The Death Panels opt for the "Staples" approach. 
Posted on 05/19/2011 1:45:34 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
...”Does anyone remember the shortage of flu vaccine a few years ago, too?”...
A family member was diagnosed with the flu last week and the PA who saw her said, “You are lucky..We have been out of Tamiflu and just got some in today.” Folks, this should not be happening..Has the demand suddenly outstripped our usual supply or are we trying to treat the whole world or is it something else..Just wait until the severe shortage of doctors and nurses comes around..If we really want to survive, we will get government out of our lives and begin to place value where it is real and that is with people who have REAL skills and REAL experience running things..The politicians are, for the most part, money hungry lawyers who mostly view doctors, our medical establishment and our private companies as targets for lawsuits. I suspect those issues are feeding into these shortages.
my ex is a transplant surgeon. Say what you want about that but my point is that he often treats SEVERE rejection woth a drug called OKT3. Just this year....no more OKT3. The drug company stopped making it because “no one uses it”. yeah, right. I know transplant centers all over the U.S. that use this drug. The handwriting on the wall says this is just a way to eliminate critically ill patients who consume alot of time & money in healthcare. Scary.
I think what smart hospital administrators who want to take a stand against government health control should be doing is to determine areas where they can be self-sufficient. That is, find out what critical medical items you can manufacture yourself and start doing it so that you do not have depend on outside supply. Electrolytes are a good example of what I mean. It is not difficult to mix these and fill IV bags.
The Death Panels opt for the "Staples" approach.
Yes, my son’s ADHD meds are on a hit-or-miss availability these days
This is bad news for kids who need daily meds to function normally :-(
I wonder what is really going on????
a family member recently had to remove his elderly mother from a nursing home. They were told - you have to either be very very rich to afford the $7,000/month tab, or very very poor to receive it “free”.
They were unwilling to sign over all their assets.
So now they have to figure out how they’re going to take care of her plus her elderly husband who is in better shape, but unable to handle the responsibility.
She went in there because the daily visit from a nurse wasn’t cutting it.
As far as I know - Paul Ryan had nothing to do with any of this either.
The drug company stopped making it because “no one uses it”. yeah, right.Why would a drug company stop selling a drug that makes them money? I mean, how do they benefit by halting production? Scary story, regardless.
It makes me suspect the drug companies are taking their orders from gov officials because it does defy logic to stop production of these meds. Very scary, indeed.
sad sad story
It really makes sense to bond with a church or fraternal or affinity group, while you are still young and healthy, that has nursing homes or special communities for its members- usually the costs are less and the care is a bit more compassionate
If they were “unwilling to sign over all “their” (her?) assets then they are paying themselves to attend to her.
I hope they spend it on her care instead of trying to hoard their inheritance
“Does anyone remember the shortage of flu vaccine a few years ago, too?”
Yes, and I remember obama’s czar rationing it, giving it to “underserved” communities of black middle school kids, when people over 50 could not get a flu shot even from our family doctors. Luckily the pandemic fizzled.
And no outcry from the MEdia
I’m not sure how much inheritance there is to hoard.
They’re a typical middle class couple - probably have modest savings, and then their house.
He was still living in their house (which, I think is deteriorating)
She needs round the clock care - and he can’t do it.
sigh.
.Just wait until the severe shortage of doctors and nurses comes around..
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There will be plenty of doctors and nurses who will get 3 month vacations and cushy pensions. Unfortunately they will have the same SAT, ACT, and GRE scores of our nation’s “dedicated” government indoctrination teachers. /s
When it rains it pours
Na+, K+, buffers, sterile water -- how are oral electrolytes different from IV ones?
There was some serious backroom dealing with the pharma companies to get them onboard with Obamacare, and some serious money changing hands. Follow the money, if you can. The "most transparent administration in history" will attempt to thwart that endeavor at ever turn.
It makes me suspect the drug companies are taking their orders from gov officials because it does defy logic to stop production of these meds. Very scary, indeed.What a world we live in! Does the surgeon know ahead of time if his patient is more likely to have a *severe* rejection to their organ?
I think the difference is the preparation. IV ‘lytes would need to be prepared in a solution whose pH is compatible w/ blood pH (7.4). Also, they’d have to be completely dissolved so that no particulate matter would be accidentally injected. I think preparation of medication to be administered intravascularly is more complex than most think.
I can only speak for my ex. He had no idea the drug was out of production. He called all over the place & found one vial somewhere that had to be shipped in. Now, he has to treat the kids who reject with large doses of steroid. He had no warning or notice ahead of time.
I went to our OR pharmacy to get drugs for a liver transplant that I was doing one day (I give anesthesia). One of the drugs, called THAM, was not available. To make a long story short, it’s a drug we use in highly specialized & critical surgeries. I was told it’s on “national backorder” because the pharm company is limiting it’s production. Hmmmmm
I think a lot of companies are looking at the profit/loss of the new requirements, and choosing not to play.
My company has seen it, and it hurts the consumers but if the red tape is to much we don’t make money. And we don’t really interact with the FDA to much (we don’t make drugs).
I have been in and out of the hospital and have had 14 surgeries. When they told me I would be on TPN because I do not have enough small intestine to absorb nutrients, I never thought that I would have to worry about missing ingredients such as electrolytes.
I know that the FDA has messed around with other drugs and making relatively common drugs scarce. Any drug maker that had grandfathered status with the FDA was told to cease making those drugs until the FDA gave them the go ahead.
Many of these were pain meds such as Roxinal.
The other drug companies couldn’t increase making Roxinal because they were only cleared for a certain amount of raw products from the DEA.
Another beaurcratic mess.
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