Relying on experts and placing blind faith in them are two different things.

 

Ummm...wrong.

Do you know everything there is to know about chemistry, biology, engineering, and everything else that goes into the things we benefit from in modern society? No, you don't. You and everyone else rely on experts all the time.

Not really. We rely mostly on the marketplace. I don't need to rely on or even know the people that designed and built my iPhone, or my pencil. I rely on market forces to ensure that inferior products don't survive and that excellent ones thrive.

Getting treatment from a doctor I don't know personally is a very different exchange. There are market forces to remove the most grossly incompetent doctors from the market but even that is scant protection against something going wrong with my particular 'purchase'.

 

Not really. We rely mostly on the marketplace. I don't need to rely on or even know the people that designed and built my iPhone, or my pencil. I rely on market forces to ensure that inferior products don't survive and that excellent ones thrive.

Getting treatment from a doctor I don't know personally is a very different exchange. There are market forces to remove the most grossly incompetent doctors from the market but even that is scant protection against something going wrong with my particular 'purchase'.

And this depends heavily on your financial situation, where you live, and all sorts of other demographics. But largely your financial situation. Funny how that works, isnt it?

That grossely incompetent doctor can go work somewhere where no other doctors will go and those communities will have no choice. The system is designed to protect, just not the patient. It is after all a beaurocracy

 

Like most people my wife and I have our primary care doctor. Been maybe 25 years we have been seeing him. Something important is we both feel very comfortable with Dr. Mark, Every time he has given us a referral the specialist he referred us to have been excellent. I figure that is pretty important, a patient needs to feel comfortable and at ease with their primary care guy.

Back in October, October 9th to be exact I managed to have a motorcycle accident. I ended up with five broken ribs and a sort of chipped bone ankle. I ended up with 900 pounds of motorcycle on me. The squad took me to Cleveland Metro which has one of the few Type 1 trauma centers between Indiana and Pennsylvania. I had never been to a trauma emergency room but have nothing but praise for the team that worked on me. Their communication was amazing. It hurt to try and breathe but in keeping with humor I asked them "you guys did all go to school for this right"? What felt strange was unlike my primary care guy these people were all strangers to me, doctors and nurses hovering over me I didn't know. Yet, I felt comfortable with them all. Hurt like hell till the morph started working but yet not worried about their competence. On the bright side while the bike ended up on top of me I did stop before I hit the van in front of me. Been riding for over 50 years and finally dumped a bike. Actually the bike came out of it pretty well.

Anyway, it's important, very important that a patient be comfortable with their care giver. When I hit that ER it seemed I was surrounded by a great team of professionals. That was likely more important than anything else at the time. All in all 1 week Trauma ICU, then a step up for another week out of the ICU and then a week of physical therapy. Ribs still hurt when I cough and the ankle which was in an air cast still gives me a slight limp.

I also agree financial situation can play a roll. Between my Medicare plan and my Supplemental Insurance I had excellent care and everything was paid. However we pay for both Medicare and our supplement plan. My final cost was well over 100K.

Ron

 

Like most people my wife and I have our primary care doctor. Been maybe 25 years we have been seeing him. Something important is we both feel very comfortable with Dr. Mark, Every time he has given us a referral the specialist he referred us to have been excellent. I figure that is pretty important, a patient needs to feel comfortable and at ease with their primary care guy.

Back in October, October 9th to be exact I managed to have a motorcycle accident. I ended up with five broken ribs and a sort of chipped bone ankle. I ended up with 900 pounds of motorcycle on me. The squad took me to Cleveland Metro which has one of the few Type 1 trauma centers between Indiana and Pennsylvania. I had never been to a trauma emergency room but have nothing but praise for the team that worked on me. Their communication was amazing. It hurt to try and breathe but in keeping with humor I asked them "you guys did all go to school for this right"? What felt strange was unlike my primary care guy these people were all strangers to me, doctors and nurses hovering over me I didn't know. Yet, I felt comfortable with them all. Hurt like hell till the morph started working but yet not worried about their competence. On the bright side while the bike ended up on top of me I did stop before I hit the van in front of me. Been riding for over 50 years and finally dumped a bike. Actually the bike came out of it pretty well.

Anyway, it's important, very important that a patient be comfortable with their care giver. When I hit that ER it seemed I was surrounded by a great team of professionals. That was likely more important than anything else at the time. All in all 1 week Trauma ICU, then a step up for another week out of the ICU and then a week of physical therapy. Ribs still hurt when I cough and the ankle which was in an air cast still gives me a slight limp.

I also agree financial situation can play a roll. Between my Medicare plan and my Supplemental Insurance I had excellent care and everything was paid. However we pay for both Medicare and our supplement plan. My final cost was well over 100K.

Ron

My comment was based on the fact that in my health authority that spans a vast area that is sparsely populated, there is only one level 1 trauma center. It is a 10 hr drive from where I live and if something where to happen (lets say stroke where time is essential), there are days in the winter (like last 2 days) when medevac is not possible due to weather. In our hospital they cannot do much except watch you deteriorate... All these budgetary decisions are made elsewhere by people far removed who know nothing of the area and have never been here. Such is life

 

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740v1

Rapidly spreading variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have arisen in the United Kingdom and South Africa share the spike N501Y substitution, which is of particular concern because it is located in the viral receptor binding site for cell entry and increases binding to the receptor (angiotensin converting enzyme 2). We generated isogenic N501 and Y501 SARS-CoV-2. Sera of 20 participants in a previously reported trial of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 had equivalent neutralizing titers to the N501 and Y501 viruses.

Current vaccines still work on the mutants.

 

 

Body cleanup after a Florida night out without a mask during the pandemic.

 

(political reference removed)

The basement.

 

​

 

NOT an actual doctor or researcher! His YouTube bio says he's a retired nurse teacher.

Each of us should judge the research for themselves and not take his word for anything.
https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(20)30781-7/fulltext

89.2M total confirmed cases worldwide, 32 confirmed reinfections, 2,387 suspected cases of reinfection.


The table below shows confirmed cases of COVID-19 reinfection. The first confirmed case of reinfection was reported in Hong Kong in late August, and 31 others were reported over the next few months, along with thousands of suspected cases.
https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/08/covid-19-reinfection-tracker/

https://bnonews.com/index.php/reinfection-tracker-suspected-cases/

 

View attachment 227259​

So....vaccine researchers don't poop?

That's a good reason not to trust them!

(I should point out: I've done some of my best work sitting on the john.)

 

Not while actually doing the job...one would hope.

 

Not while actually doing the job...one would hope.

You've never had an epiphany while pinching off a loaf?

 

Not that I can remember.

 

Not that I can remember, I have most of those in bed while trying to fall asleep.

Have you tried Depends®?


(Oh, come on! Don't edit your post! It was a great setup!)

 

You've never had an epiphany while pinching off a loaf?

Mere mortals don't have an epiphany, ever.

 

https://www.mtlblog.com/en-ca/news/...-population-to-be-indoors-during-curfew-hours

Legault Said He Expects Quebec's Homeless Population To Be Indoors During Curfew Hours

 

https://www.mtlblog.com/en-ca/news/...-population-to-be-indoors-during-curfew-hours

Legault Said He Expects Quebec's Homeless Population To Be Indoors During Curfew Hours

The soft bigotry of ... high... expectations?

 

https://www.mtlblog.com/en-ca/news/...-population-to-be-indoors-during-curfew-hours

Legault Said He Expects Quebec's Homeless Population To Be Indoors During Curfew Hours

Politicians who make these orders should be assigned a homeless person for the duration of the order to provide shelter to. I suppose police can ticket the homeless and then take them to jail. The himeless will be much safer in overcrowded indoor places from COVID then they are on the street...

In Vancouver there has not been an outbreak of COVID among the homeless. They do continue to die of overdoes. 2020 deaths from overdoses in BC is 2x the deaths from COVID and it is mostly people 20-30 not rhose over 80. Many of those are people with mental health issues.

The circus continues.