Tag Archives: NHS

One in six patients misdiagnosed by NHS

Story from the Telegraph. (H/T Secondhand Smoke via ECM)

Excerpt:

As many as one in six patients treated in NHS hospitals and GPs’ surgeries is being misdiagnosed, experts have warned. Doctors were making mistakes in up to 15 per cent of cases because they were too quick to judge patients’ symptoms, they said, while others were reluctant to ask more senior colleagues for help. While in most cases the misdiagnosis did not result in the patient suffering serious harm, a sizeable number of the millions of NHS patients were likely to suffer significant health problems as a result, according to figures. It was said that the number of misdiagnoses was “just the tip of the iceberg”, with many people still reluctant to report mistakes by their doctors.

When the people providing the service are not being paid by the customer based on the quality of service provided, what incentive is there for the service provider to provide good service?

Take the money out of the hands of bureaucrats and medical insurance companies, put it back in the hands of the patient and provide the patient with information about prices and past patient outcomes. Then de-regulate the industry to increase new entrants and increase competition. Choice and competition. That is how you reduce costs and retain individual liberty.

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The deadly consequences of rationing health care

Story from the Daily Mail. (H/T Secondhand Smoke via ECM)

Excerpt:

Doctors left a premature baby to die because he was born two days too early, his devastated mother claimed yesterday. Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy – almost four months early. They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines that babies born before 22 weeks should not be given medical treatment. Miss Capewell, 23, said doctors refused to even see her son Jayden, who lived for almost two hours without any medical support. She said he was breathing unaided, had a strong heartbeat and was even moving his arms and legs, but medics refused to admit him to a special care baby unit.

If that is true, it is a profound abandonment. Moreover, it illustrates the consequences of treating individuals as mere category members for treatment decisions. For example, in the UK, an older person will be denied a hip replacement based on age, regardless of whether the surgery would benefit the patient and restore the ability to live a vital life.

I am terrified at running afoul of a system that encourages such barbarity. No wonder the NHS is having problems with abusive and rude personnel. You can’t legislate rationing that allows tragedies like this and keep your compassion intact.

Health care in Britain: question a doctor and lose your children

Story from The London Times. (H/T Stop the ACLU via ECM)

Excerpt:

* The mother of a 13-year-old girl who became partly paralysed after being given a cervical cancer vaccination says social workers have told her the child may be removed if she (the mother) continues to link her condition with the vaccination.

* A couple had all six of their children removed from their care after they disputed the necessity of an invasive medical test on their eldest daughter. Doctors, who suspected she might have had a blood disease, called for social services to obtain an emergency protection order, although it was subsequently confirmed that she was not suffering from the condition. The parents were still considered unstable, and all their children were taken from them.

* A single mother whose teenage son is terminally ill and confined to a wheelchair has been told he is to become the subject of a care order after she complained that her local authority’s failure to provide bathroom facilities for him has left her struggling to maintain sanitary standards.

You can question the service provider in a free market capitalist health care system – they have no power to ruin your life if you try to oppose them. But you can’t question the service provider in a government-run health care system. That’s treason, according to some Democrats. How dare you oppose the vision of the annointed? They’re better than you!

Well, actually some people are questioning government, and doing a pretty good job of it. Take a look at these two women at town halls.

From Hot Air:

From Michelle Malkin:

It’s stories like this that make me despair of ever getting married and having children. Something goes wrong in the minds of people on the left so that they can commit the most abominable atrocities – even taking people’s children away from their own parents! Who wants to live in a world like that?

And the young people seem to be so enthusiastic about being coerced by a secular government – and why not? Parents just hand their children off to government-run schools who cannot tell the truth but must advocate for more and more government. That’s how they get raises after all.

Here are some encouraging videos that show how upset some Americans are about Democrats wanting to bring socialized medicine here.

More NHS horror stories here.