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Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
181–190 of 235 posts
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a moratorium? It feels like this conversation has been happening endlessly for years now.
Yes there was. Questioning of corporations, their motives, or their claims, was verboten. Maybe it still is, someone just accused me of being "far-right" for the thought-crime of questioning Pfizer's profiteering, lmao.
It seems like somehow the people who complain they have been silenced are always the loudest these days.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Don't aircraft have more or less standardized controls and displays? No, not really. There are similarities in avionics, bare minimum instrumentation and historical conventions but there are type ratings for commercial pilots - they train on each one specifically. Some aircraft are similar enough that they have “common type ratings”. But an Airbus and a Boeing look very different.
Boeing 737NG cockpit: https://cdn.wallpapersafari.com/16/15/2AyKUB.jpg Airbus A320 cockpit: https://airbus-h.assetsadobe2.com/is/image/content/dam/produ... They aren't very different. For normal flying, the biggest difference is that Boeings have yokes and Airbus uses sidesticks. The important stuff is all roughly the same.
The yoke/sidestick is really a superficial difference. Though I will also point out that anybody that is good at the 10 differences puzzles will call bullshit on your claim they aren’t very different - in appearance at least - just look at the primary flight display. More relevant, look at the autopilot stack - they not only appear different they have some deeper fundamental differences in operation.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a little skeptical that there are legitimately 250k that result in unnecessary death each year From purely anecdotal experience, that number is totally believable. Again anecdotally, the medical field seems to only have two kinds of people, the extraordinarily competent and dedicated, and people who don't give a whiff of a shit. The medical bell curve looks more like a bathtub.
My anecdotal data (which is primarily second-hand from friends who work closely with doctors in a hospital setting) agrees with your anecdotal data, for whatever that is worth. There are some spectacularly bad doctors out there which the medical system provides cover for, mainly, as far as I can tell, because they generate revenue. It is important to understand that in the American private healthcare system, the doct…
I don't think that any profession or system with extensive state-imposed restrictions and regulations (education requirements, medical boards, licensing, exams, continuing education requirements, and so on) should be considered "private".
Perhaps such a system incorporates some aspects of private enterprise, but ultimately it should still be seen as a non-private system.
A truly private healthcare system would allow anybody to practice any kind of medicine at any time, without specific requirements and restrictions being imposed by the state.
It would be up to each patient to decide whether or not he or she will deal with a particular practitioner or provider of services. (Of course, this can be complicated in the case of an incapacitated patient, without prior planning.)
As is typical with non-private/socialist/communist systems of any sort, where natural free market balancing forces such as consumer choice, competition, and reputation are limited or absent, we should expect to see the inefficiencies you described, including significant quality variation, bureaucratic games, and misaligned incentives.
Healthcare in America seems very non-private in nature to me. It may not be as overtly non-private as the healthcare systems in Canada or many European nations, but it certainly does not seem to be private, either.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#185Quoted post unavailable.
I don't think "age" is a valid cause of death. Old people are more likely to die than young people, but they still die from particular causes that should be distinguished and recorded. For people of any age it's not obvious how to record a combination of circumstances or a cascade of conditions. For example, a very common fate for old people is to fall, break a hip ("neck of femur"), be admitted into hospital, and th…
Why did that fall happen? There is a hidden epidemic of sarcopenia among the elderly. If we trace the causal chain back we often find the root cause was muscle atrophy caused by lack of resistance training and insufficient protein intake (protein digestion becomes less effective as we age). But sarcopenia usually isn't recorded as a contributing cause on the death certificate.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
My anecdotal data (which is primarily second-hand from friends who work closely with doctors in a hospital setting) agrees with your anecdotal data, for whatever that is worth. There are some spectacularly bad doctors out there which the medical system provides cover for, mainly, as far as I can tell, because they generate revenue. It is important to understand that in the American private healthcare system, the doct…
I don't think that any profession or system with extensive state-imposed restrictions and regulations (education requirements, medical boards, licensing, exams, continuing education requirements, and so on) should be considered "private". Perhaps such a system incorporates some aspects of private enterprise, but ultimately it should still be seen as a non-private system. A truly private healthcare system would allow…
With private healthcare as you describe, poor people are left with subpar care, and you've got a revolution on your hands. At least I would be very prone to violent action in such a system.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
So we don't even start to try? That's not a good enough reason. Given the social and financial magnitude the excuse is nearly criminal.
We do try. But what we've got is not nearly good enough. You underestimate the messiness and overestimate the information retrieval capabilities of healthcare systems.
Oh. I understand the healthcare system's systems are a shitshow. I've seen it first hand. FFS the staff isn't even aware of the importance of sleep (i.e., lights left on, TV left blasting).
But.
If they can identify the importance of hand sanitation and implement programs to ensure that, then there is hope. But as it is, it feels like the land of "that's how we've always done things."
Note: this isn't only hospitals but extended care facilities. They're printing money on the backs of the suffering and losses of others.
Do no harm?? Perhaps it once meant something. No much anymore.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article stresses that all medical errors are not necessarily due to bad doctors. It's also bad coordination between different services, miscommunication, etc. Dr. Makary points out various process problems that are not necessarily the fault of any individual doctor.
It's still doctors. Doctors are responsible for coordination and miscommunication. They define the process, it's still on them.
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Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#189Lots of these are drug interactions. Have a symptom? Here is a drug for that. Doctors rarely check and often are not aware of the potential for harm. Seniors taking 2-3 dozen drugs regularly are not uncommon and often feel much better when medications are removed from their regimen. Data science should be able to help at both ends connecting problems with drug interactions that trigger them and then warning of possib…
What you describe exists. And does not work.
Re: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (2016)
#190I believe it. In my 40+ years of dealing with the medical profession, Dr. Google, Dr. Wikipedia, & Dr. Pubmed have wiped the floor with them, time after time. If you get sick, do the research. I can almost guarantee that it will pay off. And these days, medical research is excellent--if only by volume. I know people here like their canned responses--" small n! ", " in mice !", " correlation != causation "--but when y…
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