada hospitals? Why doesn’t the Nevada Hospital Association address that issue?

According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun, nurses are required to reject an assignment if they feel they do not have “the knowledge, skills or ability” to complete it safely. However, the law does not protect their jobs if they reject an assignment.

So in other words, if a nurse dares to complain about her assignment, she can be fired. Nevada law currently does not offer her any protection. How nice. No wonder no one wants to work there.

Testimony from a pediatric nurse in Las Vegas, who asked that her name not be used because she feared a reprimand from her current employer:

The nurse said she was caring for seven patients on one shift, including a dying 5-year-old heart transplant recipient, a 2-month-old just off a respirator, an 18-month-old experiencing frequent seizures, and four others in critical care. Because she refused to admit an eighth patient from the emergency room, she was fired from her previous job, she said.

“I feared for the safety of my patients. I was told that no other nurse was available and I should do my best,” she wrote.

Now, would you want to be a patient in a Nevada hospital, where nurses are routinely assigned more patients than they can provide care for, and where they are afraid to refuse an assignment because they will fired?

And of course, this bill is the last thing that the industry wants. Imagine having to hire more nurses, instead of working the ones you have to death.

Here’s a classic response:

Jim Wadhams, a lobbyist for the Nevada Hospital Association, told the panel that his group thinks the bill needs work. “The concept of the bill is not a problem,” he said. “The ambiguity created by the language indeed is.”

Of course it needs more work. It needs to have that “ambiguous” wording removed that says that hospitals cannot retaliate against nurses who refuse unsafe assignments, can’t threaten them, and can’t try to black list them. Is that the “ambiguous” language that you’re referring to, Jim?

So, does anyone wonder why there’s a nursing shortage? Plenty of nurses, just not enough tolerable placs to work.

Okay, here’s a quickie, a press release from ATLA. Yes, I know that they are a special interest group but I happen to agree with their stance on the Bush’s dire wish to install caps on malpractice payouts. As I’ve said before, it is a move to tickle the fancy of the insurance industry, and nothing more.

Anyway, supposedly, there is rapidly declining number of physicians (according to Bush statistics) due solely to increasing malpractice premiums. This survey from ATLA shows that it is not quite true.

State-by-State Data Show Nationwide Increase in Number of Physicians

State examples show we need patient safety reform—not insurance industry giveaways.

(Washington, DC)— The Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) recently launched a complete online guide to the medical liability laws, cost of medical errors, number of doctors, and more in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Using this resource, available at http://www.atla.org/StateHealth/, reporters can now investigate whether claims of a “crisis” or “looming crisis” in their home states are true.

“Under the guise of ‘reform’, this administration is trying to boost profits of the insurance industry, which is doing just fine on its own. But patients—and I suspect many hardworking doctors—know better,” said Smith.