Remarkably cold weather killed twenty-six patients in a Cuban mental hospital this week. It also killed two liberal myths.
The Washington Times reports the deadly details:
Twenty-six patients at Cuba’s largest hospital for the mentally ill died this week during a cold snap, the government said Friday.
Human rights leaders cited negligence and a lack of resources as factors in the deaths, and the Health Ministry launched an investigation that it said could lead to criminal proceedings.
A Health Ministry communique read on state television blamed “prolonged low temperatures that fell to 38 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) in Boyeros,” the neighborhood where Havana’s Psychiatric Hospital is located.
It said most of the deaths were from natural causes such as old age, respiratory infections and complications from chronic diseases including cancer and cardiovascular problems.
The statement came in response to reports from the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights that at least 24 mental patients died of hypothermia this week, and that the hospital did not do enough to protect them from the cold because of problems such as faulty windows.
It’s so sad when you lose those you hold most dear. Not the patients, the liberal myths.
Liberal Myth #1 – The bizarre claim that Cuba’s healthcare system is superior to America’s. When was the last time you read a story about mental patients dying of hypothermia in the United States, even in climates far colder than Cuba’s?
Liberal Myth #2 – Global warming. For god’s sake, man, if people are freezing to death in tropical climes like Cuba, global warming is the least of our worries.
Source: Washington Times
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (6)
Let me tell you something if I had to choose between Cuba and US medicine and insurance, etc. I will choose US even though there are errors made and there are greedy people and so on I will still choose US. Cuba is NOT all that. It is a pretty country and so on and so forth, but they still drive 50's and 60's cars over there UNLESS he is very rich (usually govt person or family of one). With all its margins of errors and potential disasters the US healthcare system is far superior TO MOST other countries.
Why shouldnt doctors be paid big money for their services (and nurses and whomever)? I mean I want my doctor to be happy happy happy... you know what I am saying? an unhappy doctor is not good for the body. they worked their butts of through schooling and internships and specializations. Doctors and nurses and ER people these are not people you want to shortchange.
Thomas,
As in any western country, the medical system is fallible. In fact, the practice of medicine is an ever evolving one at best. If you travel the world, those numbers are far worse in other countries. If you compare our system to any other, it is still the best, despite those horrible statistics.
Furthermore, in many of those cases, those statistics are far worse in county and state hospitals-and even worse yet, in VA hospitals. In fact, if a pissing match is to ensue, I will gladly discuss with you my personal experience in military hospitals, and the experiences of friends in same. Furthermore, I will acquire if you need them, the numbers from Cook County Hospital(Stroger, named after one of the most crooked politicians in Cook County/Chicago history)...those numbers will stagger you....why you ask? Because the county and state run hospitals around the country are at the mercy of non-payment from medicaid and medicare. And the VA is the same-they are all under-funded. They are poorly overseen, and at the end of the day, you would not want a family member treated in any of the above.
Most of the really terrible statistics are from non-profit hospitals/medical centers. In those places, they are far more likely to be under budgeted, than are the hospitals that are paid "on time" by for-profit insurance companies, as the procedures are approved before hand, and payment amounts are negotiated and agreed to-therefore making it a faster process to receive payment.
Now, if you want to talk about non-profit hospitals like the Chidren's Miracle Network, St Judes, etc, it is a slightly different story.....Children's and their doctors seemingly tried to kill my son on many occasions. In fact, some of the very best doctors on earth misdiagnosed for nearly a whole year. IT was difficult, but at the end of the day, or year as it were, the diagnosis-the proper diagnosis was made by a member of my family, and he received the necessary heart surgery to stay alive. During this time, it came to light that the best hospital in the midwest-northwestern memorial(yes that is part of northwestern university), a for-profit organization, and the best obstetricians and radiologists on earth misread ultrasounds of that very same son, and stated his heart was in perfect working order, and that he had 2 functioning kidneys, when in fact he only had one! Yes, you read that right-only one kidney, but 5 different DOCTORS read the same film, and ascertained that he had 2 functioning kidneys!
The point is, when mistakes like that are made, due to the overwhelming speed at which these doctors are required to work, so that they see enough patients, so that they can bill enough to real paying insurance companies, and the ones who don't pay(medicaid and medicare), we all lose. The reason they have to work at that pace, is that idiot lawmakers-both republican and democrat have made it so that insurance companies-the ones who pay, cannot compete in most markets, because of monopolies that have been bought by lobbiests for their bosses(said insurance companies) exist.
So, to say that a full overhaul of our system is necessary is an understatement-but to place the control of it in the hands of bureaucrats who are seemingly stalinist is not the answer. The answer is to kill this litigous society we have created(by the way, we never sued-but could have and were guaranteed 50m by 3 of the biggest malpractice firms in the land-and that was after their cut) and to introduce open competition in every state in the union. You and I would win. Doctors could go back to doctoring, rather than being professional schedulers.
This is all elementary stuff-but the MSM and the moron politicians have served so much kool-aid that no one realizes how simple the fix is.
The Dems don't want to control healthcare to help you and me-or the doctors. They want to control healthcare to control you and me. They control that, they control our diets, our habits(good and bad) and they control every other aspect of our lives-think about it!
Where did this info come from? if it is AMA or Federal Gov provided, take it with a grain of salt!
Thomas-Bullshit bullshit bullshit. The only reason the horrible example you state happened, was because the government provided "insurance" that woman in the ER had, doesn't pay bills.
Yuo and all the others who complain about our healthcare system here in the US have to understand one thing and one thing only. The government doesn't pay its bills. It takes 18 months to get a medicaid payment in Illionois and when it comes, it is 25% of what the billed amount was. Now, for you to say it is profit that is driving these doctors and hospitals is a joke! They are struggling to stay afloat! The government doesn't pay medicare either. It takes 6-12 months to get paid by the Federal G and when they do, it is only 40% of what was billed. How can a doctor stay afloat,when they don't get paid for a year, and when they finally do get paid, it doesn't cover costs?
This liberal bullshit about doctors being greedy is getting kind of old-and you need to stop drinking the MSM coolaid. Go talk to a doctor. Ask him how he is doing. Ask him if there is a good reason why he doesn't any longer accept gubment insurance (medicare and medicaid). Ask him how much the G owes him.
A friend of mine who is an MD is currently owed 4 million dollars by the state of illinois. He will get roughly 800K of that money between now and 2012. That said, it costs him 150K monthly to keep the lights on so to speak. So, by the government not paying, he has been forced to lay off 3 nurses. He has been forced to stop accpting medicaid patients. And medicare patients have to pay up front-and chase medicare to get the money back. Since so many people are out of work, he has lost 40% of his normal patient flow-because so many people are going on medicaid. So, eventually, he will be out of business. He is not taking a paycheck now. He won't be for the foreseeable future. If he does, then he will have to lay off more of his much needed staff. He can't afford to use his normal collection company to make calls on over due bills, so his wife has to work to collect, which means his 3 children don't get the benefit of having either their mother or father at home, except on Sundays. Their parents can no longer go to their ballgames after school, because they are trying to keep their business afloat.
Now, if you think that sounds like greed, you are on the same crack laced kook-aid that the rest of the left are drinking.
That is one of maybe 10,000 stories just like it, taking place across the country-and you just wait until your barry insane obiden jams through public health care for all. The good doctors will quit-and move from this country. Then you will be treated by foreigners, with MD's from foreign schools that are crap. You will be a number. Just a number. You won't understand a word your doctor says to you. the dentists will all quit-so your teeth will fall out of your head. You will reap just what you desire-a free healthcare system where money is no longer an object. Then and only then will you and the rest of the left understand the magnitude of the err of your judgment, your thought process, and your election of the great divider!
I stand corrected, I must admit however I have insurance and am very happy with it, but as you pointed out its certainly not the medical industries problem.
It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251. 5
TABLES AND FIGURES (see Section on Statistical Tables and Figures, below, for exposition)
ANNUAL PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC COST OF MEDICAL INTERVENTION
Condition Deaths Cost Author
Adverse Drug Reactions 106,000 $12 billion Lazarou1 Suh49
Medical error 98,000 $2 billion IOM6
Bedsores 115,000 $55 billion Xakellis7 Barczak8
Infection 88,000 $5 billion Weinstein9 MMWR10
Malnutrition 108,800 -------- Nurses Coalition11
Outpatients 199,000 $77 billion Starfield12 Weingart112
Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion HCUP3,13
Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ85
TOTAL
783,936 $282 billion
We could have an even higher death rate by using Dr. Lucien Leape’s 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million. 14 Multiplied by the fatality rate of 14 percent (that Leape used in 1994 16 we arrive at an annual death rate of 420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. If we put this number in place of Lazorou’s 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 98,000 medical errors, we could add another 216,000 deaths making a total of 999,936 deaths annually.
Condition Deaths Cost Author
ADR/med error 420,000 $200 billion Leape 199714
TOTAL
999,936
ANNUAL UNNECESSARY MEDICAL EVENTS STATISTICS
Unnecessary Events People Affected Iatrogenic Events
Hospitalization 8.9 million4 1.78 million16
Procedures 7.5 million3 1.3 million40
TOTAL
16.4 million 3.08 million
The enumerating of unnecessary medical events is very important in our analysis. Any medical procedure that is invasive and not necessary must be considered as part of the larger iatrogenic picture. Unfortunately, cause and effect go unmonitored. The figures on unnecessary events represent people ("patients") who are thrust into a dangerous health care system. They are helpless victims. Each one of these 16.4 million lives is being affected in a way that could have a fatal consequence. Simply entering a hospital could result in the following (out of 16. 4 million people):
*
2.1 percent chance of a serious adverse drug reaction (186,000) 1
*
5 percent to 6 percent chance of acquiring a nosocomial [hospital] infection (489,500) 9
*
4 percent to 36 percent chance of having an iatrogenic injury in hospital (medical error and
Liberal Myth #1 – The bizarre claim that Cuba’s healthcare system is superior to America’s. When was the last time you read a story about mental patients dying of hypothermia in the United States, even in climates far colder than Cuba’s?
Does dying in the emergency waiting room, while doctors, nurses and even security peep in to see a person on the floor count? Seems not that long ago a woman died in full view of the staff of an emergency room, even video tape of a security guard moving her with his foot as she was dying? You honestly can’t propose that the American medical system is perfect: is it not the number one cause of death in the United States hospitals? Incompetency, diagnostics errors, pharmaceutical errors, wrong limbs or organs removed, We spend more than any other country on doctors, infant mortality is 16th in the world, general health care is layered with administration, a patient is nothing more than a walking cadaver with an insurance card, “hopefully two or more” ten dollar aspirins, $1000 dollar a night rooms; its not about reliving the pain and suffering its about making the almighty dollar and profits for the insurance, doctors, hospital administrators and of course those share holders. More rural Physicians assistance would go a long way to providing better health care in America and caps on doctor’s wages and fees, and a drastic reduction and hopefully elimination of the insurance groups.