Greatest Healthcare? Has Anyone Tried Calling for a Nurse When Hospitalized?

Submitted by mark karlin on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 8:23am.

EditorBlog

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

By Mark Karlin

BuzzFlash wrote about a study awhile back in which the U.S. was ranked 17th in the quality of its healthcare. The fact is most of the Western nations with single payer systems have better healthcare at a cheaper cost. In Canada, which the right wing media shills refer to as a nation with "socialized" medicine, residents live longer than Americans.

And as I've written on many occasions, if government-payed healthcare is so horrible, how come no nation has jetisoned it, citizens who have it generally think it's great, and even Tory governments in Britain won't touch the National Health Service, which is not just single payer; medical providers work for the UK government.

But all that aside, we are baffled by the notion that opponents of health care reform claim; that the U.S. has the best healthcare in the world.

Has anyone tried calling for a nurse while hospitalized recently?

Anyone reading this editor's blog has shared an experience of being a patient or visiting one and watching as a call button is repeatedly pressed for a nurse. If you're lucky, you have a relative or friend who will go to the nursing station and complain and get some attention.

We love nurses -- and the California's Nurses Union is one of the most progressive labor organizations in the nation, for example -- but most hospitals have cut nursing staffing levels way below comfort level and health safety in the U.S. It's not the fault of the nurses; it's a failed system of care.

That's because hospital bean counters are cutting back basic care to ensure profits or fat salaries for the administrators and the specialized physicians.

And what about this issue of getting in right away to see the doctor? My Mom tried awhile back to get a colonoscopy appointment with a widely respected specialist and it was a six month wait. My own doctor books about 4 months ahead for a general physical.

I know of someone recently who was turned away from the hospital because it was full, only to end up nearly dying -- and as a result will have one leg amputated below the knee and his other foot amputated due to complications from not being initially hospitalized.

Any of you who read this can go on with similar stories of a healthcare system which is more broken than "the best in the world." The latter is simply a delusional statement.

In college, they were going to operate and remove my gallbladder until someone interceded and told the staff that I was the guy with the compressed spinal disc.

Maybe it's America's dazzling medical technology, where we are CAT scanned galore (at a big profit for the physicians and hospitals), that deceives people into thinking that we are number one in medical care.

Because the facts and personal experience speak for themselves.

Healthcare now is about profit, not so much care.

Yes, most physicians and healthcare workers are competent, but they are stressed and driven from above by financial considerations in providing care.

That's not due to a measly, watered down "governnment option"; that's due to for-profit healthcare and insurance.

But like some diehard Chicago Cubs fan, we have fantasists in this country who keep yelling "We're number one," when we haven't proven it in years.

As a result, we just keep falling further behind in healthcare, as we continue to press that nurse call button, with no response.

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

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Submitted by www123 on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 9:25pm.

We're not #17 - We're Number 37 !!!!!!!!!

Submitted by lilsuzq32 on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 1:54pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgOl3cETb4

Just how stupid is petezeek - How about this?

Submitted by TheSkepticalCynic on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 3:37am.

I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are. I mean rock-hard stupid. Dehydrated-rock-hard stupid. Stupid so stupid that it goes way beyond the stupid we know into a whole different dimension of stupid. You are trans-stupid stupid. Meta-stupid. Stupid collapsed on itself so far that even the neutrons have collapsed. Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape. Singularity stupid. Blazing hot mid-day sun on Mercury stupid. Absolute Zero Degrees stupid. You emit more stupid in one second than our entire galaxy emits in a year. Quasar stupid. Off the Richter scale stupid. Stupider than Palin stupid! So contemptibly stupid that is constitutes criminality.

I mean this in a nice way, of course, and just as constructive criticism.

The Skeptical Cynic hath spake!

It is truly written in the sands of time...
One must never spit in a man's face.
Unless, of course his moustache is on fire...

re: Just how stupid is petezeek - How about this?

Submitted by lilsuzq32 on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 1:58pm.

I need to be SURE about this, SkepticalCynic . . . could anyone REALLY be THAT STUPID!

ROFLMAO!!!

Oh, and I agree with your commentary, 155% :=))

A lot of people are just doing without...

Submitted by luckyjean on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 12:35am.

...not going to a doctor at all. It's too damn much trouble when they're overworked and don't want to listen to you properly, or if you suspect they're incompetent. You walk away from the local clinic or hospital saying, "Now why did I go here? Did this really help me?" and you say, well, screw it, maybe I just won't go to doctors anymore...

I keep hearing stories of people here and there that died without making much attempt at all to get any medical care...they're just giving up and dying.

WHO data

Submitted by Colleen Clark on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 7:29pm.

For petezeek and anyone else who believes that we have the "best" medical care in the world.

It's true that for certain cutting edge treatments for rare or complicated conditions, if you have a deep pocket and/or excellent and 100% reliable health insurance, you can get very good medical treatment in the United States, maybe even sometimes the best in the world.

But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about ordinary people, some have health insurance, some even have good health insurance, some have unreliable health insurance and some have no insurance at all because they can't afford it or they've been tossed off because of costing their insurer money (gasp, the very nerve of people to get sick and make Cigna or Aetna etc etc etc pay for expensive care.)

So the important data are how do Americans do overall among other countries? Not well, despite our having the highest per capita costs in the world.

Here are some data from WHO (http://www.who.int/whosis)

Among countries with populations of 40 million or more, plus Australia and Canada, 9 countries altogether, US is last in life expectancy at 78 years. Highest is Japan - 83, Australia 82, Canada (oh, think of all those "waits) 81.

Probability of death between ages 15 and 60, per 1000 population, lowest is Italy at 64, highest by far is US 109. 13 smaller countries have life expectancy higher than we do and the same 13 plus Cuba, Poland, and Slovenia have lower infant mortality.

Now, petezeek, on what basis in real data, do you assert that the US has the best medical care in the world?

Colleen Clark Cambridge, MA

Best Health Care?

Submitted by petezeek on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 6:09pm.

No, it's not perfect, but it is the best healthcare in the world. Take away the free enterprise system and government owned, omg, we're in for a disaster. There are thousands of stories about the good care people get with our health care system. Sarah Pailin happened to be right about the death panels.

What about being pro life?

Submitted by Tahoe Progressive on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 11:03am.

It seems the same people who are against health care reform are also against a woman's right to choose. This is about saving lives. The people fighting for HCR are the pro lifers.

With all the stories about people dying in this country because they don't have access to healthcare, why aren't those of us in favor of HCR using the life issue to win our arguments?

Yes, patients in this country do have excessive waits for exams and a shortage of nurses in our hospitals. The mess will not improve until the profit motive is taken out of the healthcare system. A good start will be a strong public option.

17th? When did we improve?

Submitted by bigbillhaywood on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 9:39am.

17th? When did we improve that much? The World health Organization ranks US health care 37th best in the world.

37TH!

We rank behind all first world nations and even some third world nations in quality of health care. Be proud...be very proud.

37th

Submitted by petezeek on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 6:11pm.

And you believe this? I feel very confident with the health care that we have now. Be careful for what you ask, you might get it. Gov't run spells trouble.

exactly bigbill

Submitted by simon in mt on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 10:53am.

This is exactly what I can't figure out! This is our official ranking by WHO. Why is this not getting press? We're number 37, we're number 37, we're number 37 . . . c'mon Congress, chant with me now. :-)

Hell Simon...as noted above,

Submitted by bigbillhaywood on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 2:53pm.

Hell Simon...as noted above, even buzzflash bumps us up 20 positions. How do you expect the corporate MSM to tell the truth when even buzzflash refuses to tell how bad health care is here?

I had open heart surgery

Submitted by grandam on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 10:39am.

I had open heart surgery over 3 years ago and my husband spend 10 days in my room in the hospital and slept in a chair to help to take care of me because of the need to have some one there when I pushed the Call Button. It is true that you can be deathly sick but will take 45 min. or more for someone to show up.They need more help in the hospitals. The help they have are on 12 hour shifts.They are not thinking of you on the 11th hour.

Heart Surgery

Submitted by petezeek on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 6:13pm.

for every bad story there are thousands of good. Maybe people should go to Cuba for health care, I hear it's wonderful, Castro is great to, so says that stupid black woman senator. What a racist.

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