August 9, 2004
WHY CAN'T WE BE LIKE CANADA?:
Bacteria That Strikes Elderly Spreads in Canadian Hospitals (CLIFFORD KRAUSS, 8/09/04, NY Times)
A type of bacteria that causes virulent diarrhea in the elderly has been spreading through hospitals in Quebec and Alberta and may have contributed to the deaths of 100 patients in one institution alone in the past 18 months, medical authorities said Sunday.The spread of an infectious illness in at least a handful of hospitals has stirred the concerns among Canadian health experts that surfaced last year when more than 40 people died in and around Toronto during the SARS epidemic, mostly in hospital settings.
Hospital officials conceded then — and still do — that their housekeeping staffs have been stretched thin because of cutbacks in federal and provincial funding in recent years and that sanitary conditions leave much to be desired.
The bacteria are commonly found in hospitals, and does not pose a health threat to healthy people. But it can be deadly to already weakened people who are being treated with antibiotics for other illnesses that allows the bacteria to flourish in the intestinal tract.
A new analysis by the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that in two hospitals in Montreal and one in Sherbrooke, Quebec, the rate of patients contracting the bacteria, known as clostridium difficile or C. difficile, had increased from 2.1 cases per 1,000 admissions in 2002 to 10 per 1,000 in 2003 and that the upward trend had continued this year.
This is the model system that the Left proposes we emulate. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2004 11:14 AM
But the Left (especially the professional Left) just loves diarrhea.
Posted by: ratbert at August 9, 2004 11:59 AMAnd what evidence exactly shows that this problem is has systemic roots?
Posted by: jay at August 9, 2004 12:15 PMjay - Antiseptic procedures are costly and socialized medicine systems typically give health care workers few incentives to bear those costs. They cannot be fired or lose pay; on the other hand, they are not well paid, and cannot expect raises for good performance. Their only way to increase their standard of living is by consuming leisure on the job, which they can do at the cost of putting patients at more risk. I have seen it reported that diseases are contracted in hospitals much more frequently in socialized-medicine countries than in the U.S.; and to an economist this is no surprise.
Posted by: pj at August 9, 2004 12:28 PMjay--
It is true that private and NHS hospitals get a different "patient mix", but it is not significant enough to explain the contrast between thousands of deaths a year from MRSA in NHS and absolutely none at BMI hospitals...But at a more profound level, the MRSA crisis is because the NHS is a state monopoly. Ministers are always making hospitals respond to the latest newspaper headlines rather than doing what is best in the overall interest of patients; hospital workers - like many employees of state industries - are demoralised and their pay rates are unresponsive, thus causing the local shortages. The state has also closed too many hospitals. The list of ways in which it has increased the risk is endless.
Posted by: Brian (MN) at August 9, 2004 12:48 PMALL:
If you've not seen it yet, we can't recommend Barbarian Invasions highly enough:
http://www.jamesbowman.net/reviewDetail.asp?pubID=1459
We're hoping to have a discussion here later this month.
Posted by: oj at August 9, 2004 12:56 PMI'm basically anti-diarrhea, but non-partisan about it. So I am on a mild crusade to forbid selling escolar to naive consumers.
The evil FDA did ban it in 1993, but was forced to back down by a combination of restaurateurs and fishmongers.
Commerce must be served!
Posted by: Harry Eagar at August 9, 2004 2:03 PM1% of all admissions contract C. difficile ??
Welcome to 1904. Good golly.
But even if you're hospitalized in the US, ask your attending nurses and doctors if they've washed their hands since seeing the last patient.
It's a routine policy that often gets honored in the breach, due to time demands.
Michael:
Not likely. They wash their hands because of you, not for you.
Posted by: oj at August 10, 2004 12:00 AM