Sunday - April 29, 2007

Socialized Medicine Update

The only problem with socialized medicine or “universal health care” as the Hildabeast and her evil Liberal minions call it, is that it leads to things like this. The NHS (National Health Service) in Britain is under such a strain trying to meet the health care needs of everyone that people with bad habits are being denied care ... bad habits such as eating too much or smoking, that is.

There is only one outcome for a system like this when they start turning people away simply because they do not meet government mandated criteria such as body mass or healthy lungs - people are going to start dieing. Admittedly, the lardasses and nicotine addicts will be the first ones to go so the “good people” who eat right and don’t smoke will be ok, right?

But then what? Will people who drink more than a pint of beer a day be denied health care next? What about kids who refuse to eat their broccoli and carrots? Will they be denied visits to the eye doctor? You probably think I’m being silly or exaggerating. Do you want to bet your life on it?

‘Too Fat’ Patients Denied NHS Operations
_{(SKY NEWS-UK) - 06:51, Sunday April 29, 2007}

Nine primary care trusts have a specific policy to refuse joint replacements to obese patients. And four will not consider orthopaedic surgery if patients smoke. In all, six million patients live in areas affected by so-called lifestyle rationing. Jean Ryan has been told she cannot have her hip replaced until she loses weight.

But she says that is impossible because the pain means she can barely move, let alone exercise. Despite living on a pension she has taken out an £8000 loan to pay for surgery abroad.

She said: “I don’t think it is fair. If I lived in Bournemouth there would be no bar on being overweight. I can’t see any other way round the problem. I can’t see them helping. So you have to help yourself. Either that or you end up in a wheelchair.”

The Sky News survey shows that in the absence of national rules, local PCTs are making up their own. North Staffordshire has the toughest restrictions. To qualify for any routine elective operation, patients must have a body mass index below 30. They must also have given up smoking for at least three months.

Andrew Haldenby from pressure group Doctors for Reform said there should be national rules for the National Health Service. He said: “ These decisions should be taken in Parliament. These are exceptionally serious thorny questions. They get to the heart of what the NHS is.”

According to Suffolk PCT obese patients are at higher risk of blood loss and infections after operations. The PCT is also £31million in debt and Public Health Director Dr Peter Bradley said money must be used wisely. “We have limited resources and we have to make sure we are using them to best effect. It’s sensible to use that money where we know the treatment is going to work.”

The Department of Health insisted that treatment is delivered according to patients’ clinical need, not their lifestyle choice. And decisions are taken by doctors, not managers or politicians.

- More ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/29/2007 at 02:20 AM   
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   Wednesday - April 11, 2007

Is That Your Left Or My Left?

Guys, if you’re going into the hospital to have a nut removed, it might be a good idea to take a magic marker and clearly mark the one to be pruned. Otherwise you could be singing soprano for a long time.

VA Removes Wrong Testicle
LOS ANGELES (MILITARY.COM) - April 05, 2007

A U.S. Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after a healthy testicle was mistakenly removed instead of a potentially cancerous one during an operation. Benjamin Houghton, 47, thought his left testicle, which was atrophied and painful, would be removed last June at a Veterans Administration hospital because there was a chance the testicle could harbor cancer cells.

But doctors removed his right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. He still has not had the other testicle removed.

“At first I thought it was a joke,” Houghton told the Los Angeles Times. “Then I was shocked. I told them, ‘What do I do now?’” Houghton, his wife, Monica, and their attorney, Dr. Susan Friery, said they hoped to get the VA’s attention by going public with the situation.

Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, has formally apologized. “We are making every attempt that we can to care for Mr. Houghton, but it’s in litigation, and that’s all we can tell you,” he said.

The hospital changed practices as a result of the case, he added.

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/11/2007 at 04:08 PM   
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   Thursday - March 15, 2007

Weaker is Stronger?

Via Xavier

James Randi Explains Homeopothy

Posted by Drew458     on 03/15/2007 at 01:00 PM   
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   Thursday - February 15, 2007

Quote Of The Day

“Did I hear you say you killed some cancer?”

-- Laboratory colleague of Katherine Shaefer of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, who accidentally over-mixed a compound called a PPAR-gamma modulator which then proceeded to destroy every cancer cell in sight in the lab. The researchers will test the new compound for safety as soon as they can grow and culture some more cancer cells for testing. (MSNBC NEWS)

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/15/2007 at 10:46 AM   
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   Saturday - January 13, 2007

Bitter Pill

Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats now in control of Congress aren’t even 20 hours into their “100 hours” of change to bring “A New Direction to America” and already the wheels are starting to fall off the cart. Some people are starting to realize that the new legislation will actually make matters worse.

Take the new plan to force government to negotiate prescription drug prices. One of the Democrats’ strongest supporters, the Washington Post, did a little research and discovered why it is a REALLY bad idea for seniors. Oops! Too late. The Post helped get them into power. Now the editors aren’t so sure it was a good idea in some respects.

I expect more and more Americans to become disillusioned with this “New Direction” as the months go by. The voters got the change they asked for. However, it may not be the change they want. Stay tuned ....

The Wrong Prescription
Government should not negotiate drug prices in Medicare.
_{EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST) - Saturday, January 13, 2007}

HOUSE Democrats delivered on a campaign promise yesterday, passing a bill that would require the government to negotiate the price of pharmaceuticals covered by the new Medicare drug benefit. The idea is that government negotiators could force prices down, generating savings that could be used to make the benefit more generous. But the measure is misguided.

The Democrats point to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which manages to negotiate discounts for the drugs covered in the veterans’ health program. But the department can do this because it is free to deny coverage for drugs whose makers refuse to provide discounts: Fully 3,000 of the 4,300 medicines covered by Medicare are unavailable under the veterans’ program. Restricting the list of covered drugs saves money, but it also reduces the quality of the benefit—1.5 million veterans are sufficiently unhappy with the result that they opt to buy the more inclusive Medicare coverage. Recognizing that narrow formularies are unpopular, the Democratic plan does not permit Medicare to establish one. But if drugmakers know that Medicare must buy their pills, why would they grant a discount? The Congressional Budget Office estimated this week that savings from direct negotiation would be “negligible.”

Not only are the Democrats too optimistic about government negotiation; they are also too pessimistic about the current system in which private insurers administering Medicare drug benefits do the price bargaining. These private insurers stand to profit if they can secure discounts and cut premiums and thus attract more customers: Witness the fact that the average monthly premium has fallen since the program began a year ago. Private insurers can do this precisely because they are free to establish formularies, but market discipline ensures that these lists are not unappealingly narrow. The insurers need to keep customers.

The Democrats’ stance is troubling because it suggests an excessively government-led view of health-care reform. One of the key challenges in health policy is to understand which drugs, tests and therapies are most cost-effective; although it will take government pressure on doctors and hospitals to disclose the information necessary to figure out what works, solutions are most likely to be found by competing private entities. In drugs, for example, there needs to be a culture of paying handsomely for new ones that really do add value—and refusing to pay for pseudo-new drugs that merely mimic cheap generics. Striking the right balance is not easy, and it won’t be accomplished by government fiat. The better approach is to let each insurer offer its own version of the right balance, see whether it attracts customers—and then adapt flexibly.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/13/2007 at 10:12 AM   
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   Thursday - November 16, 2006

The Perils Of Socialized Medicine, Part #2

Think this story is funny? Well, think again, Tonto. Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are already spreading rumors that they intend to continue to fight for “universal health care”, i.e. socialized medicine. All for one and one for all. Everybody gets healed. One low price. Step right up and .... kiss the best health care system in the world goodbye.

Admittedly, with the greedy HMO’s, there are problems with the system but we do have the best doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. in the world thanks to a free market economy. As evidenced in Britain and Canada, the first thing that happens when government socializes medicine is the medical professionals disappear and suddenly there is a shortage of doctors and patients have to wait months for an appointment. I kid you not. Ask anyone in Canada.

In spite of all the evidence to the contrary (Britain, Canada, France) that socialized medicine really sucks, Democrats here in the US are still trying to convince us that we need it and they are going to give it to us or die trying. Now would be a good time to stock up on Super Glue™. In addition to gluing teeth back in, you may be able to re-attach severed limbs too ... or you can wait three years for an appointment with a doctor like this poor chap ....

Dentist Shortage Leads Man To Superglue Own Tooth
_{(DAILY MAIL) - 09:41am on 14th November 2006}

A man fixed his front tooth with superglue after failing to find an NHS dentist. Gordon Cook, 55, has used the bizarre “DIY dentistry” technique on a loose crown for the last three years - with each fresh application of glue lasting around two months.

The father of seven, who was erased from his original dentist’s register after moving to a new home in Tranmere, Merseyside, said he turned to glue after losing hope of finding a dentist. He said: “I tried to find a new dentist but they had all gone private.

“A lot of them said they would take me on as an NHS patient, but only if I agreed to have the loose crown fixed as a private patient, which would cost around £100. “In the end, I just decided to take matters into my own hands. I had read somewhere that super glue was invented for medical use, to bond skin, so I gave it a go.

“I tried a few different brands but the one I use now, which is just called Industrial Super Glue, is the best. “You can’t really taste it but you do have to be careful not to use too much, in case you glue your mouth shut.”

Mr Cook, a security manager, has now found an NHS dentist and hopes to have the crown fixed professionally. Councillor Chris Blakeley, chairman of Wirral Council’s social care and health overview and scrutiny committee, said: “Mr Cook’s solution was rather extreme but he is not alone when it comes to dentistry horror stories.

“People are finding it extremely difficult to find an NHS dentist, and we are currently gathering evidence to assess the scale of the problem, which is not unique to this area.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/16/2006 at 01:17 AM   
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   Tuesday - October 24, 2006

PODS

Paranoid Obsessive Derangement Syndrome (PODS) is spreading rapidly along both coasts and around the Great Lakes region. Medical authorities have not been able to pinpoint an exact origin of this deadly virus as it seems to have simultaneously appeared in the US regions above as well as in North Korea, Venezuela, Gaza and Iran at almost the same time.

The disease begins with a withdrawal from the rest of society, followed by a rapid growth of paranoid delusions. Sufferers may, at this early stage, begin making public threats against perceived enemies. Attempts to manage the disease by outside intervention often results in heightened fear and paranoia in the sufferer.

Ignoring the disease (and the sufferer) only seems to exacerbate the symptoms as a need for public recognition and approval arise in the tertiary stages. This can often manifest itself as an almost messianic belief that the sufferer has been “chosen” to right all the wrongs in the world and bring peace, love and understanding to all creatures under the sun.

After that, it gets real ugly in the final stages of PODS. The sufferer begins experiencing hallucinations, and schizophrenic behavior begins to heighten the feelings of paranoia. The passive-aggressive behavior reaches painful levels. At this stage, anyone who attempts treatment with doses of sanity and reason are apt to be met with threats of physical harm, foul abusive language and even threats of lawsuits and/or other retaliation up to and including nuclear war.

Researchers are currently studying several specimens: Cindy Sheehan, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jung Il, all of whom appear to be in the final stages of this debilitating disease. Researchers are making some progress with a serum made from stem cells taken from the asshole of a dodo bird and chemically grown in a bed of cells from the back hair of Sasquatch. Due to the shortage of these key ingredients a cure seems decades away.

In the meantime, go to Amazon and buy a copy of ”America Mourning” by Catherine Moy and Melanie Morgan. The moonbats have gone after the authors with a vengeance and now Ms. Sheehan is threatening to “sue them for every nickel they have.” (see Final Stages Of PODS above)

I’ve just finished reading the book and, contrary to the beliefs of people suffering from PODS, it is not about Cindy Sheehan. It is about the contrast between two different families who have suffered losses in the War On Terror. I highly recommend it for anyone out there who hasn’t contracted PODS yet.

Sheehan’s Legal Threat Led CNN to Censor Me, Author Says
_{(CNS NEWS) - October 24, 2006}

CNN restricted an on-air discussion about a new book dealing with the Iraq war because peace activist Cindy Sheehan threatened to sue over provocative claims about her in the book, one of its co-authors claims.

“American Mourning” examines how the death of two U.S. soldiers in Iraq affected their families. One of the two is the Sheehan family. Co-author Melanie Morgan told Cybercast News Service she was slated to appear on CNN’s Headline News’ “Glenn Beck” program last week and that a producer told her it would be a short segment, focusing on passing claims in the book regarding Sheehan’s personal life.

Morgan said she replied: “OK, fine, whatever,” and continued on the promotional tour for the book, which deals with the families of Casey Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., and Justin Johnson of Rome, Ga., friends who were killed within five days of each other in separate ambushes in Sadr City, Iraq, during April 2004.

While en route to CNN studios to tape the interview, however, Morgan received another call from the producer telling her that the segment would now deal with “everything but the sex issues.”

Morgan—who is president of the conservative organization Move America Forward—said when she asked about the reason for the last-minute change, the producer told her it was made because of “legal issues.”

Morgan and her co-author, journalist Catherine Moy, told Cybercast News Service that they believe they know what “legal issues” CNN was concerned about when they changed the focus of the interview.

One day earlier, peace activist Sheehan said on the nationally syndicated Stephanie Miller radio show that she planned to sue Morgan and Moy “for every nickel they have.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/24/2006 at 01:46 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Medical • War-Stories •  
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Fried Sperm

Guys ... we’re in deep kimchee now. Unless we think fast. Let me see. We may can use this to our advantage. I can hear it now. You’re on a hot date and she refuses to give it up ‘cause you forgot your rubber. You say, “But honey, I was on the cell phone most of the day. My sperm are fried. There’s no way you can get pregnant.”

You never know. It just might work .... 

Men Who Use Mobile Phones Face Increased Risk Of Infertility
_{(DAILY MAIL) - 21:01pm on 23rd October 2006}

Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers. A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.

Those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released yest at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans. Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate.

The findings suggest millions of men may encounter difficulties in fathering a child due to the widespread use of mobile phones and offers another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males.

Sperm counts among British men have fallen by 29 per cent over the past decade, a drop which has also been blamed on increasing obesity, smoking, stress, pollution and ‘gender-bending’ chemicals which disrupt the hormone system.

The latest study backs up previous research which indicated a link between mobile phone use and sperm quality, but it is the biggest and best designed to date. US researchers in Cleveland and New Orleans, and doctors in Mumbai, India, looked at more than 360 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic who were classified into three groups according to their sperm count.

Men who used a mobile for more than four hours a day had a 25 per cent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile. The men with highest usage also had greater problems with sperm quality, with the swimming ability of sperm - a crucial factor in conception - down by a third. They had a 50 per cent drop in the number of properly formed sperm, with just one-fifth looking normal under a microscope.

- More ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/24/2006 at 09:19 AM   
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   Wednesday - September 27, 2006

You Don’t Say?

You ladies out there may feel free to run with this one. We testosterone-fueled humans of the male gender will simply have to admit defeat as science has now determined we are brain-dead. Sorry, I lost my train of thought there. Must have been some more brain cells dying off ....

Too Much Testosterone Kills Brain Cells
_{WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 3:23 p.m. EDT, September 27, 2006}

Too much testosterone can kill brain cells, researchers say, in a finding that may help explain why steroid abuse can cause behavior changes such as aggressiveness and suicidal tendencies. Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.

“Too little testosterone is bad, too much is bad but the right amount is perfect,” said Barbara Ehrlich of Yale University in Connecticut, who led the study. Testosterone is key to the development, differentiation and growth of cells and is produced by both men and women, although men produce about 20 times more of the hormone.

It can also be abused, and recent scandals have involved athletes who use the hormone, or steroids that turn into testosterone in the body, for an unfair advantage. “Other people have shown that high levels of steroid can cause behavioral changes,” Ehrlich said in a telephone interview.

“We can show that when you have high levels of steroids, you have high testosterone and that can destroy the nerve cells. We know that when you lose brain cells you lose function.” Ehrlich’s team tried the same thing with the “female” hormone estrogen, just to be fair.

“We were surprised, but it actually looks like estrogen is neuroprotective. If anything, there is less cell death in the presence of estrogen,” she said. Writing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Ehrlich and colleagues said their findings meant people should think twice about supplementing with testosterone, even if it does build muscle mass and aid recovery after exercise.

“These effects of testosterone on neurons will have long-term effects on brain function,” they wrote. “Next time a muscle-bound guy in a sports car cuts you off on the highway, don’t get mad—just take a deep breath and realize that it might not be his fault,” Ehrlich said in a statement.

The cells die via a process called apoptosis, also known as cell suicide or programmed cell death. “Apoptosis is an important thing for the brain—the brain needs to weed out some of the cells. But when it happens too frequently, you lose too many cells and causes problems.”

A similar process is seen in Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia in the United States, affecting an estimated 4.5 million Americans, and Huntington’s disease, another fatal brain illness. “Our results suggest that the responses to elevated testosterone can be compared with these pathophysiological conditions,” the researchers wrote.

Posted by Ronald Reagan's Ghost     on 09/27/2006 at 09:43 PM   
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   Tuesday - July 25, 2006

Slow day in Iraq

Must be a slow day in Iraq since my source over there is sending jokes. Thought I share them with you.

these have many many uses to be incorproated into your am/pm briefings.-MEDICAL EXAMS

1. A man comes into the ER and yells, “My wife’s going to have her baby in the cab!” I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady’s dress, and began to take off her underwear.  Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs ---and I was in the wrong one.

Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Antonio, TX.

2. At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient’s anterior chest wall. “Big breaths,” I instructed. “Yes, they used to be,” replied the patient.

Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA

3. One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a “massive internal fart.”

Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg

Posted by Christopher     on 07/25/2006 at 10:56 AM   
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   Monday - June 05, 2006

Nobel Prize Candidate?

I see only one problem with this new beer that might keep its inventors from receiving the Nobel Prize for Medicine ... it’s non-alcoholic. C’mon guys! What good is it doing any of us if we give our women beer that helps them act rational and sane but at the same time we don’t take advantage of the moment and get them drunk? 

Face it! When they’re going through menopause they’re impossible to be around. Why fix the menopause in the first place if we’re not prepared to take the next step and boldly go where ... never mind. Now if we could only find a beer to cure the similar affliction in men of a certain age, commonly known as “mental pause”, then we’d be in business ...

Scientists Brew Menopause Beer
_{Friday, June 02, 2006}

(HEALTH-24) - Czech scientists say they have created a new non-alcoholic beer that contains 10 times the normal amount of phytoestrogen, intended to help women suffering from the menopause. The beer, developed by the Czech Republic’s Research Institute for Brewing and Malting, is intended to relieve menopausal symptoms and maintain bone density by tackling a lack of the oestrogen hormone in many Czech women.

The development marks a sizeable breakthrough in the realm of functional beer, at a time when functional foods are becoming more popular in many markets. Oestrogen levels drop significantly in women at the onset of the menopause and remain low from then on. Studies have linked a lack of the hormone to increased risk of various health problems, including heart disease and osteoporosis.

“Czech women lack oestrogen in their diet, so we wanted to solve this through beer because the Czech Republic is number one in the world for beer consumption,” Karel Kosar, managing director of the brewing research institute, told Cee-FoodIndustry.com. Czechs drink an average 161 litres of beer each every year, compared to 121 in Germany, 84 in the US and around one litre in India.

Scientists have known for some time that hops used to make beer naturally contain phytoestrogen, a form of the oestrogen hormone found in plants. Kosar said he and the team had used newly developed technology to make the beer.

He said the technique should also enable them to make the beer non-alcoholic yet preserve taste by maintaining the same levels of hops and malt as a normal alcoholic lager. The scientists now plan to expand the research to bring their new beer closer to its market debut. Funding could be a problem, however. “We are looking to do more research, but everything costs money,” said Kosar.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/05/2006 at 09:54 AM   
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   Sunday - May 21, 2006

A Great Day For Men Everywhere

YAY! YAY! YAY! Break out the brew, guys! We need to celebrate. The gentler sex is about to become ... “gentler”. No more period = no more PMS. No longer will we have to endure that malevolent transformation that takes place once monthly when our beloved princesses suddenly metamorphose into screaming, bloodthirsty, nagging, irritating, mindless, bloated, cramped, unholy demons from hell. We are saved from our tormentors. These scientists deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe even a case of beer. Cheers!

New Birth Control Products Block Periods
_{May 21, 2006, 12:24 PM EDT}

(NEWSDAY - AP)—Women have long been manipulating hormonal contraceptives to skip or block menstrual periods. Now new products and several on the horizon will make things even easier. Here are a few:

* Seasonale, launched in November 2003 by Barr Pharmaceuticals of Woodcliff Lake, N.J. A standard birth-control pill taken for 84 days, followed by a week off for withdrawal bleeding, its sales and new prescriptions have been rising quickly.

* Seasonique, a successor to Seasonale expected to reduce breakthrough bleeding and hormonal fluctuations even more, likely will get federal approval at week’s end.

* Lybrel, the first daily birth-control pill designed to be taken indefinitely, is expected by late June to get U.S. approval. Made by Wyeth of Madison, N.J., it also is awaiting approval in Canada and Europe.

* Implanon, a one-rod, three-year contraceptive implanted in the upper arm that stops menstruation in many women, also could get U.S. approval in June. Made by Organon USA of Roseland, N.J.

* Berlex Inc. of Wayne, N.J., is developing its own birth-control pill for menstrual suppression. It makes Mirena, a progestin intrauterine device, and in March got approval for Yaz, a pill with only four days off hormones, reducing hormone fluctuations and PMS.

Posted by The Skipper     on 05/21/2006 at 02:41 PM   
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   Saturday - May 13, 2006

The Perils Of Socialized Medicine

The liberals and socialists (including Hillary Clinton and her HillaryCare incentive of 1994) are constantly pushing the idea of a national health plan to cover all Americans. You need only look at the mess in Canada and Britain which have national health care in the form of their National Health System (NHS) to see how bad that idea is. Everyone is guaranteed medical treatment ... except those the state disapproves of.

The problem is the service is lousy and there are long waiting periods for any type of major treatment. Why? Nobody wants to be a doctor or medical professional if they’re tied to a socialist program that strictly controls all health care. Plus with free care for everyone, people suddenly flood the hospitals and doctors with ailments that could be cured with an aspirin. Ask any of our British readers here and they will probably tell you all kinds of horror stories about the quality of health care under socialized medicine.

In the latest outrageous act by the NHS in Britain, we find that health care can also be used as a bludgeon to punish people who have views that the state and NHS disapprove of. Yep, you heard that right. They can deny you health care if you are not politically correct. Now do you understand what the ultimate goal of socialized medicine actually is? Plain and simple, it’s nothing more than a way to enslave the people and force obedience by denying health care if you misbehave.

People, wake up! This is what the nanny state eventually evolves into. They promise you all kinds of benefits and freebies but cleverly hide the fact that you will pay for it by giving up your rights and freedoms. Control equals slavery. Don’t say you weren’t warned. If this is what you want here in America then go ahead and vote for the Democrats. Vote for Hillary in 2008. Just be prepared to surrender to your new overlords shortly thereafter ....

One Way To Cut Waiting Lists:
Don’t Treat People With The Wrong Views
_{May 12, 2006}

LONDON (TIMES-UK)—It is bad enough that you can be refused medical treatment on the NHS for eating, drinking or smoking too much. Now it seems that you can be denied an operation for protesting too much in support of your religious or political beliefs.

Edward Atkinson, a 75-year-old anti-abortion activist, was jailed recently for 28 days for sending photographs of aborted foetuses to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. That draconian sentence was not deemed punishment enough: the hospital has banned Mr Atkinson from receiving the hip replacement operation he was expecting.

Mr Atkinson sounds like an unpleasant crank, and I am as much in favour of legalised abortion as he is against it. But his treatment (or the lack of it) is a scandal. This is about admitting a man to hospital, not electing him to Parliament. Even unhip old bigots need replacement hips.

Ruth May, the hospital’s chief executive, claims that the ban is justified because the “offensive” publications he mailed caused “great distress” to her and her staff and thus contravened the NHS policy of “zero tolerance”. Some may already feel that such policies make it seem as if a hospital’s priority is to protect its staff against the patients, rather than protecting patients from illness. This case goes farther, equating the posting of offensive photos with punching a nurse on the nose.

Why on earth should hospitals be distressed by pictures of the sort of operations that they carry out? An aborted late-term foetus can certainly make a grisly spectacle, and there is no point trying to sanitise abortion. But neither need anybody be intimidated by the handful of zealots who like to wave around such bloody abortion porn.

In any case, that debate about abortion should have nothing to do with decisions about who gets hip replacements. Have hospital authorities been granted the power to turn away anybody who upsets them? It may come as a shock to delicate souls in the upper echelons of the NHS, but some elderly people can be cantankerous, obnoxious and express unfashionable opinions in an uninhibited way. So what? Should the NHS introduce a policy of euthanasia for offensive old gits?

We should take the principle of universal health care seriously, and insist that medical staff make decisions about treatment on clinical grounds alone. After all, so far as science can deduce, a member of the British National Party or an Islamic fundamentalist is the same as you or I under the surgeon’s knife. Even loons who oppose animal experiments should be given the benefits of medical research that they would deny to others.

Many who normally shout about patients’ rights have fallen silent over the case of Mr Atkinson. But you need not be anti-abortion to protest against the notion that only obedient individuals with healthy lifestyles deserve NHS treatment. Perhaps those who would put their own feelings ahead of others’ needs should be advised that if you can’t stand the patients, get out of the hospital.

Posted by The Skipper     on 05/13/2006 at 12:56 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Medical •  
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   Saturday - April 29, 2006

Take A Pill

In the “You Don’t Say?” department, we are now told that drug companies are inventing diseases in order to push pills. No s**t? This creeping conspiracy has been going on for decades, folks. Here’s the scoop: Your doctor tells you your cholesterol is too high, based on whose standards? Who determines what is too high and thereby decides you need a pill? Take three guesses. In addition, if you have high cholesterol your blood pressure is probably too high also. Who says? Guess again.

So you start taking medicine (side-effects: liver damage) to lower your cholesterol (instead of getting up off your lard-ass and exercising more and chowing down on fewer greasy triple cheeseburgers like any sensible person of the 19th century would have done). Suddenly you become more weight conscious because somebody tells you that fat people with high cholesterol die sooner. You try to lose weight by taking diet pills. You still can’t lose weight. You become depressed. You doctor gives you another pill called an anti-depressant to make you feel better. After a few years on Prozac you notice difficulty getting an erection, which it turns out is a side effect of anti-depressants (also a side effect of blood-pressure lowering medicine and/or having a fugly wife or girlfriend). Guess what your doctor does for you now? You got it. He gives you a prescription for Viagra or Cialis. You are instantly transformed back into “Macho Man” at the drop of a pill (and a one hour waiting period).

All of a sudden, you find your medicine cabinet at home full of little blue, green, pink, yellow, orange and red pills. None of which have anything whatsoever to do with seeing the Matrix as it actually is. In this case, the Matrix is a dream world invented by drug companies to cover up the fact that you can’t take proper care of your body and that you’re extremely gullible. Now in some cases a pill may be called for but overall I’d hazard a guesss that 90% of the pills pushed today are totally unnecesary.

In addition, the drug progression described in the paragraph above can become self-feeding since drugs like Viagra may raise blood pressure which might cause your doctor to increase your blood pressure medication strength which causes .... Never mind. You get the picture. Another day, another disease you need to take a pill for. Speaking of which, have you heard about Anger Concentration Internet Disease (ACID). Symptoms include intense anger and psychotic behavior at something you read or happens to you while browsing the internet (most often caused by blogs). If so, ask your doctor today about Blog-Lax™. Caution: side effects may include reduced spleen function and occasional diarrhea as the s**t is flushed from between your ears. Try one of our little brown pills today ....

Drugs Companies Inventing Diseases To Boost Their Profits
_{April 11, 2006}

LONDON (TIMES-UK)—Pharmaceutical companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today.

The practice of “diseasemongering” by the drug industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ones for the sake of profits, according to a set of essays published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

The special issue, edited by David Henry, of Newcastle University in Australia, and Ray Moynihan, an Australian journalist, reports that conditions such as female sexual dysfunction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and “restless legs syndrome” have been promoted by companies hoping to sell more of their drugs.

Other minor problems that are a normal part of life, such as symptoms of the menopause, are also becoming increasingly “medicalised”, while risk factors such as high cholesterol levels or osteoporosis are being presented as diseases in their own right, according to the editors.

“Disease-mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes iatrogenic (medically induced) harm,” they say. “Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response.”

Doctors, patients and support groups need to be more aware that pharmaceutical companies are taking this approach, and more research is needed into the changing ways in which conditions are presented, according to the writers.

Disease-awareness campaigns are often funded by drug companies, and “more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health”, they say.

Particular conditions that are highlighted in the journal include sexual function in both men and women. The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction, one paper claims, has been highly exaggerated to provide a new market for drugs, while the makers of anti-impotence medicines, such as Viagra and Cialis, have been involved with their presentation as lifestyle drugs that can boost the sexual prowess of healthy men.

- More drug company silliness here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/29/2006 at 10:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Medical •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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