MetaFilter posts tagged with medicine and government

A very good article on health care economics

kliuless — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:40:28 -0800

How American Health Care Killed My Father After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem. (via mr) BONUS -Health Care Spending and PCE -Consumer Driven Health Care Plans -4 Points on Health Care -A Public Option Isn't a Curse, or a Cure [also btw Thaler vs. Posner] -'A Plan to Swissify America' (P.Krugman) -Why We Need Health Care Reform (B.Obama) -Health 2.0 could shock the system (E.Dyson) -Mont. Clinic Aims to Deliver Top-quality Care for Less -Cleveland Clinic Chief: Lower Care Costs Must Be Focus in Reform Efforts -Healthcare lessons -The world's worst healthcare reforms

Mother's Little Helper was only in trouble if it was mislabeled

Asparagirl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:26:18 -0800

The US Food and Drug Administration started regulating the labeling of food, beverages, and medicines after the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, and added food coloring and cosmetics with the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They have just released a new website, the FDA Notices of Judgment Collection, 1906-1963, containing data from thousands of cases of mislabeled or misadvertised products and drugs, available in multiple forms (text, PDF, metadata XML, .TIF image, etc.), with searchable archives. Poking around in the data will yield information on cases ranging from misbranding methamphetamine tablets, to quack "Film-O-Sonic" devices, to bacteria-laden unproven abortifacients sold over the counter, to purported "4-way" cures for baldness, to hunks of radium sold for putting in your drinking water to "stimulate the sex organs" (judged against for stating an unproven use, not for actual danger of product). Organized by the FDA's history office, the new database is a fascinating resource for historians, public safety advocates, researchers, and librarians.

Can We Cure the Health Care Crisis?

kliuless — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:43:26 -0800

Search for an Rx - We asked Johns Hopkins administrators, physicians, and researchers about the health of a system Americans rely on to keep them healthy. Afterall, an ounce of prevention...

Can we improve quality while driving costs down? As contradictory as the notion might seem, there is a precedent for doing better work at a lower cost. "The thing that is so hard for people to understand, but that was proven in the auto industry, is that when you focus on cutting costs, you automatically reduce quality. But when you focus on increasing quality, as we've done with safety measures here at Hopkins, you almost always reduce cost. It's counterintuitive," Brody says.

and in addition to finance (and the auto industry) it's probably also applicable to education as well...

Got to get that modem off my back

DiscourseMarker — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:50:54 -0800

Do you have a yearning to be online? Do you suffer from difficulty concentrating or sleeping, irritation, or mental or physical distress? According to doctors in China, you might have an internet addiction. Treatment can be pretty extreme, and some question whether there is a hidden motive behind this diagnosis. [Previously]

The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008

kliuless — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:40:18 -0800

Thirty-six years after the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse recommended that "simple possession" of pot be decriminalised, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), to remove federal criminal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams (about three-and-a-half ounces) of marijuana and the not-for-profit transfer of up to one ounce (28.3 grams). Drug reform advocates ~~lit up~~ hailed the legislation as "an important step toward bringing federal law into line with scientific fact, practical reality and public opinion." Is America, at long last, having a collective moment of sanity?

Senate Back Up For Grabs?

The White Hat — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:40:40 -0800

Newsfilter: The United States Senate may once again be up for grabs. Senator Tim Johnson, D-SD, 60, has reportedly just suffered a stroke and is currently undergoing tests at The George Washington University Medical Center.

Take for Ague, the grip, pluersy and dipsomania

klangklangston — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 16:50:01 -0800

These are the cures. These are the illnesses. Guaranteed to cure what ails you. A look at the fantastic science of medicine, and the fantastic art of bodies afflicted.