Tommy Douglas: Not Dead Enough

65 Replies to “Tommy Douglas: Not Dead Enough”

1. ….. Why does the fact that there are 8,000 to 12,000 deaths annually due to hospital-acquired infections not fill us with rage
   because its an autoclave not a pressure cooker?

2. So to all of those whistling past the graveyard of hospital acquired infections…..would you dismiss McNeil’s death if she were run over by a bus because hey, she was obese and dying anyway? Give your heads a shake. Unfortunately this thread was derailed from the get-go.

3. Yes, people should take care of themselves, eat apples, get in a good walk every now and again and so on. That doesn’t change the fact that many hospitals are hotbeds of bacteria and viruses. What is being done about that? We put money into a system that is barely efficient and heavily bureaucratised. Where is the bang for our mandatory buck?

4. I’m a volunteer at the extended care wing of a local hospital and I’m horrified at the number of staff who enter the facility and walk right by the hand sanitation section. Every time I touch a keypad or door handle I sanitize my hands, not so too many of the “professionals”. If I go in on the weekend when the bureaucrats are away there is parking to spare – but not so during the week when the place is crawling with paper pushers. Oh yes, and my brother-in-law contracted MRSA in hospital (from a nurse) after a car accident and died six years later, still in isolation.
   N. of 60 sounds like a disgruntled health care worker who doesn’t like criticism.

5. Because most people realize that hospitals host sick people. Sick people often spread their ills to others i.e.: the flu. If you are in a ill state the it is only natural that you are more prone to getting seriously ill if certain precautions aren’t followed or taken.
   Sometimes it leads to death. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you have control of it. Sometimes you don’t.

6. I have been a vocal critic of our health care system for years, but that was centred mainly on the delays in what are generally considered non life threatening surgical procedures such as hip replacements etc.
   Last year I damn near died. Internal bleeding caused by taking Ibuprofen, caused me to lose nearly half of my body’s blood supply. Beacause I was so weak and lapsing in and out of unconsciouness, it took me seven hours to crawl the 15 feet to the kitchen where I was able to knock the phone off the counter and get help.
   The paramedics were brilliant…I was whisked into the hospital bypassing ER because I was so close to expiring, and the treatment and consideration I received from the doctor and staff was indescribably good. Over the first three days was was given 7 units of blood (bless all blood donars).
   It is now difficult for me to criticize our health care system except for the following caveat…in genuine emergent situations, it is a brilliant, professional system that works well…where we fall down is on the elective surgery cases.
   I’ve also developed a healthy respect for supposed innocuous over the counter drugs.

7. After reading all the various rants from one side or the other, all I can say in response to most comments is this. Why would you trust your own personal health care to a stranger? It is not advanced physics to understand how to balance your exercise and nutrition for the body’s optimum performance. THe reason most people don’t is because they are lazy and prefer to believe it does not apply to them. Gaing weight? Push your fat ass away from the table and go for a walk. Eat fresh as often as possible and refrain from stuff that comes in a package. Get sunlight, exercise, fresh air, and eat well, and 99.9% of the things in life you have to deal with, your body will adapt. Read as much as possible and study your own physiology. You’ve probably met more than a few health professionals that have made you wonder how they got the job. You can empower yourself to deal with most of the stuff life throws at you. Your health is in your hands, trusting others with your money or your life is foolish.

8. Why would you trust your own personal health care to a stranger?
   Especially a stranger employed by a system that pays the same if we live or die. Employees of a socialist system have no skin in the game.
   Tommy Douglas, not dead enough…

9. ‘kay, my 2 cents.
   Infection is not caused by obesity,obesity can simply reduce the bodies ability to fight infection. Can not does. The CB hospital has a high incidence of infection. If you’re looking for a cause there it is. Rita’s weight may have made it difficult for her to fight the infection, but it did not give her the infection. I should note that I had two operations over the last 2 yrs and I developed an infection both times while in hospital.
   Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth due to an error in replication. It has multiple triggers and contributing stress factors. Saying that it is the result of the environment of the patient is simply disingenuous.

10. Reduce your weight by the simple expedient of not eating wheat, no bread(white or whole grain), no pasta and no pizza. I’ve dropped 30 lbs over the past 5 months, my type 2 diabetes has improved so much that I no longer need insulin. Look up “wheat belly”.

11. Hospital infections can be greatly reduced by the use of copper in hospitals, door plates, bed rails, door knobs. Bacteria cannot survive on a copper surface. Which is why you should use copper pipes for your drinking water.

12. Pretty funny, there are north of sixty comments on this thread already, thanks to north_of_60’s initiating “blame the victim” comment defending Canada’s system of socialized medicine.
    Sad to hear of Rita MacNeil’s untimely death, I enjoyed listening to her wonderful clear voice, and bought a few of her albums. She apparently died due to complications from an infection following surgery, though the news report didn’t mention what the surgery was for. Maybe she finally succumbed to the necrotizing fasciitis I heard she contracted around the same time as Lucien Bouchard did.
    Factors such as obesity and overindulgence, lack of exercise or addiction on the personal side, plus hygiene deficiency resulting from laziness or ignorance, inefficiencies, poor planning, outmoded practice and equipment on the institutional side all tend to diminish the quality of health(care).
    The socialist approach doesn’t foster either pride in one’s work or pride in oneself; the appearance of the proles who celebrated the death of Margaret Thatcher comes to mind. They believe the world owes them a living, and their attitude towards work is shameful. Going through the motions and putting in the time to get the money. There is little appreciation of what the final result should be. In a hospital setting, that will result in more patient discomfort and some premature deaths.
    Individual initiative and assuming responsibility for your own health, life, and work is important to improving overall health care, but most importantly your own well-being. So north_of_60 is more right than wrong but misses the point.

13. Thank-you for your important post on this subject, john robertson. RFB provided a link to the beast who forced the commi system on Canadians:
    http://www.katewerk.com/tommy/
    Tommy Douglas was just as RFB discribes him, that filthy slick rat hated people; especially healthy, intelligent people because he was a pathetic mini man with a big inferiority complex. Connect the dots everyone – Medicare was an ‘idea’ trumped up by far left control freaks who wanted a legal mechanism to get rid of people! To pit people against each other – the independent vs.the dependent, wealthy vs. less wealthy and poor – the human haters drummed up a hospital system to ensure that all sick and injured people were not treated with personal care and compassion. A ‘no fault system’.
    The obvious faults in this horrific system are not rocket science. All people should ask themselves some simple questions. For instance, why are the hospitals in Canada using ‘green’ bacteria friendly products to clean or why are people being paid to push around dust mops to redistribute the germs? What happened to bleach and fresh air?
    What is the motive driving the derelict lack of moral response by those in charge? See RFB’s link for the answer.
    Like many here, I know quite a few people who have contacted an infection while in the hospital; some of them died. This is deemed Progressive and positive in the minds of human haters.
    Obahma and his camp followers want a similar system in USA. This speaks volumes to me.

14. My 5 year old son ended up seeing a doctor because he had chest pains. The doctor immediately booked tests and an appointment with a specialist. SIX MONTHS later he saw the specialist, who never saw the test results because they got lost in transit. This isn’t in a remote “under serviced area either. This is Toronto.
    A six month wait, in what could have been an emergency is intolerable. That’s like a forty year old waiting 4 years. Six months was a wait of ten percent of his life span.
    The specialist said there as nothing wrong with him and he has been fine since, but the point still stands.

15. IV poles are another possible source of infection transmission. Have seen them stored in the corner of hospital hallways with fingerprints all over them. Fingerprints show up well on stainless steel.
    “The Census in Canada is a census that takes place every five years. The census is conducted by Statistics Canada. The census provides demographic and statistical data that is used to plan public services including health care, education, and transportation, determine federal transfer payments,and determine the number of Members of Parliament for each province and territory.” (Wikipedia)
    The census information over the past 60 years has definitively indicated that our population is aging and that this fact would put a strain on our health care system. How did Canada respond to these facts?
    In the early and mid 80’s new hospitals were built in every province, including small towns, and older hospitals were expanded to accomodate more beds costing the taxpayer billions; which would have been fine if all these new hospitals had not been abruptly closed and sold for a pittance 10 years later. The solution to the problem: provincial 1-800 health lines and do it yourself health care guides. This is gross negligence at best.
    Instead of increasing seats in training instiutions in the health field, they were reduced despite the demographics indicating there would most certainly be a shortage of doctors and nurses due to retirement.
    It’s much cheaper to simply let the aging population expire, and/or turn in desparation to alternative ‘health care’ that necessitates resorting to internet self-diagnosis and the cures sold therein; such as herbs, vitamins, minerals, accupunture, hypnosis, chelation, removing amalgam fillings, coffee enemas, spa treatments and the like.
    The sooner elderly or chronically ill people expire, by choice or otherwise, the less of a monetary strain it is on the health care system, Canada Pension Plan, disability, and social assistance programs. Expiration also free’s up inheritance money from the wealthy, who are understandably loathe to pay capital taxes, to their entitlement minded children and grandchildren who simply are not as thrifty as they were; therefore, more likely to spend instead of save-further boosting the economy. It’s a win win. Legalizing euthanasia will result in further savings.