The (U.S.) overnment’s Assault on Women’s Health | e-Patients.net

The Government’s Assault on Women’s Health | e-Patients.net

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. | March 17, 2012 

"I’m a little confused… I’m not sure where the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the government’s right to interfere with the doctor/patient relationship. Nowhere in this historic document could I find anything about the government’s right to dictate how women’s health and reproductive health (but not men’s) are areas appropriate to government interference. (You won’t find it in any state’s Constitution either.)
Yet that’s not stopping government intervention into the doctor-patient relationship from state to state, completely oblivious to the lack of jurisdiction to interfere in this professional relationship. Imagine if the government started wanting to regulate how people practiced their faith?......"

John Crown: Move aside bureaucrats and let us take a lead

".....Professional managers have their place in any institution – but where they set the agenda it is likely to be serving political edicts to balance budgets and meet targets. “That often means the welfare of patients comes second, and also – and this may be an old-fashioned view – I do not think that doctors act solely in their own self-interests. We have higher ethical considerations than other professions.” ...........

John Crown: Move aside bureaucrats and let us take a lead:

Outspoken oncologists, willing to take on ‘the powers that be’, can often play a very helpful role in galvanising administrators and policy makers and pushing the priorities of clinicians higher up the agenda. There are notable such characters around Europe, but one oncologist has taken a bigger step into the realm of politics by becoming a senator in his parliament – from where he is able to directly challenge politicians and bureaucrats with the protection of parliamentary privilege.

Social Networking Sites and Politics - Pew Research Center

Social Networking Sites and Politics - Pew Research Center
 
Postings on social networking sites reveal surprises for many users when it comes to the political views of their friends. Nearly four-in-ten users discovered through postings by friends that their political beliefs were different than they thought. A small percentage of users blocked, unfriended or hidden someone on the site because their postings were too frequent or they disagreed with them.
Three-quarters of social networking site users say their friends post at least some content related to politics on the sites from time to time. They amount to 40% of the entire adult population.
For some users politics is an off-limits subject. Some 22% of SNS users say they have decided not to post political comments or links to political material because they were worried it might upset or offend someone.
Read the full report which includes:

• Users' responses by partisan affiliation and ideology
• How users have responded to political content they do not like
• Frequency of agreement and disagreement among "friends"

Article: Friend or foe? Nature (PhD student)

"As a PhD student, learning to navigate the murky waters of collaboration and competition is pretty confusing........But many labs continue to jealously guard their progress and sacrifice paper quality for personal recognition. Should such egotism be acceptable in science, the main aims of which are, ideally, discovery and innovation, rather than accolades for its practitioners? As a young researcher, I am puzzled that a community reliant on integrity and transparency is tolerant of lies and misdirection in the publications race....."

Can Canada get on with national pharmacare already? (the politics of cancer/healthcare)

We believe the public’s choice would be health care. With Canadians suffering and, indeed, dying every day from inadequate drug coverage, and with a national pharmaceutical strategy already in place, the lack of action on pharmacare is inexcusable.

(book) Commentary: The politics of precancer : The Lancet

"....The fact that most cases of cancer in this self-defined population (BRCA) was of a non-familial form and that the frequency of the mutation did not translate into a higher rate of cancer was ignored....."

Preventive strikes: women, precancer, and prophylactic surgery  By Ilana Lowy

 

Canadian Medicine: Little sympathy for lung cancer patients "Can't we do better?"

blogger's Note: really the question is not can we do better, but why we have not (aside from stigmatization aka: judging others)  given:
1) science's apparent apolitical stance;
2) decision-makers' rationale (evidence based??);
3) politicization of science/results 

"...Heather McQuaid, an oncology social worker maintains that lung cancer patients feel stigmatized. The superficial attitude that gives way to this stigma may very well be the reason why $25 million was invested in breast cancer research in 2007, compared with a paltry $8 million towards lung cancer, directly “impacting on the support these cancer victims receive, particularly from the healthcare system,” according to CEO and President of the Canadian Lung Association, Heather Borquez. Can’t we do better?"

Vesna Kesic: exporting excellence in women’s cancers - Cover Story - Cancer World

Growth of aid and the decline of humanitarianism : The Lancet

Nurses oppose the Ontario government's physician assistant role citing inadequate education, concerns over patient safety and unnecessary cost

Note: the RNAO also made the same statement regarding pharmacists (2009)


Toronto, January 22, 2010
"Members of the public will not be well served if the provincial government pursues a plan to allow physician assistants (PAs) to work in hospitals, family health teams, community health centres, and family physician offices. The board of directors of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) has unanimously endorsed a position statement, which raises serious questions about the level of education and regulatory oversight physician assistants have and how these could jeopardize patients..."

response to prior letter: HINI and Cancer

Note/background: Please reference prior blog postings Nov 1-5th, 2009  regarding the apparent lack of access to care of an ovarian cancer woman and the systemic issues surrounding the H1N1.

email response (better late than never) December 2, 2009 4:57 pm:

"Thank you for writing and bringing to my attention your concerns regarding the government’s handling of the H1N1 vaccine roll out. As you are aware, the vaccine is now available to all members of the public.
Your views and comments are appreciated and helpful to my work as Leader of Canada’s New Democrats.
Between the conflicting messages, queue jumping, and sole sourced contracts; we feel the federal government could have done a better job handling the distribution of the vaccine. NDP Health Critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis continues to be our lead on this issue and you can review her work by visiting: http://www.judywl.ndp.ca/news/health.

Looking forward, we will continue to press the federal government to take a proper role in helping Canadians stay healthy and providing access to treatment when needed through:

- promoting healthy living
- hiring and training more doctors and nurses
- creating a pan-Canadian home care program
- ensuring prescription medicines are affordable

If you are interested in our plans to improve health care in Canada, I encourage you to check for details here: http://www.ndp.ca/platform/healthcare.

Again, thank you for sharing your views and comments as they helpful to my work as Leader of Canada’s New Democrats. All the best.

Sincerely,
Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth)
Leader, Canada's New Democrats"