5 scary facts about America’s broken health care system

5 scary facts about America’s broken health care system

Medical errors are the third-leading killer in the US, accounting for almost 10 percent of all American deaths.

A 1999 study found that “98,000 people die in hospitals each year due to medical error.” But that figure soars closer to 200,000 annually when you include “doctors who fail to communicate effectively with their colleagues, doctors and nurses who dole out the wrong medications, and doctors who are responsible for causing or spreading hospital infections.”

The leading cause of death for US hospital patients “isn’t heart attack or stroke, but infection,” and one cause is “doctors, nurses and other hospital staff failing to wash their hands as they go from one patient’s room to the next.” Pearl writes that one bacterium, C. diff, causes 14,000 deaths per year, making “decontamination of hands, rooms and hospital surfaces an absolute necessity,” and yet, “at least one-third of the time, doctors fail to wash their hands between patient visits.”

Do note that the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections -- including c. diff -- has been blamed on US!!! The patients. Either because we took too many antibiotics that weren't necessary or because we didn't take enough necessary antibiotics. Doctors have all the power over those pesky prescriptions, but it's OUR fault. They also have all the power when it comes to just plain washing their hands so they don't pass anything from one patient to the next, but it's OUR fault.

Fifty percent of US doctors use paper, rather than electronic, records, costing money and lives.

I don't have much to say about this, except that while I can see the obvious advantages in having a patient's medical history and other records quickly and easily accessible to medical providers, there is also much room for abuse. And given the human failings of those medical providers who create those records, their accuracy is not guaranteed.

Medical providers do better financially when they make mistakes in patient care — because they get paid again to fix the problem.

Of course they do. Like every "professional," they get paid whether they get the job done or not. And they get paid extra if they screw it up the first time and have to do it again... and again... and again...

As do the hospitals where the doctors are practicing... hospitals are incorporated... their fiduciary duty is to the shareholders... by law, they must maximize profits to their shareholders. Best interest of the patients??? Hahahaha!!!! For their purposes, the only thing worse than killing a patient is curing a patient. And the federal agencies that are supposed to be looking out for our best interests are helping the medical industry hide their irresponsibility and liability -- Feds Cover up Hospital Infections.

Government authorities are doing the opposite, helping hospitals conceal superbug outbreaks from the public and deliberately leaving mention of infections off death certificates.

Within three decades, these drug-resistant infections will kill more people globally than all cancers and diabetes combined, according to one review. These germs attack young and old. In one study, researchers report an "ominous" sevenfold increase in drug-resistant infections over eight years among hospitalized children in the U.S.

There are at least a dozen lethal superbugs the CDC has labeled "nightmare bacteria." They're causing tens of thousands of deaths a year in American hospitals. But you wouldn't know it reading death certificates. At least half the time, the infection that actually killed the patient is omitted.

And those who are not killed outright will have a pre-existing condition due to someone else's negligence and recklessness. Who pays the price? Not the one's responsible!!!

A stronger focus on disease prevention could save 200,000 American lives per year.

“The lack of prevention in our health-care system helps explain why our quality scores pale in comparison with most other industrialized nations,” Pearl writes. The difference in health results between doctors who emphasize prevention and those who don’t should make everyone take notice.

Again, the only thing worse than killing a patient is curing a patient... they know which side their bread is buttered, and they know the law protects their bank accounts -- NOT the patients' health.

Today’s opiate addiction crisis is a result of deliberate moves by pharmaceutical companies.

“Pain management experts (many found and funded by the manufacturers of these powerful medications) began assuring doctors . . . that dependence and addiction would not occur in the face of genuine pain,” Pearl writes. “Many taught doctors that their patients would become immune to the life-threatening consequences of high-dose administration over time. Therefore, there was no limit to how high the dosages could go.”

Today, with opiate abuse killing 91 people a day in the US, according to the CDC, we know just how wrong this was. “This all but guaranteed users for life,” Pearl writes. “Nearly all of these assertions about the protection from addiction and resistance to overdose have been proven wrong.”

Medical marijuana provides a natural, non-lethal and non-addictive alternative; is it any surprise then that
Marijuana's Biggest Enemy Is Not Jeff Sessions–It's Big Pharma?

It's easy to blame Big Pharma -- as this article does. But the real culprit is the legal mandate for corporations -- including Big Pharma -- to put profits before patients. And a government critters that cater to their donors -- not their constituents, much less to our health needs.

And this is what we're up against. The devil is in the details. We don't need health insurance. We need quality healthcare. And that's exactly what our critters in Washington and the critters in the medical industry refuse to address. If we refuse to do so as well, then Trumpcare will be no better than Obamacare.

we wouldn`t need insurance if medical billing was done the fair way.

The fair way is to bill people based on their income and ability to pay.

The same way that we pay taxes, the more you make the more you pay, and nobody has income tax insurance.if it`s good enough for the government it should be good enough for the medical industry.

nobody pays the same price for a new car,the salesman wants to make a sale so they work with you to lower the price to fit your ability to pay.

contractors do the same thing,if you make a lot of money they give you a higher estimate to do the job,they want to do the job so they adjust the estimate down to fit your ability to pay.

originally posted by: Tardacus
we wouldn`t need insurance if medical billing was done the fair way.

And if medical pricing were done the fair way -- i.e., no government granted monopolies over life-saving and life-sustaining medications and devices.

The fair way is to bill people based on their income and ability to pay.

The same way that we pay taxes, the more you make the more you pay, if it`s good enough for the government it should be good enough for the medical industry.

I think this is especially important given that the vast majority of medical research and development is funded by the taxpayer!

Medications and medical mistakes kill more people than any disease, the medications side effects can cause worse diseases to come out than the disease they are trying to treat. Medical science seems to be at a dangerous point, once they can decipher how epigenetics relates to medicines and diseases, then maybe things will get better.

More people die from low blood pressure and bradycardia events than from high blood pressure. Low sodium levels actually can lead to more problems overall than consuming too much. Tyramine chemistry overconsumption usually causes more high blood pressure events than salt in food, but often tyramines and sodium chemistry are both in highly prepared foods.

Sugar diabetes may be caused by too much glutamate chemistry, hydrolyzed anything can do that. It has to do with glutamate binding to the site where insulin binds to on the cells causing insulin resistance. It calms us, but too much calm is not good, our western diet is full of glutamate and glutamine chemistry. Some is essential, too much too often is detrimental to our health.

Why would doctors tell us what to eat, that would lower their income and they would not be able to pay their nurses and maintain their offices and lifestyles. The more we go into their offices, the more money they make.

a reply to: rickymouse

This is exactly the kind of research and information we need more of... and more real world applications for our health, both preventative and therapeutic. That would be a good start to true healthcare reform! Unfortunately, too many of our collective resources are channeled to corporate interests.

originally posted by: Boadicea
a reply to: rickymouse

This is exactly the kind of research and information we need more of... and more real world applications for our health, both preventative and therapeutic. That would be a good start to true healthcare reform! Unfortunately, too many of our collective resources are channeled to corporate interests.

Unless we change to socialized medicine I do not see that happening. Throughout history Alchemists and witches (Herbalists) got greedy and also created a lot of side effects. They were burnt at the stakes. or hung for their making people sick or killing them. The thing is that that set back medicine because they killed all the herbalists and alchemists, some were actually good at what they did, they had lots of handed down knowledge. Although there are a few execs of some of the Pharma corporations I would like to be burned at the stake, many of the smaller pharma companies are actually trying to help people. But their direction of research is being steered to making sellable drugs, not stopping diseases from forming that they make meds to treat the symptoms of.

I can't see this countries medical industry actually being a true medicine, it is a business venture, they make meds to make profits. If your med cures a disease, shortly everyone will be cured and all your income will disappear.

a reply to: rickymouse

I can't see this countries medical industry actually being a true medicine, it is a business venture, they make meds to make profits. If your med cures a disease, shortly everyone will be cured and all your income will disappear.

Thank you for reminding me that there are good people out there doing good things for healthcare and for people, including some pharmaceutical companies. Sometimes I let my cynicism get the best of me.

I don't see it changing unless and until we can break the echo chamber created by the two-party stranglehold and start thinking outside this box -- finding new approaches and solutions. There should have been half a dozen well thought-out Obamacare alternatives ready for debate and consideration by Congress -- as well as a national discussion. The ideas are out there, but those with an iron grip on the process don't want us to know that, and refuse to discuss or consider anything that doesn't serve their own best interests. They have the most to lose. They like the status quo.