Clipmarks | Healthcare Clips

US infant deaths decline 2%, but ...

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:12:26 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: the US infant mortality rate is much higher than that of most developed nations. 2/3 of the deaths are pre-term babies. Many puzzles remain.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Infant deaths in the United States declined 2 percent in 2006, government researchers reported Wednesday, but the rate still remains well above that of most industrialized countries and is one of many indicators suggesting that Americans pay more but get less from their health care system.

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This international gap has widened even though the United States devotes a far greater share of its national wealth to health care than other countries. In 2006, Americans spent $6,714 per capita on health — more than twice the average of other industrialized countries.

Infant mortality has long been considered one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation and the quality of its medical system. In 1960, the United States ranked 12th lowest in the world, but by 2004,

that ranking had dropped to 29th

More than 28,000 infants under the age of 1 die each year in the United States.

Tags: infant mortality, healthcare

How Hospitals Kill, and Where

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:10:03 GMT

clipped by: Uniec
clipper's remarks: This seems to be a global problem: patients may not leave hospitals alive because of poor medical treatment and doctors' mistakes.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

If all hospitals performed as well as 5-star facilities, as ranked by an independent healthcare ratings company, 237,420 U.S. Medicare patient deaths could have been prevented between 2005 and 2007.

That's the upshot of a new study that finds you have a 70 percent lower chance of dying at a facility that is top-ranked by HealthGrades compared to its lowest-ranked ones across 17 procedures and conditions that were the reasons for the hospital visits. More than half of the Medicare patient deaths were associated with four conditions: sepsis (a systemic response to infection), pneumonia, heart failure and respiratory failure.

The good news: The nation's in-hospital risk-adjusted mortality rate improved, 14.2 percent on average from 2005 to 2007, HealthGrades announced today in releasing its 11th annual survey on hospital quality. The nation's best-performing hospitals were able to reduce their death rates at a much faster rate than poorly performing hospitals.

Tags: patients, hospital, death

Study: Death Rate Lower At Top Hospitals

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:31:33 GMT

clipped by: trutheness
clipper's remarks: ...a 70 percent lower chance of dying!

Clip Source: www.ktvu.com

Study: Death Rate Lower At Top Hospitals

Report Says 237,000 Medicare Deaths Could Have Been Prevented

A new study shows patients have on average a 70 percent lower chance of dying at the nation's top-rated hospitals compared with the lowest-rated hospitals.

The study also found that if all hospitals performed at the level of five-star rated hospitals, 237,420 Medicare deaths could have been prevented over the three years studied. More than half of those deaths were associated with four conditions: sepsis (a life-threatening illness caused by systemic response to infection), pneumonia, heart failure and respiratory failure.

The study is also the basis for HealthGrades' 2009 quality ratings for all nonfederal hospitals in the country. The ratings are available at www.healthgrades.com, a Web site designed to help individuals research and compare local healthcare providers.

Cholesterol: Good, Bad, What to Do

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:40:46 GMT

clipped by: xigets
clipper's remarks: Information on Cholesterol

Clip Source: juvenon.com

By Benjamin V. Treadwell, Ph.D.

Cholesterol! The word strikes fear into the hearts of many Americans. Popular press and TV have dumbed down the basics of cholesterol:

High total cholesterol is associated with heart attack and stroke.

The LDL (low density lipoprotein) form is bad.

The HDL (high density lipoprotein) form is good.

Healthy Cholesterol Levles Aren't Quite That Simple

This month we highlight once again a study of the powerful antioxidant alpha lipoic acid. Among the general population, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials, with human subjects, are perhaps the most widely known form of healthcare testing. Studies in laboratory animals are even more extensively used by pre-clinical scientists. To understand fundamental biochemistry, however, scientists often use cell cultures.

Tags: cholesterol, information

What is the American Presidential Election About?

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:54:48 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Is this BBC analysis on the right lines? Do climate change and 'the war on terrorism' figure? Will the election be decided on policy differences?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The state of the economy was the central issue in the US election campaign even before crisis hit Wall Street.

According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll on 19-22 September, 50% of registered voters now say the state of the economy is the single most important issue in determining how they will vote.

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq has faded away as a vote-determining factor. Just 9% now rate it the key issue,

The other key domestic issue for most voters is healthcare

Two issues have dropped way down the agenda:

• Immigration has not been the subject of a major debate, as both presidential contenders have moderate views on the subject.

• Abortion and other social issues.

Tags: american presidential election

MENTAL HEALTHCARE TEXAS STYLE

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:00:02 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: The problem is far reaching and carries a price- not just monetarily

Clip Source: www.utne.com

Texas-Sized Mental Problems

A caretaker repeatedly slams a patient’s head into a metal door. Another beats a charge with a hairbrush. Blind eyes are turned as patients sexually assault each other. These are some of the gravest abuses catalogued by a Texas Observer (May 2, 2008) investigation into the state’s mental health network. The culprit behind some 1,266 incidents of abuse in the past three fiscal years, the monthly muckraking magazine reports, is a systemic failure to fund enough qualified workers to provide decent care.

The mess in Texas is extreme, but it’s no anomaly. Throughout the country, the task of caring for our most vulnerable loved ones, from infants to infirm elders, is treated as low-skill work at fast-food wages.

to underwrite such upgrades at $150 billion a year. But citizens would be investing in more than just better care. Society would reap good jobs that can’t be outsourced, a new ladder into the middle class, and a shot of earnings adrenaline for the economy.

Fascinating and sad

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:58:15 GMT

clipped by: Sweeneybird

Clip Source: www.drmcdougall.com

Bill Clinton’s Madness:

A Consequence of Heart-Bypass Surgery Brain Damage

We Need to Understand and Show Some Compassion

One of the savviest politicians of our generation, known for his wit, charm, and calm under extreme pressure, Bill Clinton appears out of character in the speeches and interviews televised since his bypass surgery September 6, 2004—and his mental deterioration may be accelerating. Remember, this is the president who withstood public impeachment before the entire world for his relationship with Monica Lewinski without once losing control. Now, he is easily angered by hecklers, and makes factual mistakes and racial slurs while aggressively defending his wife’s campaign for presidency. Everyone sees his mental and emotional decline, yet to date, no medical professionals have spoken out about the cause or offered help.

Tags: healthcare, politics

The Silent Epidemic of Health Illiteracy

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:08:19 GMT

clipped by: edwardmasen9
clipper's remarks: Most people know or have experience with the fact that it sometimes seems as if doctors are speaking another language when it comes to drugs, treatments and more. But is this problem bigger than it seems?

Clip Source: brainblogger.com

Nobody questions the fact that healthcare is a confusing profession. Doctors and nurses seem to speak in foreign tongues; medicines have names and ingredients that are not even pronounceable; more and more news comes out every day about diseases and conditions that seem to contradict each other. If doctors must devote 12 years of higher education just to get a basic understanding of how the body works, how does a patient hope to know what’s wrong with them?

Tags: age, ama, education, health, illiteracy, information, level, literacy, patient, population

Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman on Health Insurance Reform

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:23:11 GMT

clipped by: Kauaiguy
clipper's remarks: 2008 Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman explains the economic viability of a "Medicare for all." solution to Health Care Reform.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

One Nation, Uninsured

Harry Truman tried to create a national health insurance system. Public opinion was initially on his side: Jill Quadagno's book "One Nation, Uninsured" tells us that in 1945, 75 percent of Americans favored national health insurance. If Truman had succeeded, universal coverage for everyone, not just the elderly, would today be an accepted part of the social contract.

But Truman failed. Special interests, especially the American Medical Association and Southern politicians who feared that national insurance would lead to racially integrated hospitals, triumphed.

Sixty years later, the patchwork system that evolved in the absence of national health insurance is unraveling. The cost of health care is exploding, the number of uninsured is growing, and corporations that still provide employee coverage are groaning under the strain.

Tags: healthcare, national security, economics

9/11 was Sad but this is Genocide, right?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:51:26 GMT

clipped by: joejoepmc
clipper's remarks: Less than 3,000 people died in 9/11

Since 2001, nearly 1,080,000 people have died from MEDICAL ERRORS

Who are the terrorists now?

PS - this is from 2001!

Clip Source: jama.ama-assn.org

more Americans are killed in US hospitals every 6 months thandied in the entire Vietnam War, and some have compared the allegedrate to 3 fully loaded jumbo jets crashing every other day.²Widely disseminated quotes include, "medical mistakes kill 180 000people a year in US hospitals"³ and "medical errors may be the5th leading cause of death."⁴ If these inferences are correct,the health care system is a public health menace of epidemicproportions.

Tags: terrorists, terrorism, healthcare

Medical Error is Big Business $$$

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:28:53 GMT

clipped by: joejoepmc
clipper's remarks: Who is profiting from your death... I wonder where all that money goes?

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Medical Errors Cost US $8.8 Billion, Result In 238,337 Potentially Preventable Deaths, Study Shows

1.1 million patient safety incidents during the three years studied.

Tags: terrorists, healthcare, news

John McCain will DESTROY Healthcare in America

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:22:24 GMT

clipped by: glennbah

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: mccain, health care, taxation

icaew

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:50:01 GMT

clipped by: gerifromlondon

Clip Source: www.icaew.com

global goverment net

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:46:23 GMT

clipped by: rvnurse2b
clipper's remarks: I don't like this one bit.

Clip Source: www.euractiv.com

The EU executive identified the following key topics to be addressed by 2009 in to prepare Europe to the new generation of the Internet: the early challenges of the Internet of Things, rolling out Next Generation Access Networks, opening radio spectrum to wireless services, broadband for all, security of critical communication infrastructure, privacy concerns related to the massive deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and Internet governance.

First of all, Brussels wants to pave the way for possibly the biggest revolution that the Web has ever seen: the emergence of an Internet of Things, whereby objects have a virtual identity and communicate between each other to provide services of every kind, from healthcare to transport security.

A review of radio spectrum is also ongoing, so as to exploit the so-called 'digital dividend' which will result from the switch from analogue to digital TV by 2012.

The global governance of the Internet

Tags: religion, end times, 666, porn, sex, net, big brother

US CAPITALISM - ANTI DEMOCRATIC

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:18:33 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: Privatization of Profits and the socializing of loss

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed

Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the US neoliberals - the very people who created the banking crisis writes Noam Chomsky

THE SIMULTANEOUS unfolding of the US presidential campaign and unraveling of the financial markets presents one of those occasions where the political and economic systems starkly reveal their nature.

Passion about the campaign may not be universally shared but almost everybody can feel the anxiety from the foreclosure of a million homes, and concerns about jobs, savings and healthcare at risk.

These steps predictably increased the frequency and depth of severe reversals, which now threaten to bring about the worst crisis since the Great Depression.