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Surgical delays cost Canadians nearly $1 billion in lost time in 2012

"Long waits for surgery and medical treatment in 2012 cost Canadians more than $982 million in lost time and productivity, concludes a new report from the Fraser Institute. The study calculates that the average value of time lost during the work week was $1,129 for each of the estimated 870,462 patients waiting for surgery last year. Using data from the Fraser Institute’s annual survey of health care wait times (which found that Canadians waited 9.3 weeks, on average, from an appointment with a specialist to receiving treatment in 2012), the report estimates that patients across Canada waited a combined 10.6 million weeks for treatment last year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSurgical delays cost Canadians nearly $1 billion in lost time in 2012

“Hurry Up and Die”: The Inescapable Outcome of Socialized Medicine

"Since the old generally require more — and more expensive — medical treatment than the young, the increasingly aged population is putting a severe strain on Tokyo’s health care budget. One Japanese politician, however, has come up with a solution: Just let the elderly die, instead of treating them. That is, in fact, what is already happening in Great Britain, a country that has suffered under socialized medicine for 65 years. There, under a program of sedation and dehydration called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), National Health Service (NHS) hospitals euthanize about 130,000 people a year." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Hurry Up and Die”: The Inescapable Outcome of Socialized Medicine

Controversial study finds that big and famous hospitals aren’t always the best for surgery

"The group used two measures: the percentage of Medicare patients who died in the hospital during or after their surgery, and the percentage who stayed in the hospital longer than expected based on standards of care for their condition. Both are indicators of complications and overall quality of care, said Dr John Santa, medical director of Consumer Reports Health. Many nationally renowned hospitals earned only mediocre ratings. The Cleveland Clinic, some Mayo Clinic hospitals in Minnesota, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore rated no better than midway between 'better' and 'worse', worse than many small hospitals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingControversial study finds that big and famous hospitals aren’t always the best for surgery

10 Ways to Commit Nutritional Anarchy

"The most important thing we can do for our health right now is to learn about nature’s vitamins in preparation for the day that choosing our own supplements is against the law. For example, did you know that a cup of rose hip tea contains staggeringly high amounts of Vitamin C? Or that a cup of dandelion greens contains three times the RDA for Vitamin A? If nutrition becomes regulated by a bunch of bureaucrats who, at best, don’t really care about people, and at worst, hope to depopulate the globe, you must have the plans and weapons in place to live a life of nutritional anarchy." Continue reading →

Continue Reading10 Ways to Commit Nutritional Anarchy

Chickenpox (Varicella) Vaccine: This Is Why a Shingles Epidemic is Bolting Straight at the U.S.

"Shingles can be prevented by ordinary contact, such as receiving a hug from a grandchild who is getting or recovering from the chickenpox. But with the advent of the chickenpox vaccine, there is less chickenpox around to provide that natural immune boost for children AND adults. So as chickenpox rates have declined, shingles rates have begun to rise, and there is mounting evidence that an epidemic of shingles is developing in America from the mass, mandatory use of the chickenpox vaccine by all children." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChickenpox (Varicella) Vaccine: This Is Why a Shingles Epidemic is Bolting Straight at the U.S.

Japanese university to retract Novartis study based on fabricated data

"A Japanese university is to retract a study that touted the effectiveness of a blood pressure drug made by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis because it was based on fabricated data. The move was the latest chapter in a growing scandal over allegations that bogus data were used in a string of Japanese university studies for the drug Valsartan which exaggerated its effectiveness in preventing strokes and angina. On Wednesday, Tokyo's Jikei University School of Medicine said it would retract research that appeared in respected medical journal The Lancet six years ago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapanese university to retract Novartis study based on fabricated data

Energy drink makers tell Senate panel they’re being ‘victimized’

"Energy drinks are a small but growing segment in the non-alcoholic beverage industry in the United States, but health experts have expressed concern that their caffeine content poses risks in youngsters as heart arrhythmia and higher blood pressure. Last month, the American Medical Association called for a ban on the marketing of energy drinks to children and teenagers, said Senator Jay Rockefeller at the start of the hearing. He stated that in the first six months of this year, poison control centers in the United States received about 1,500 reports involving energy drinks, 'more than half of which involved children under the age of 18.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEnergy drink makers tell Senate panel they’re being ‘victimized’

Arizona Man Holding Air Rifle Killed In His Own Backyard In Drug Raid

"Tempe, Arizona, police in the Special Investigations/Narcotics Unit serving a drug search warrant Wednesday afternoon shot and killed a man in his backyard as he held an air rifle. John Wheelihan, 43, becomes the 22nd person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year, and the sixth in the last month. The victim appears to be a local photographer whose listed business address matches the address the police raided. Police did not say whether they were serving a 'no-knock' warrant, whether they were uniformed or undercover, or whether any drugs were discovered." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArizona Man Holding Air Rifle Killed In His Own Backyard In Drug Raid

Mexico’s peyote casts mind-bending spell on tourists

"The tourists just keep trickling in. They have not been deterred by the difficult topography, and there is no indication they have paid any heed to rusty, metal signs announcing regularly that 'HARVESTING AND SELLING PEYOTE IS A FEDERAL CRIME.' Nor has the legal background done anything to change the availability of local guides who, when they hear the magic words from tourists — 'We want to go out to the desert' — sidle up and quietly offer their services. Mayor Hector Moreno warned: 'Peyote is exclusively for (indigenous) Huichol culture. The rest of us are only supposed to promote its preservation and respect for it.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMexico’s peyote casts mind-bending spell on tourists