My God! What shall we do? It is winter and it is snowing in NYC……The HORROR!
Flash! If it is winter it will snow north of the Mason-Dixon. This is news to no one but someone that has to navigate in NYC…..so since it is snowing in NYC I will not work today…..because it is just that important to the world and the situations we are ignoring.
Now that I have pointed out the ignorance of the American people…..I shall move on to REAL news…..
My regulars know that I spend a lot of time on the Middle East and war and basic economics with a little history thrown in for good measures……but from time to time I do depart from my norm and post on things that I would like to share with my readers and get their opinions……..this post is one of those times………
There has been a PR blitz when the Obamacare thing was brewing and one of the issues that was used to try and defeat it was the treatment of the elderly……some said that it was a death notice to seniors……basically it was counseling that was at odds…..
I recent read a piece about a new “treatment” for lack of a better word at this hour that is being proposed…….
Seniors had better brace themselves: Some US hospitals are now administering the “death test,” which estimates their chance of dying over the next 30 days. Invented in Australia, the test weighs 29 different criteria—including blood pressure, respiratory rate, and medical history—to determine whether hospitalization is worthwhile or the patient should return home or go to a hospice, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The idea is to prevent needless and expensive procedures while allowing patients to spend their last days with loved ones. “Most terminally ill people want to die at home, but in fact three quarters end up dying in acute hospitals, often after intrusive, expensive and ultimately pointless medical procedures,” says study author Magnolia Cardona-Morrell, the Independent reports.
The test also aims to take pressure off doctors and nurses to prolong patients’ lives “at all costs,” the Telegraph reports. “I had lots of nurses and doctors standing there saying, ‘We have been waiting for a tool like this for years, when can we start using it?'” says Cardona-Morrell, whose work was presented recently at a US medical conference. “To me that is an indication there is a need out there.” She says the test takes just five or ten minutes, and helps doctors have a more “transparent” conversation with patients. Called CriSTAL, it’s now being tested to see if it would have predicted the future of patients who have since died. Then it may be used in more hospitals.
If you have read this then please let me hear your opinions…..may make for a lively dialogue……
If it really is intended to benefit a terminally ill patient then I say great. But if this is nothing more than a tool by insurers to discourage potential high risk patients to avoid laying out the money for their coverage then I give it a big stink-o rating. I say use it but don’t allow it to be used to deny coverage from someone who is fully covered. It should be a patient’s choice, not a requirement by insurers or hospitals
Larry i see we have similar thoughts…..for me it sounds more like some plan by insurance companies and doctors that depend on them for a livelihood….right now it does not pass the old sniff test…..