When I think blacklists, I immediately imagine the McCarthy era. But it has been revealed that Twitter’s censors previously maintained blacklists, and among those whose tweets were suppressed was an impeccably credentialed Stanford professor with a medical degree and a PhD.
His sin? Disagreeing with U.S. government pandemic policies.
The ER at Beaumont Troy, the second busiest ER in southeastern Michigan, possibly averted a major bloodbath last August when an eagle-eyed hospital security officer confronted a visitor he suspected was carrying a concealed firearm. The man was roaming the ER’s main treatment area.
Turned out, the visitor was carrying a loaded gun, two clips for the firearm, and two large pocketknives.
The security officer was born to become a hero, as he was previously involved in three other acts of life-saving heroism.
Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan’s teaching hospital, is as good as it gets when it comes to healthcare in America. Unfortunately, when it comes to cybersecurity, Michigan Medicine appears as inept as its lesser rivals protecting its IT and patient information, underscoring that even top-tier hospital managements are out of their depths when it comes to safeguarding their technology.
It’s likely only a matter of time before hackers decide to hijack all U.S. hospital IT operations in one fell swoop. Federal intervention is required, but unfortunately the U.S. government is no better protecting its IT than U.S. hospitals.
At St. Michael’s Medical Center in suburban Seattle earlier this month a charge nurse working in the hospital’s problem-plagued ER was forced to call 911 and ask the fire department for backup support. There were reportedly five nurses on duty and 45 patients in the waiting room.
At Ascension Saint Joseph’s Medical Center of Joliet in suburban Chicago three nurses were suspended and escorted from the hospital after voicing concerns about ER staffing. According to the Illinois Nurses Association, there were only four nurses available to treat 46 patients. The unit’s staff requirement was 14 nurses.
In Dallas, a maternity ward nurse and a case worker at Methodist Dallas Medical Center were shot and killed when a gunman on parole and wearing an ankle bracelet opened fire. The gunman reportedly hit his girlfriend while she was in labor and then opened fire on the hospital staff.
Although the three incidents in different regions of the country seem unrelated, what binds them are the inept managements overseeing U.S. hospitals.
The Providence hospital system’s recent $22.7 million settlement with the DOJ for performing unnecessary back surgeries reaffirmed the wisdom of Dr. John Sarno, who decades ago warned that most back surgeries were unnecessary. If Sarno were alive today, the medical establishment, the legacy media, and social media censors would rally together and dismiss him as a quack spreading “misinformation.”
Regretfully, back and spine surgeries aren’t the only medical procedures patients must be wary of.
A recent New York Times expose on the Providence “nonprofit” hospital system served as yet another reminder that McKinsey consultants might not be the business geniuses they are cracked up to be, particularly in healthcare and media.
When Centene’s brainiac CEO Sarah London went into healthcare after graduating with an MBA from the prestigious University of Chicago it appears unlikely that she imagined herself eventually leading one of the industry’s most ethically challenged companies.
The American Hospital Association last week began priming the PR pump for another taxpayer bailout. This time the AHA faces some formidable opponents to the business practices of the association’s leaders and members.
Said one industry critic: Hospital prices are “indefensible” and “unsustainable.”
A nearly three-day strike staged at 15 hospitals in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Duluth this week could become increasingly commonplace if the formidable Minnesota Nurses Association prevails in its staffing and wage demands. Underscoring their arrogance and HR mismanagement, the impacted hospitals assured the public that the scab nurses they recruited were just as good as the ones they replaced.
Here’s why the public should be wary of the specious claims and stand in solidarity with nurse unions.
Some thoughts on why hospital CEOs across the country should be trembling about the strike efforts of the Minnesota Nurses Association, the American Hospital Association’s propaganda about its member’s rising costs, holding CEOs legally accountable for deaths resulting from staffing shortages, and some rare positive healthcare news coming out of southeastern Michigan.