http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care David Brooks referenced it in his most recent article. Just a really, really fascinating article about how to fundamentally change the structure of health care.
There's like a 5% chance you won't wake up if given general anaesthesia. This was posted before... We treat bugs with strong drugs and Evolution does its thing and they adapt. At some point, there's no drug strong enough that won't kill the patient. And at some point, the bugs are too strong.
MikeDC posted that in another thread. It's a good read, but as the author himself admits, his prescription isn't realistic, politically speaking. barfo
It sucks, but the thing that worried me most when I was in the hospital was infection. I watched everyone that worked there to see if they were clean. I called the nurse when my garbage was full. I made my girlfriend use hand sanitizer after she touched anything in my room or went to the bathroom. She washed in the bathroom but I made her use it after she got out, who knows what she touched on her way out. By the way, people in general are dumb. I went to the bathroom at this nice clean restaurant that had an A from the health department. In the bathroom on a nice tile end table was a Sports Illustrated magazine. It had a sticker on it that said not to remove it from the bathroom. They had a magazine in the bathroom for CUSTOMERS! YUK! I would love to see that magazine put to a CSI police lab type of test. ooooh gross.
true, and some are a tad paranoid. Somehow with infection looming on every magazine and doorknob my father has survived 45 years of being a surgeon including a year at a MASH unit in Vietnam. As I was growing up he never seemed to catch colds like the rest of the family. At 67 he's still knocking out 20-50 mile bike rides several times a week. Did exposure to hospital infections make him stronger? STOMP
There is no way to make a hospital, a gathering place for germs & bacteria, 100% infection free. Period. There are so many ways to get an infection- including from the patient themselves. I feel for his loss, but it's a risk of hospital care. I wonder about some of his unchallanged figures, but basically agree with his fix.