Some Healthcare Thoughts

I read an interesting article today. Two thoughts struck me about this:

1. 11 Let’s not be hasty to dismiss patients as “vegetative” without more extensive testing.

Belgian doctors who treated him early on said that Rom had gone from a coma into a vegetative condition.

Coma is a state of unconsciousness in which the eyes are closed and the patient can't be roused, as if simply asleep. A vegetative state is a condition in which the eyes are open and can move, and the patient has periods of sleep and periods of wakefulness, but remains unconscious and unaware of him or herself or others. The patient can't think, reason, respond, do anything on purpose, chew or swallow.

. . .

The case came to light after Laureys published a study in the journal BMC Neurology this year showing that about four out of ten patients with consciousness disorders are wrongly diagnosed as being a vegetative state. Houben, although not specifically mentioned, was part of the study.

2. 2. Advanced technology saved the day here.

More searching finally got her in touch with Laureys, who put Houben through a PET scan that indicated he was conscious. The family and doctors then began trying to establish communication.

A breakthrough came when he was able to indicate yes or no by slightly moving his foot to push a computer device placed there by Laureys' team.

Then came the spelling of words using his finger and a touch-screen attached to his wheelchair.

Houben has started writing a book on his experiences.

Sleight of Hand in Health Care

This is the cautionary tale of two bills:

1. H.R. 3590 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members of the Armed Forces and certain other Federal employees, and for other purposes. Entered IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES on September 17, 2009 by Charlie Rangel.

2. H.R. 3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act. Entered IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES on October 29, 2009 by John Dingell.

H.R. 3950, when in the House, had the short title of Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009. The bill was six pages long and primarily affected the tax treatment and first time home buyer credit for US Military. It passed on Oct 8, 2009 with 416 Yes votes and 16 not voting. After all, it was a good thing to help our heroes fighting in the War on Terror. Good going House guys in passing it virtually unanimously.

As you probably know, H.R. 3962 was voted on a late Saturday night (Nov 7) and squeaked by 220 – 215 with one Republican voting yes. It was placed on the Senate calendar on Nov 16, 2009. Some pundits said it was dead on arrival in the Senate and would never pass in its current form (2,016 pages).

Now here’s the tricky thing: H.R. 3590 was amended in the Senate (by replacement) by Harry Reid. The original six page bill suddenly became 2,076 pages and acquired the new title of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This bill, remember, started as a Revenue bill. Now it is the health care bill, but it can be reconciled by simple majority vote in both chambers. This sleight of hand was accomplished with these words:

AMENDMENT NO. 2786

Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES—111th Cong., 1st Sess.

H. R. 3590

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify

the first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members

of the Armed Forces and certain other Federal employees,

and for other purposes.

November 19, 2009

Ordered to lie on the table and to be printed

Amendment in the nature of a substitute intended to be

proposed by Mr. REID (for himself, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr.

DODD, and Mr. HARKIN)

Viz:

1 Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:

Now, some on the left will think this was clever of the Democratic leadership. Some on the right will think it is chicanery. What do you think?

I think I’m going to vomit.

Blue Dogs in Name Only

The following so-called Blue Dog Democrats failed to join the other 39 to defeat the Health Care bill:

Mike Arcuri (N.Y.)
Joe Baca (Calif.)
Marion Berry (Ark.)
Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
Dennis Cardoza (Calif.)
Christopher Carney (Penn.)
Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
Jim Costa (Calif.)
Henry Cuellar (Texas)
Kathy Dahlkemper (Penn.)
Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
Brad Ellsworth (Ind.)
Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz.)
Jane Harman (Calif)
Baron Hill (Ind.)
Mike Michaud (Maine)
Harry Mitchell (Ariz.)
Dennis Moore (Kan.)
Patrick Murphy (Penn.)
Earl Pomeroy (N.D.)
John Salazar (Colo.)
Loretta Sanchez (Calif.)
Adam Schiff (Calif.)
David Scott (Ga.)
Zack Space (Ohio)
Mike Thompson (Calif.)
Charles Wilson (Ohio)

 

Should they be called BDINO’s?  or maybe BINO’s?  Or how about “outta there!”.

In case you missed it

It seems that NY-23 was prematurely conceded by Hoffman. Had he not conceded, Pelosi would have been one vote shorter from passing the Health Care Monstrosity. Then maybe the Republican would not have voted for it either. Ah, well.

Addendum to Nobel Peace Prize

It might seem strange that a man who voted present in the Illinois Senate, spent most of his US Senate time campaigning to be President, and has been in office a scant nine months to win the Peace Prize.  It is stranger still that someone who had been in office 11 DAYS would be nominated.  In case you are unfamiliar with the process, let me help you out. 

 

The Deadline for nominations is 1 February of each year.  This is from the official web site of the committee:

February – Deadline for submission. The Committee bases its assessment on nominations that must be postmarked no later than 1 February each year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year's discussions. In recent years, the Committee has received close to 200 different nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The number of nominating letters is much higher, as many are for the same candidates.

 

You will recall that US Presidents are inaugurated on 20 Jan of each year. 

Am I in the Twilight Zone?  Are we in the first movie of the Left Behind series?  Are we all being punked?

The Nobel Peace Prize

As if the Nobel committee had any credibility left to lose, they outdid themselves this time.  Let’s briefly review who did NOT win the Nobel Prize in recent years:

Mahatma Gandhi

Irena Sendler

Pope John XXIII

Dorothy Day

 

Now let’s see who DID win

2009       Barack Hussein Obama  “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”

2008       Marti Atasaari                   ‘for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts"

2007       Al Gore                                 for a Power Point presentation, er, I mean , "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"^[

 

Wonder what else is on SyFy?

Eat Right, Part 3

I would like to follow up on a thread from a previous post. In it I stated that I was mad at the "faith" people. I must admit, I am one of them. There is a general misunderstanding about the teachings of faith. It has been labeled the "name it and claim it" or "blab it and grab it" movement by people who do not really listen to the message. For years Christianity was known as the "Great Confession." Evidently someone was saying something. What folks failed to realize about confession was that it means "saying the same thing (to speak together)." It basically means to agree with YHWH about the situation. Faith begins where the Word of God is known.

Forsaking All I Take Him (at His word) = Faith. False Evidence Appearing Real = Fear. I had an object lesson in this at Disney World of all places. Once upon a time there was a movie called "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" which Disney turned into an attraction. At one point on the ride the overwhelming physical evidence was that you are on a train track and the train is bearing down on you from in front. The noise, the lights, the shaking all contributed to the effect. That was False Evidence Appearing Real. Now, in spite of the emotional connotations, we knew that Disney would not just run their customers down with a train. If only we had that much faith in YHWH.

YHWH was the only One present at creation. Everyone else has to try and figure what happened by looking at the evidence. The problem with evidence is that we always come to it with our own filters firmly in place. It is a fact that the fossil record does not present one smooth transition from goo to you. Is that because intermediate fossils were somehow lost? Or did they never exist in the first place? The answers to those questions are not a part of the record. Honest people can disagree as to the "correct"answer, because it does not matter to the actual record. The fact is there are gaps. To one person that is proof that gradual evolution did not occur. To another, it is proof that there are things yet to be learned.

And so it is with the "believing God" folks. Some of them are actually trying to believe themselves. That did not work for Satan. (OF course, you could make the argument that he very nearly pulled it off.) Believing God comes down to the quite precise science of … well … believing GOD. Whatever He said must be true. As Mary the Mother of Jesus said, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

Thus endeth the sermon for today.