81–90 of 174 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sticking ice in proximity to major arteries is going to be a lot less effective without a beating heart to circulate all that newly cold blood.
the cold won't distribute at all ?
Does this suggest that humans can be put into 'hibernation' to extend their lifespan? (Edit: I mean would be possible in future if we had a better understanding of the process?) If I was rich enough I'd host a competition to extend the life of rats: Each year, whoever could demonstrate a technique to reliably extend the lifespan of a rat by at least 10% over the previous year's record would win a million dollars. I e…
> If I was rich enough I'd host a competition to extend the life of rats: Each year, whoever could demonstrate a technique to reliably extend the lifespan of a rat by at least 10% over the previous year's record would win a million dollars. Something quite close to this is being done for mice. The Methuselah Foundation awards cash prizes for (1) 'the longest-living mouse' and (2) the longest-living 'rejuvenated' mous…
Here's an article about Aubrey de Grey, the guy behind the Methuselah Foundation award: https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2018/09/19/aubrey-de-gre...
Some notes: - The headline is clickbait/false really. The six-hour cardiac arrest is pretty much made up/guessed. In fact, they don't know how long she was in cardiac arrest. The article actually goes on to state "how long her heart stopped for is not clear", so it's a bit odd to say she had a six-hour cardiac arrest. - The six hours timeframe actually refers to the fact that a defibrillator was used 6 hours after th…
Good job it wasn't in america, she'd have woken up, seen the bill, and had another heart attack!
This is a great joke but I feel I should point out that cardiac arrests != heart attacks
I went to the US on business - our corporate insurance means there's a $1000 excess that we pay up front.
Went to a hospital for a minor issue. At no point was there any price list shown, at the end I was asked for $390 before been given my prescription. That was the end of it I thought, sickeningly high charge for 2 minutes with a doctor, a 10p tablet, and hours of waiting around. I asked for an itemised bill, but they couldn't give me one.
A few weeks later I get another bill through the post for another $390 (slightly different amount), complete with the entire bill. The whole bill was about $2k. The 10p tablet? $250. In fact they originally gave me a 50mg one for $9, then took it off the bill, then gave me 2x25mg ones for $250. I then had a $1100 "uninsured discount" which brought the total price down to just before $800.
The bulk of the bill was a single line that was fairly incomprehensible but seemed to cover pointless taking my blood pressure 3 times and the 2 minute consultation with a Doctor who barely spoke to me, and renting the chair for a few hours I guess.
edit: see http://imgur.com/ERjjQBil.png
The U.S. is seriously broken.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a great joke but I feel I should point out that cardiac arrests != heart attacks
Wasn't a joke. I went to the US on business - our corporate insurance means there's a $1000 excess that we pay up front. Went to a hospital for a minor issue. At no point was there any price list shown, at the end I was asked for $390 before been given my prescription. That was the end of it I thought, sickeningly high charge for 2 minutes with a doctor, a 10p tablet, and hours of waiting around. I asked for an itemi…
Good job it wasn't in america, she'd have woken up, seen the bill, and had another heart attack!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a great joke but I feel I should point out that cardiac arrests != heart attacks
Wasn't a joke. I went to the US on business - our corporate insurance means there's a $1000 excess that we pay up front. Went to a hospital for a minor issue. At no point was there any price list shown, at the end I was asked for $390 before been given my prescription. That was the end of it I thought, sickeningly high charge for 2 minutes with a doctor, a 10p tablet, and hours of waiting around. I asked for an itemi…
That sounds like straight up fraud. What the hell.
Does this suggest that humans can be put into 'hibernation' to extend their lifespan? (Edit: I mean would be possible in future if we had a better understanding of the process?) If I was rich enough I'd host a competition to extend the life of rats: Each year, whoever could demonstrate a technique to reliably extend the lifespan of a rat by at least 10% over the previous year's record would win a million dollars. I e…
It mostly suggests that one person got very lucky and that there are likely important details that made the difference between 'dead' and 'mostly dead'. Hypothermia due to a low environmental temperature has already been flagged as the way to come out of various otherwise fatal situations in more or less one piece. Besides that, even if no pulse can be detected that doesn't mean there isn't a pulse, and that can make…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a great joke but I feel I should point out that cardiac arrests != heart attacks
Wasn't a joke. I went to the US on business - our corporate insurance means there's a $1000 excess that we pay up front. Went to a hospital for a minor issue. At no point was there any price list shown, at the end I was asked for $390 before been given my prescription. That was the end of it I thought, sickeningly high charge for 2 minutes with a doctor, a 10p tablet, and hours of waiting around. I asked for an itemi…
The pricing system is intentionally designed to be opaque so that everyone except the consumer benefits. It is not uncommon for a top surgeon to make 500-750K per year, nurses are paid well above the median and can make over 100K with overtime, hospital administrators, insurance companies... the way pricing and billing is handled protects all those interests.
Sounds like something you would want to fix, right? Well that too is complicated. Healthcare is one of the only sectors that is growing middle class jobs. A hospital is one of the only places someone with an associates degree and a certification can make 60K per year.
Furthermore, it is one of the only growing industries that provides many opportunities for women. Not many women want to move to Montana to frack shale oil.
Start socializing medicine and all that job growth and opportunity disappears.
It is a tough problem to solve. The utter irrationality of it used to drive me nuts and still does sometimes, but I prefer it to the alternatives.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a great joke but I feel I should point out that cardiac arrests != heart attacks
Wasn't a joke. I went to the US on business - our corporate insurance means there's a $1000 excess that we pay up front. Went to a hospital for a minor issue. At no point was there any price list shown, at the end I was asked for $390 before been given my prescription. That was the end of it I thought, sickeningly high charge for 2 minutes with a doctor, a 10p tablet, and hours of waiting around. I asked for an itemi…
Urgent care would have had something closer to a $100 markup than $2,000, because you’re only paying for a few nurses and doctors to be on call, not for having used the resources that are meant for trauma and acute crises.
That hospitals are required make up fictitious itemized explanations for their very real costs is indeed broken, but it’s a very small part of the overall issue.
If you called the hospital billing department and offered 20% of the overall bill, they would likely have immediately accepted; uninsured hospital billing has expected value on the order of 10% of outstanding balances, so if you give them more than they can get from sending you to collections, they’re usually happy to compromise much more steeply than the 60% “discount” they offered you.
