Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
The United States Medical Care system, rated a poor seventy-second (72nd), worldwide, has been teetering on the brink of destruction for years now. Greed, malfeasance, misfeasance, grand corruption, murderous intent, and a self-centeredness unequaled in history has led the system to the abyss.
Give me a hand – let’s push it the last few inches over the edge…
That same “United States Medical Care system, rated a poor seventy-second (72nd), worldwide,” is rated number one in another category – IT IS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF AMERICANS. Above heart disease, cancer and stroke, the medical system, itself, is responsible for the unnecessary deaths of 783,936 Americans EVERY YEAR.
If we, in the “health” movement, have our way, and we usually do, the United States Supreme Court will be ruling on a case that will, in effect “open the door” towards solution of both of the above described problems.
We know, for instance, that the medical system protects itself from outside influence and regulation. Locked in a philosophy of aging, ineffectual, sometimes useless, but extremely profitable medical paradigms, Americans have learned to avoid hospitals. And well they should, for the report “Death by Medicine,” shows that106,000 Americans die each year in hospitals from adverse drug reactions, 98,000 from medical errors, 88,000 from infections, 37,136 from unnecessary procedures, 32,000 from surgery related problems, and WORSE YET in those hospitals – 115,000 Americans die from the effects of bedsores, 106,000 from malnutrition (hospital food?), and 199,000 from outpatient adverse drug reactions.
And the hospitals have ways to cover it all up so that that they not only protect themselves from lawsuits, but they manage to keep the State regulatory arms at bay. But we may be about to fix that. That is, if the US Supreme Court rules our way in the “Mileikowsky v. Tenet Healthsystem et al,” case.
“This case epitomizes why doctors are afraid to report medical errors and problems,” said Larry Huntoon, M.D., chairman of the AAPS Committee to Combat Sham Peer Review. “To bury their own mistakes, hospitals label doctors as ‘disruptive’ and file trumped-up charges of wrongdoing. Then they count on the ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ perception to make the doctor the scapegoat.”
“And it’s usually the most vocal critics and patient advocates who are thrown on the fire. “[Dr. Mileikowsky] was an outspoken member of the staff and was disliked by some administrators for that reason, as he did not shirk his responsibility to publicize administrative shortcomings at the Hospital that undermined patient care,” states the doctor’s petition to the Supreme Court.
Civil Rights attorney Alan Dershowitz said in his US Supreme Court Friend of the Court Brief:
“…Physicians who are entrusted with the care of their patients can see their professional careers destroyed if they dare to challenge a hospital’s practices. When a ‘whistleblowing’ physician is retaliated against, it threatens not only the physician’s livelihood, but the care of all patients. This is a case, therefore, that affects every patient and potential patient in America.”
But, it gets even better. This case drew the attention, and the support, not only of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, but the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), the Semmelweis Society, the Consumer Attorneys of California (COAC), and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) – each of whom joined in the Amicus Brief before the US Supreme Court.
And, that’s not all. In the earlier cases, leading to the hearing before the US Court, there were Briefs on Miliekowsky’s behalf by the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
Take the time to read some of the material found at www.aapsonline.org/mileikowsky.) It reads like a Ludlum novel – full of twists and turns, back-stabbing, and underhanded behavior on the part of hospital representatives. It’ll make you think again, and again, before you trust a loved one to a hospital’s hands.
Of interest too, is the fact that there are other factors operating to correct the hospital problem. The California Medical Board, itself, for instance, last November 3rd, 2005 approved one of the biggest plans in the history of medicine to dig out hospital problems, going so far as to get new funding and legislation in place to go after hospitals. You can read about it by clicking here.
Everybody, I guess, is tired of the blood, gore, infection, druggings, inattention to patients, bags of cash carried out the back doors, and the general malfeasance of the US hospital system.
Let’s see what the US Supreme Court has to say…
Stay tuned…
Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate