“If you want to know what is wrong with American health care today, exhibit A might be the two new proton beam treatment facilities the Mayo Clinic has begun building, one in Minnesota, the other in Arizona, at a cost of more than $180 million dollars each. They are part of a medical arms race for proton beam machines, which could cost taxpayers billions of dollars for a treatment that, in many cases, appears to be no better than cheaper alternatives.”
—It Costs More, but Is It Worth More? - NYTimes.com
February 2012
12 posts
“Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, responding to the controversy over a breast cancer advocacy group that cut off most of its grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening, said Thursday that he would make up a large part of the missing money.”
—Bloomberg Donating to Planned Parenthood After Komen Cuts - NYTimes.com
“David Fenner and his 20-plus colleagues at Children’s Medical Group in Rhinebeck, N.Y., discuss vaccine concerns but ask families to leave if they don’t comply by a certain point.”
—More Doctors ‘Fire’ Vaccine Refusers - WSJ.com
“Les contraintes de file d’attente devraient aussi favoriser un meilleur partage de l’activité entre les médecins et un certain nombre de techniciens de santé qui peuvent les assister et les suppléer dans certains cas (comme cela commence à se faire en matière d’optique correctrice). Tous ces changements – fin de la liberté absolue d’installation, réglementation plus strict des dépassements d’honoraires, partage de l’activité médicale avec des professions paramédicales, développement du travail de groupe –, sont donc envisageables mais ils impliquent une importante remise en cause des compromis anciens entre l’Etat et les médecins. La difficulté principale est ici de nature socio-politique. Pour la surmonter il faut aussi accepter des compensations financières pour les médecins, ce qui sera difficile dans un contexte de rationnement général.”
—Notre système de santé est-il en péril ? Gérer la pénurie de médecins (2/4)
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“We need a leader to champion improvements – a neurology tsar, if you like, backed up with a plan and a strategy. “When diabetes, cancer and stroke were assigned tsars, things really started to happen. People affected by neurological conditions are fed up with being at the bottom of the government’s ‘to do’ list.
“It is time the Department of Health sorted out this mess. It’s not about spending more money: it’s about getting good value and quality services.”
” —NHS warned of ‘neurology timebomb’ | Society | The Guardian
“This principle, which we at BCA call “First, Do No Harm,” is most recognizable to the general public from the warning labels on cigarette packages. The anti-tobacco effort in the U.S. was undertaken long before we had proof of the biochemical process by which tobacco smoke leads to lung cancer. The same precaution needs to be taken in every area of public health, including breast cancer.”
—Think Before You Pink » Seeing Our Interests Clearly
“If you haven’t yet, watch the long version of Jon Stewart’s interview with Betsy McCaughey, the woman who injected Sarah Palin’s famous imaginary “death panel” into the health care debate.”
—Sisyphus Shrugged - strange bedfellows
“Et dans la “vraie vie”, hors du laboratoire? L’épidémiologie prend alors le relais et montre que le tabagisme actif comme passif (vivre avec un fumeur par exemple) augmente significativement le risque de cardiopahies ischémiques (pathologies correspondant à un manque d’oxygène du coeur, comme l’infarctus ou l’angine de poitrine). Les accidents vasculaires cérébraux sont un cas tout à fait semblable.”
—Tabagisme passif et risque d’infarctus : nous prend-on pour des demeurés? - Le blog des Bactéries et de l’Evolution
