What a day, what a day!

I'll preface this entry by stating up front that I really didn't have a dog in this fight. As the spouse of a retired Army NCO, I have access to excellent health care at a very low price. If that option disappeared, I could pack up and move my family to Canada, where I could easily dust off my Ontario RN license and go back to work. In other words, we're covered, no matter what.

But millions of hard working people in one of the greatest countries on the planet have been denied the benefits that I have enjoyed. These benefits came to me simply by virtue of my place of birth and, subsequently, my choice of a husband who happened to be serving in the US Army. I am not special. I am not better than the millions of hitherto uninsured American citizens and legal resident aliens who share this land with me.

In another corner of cyberspace, I was actually accused of being selfish for praising the work of the American Nurses' Association in ensuring that our profession's voice was heard during the health care debate. I was slammed for applauding the notion that, effective this fiscal year, federal funding will be allocated to increase the number of primary care providers, including nurses. Because these parts of health care reform which pertain to the profession of Nursing are intended to address the critical shortage of nurses and the dearth of spots available in our nation's nursing schools .. somehow that makes me selfish? Really? How does one even address such a toxic attitude?

Meh. Maybe the cyberspace lunatic, and the rest of the hysterical wingnuts out there, are right. Maybe I am selfish for wanting to be able to actually take a few of the vacation days that I have earned over the years. Maybe I am selfish for rejoicing in the fact that some day, I will no longer have to watch a patient be discharged because a bean-counter from an insurance company has decreed that they have received enough health care, even though the health care professionals who are actually taking care of that human being have a different opinion. Maybe I am selfish for thinking that someday, I might retire, knowing that there will be a new generation of nurses to whom I will pass the torch.

What. Ever. Despite the screeching histrionics and the ridiculous posturing by various State Attorney Generals, President Obama signed the bill into law today. And, if I may be so superficial .. My God, but that stone fox is Presidential, is he not?

This is a great day. Welcome to the 21st century, America! Enjoy it in good health!

Briefly ...

I didn't watch the Health Care Summit today.

I was too busy taking care of sick people.

What I did watch today, however, was highly illuminating.

I watched our Infectious Disease Specialist spinning her wheels, forced to justify her prescription for a particular antibiotic, to a beancounter/pencil pusher who didn't even know what MRSA was. Like the good Doctor doesn't have anything better to do with her time. Like taking care of sick people, or something like that.

I've watched the same scene, or a variant thereof, played out time and time again. Bureaucrats who know nothing about medicine are bullying doctors and hurting patients for the sake of their bottom line.

Here's what I do know:

Americans deserve better.

All Americans deserve better.

And, simply put, Americans need to have a little more faith in themselves. They elected the smartest guy in the room to lead this great nation, and now they need to let him do his job.

Now, here's a bailout that I can get behind!

The California Nurses' Association has long been an advocate for single-payer, guaranteed universal health care. I have always been a believer in this approach - not just because I'm a liberal Canadian nurse - but because it is the sane and humane way to treat people. Anything less is uncivilized.

Now, more than ever, we need a single-payer system. Not only would it improve the health of America's people, it would also help to resuscitate the economy.

From that press release comes the quote of the day: Establishing a national single-payer style healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues, with another $100 billion in wages into the U.S. economy, according to the findings of a groundbreaking study released today.

Socialized medicine was already deeply carved into the makeup of Canada's culture and identity when I started nursing school twenty years ago. I remember, with great clarity, the words of one of my professors: Health care is not simply a fundamental human right. It goes beyond that. The health of a country's population is its greatest natural resource, and should be funded and protected as such.

Last year, I took care of a gentleman with multiple fractures who had fallen down a flight of stairs. He was one of the millions of working, uninsured poor in this country. My heart broke to see him crying in fear and despair, unsure of how he could possibly pay for this hospitalization. I'll make payments every week until I die if necessary! he sobbed. Those words are etched into my heart. No-one in this, the greatest country on the planet, should ever have to utter those words. And someday, in the not-too-distant, civilized, sane future, no-one ever will.

Typical short-sightedness

In the twenty years (gasp!) that have passed since I entered Nursing school, many things have changed. I am constantly amazed by the advances that have been made in surgical techniques, particularly laparoscopy. Surgeries which once required large incisions, long recovery times, and the risk of permanent nerve damage to the surrounding area are now performed through tiny keyholes with incredible precision.

If you'll forgive the pun, this cutting-edge technology has been brought to a new level by the DaVinci Robotic Surgical system. Developed in France, it was approved by the FDA for use in the United States in 2000. Applications include heart valve replacement, hysterectomies, and prostatectomies. Here in the USA, it is common to see billboards advertising a hospital's ability to perform surgeries with this new technology. The DaVinci system is expensive, but in a competitive health care marketplace, the bean counters know that they must spend the big bucks if they want to bring in the big bucks.

North of the 49th parallel .. meh, not so much. The DaVinci system is available in five Canadian cities, but none of the provincial Ministries of Health will cough up the extra $3000 to $5000 that a robotic prostatectomy costs, as compared to the traditional surgery to remove a cancerous prostate. It is left to charitable foundations to pick up the tab.

Never mind that the robotic surgery cuts the length of the hospital stay from four days to one. Never mind the reduced risk of post-operative infections in the age of C-Diff and MRSA outbreaks. Never mind the reduced risk of incontinence and impotence, both of which add to the cost of post-operative care. Never mind that any of these sequella could easily cost the Canadian health care system much more than $5000.

Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face!