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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (254504)	6/14/2008 6:11:28 PM
From: DMaA	Respond to of 793727

What we could do is teach everyone CPR. Demonstrating proficiency could be a HS graduation requirement. Have TV shows demonstrating it.

To: LindyBill who wrote (254504)	6/14/2008 6:28:08 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793727

LB, as you know, I do this for a living. Last night about 1 in the morning I was in the hospital, admitting a 41 year old man who had a "little stroke". He has very high blood pressure, and he is very casual about taking his medications. One of the important ones he didn't take in a couple of months. He has a good job and excellent medical insurance, and money is not a problem. He has cardiomyopathy and his heart is on the verge of failing. I spent a good amount of time late at night in the emergency room trying to get through this efing idiot's head that all his problems could have been prevented - and still may be helped - if only he would take his medications as prescribed. A few pills a day - and he would be much less likely to find himself disabled or dead, and his young children will not be orphans. That's why it pisses me off when people like that cardiologist dismiss medical treatments as half-witted and barely effective panoply of "prevention". He is very wrong. Most of the widely used diagnostic tests have been studied with respect to their Specificity, Sensitivity, positive and negative predictive value, etc. We know how to use them, and we know how to interpret the information they provide. Last I read, there is not enough correlation between the amount of calcium present in the walls of the coronary arteries, and the degree of coronary sclerosis. Maybe in time there will be enough convincing data - but for now, it is wrong to blame the slowness of the acceptance of the test by the medical community solely on financial interest. Niacin is still one of the important drugs in the treatment of lipid disorders. Probably still the best at increasing the HDL. Fish oil is also accepted. I'm sure many of the "alternative" treatments will eventually become mainstream - I welcome that. But some will prove to be snake oil. Sorting things out will take time.