“Provided they were funded well enough.” There you go. Where does the money come from? Low-volume OB work is (a) a net financial loss because of 24 coverage requirements, insurance premiums and facility costs and (b) a high financial risk due to the high medical risk of errors (tort exposure). So the money isn’t…

That’s not the argument that anyone is making, obviously. But a hospital has to balance its resources and risks to provide the broadest scope of high quality care it can. If it hosts a low-volume L&D program, the risks of catastrophic financial loss threaten the rest of the institution. It’s also a money suck that…

I don’t think I’m ignoring those factors. The basic problem is a conflict between the desire to provide a specific category of service and the financial reality that the cost (and risk of cost) of that service threatens a hospital’s ability to provide all other services. So a hospital can have a cath lab and an OR and…

Not just government run care, but the constitutional power to force people to work in a place and in a job they don’t want - or, seriously expensive incentive programs.

I think you’re misunderstanding the point I’ve been making and also the factors involved in hospital expenses. Yes, a patient may wish there was a nearby hospital competent to solve her medical problem. Presumably the patient will also wish that the hospital has staff with the right training, the right equipment and…

That’s the thing: it’s going to be hard to convince medical personnel to spend their working lives making absolutely no money in the middle of nowhere. Their student loans are too backbreaking to make that an option.

It was closed due to budget - yes, it means it was too expensive to pay staff and cover costs. That’s because (a) they can’t hire enough staff because they don’t want to work there and (b) the insurance premiums are sky-high because they have to account for the higher risk. The article basically ignores the fact that…

What should happen? A major hospital in every small town, staffed by nurses and OBs who are forced to practice there?

I don’t know. Perhaps. I’m trying to understand whether this was an ad solely targeted at the Japanese population, only. It’s a fairly hermetic country, so if there were fewer persons of African descent, it might simply reflect the demographics of the place.

Thank you! Wonderful guidelines. FLAG FLAG FLAG

From a Harvey survivor in Houston... sending you good vibes and prayers.

I remember hate-watching that show because I loved Robert Downey Jr on it. And I was an early trailblazer in arguing on online comment boards — because I thought RDJ was the fucking bomb and the women of the world were all like ‘Ew gross, what is Ally even doing with that druggie has-been?’ And I continued to defend…

They could have evacuated all nursing home and hospice residents ahead of the storm. And some of the most frail would have died in the procese due to the physical and psychological stress, disruption to their medication routine, and lack of access to their knowledgeable care givers. And if it turned out their…

lmao! you basic partisan. I’m not a Trump supporter by a long shot. You have to be informed to tell it like it is, pumpkin.

In a city of several million how exactly do you think that should be done? Instead of judging them, send a donation for when the recovery starts.

I think she is suggesting that evacuating Houston during Rita was a nightmare and ultimately found to have been unnecessary. Even if you use counterfluence on the highways, you are evacuating 4 million people up I35. At some point, the hurricane overtakes the huge caravan evacuating, and it becomes its own emergency.…

Houston resident here. Currently hunkered down in Seabrook (part of Houston literally in the coast). Dickinson is just South of me & all of these areas were under voluntary evacuation as soon as Thurs PM or Fri AM, which was literally defined for elderly or medically compromised. The onus of responsibility falls on…

The funny thing is, the Mayor and most of our city officials are Democrats...so people trying to paint their actions as incompetent (which they aren’t so far) to make Republicans look bad are way off the mark. 

Of course they’re from Hurricane Rita—that’s the point. You clearly did not read the OP in the link. Last time a sudden mass evacuation was ordered, hundreds of people died because that’s what happens when you try to do a sudden mass evacuation. This is a MASSIVE city with millions of people. The mayor made exactly…

Mass evacuations are often counter productive in these situations, if you aren’t in a low lying area likely to get over run by storm surge. If everyone had evacuated the roads would have been a parking lot and then people would have died on flooded highways.