Any blame at all for the patients when it comes to our overwhelmed "horrific profit driven health care system"?
I am an ICU PA. I started during Covid and watched close to 500 people die in various ICU's from NY to TX to NC. Now I have gone 55 shifts in a row with a fentanyl overdose in my unit. Mostly because the crack cocaine is now laced with it. I agree that health education and access to primary care is severely lacking, big Pharma makes billions off of shady practices, and health insurance companies are borderline evil. However, the majority of my patients in the ICU on a nightly basis are there due to either drug and alcohol abuse, diabetes complications or COPD from smoking. I would say more than half of my patients are just absolutly noncompliant with any medication except for pain medications. This is in a population who's medications to include insulin, PrEP, and dialysis are paid for. I don't think many people are aware that 1% of the entire federal budget goes to hemodialysis companies. The vast majority of these cases are ESRD from uncontrolled BP and diabetes. Patients still constant skip HD and come to ED for treatment. I also think that non healthcare workers would be shocked to know that at any given time in the ED, more than ⅓ of the patients are there for mental health or drug abuse. We shame everyone from insurance, to Pharma and more recently providers. But are we ever going to acknowledge the fact that chronically noncompliant patients are also responsible for a huge amount of the cost of care in this country. You can educate, case manage, and literally deliver their medications to them and it doesn't matter. They will be back to the hospital in a few days using up vast amounts of resources. In my state most hospitals and almost all ICU beds have been full since the spring. Do the patients have any responsibility for the crush on the system?
Linking to Spotify account broken
I'll soon cancel my subscription unless this gets remedied. You guys have no customer service end? My supercast refuses to link with my Spotify. I've been trying to work with Spotify on this, but the problem seems to be on your end. I'd share the screenshot if there was somewhere here to do so. Every time I try to link it, it says "Something Broke"
First Time Invoking Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
Hey everyone, I wanted to get your thoughts on something that got brief attention by the mainstream media but seemed to go largely under the radar. On September 6th, a New Mexico State Judge ruled that Couy Griffin, a County Commissioner, be immediately removed from his position and barred for life from serving as a senator, congressman, elector or from holding any civil or military office federally or in any state based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This is a strategy that democrats have thought of using against Trump and other "Stop the Steal" people even though the only time it's been invoked since Reconstruction was 1919. In that instance, a Socialist named Warren Berger opposed the US entering WWI and was convicted of violating the Espionage Act (which was later overturned by the Supreme Court and he was eventually elected to Congress) and Congress prevented him from taking his seat based on Section 3. In Couy Griffin's case, he was convicted of a misdemeanor for illegally entering Capitol grounds. As much as I personally think the guy is a wacko, this seems like an extremely undemocratic move that could set a dangerous precedent to let a single federal or state judge decide who can run for public office or who can be removed from an office that he/she is democratically elected to. In fact, the people in this guy's county tried to recall him in 2021, but could not secure the required number of signatures to initiate a recall election. I included a link below for both the news story and the recall effort. Thanks for everything you're doing! (https://apnews.com/article/new-mexico-government-and-politics-5e2fd96d5f698017b974f878398578c8) (https://ballotpedia.org/Couy_Griffin_recall,_Otero_County,_New_Mexico_(2021))