Hi, everybody, eh!

May 28, 2008 11:26 PM

An analysis of the medical care provided to the family of Homer J. Simpson from the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
posted by jtron (22 comments total)

FYI, fellow mefites: it's a PDF link, and the article in question is approaching ten years old.
posted by heeeraldo at 11:35 PM on May 28, 2008

The very same CMAJ issue also has a counterpoint response [PDF] to the article.
posted by chrominance at 11:42 PM on May 28, 2008

Oooh, thanks for that followup link, chrominance.
posted by jtron at 11:55 PM on May 28, 2008

"Well, if it isn't my old friend Mister MacGregg, with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg!"
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:19 AM on May 29, 2008

FYI, fellow mefites: it's a PDF link, and the article in question is approaching ten years old.

And Grandpa is still waiting for his hip-replacement.
posted by three blind mice at 1:28 AM on May 29, 2008

And Grandpa is still waiting for his hip-replacement.

Which is way better than the US, where he simply can't affor one.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:18 AM on May 29, 2008

Which is way better than the US, where he simply can't affor one.

Doesn't make much difference to Grandpa does it?
posted by three blind mice at 4:40 AM on May 29, 2008

Knowing that physicians’ fees are the real cause of the health care funding crisis, Dr. Nick produced a TV ad in which he offered to do any surgical procedure for just $129.95 (Can$193.95 at time of writing).

Holy crap the Canadian dollar was weak back then.
posted by thisjax at 5:34 AM on May 29, 2008

Who are these precious snowflakes who think they deserve better state health care than Abraham Lincoln got?
posted by jfuller at 5:37 AM on May 29, 2008

thisjax: I prefer to think of it as, "Holy crap, the US dollar was strong back then." Right before I start weeping at the lost revenue from my US clients.
posted by djfiander at 5:52 AM on May 29, 2008

I've got aging parents in Canada, it's not perfect but they get good care and urgent procedures get administered quickly. They also didn't have to take out a second mortgage, have fund raisers or file for bankruptcy to pay off their medical debts. So I guess three blind mice, that I'd say Grandpa is way better off than he would be in the US system unless you're Grandpa Montgomery Burns.
posted by substrate at 6:17 AM on May 29, 2008

It's the Montgomery Burns' who own the National Post and the Sun newspapers who decry the Canadian system, and want to be more like the US. The Post readers agree, the Sun readers don't care who pays, as long as the ultimate result is the rack on the Sunshine girl.
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 7:23 AM on May 29, 2008 [3 favorites]

FYI, fellow mefites: it's a PDF link, and the article in question is approaching ten years old.
posted by heeeraldo at 11:35 PM on May 28 [+] [!] Sure, PDFs are mildly annoying, but I don't get why people complain about old links. So what if its old as long as its not some played out meme?
posted by serazin at 7:39 AM on May 29, 2008

i dont get why this isn't stupid.
posted by yonation at 7:43 AM on May 29, 2008

It may be ten years old but that means it's drawing lines from when this show was in its prime. This exchange between Hibbert and Lisa made me laugh out loud.

“Yes, I remember Bart’s birth well,” he (Hibbert) said. “You
don’t forget a thing like Siamese twins!”
“I believe they prefer to be called ‘conjoined twins,’ ”
Lisa replied.
“And hillbillies prefer to be called ‘sons of the soil,’ ”
Hibbert responded, “but it ain’t gonna happen.”
posted by Ber at 9:03 AM on May 29, 2008

Sure, PDFs are mildly annoying, but I don't get why people complain about old links. So what if its old as long as its not some played out meme?

It's not a complaint, just an FYI, as heeraldo explicitly notes. Readers of the article would surely like to know that there is now another ten years' worth of data on Hibbert and Riviera which this article does not cover.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:18 AM on May 29, 2008

Right before I start weeping at the lost revenue from my US clients.

I'm right there with you, djfiander. Mmmmm...sixty percent exchange premium *gurgling homer donut sound*. D'oh!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 9:21 AM on May 29, 2008

From the rejoinder: Canadian patients also present with distinctly Canadian conditions such as “constitutional fatigue”
posted by russilwvong at 10:49 AM on May 29, 2008

Oh man, this article and the follow-up are the #1 medical librarian trick to making our jobs seem cool and relevant to people who are not in the health fields...you can teach about subject headings all day, but the only thing that really captures their interest is the goddamn Simpsons articles. There's more published since this one, as well.
posted by holyrood at 1:10 PM on May 29, 2008

I posted the note because I thought it was convention that PDF links be noted as PDF links, and also because I did a couple double-takes (especially re: dollar values) that were cleared up when I read the date.

I didn't mean for it to be a "OH BOO TO OLD ARTICLES" as much as a "hey be aware of this piece of context" - sorry.
posted by heeeraldo at 10:57 AM on May 30, 2008

Thanks -- old can be good. Sadly, the state of health care financing and return on investment has gotten worse. :(
posted by skepticallypleased at 7:23 PM on May 30, 2008

nice to see the canadians have a sense of humor. i doube we'd ever see something like this in the nejm.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 11:03 AM on June 9, 2008