Friday, November 13, 2009


Submariner said...
This sentiment was not primary in our host's mind when he submitted to arthroscopic surgery some years ago. Apparently prayer, vigorous walks during golf, consuming organic fresh salads and slices of $8 a loaf bread were not enough to treat the relatively modest discomfort of a painful knee. So what if healthcare is a business. So too are rap and graphic design and art.

He excoriates, justifiably in my view, the profitdriven healthcare industry for exploiting people but simultaneousy upholds the image of a pimp as the exemplar of masculinity and healthy male-female social relations. If this conflict doesn't qualify as "Hegelian headfake" it's because the head is submerged in a prolapsed rectum. If "National Health Care" is a marketing plan so too is "The Blackest Man on the Internet."

Denmark Vesey said ...
Lamentably pedestrian yet remarkably predictable and consistent with the field, the young physician sees the forest but not the trees the ocean but not the water. Like a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing the meaning of the Superfly iconography is lost as art, like the human body, is reduced to a sum of its parts.

You look at the image and see "pimp".
I look and see "bond".

Yes, health is a business. But sickness is a scam. Arthroscopic surgery certainly did fix my knee. On the way out the door, I dropped the crutches and ran down the street. One week later I was on the court draining 3's. They did a great job. I give props to the MD. Thank God they didn't try to sell me a meniscus "vaccine" .

21 comments:

submariner said...

This sentiment was not primary in our host's mind when he submitted to arthroscopic surgery some years ago. Apparently prayer, vigorous walks during golf, consuming organic fresh salads and slices of $8 a loaf bread were not enough to treat the relatively modest discomfort of a painful knee. So what if healthcare is a business. So too are rap and graphic design and art.

He excoriates, justifiably in my view, the profitdriven healthcare industry for exploiting people but simultaneousy upholds the image of a pimp as the exemplar of masculinity and healthy male-female social relations. If this conflict doesn't qualify as "Hegelian headfake" it's because the head is submerged in a prolapsed rectum. If "National Health Care" is a marketing plan so too is "The Blackest Man on the Internet."

the good nurse said...

DV,
Check this link...just pitiful. So busy worried about finding nurses to help manage the disease...need to be educating parents on how to prevent it in the first place. smh.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-02-diabetesschools02_ST_N.htm?obref=obinsite

CNu said...

because the head is submerged in a prolapsed rectum.

rotflmbao...,

submariner is truth.

accept no substitutes....,

DMG said...

Nurse,

What's wrong with having enough professionals on hand to recognize the early signs of a diabetic crisis? Don't see your gripe about this article, other than to throw stones. Please correct me if I've misunderstood you.

As for your remark about parents, I'll assume you mean those who have children with Type II DM (the insulin resistant flavor related to the childhood obesity epidemic). Educating parents and parents following through with what they've learned are two different things...as a nurse, I think you know this. It's not like information is being kept from these parents.

There is nothing mysterious or mindboggling about: quit gorging yourself on Big Macs and Kool-Aid while sitting on your ass trying to be a PlayStation hero....and yes, I've used that exact sentence on many occassion. As I've seen on THIS VERY BLOG, getting people to recognize truth is a difficult task.

the good nurse said...

dmg,
i have not responded to your past remarks because i did not see the need to do so.

i am not throwing stones nor am i ignorant to the fact that there are some children born with diabetes.....so, i am not speaking to that scenario at all. I am speaking to the total lack of health education that goes on in this country. our "healthcare professionals" are so quick to patch up what is broken as opposed to preventing the break in the first place.
i see nothing wrong with providing nurses to handle children in crisis...i do take issue with the manner in which the healthcare industry has neglected those whom it claims to serve.
i feel i have the right as well as the obligation to speak against the machine. i teach the very least of them to be proactive, live and treat their bodies as the temples for which they were created. to make the very best choices regarding what enters into their bodies, to exercise and refrain from all destruction. i have no problem with bandaids..but they do not work when the patient is hemmorhaging from within.

not throwing stones. if the shoe does not fit..don't put it on.

one.
tgn

DMG said...

"I am speaking to the total lack of health education that goes on in this country."

That's a broad statement, and one that we both know is inaccurate at best. It's not like people haven't been told that Krispy Kremes, cigarettes, and driving drunk aren't health hazards. But I still see 450lbs smokers, dragging their oxygen outside of the hospital to smoke in 30 degree weather in their hospital gowns...but have the nerve to say the doctor hasn't cured them and are worried about "getting sick" from a vaccination. Then there's the stupid people arriving to the trauma bay 4 times the legal alcohol limit, after having been ejected through their front windshield, all busted up...who later moan about the "service" they got at the hospital. Let's be really real here. I've spent hours meticulously going over patients eating, smoking, alchohol, and exercise habits...only to have them whine and request some mysterious "pill" that will make them lose weight...so they can sit on the couch eating pizza and playing HALO 4.

You can't say patients haven't been educated. Eating less junk, more good food, and exercising is not a secret. It's just not sexy or marketable, or Oprah worthy.

The problem lies with people not getting GOOD, FACTUALLY CORRECT, BEST ADVICE. This blog is not one of the places to obtain that advice. Let's stop bullshitting right now, we both know blogs in general are not good places to obtain advice about anything as this is a place of opinions...which unfortunately don't carry equal weight.

I assume you are a trained R.N. (correct me if I'm wrong), and assume as a professional you dispense good factual advice, rather than biased opinion based on testimonial, rumor and heresay. Am I correct? If so then you are part of what you are calling the healthcare "machine".

the good nurse said...

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

I hear you, but again, my issue is with this nation as a whole. It's one thing to tell a person "eat more vegetables"...it is another when u tell them "eat more vegetables AND MAKE THEM MORE AFFORDABLE FOR THEM TO BUY"
the hypocracy of healthcare is what pisses me off. telling someone to eat well, exercise and avoid destruction is easy. creating an environment for them to do so and thrive is another....

Denmark Vesey said...

"This blog is not one of the places to obtain that advice." DMG


Let Us ... stop bullshitting Doc.

This blog has generated more positive discourse and genuine enlightenment about health than anything one could gather from a Plantation mandated health care practitioner.

Just compare the information you proffered regarding the H1N1 vaccine / hoax compared to my celebration of sunlight and Vitamin D.

I don't know if you've forgotten, but you actually endorsed the H1N1 vaccine manufactured by Baxter.

Just for the record.

Come on man be serious.

Think about it.

Peep my archives. From breast feeding to vaccines to Himalayan pink salt, to deodorant stones - my shit is ahead of the game.

You poppin' some ol' world 1950's model of medicine.

Denmark Vesey said...

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

i am a trained RN. I am also a woman with good common sense.

That's why I love this sister. She doesn't confuse what she does with who she is.

DMG said...

"It's one thing to tell a person "eat more vegetables"...it is another when u tell them "eat more vegetables AND MAKE THEM MORE AFFORDABLE FOR THEM TO BUY"

And exactly how is it the fault of healthcare that food is expensive?

DMG said...

The only thing you shit is ahead of is your next step, as you seem to contradict yourself or disappear when you realize you've stepped in your own foulsmelling excrement. Again, thank you for inviting me into your space and allowing me to prove you wrong on an almost hourly basis.

DMG said...

MOTI,

I thought trained nurses were part of the "Plantation Medicine" cabal? You aren't even a challenge anymore. Maybe you should rest up for the weekend.

Intellectual Insurgent said...

On the rare occasion, I feel DMG on this comment thread. The way most people relate to the medical industry is the way they relate to the educational industry.

They think they can sit back, do absolutely nothing, and have doctors magically keep them healthy with a pill and teachers keep them "educated" by saying something to them.

And if they get sick, it's the doctor's fault and it they remain ignorant, it's the teacher's fault. The root problem is laziness, self-entitlement and wholesale lack of personal responsibility.

Reminds me of this excerpt from the post above -

Denmark Vesey challenged:

"Why do you bow and scrape so when in the presence of these white men?!"

One of the negros responded and basked in the approving laughter of his companions:

"why we slaves ... aint we!"

Denmark responded: "Yes... And you deserve to be".

CNu said...

The root problem is laziness, self-entitlement and wholesale lack of personal responsibility.

um hmm....,

I tend to wonder at the guild-like institutionalization and licensure within both medicine and pedagogy.

While costs, exclusivity, authority, and sprawl have become the norm in both the medical-industrial and education-industrial complexes - neither has shown itself capable of producing overall better outcomes for society (students/patients) than what were routinely achieved many decades ago.

When each professional complex succumbed to the corporatist pursuit of growth, profits, and prestige - rather than highest and best outcomes for constituents (students/patients) - both began to fail society and lose integrity and legitimacy.

DMG said...

CNu,

You are right. More money thrown at a problem isn't ideal. There needs to be a good evidence based, rational approach...that does not place profit as the ultimate goal.

At the same time telling people the ONLY way to get healthy is by eating Pink-Salt upon which Poor Pakistani's have Pissed, or eating $5.50/loaf bread isn't going to get anyone healthy...but rather causes people to think they've been priced out of good health.

CNu said...

Both the medical and educational industrial complexes have wielded exponentially greater influence and authority in society, and each has fundamentally broken its social contract.

Neither institution, imoho, is going to prove capable of recovering from its failures and excesses short of massive restructuring and reform.

The pink salt/protein bread suggestions (and alternative diet health complexes which they symbolically represent) are such microscopically tiny potatos by comparison - that they're hardly worthy of consideration. Frankly brah, your overreaction on those "issues" has been illuminating..,

DMG said...

CNu,

Tiny potatos? Really? Whole Foods and the Nutriceutical Industry has turned this stuff into a multibillion dollar unregulated industry. It's no overreaction, when a woman who has mild hypertension at best and diabetes that could potentially be controlled by diet, goes off meds that would at most cost her $14/month to start taking some overpriced homeopathic water that allows her hypertension and diabetes to go unchecked until irreversible ocular and kidney damage has been acheived, and culminated with a hemorrhagic stroke that landed her in an ICU for 3 weeks, leaving her with permanent deficit. All the while, her husband who is older had similar small problems, followed his physicians prescription, exercises, eats no special diet consisting of moderately priced healthy food, in normal portions. He his healthier than most people younger than him, and looks 10 years younger than his age.

I just described my parents.

Have you ever looked at this stuff? I could package grass from a Brooklyn sidewalk market it as good for what ails you, and sell it as a supplement without much oversight. No overreaction, just sick of people saying anything they want without having to back up their statements.

DMG said...

And another thing, I really hope you aren't blaming physicians and nurses and the like for the Healthcare bill coming out of congress right now. Really anyone with a problem with it should look in the mirror and blame themselves for NOT discussing it seriously over the past 10 months. On another blog, I DO recall attempting several times to get a serious discussion going. Not even you were interested in talking about it. If I can work greater than 70hours a week with usually one day off, and find time to educate myself and have serious discussions about healthcare reform, I think the average citizen can chime in. But what did we see? Factions from both sides forming mobs demanding inclusion of their pet issues.

Democracy truly is rule by the uneducated mob that screams the loudest.

If we can have in depth conversations about some toddler doing the "stanky leg", why can we not have intelligent conversation about healthcare reform in this country...sans the conspiracy theory bullshit that inevitably follows?

CNu said...

On another blog, I DO recall attempting several times to get a serious discussion going. Not even you were interested in talking about it.

Your memory serves you poorly sir.

Not only did I discuss both healthcare and healthcare insurance reform at considerable length and depth, I was very specific in my recommendations for what I think should happen in each sector in order to bring about the changes required to right-size this monstrosity down from its current state absorption of 1/6th of the U.S. GDP.

Matter fact, I remember very clearly spanking UBM for his shrill status quo insurance industry apologetics - which made about as much sense coming from him as an Appalachian coal miner defending the most egregious excesses of Wall St.

DMG said...

No my good friend. On at LEAST 3 occassions I tried to get a converstation going over at Cobb, and got no more than a hand full of responses. Please, I'd be MORE than happy to lay things out from a physicians perspective over at your spot, just let me know. Don't confuse physician with hospital administrator. Yes, I think I should be paid for my services. Fixing someones colon, heart valve, or drilling a hole in someones skull is something only a select few know how to do...this ain't pumpin' gas. However, I will admit there are incentives for my private practice colleagues to perform extra (sometimes unneccessary) tests because reimbursement is so low, and insurance companies will play the game of attempting to deny and delay payment for services already rendered. Some of it is greed, I'm sure, some of it is an attempt to pay their nurses and keep the lights on. Let's be real about the problems:

1. Folks don't take care of themselves, and want a quick fix rather than long term sustainable lifestyle change.

Answer: We need a change in mindset.

2. More money flows to people who never get blood on their hands or touch patients than is necessary.

Answer: Remove or regulate for profit insurance companies from the equation.

3. Many people cannot afford to see their doctor until the problem has gotten well out of hand.

Answer: More preventive medicine to go along with lifestyle changes (in other words there is a place for eating well).

CNu said...

Don't confuse physician with hospital administrator.

never

but I'm curious about how, for example, formerly so many hospitals were administered by religious orders and organizations and run differently then, than in the ensuing three decades during which "professional" administrators have taken over remaking the pre-existing model into a profit driven business model.

right in the middle of all that mix, f'zample, is the deplorable fact that healthcare spends less per capita on IT than any other industry vertical yet has a more compelling case for IT in the form of electronic medical records, diagnostic systems/device integration, and care delivery services than just about any other industry vertical I can imagine.

Yes, I think I should be paid for my services.

isn't it overdue time for the core subject matter experts to rototill and replant the care delivery model overall?

seriously, hospitals are THE WORST hotels, restauranteurs, personnel and supply chain managers OF ALL TIME!!!!!

yet, like urban public school administrators, there's a professional cadre of incompetent nitwit administrators being recycled nationally from site to site where they continuously FUBAR patient-centric health delivery and ARE NEVER HELD TO ACCOUNT for their de-evolutionary incompetence.

2. More money flows to people who never get blood on their hands or touch patients than is necessary.

Answer: Remove or regulate for profit insurance companies from the equation.


Dood, I was still getting warmed up just ragging on the health services delivery administrators. The insurance company parasites ALL need to be lined up against a wall and dealt with in the harshest summary fashion.

Please, I'd be MORE than happy to lay things out from a physicians perspective over at your spot, just let me know.

I would gladly collaborate with you on such an undertaking, particularly if we could get a few more folks involved to flesh out the full range of perspectives that need to be brought to bear. Between us, we can speak to physician and IT, but there are a number of other disciplines involved with care delivery that ought to be reflected in any such discussion.

I'm currently up to my eyebrows as a non-specialist trying to take on the subject of consumer and commercial energy efficiency - carrying through with something I expressed two years ago as a central "change I want to see/be".

I can think of a variety of ways in which the scope and methodology of what I've worked up for energy efficiency could be applied to health/healthcare delivery-consumption.

Here's my email address. Hit me up and I'll send you a high-level digest of what I'm pursuing on the energy efficiency front, and perhaps we can apply that approach to a healthcare discussion if you see value in it.

The sensible place to park the output from any such discussion would be yours of course.