Paramedic Heretic's Thoughts for Today
A few random points for you to ponder today: Healthcare doesn’t create health. At it’s best, it nudges us back to proper function. It offers up smidgens of satisfaction. Healthcare is a lot like Wal Mart. Just because they serve pizza - that doesn't make it a restaurant . . . . As a 911 responder for decades, it suddenly dawned on me one day that my entire professional life revolved around hoping human stupidity would out-do itself today. And sometimes it did . . . . "Without
England's Worst Serial Killer? A Drug-addicted Doctor Allowed to Keep Right on Treating Patients
One of the ugliest realities of modern healthcare is that criminal physicians are - far too often - fawned over and coddled, prayed to and adored, by the same medical authorities who are in the perfect position to stop the madness when they have the chance. And when it comes to proof, one need look no further than the preposterously mishandled case of Doctor Harold Frederick Shipman. Medical monster Shipman - who would grow up to become Great Britain's worst serial killer - w
Freaky Doctors and Their Dead Wives . . .
In the city of Cayce South Carolina, a physician was arrested last Thursday in the shooting death of a Columbia pharmaceutical salesman. The arrest came just 2 days after the doctor's wife was also found dead, according to law enforcement spokeswoman Ashley Hunter. Doctor Adam Marcus Lazzarini, age 46. turned himself into the Lexington County Detention Center, where he was handcuffed and later charged with Involuntary Manslaughter. Within a matter of hours, Coroner Margaret
Opinion: It's Time to Ban Drug Company Doctor Kickbacks
Dear Mr. McDonald - The Palm Beach Post recent series, “Pay to Prescribe? The Fentanyl Scandal,” (April 4) sheds a welcome light on one of the major contributing factors to the opioid crisis, pharmaceutical company manipulation of physicians. The heinous activities of the Insys Corporation were made public in the national media last year. The Post has now revealed the significant role of major players with local roots. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than hero
California Doctor on Trial Performs CPR on Dying Juror at the Courthouse
In Alameda County Superior Court on March 28 a man involved in the jury selection process collapsed in the corridor during a morning break, struck his head hard on the floor and suffered an immediate cardiac arrest. That was interesting in itself. What's truly curious is that the jurors were being interviewed by opposing attorneys for a medical malpractice case against Doctor James Frederick Lilia. And as the drama in the corridor unfolded, Doctor Lilia and his medical assist
Clinical Cooties Kill 100 People a Day. When's the Last Time Your Local Hospital's Nifty Web
So which nifty little item commonly used in healthcare is most likely to carry nasty boogies from one sick patient to another? Trust us: Sloppy medical professional hygiene sickens 1,000 patients each day, and kills 10% of them. Go ahead. You do the math. Why, the stethoscope, of course. Ask practically anybody in a lab coat (which incidentally also carries ten tons of cooties) and you’ll get the quick answer that – just like grubby doctor hands – stethoscopes can – and do –
Paramedic Observation 101: Healthcare's 2% Lunatic Fringe. It Ain't Pretty
What can happen when a cell phone is accidentally left on "record" during an out-patient surgery? Well, you be the judge: Over the course of our 30-year EMS career, it's a damned shame we were unable to carry a hidden tape recorder to document tons of daffy doctors yammerings. But our books do the next best thing.
