From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Aug 08 2004 - 20:27:52 BST
Arlo, Platt and all inquiring minds:
Platt said:
>Headline in the UK Sun newspaper this morning:
>
>"Filthy NHS wards kill 5,000 a year."
>
>In the story, the reasons for this sorry record in Briton's socialized
>medicine system are that doctors, nurses and cleaners "not washing their
>hands properly" Also, "Many were overworked and found it hard to maintain
>standards." Furthermore, "Generally unclean hospitals, too few isolation
>units and patients frequently being shifted around all added to the spread
>of the bugs." Kerry and Hillary want a similar low quality system for the
U.S. Thanks, but no thanks.
Arlo Bensinger replied:
Headling on CNN.com this morning:
"Study: Hospital errors cause 195,000 deaths"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- As many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in
U.S. hospitals because of easily prevented errors, a company said Tuesday
in an estimate that doubles previous figures.
Lakewood, Colorado-based HealthGrades Inc. said its data covers all 50
states and is more up-to-date than a 1999 study from the Institute of
Medicine that said 98,000 people a year die from medical errors.
"If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual list of leading
causes of death included medical errors, it would show up as number six,
ahead of diabetes, pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease and renal disease,"
Collier said.
dmb says:
What I find troubling about Platt's complaints is that personal hygiene has
nothing to do with socialism. The problem is not solved by changing from
socialized medicine to private enterprise. Its solved with soap and water.
And considering the rate of death in our private system is any indication of
its quality, then its about 40 times worse than the UK system. If medical
errors are the sixth leading cause of death its no wonder malpractice
insurance costs so much and its no wonder that doctors are so often sued.
I'd also like to point out that the SUN is a Rupert Murdoch paper. Like Fox
news, the Times of London, the New York Post and the Weekly Standard, his
media outlets are notoriously biased. Anyone interested in learning about
the many, many specific examples of this bias would do well to read Al
Franken's LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM. The author is only a
comedian, but employed the services of a classroom full of Harvard grad
students as his researchers, so its actually very well documented. Plus its
funny. This book is aimed specifically at Murdoch's FOX NEWS, which is run
by Bush's cousin. But the BBC says this about the SUN...
According to the BBC...
In 1969, the Sun was sold by IPC to Rupert Murdoch for £800,000. He quickly
relaunched the Sun as a tabloid paper, and cut the number of journalists
employed. The first topless photograph of a page three girl was published in
1970, and the paper began to focus more on sex, showbiz and celebrity
gossip.
In other words, its a gutter rag. The SUN uses a story about dirty hands to
score political points, but the logic is so bad that only an ideologue could
fail to see through it. Its ridiculous.
Thanks,
dmb
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