One of my friend's daughters came home from jaunting around the world with a bad case of sinusitis, and went to see her regular GP's holiday replacement for treatment.
She was handed a five day prescription for one of those fancy third or fourth generation antiobiotic thingeys.
At the end of that five day treatment... she promptly relapsed, after passing the nasty bug to her whole family who was ill over Christmas.
Memories, memories...
When I came to France, the length of the standard antiobiotic prescription was 8 days. Accompanied by a corticoid, or some kind of anti-inflammatory medecine.
Now it is... 5 days.
So... we could all suppose that bringing it down to 5 days is progress due to those NEW K.O. drugs that have come out, right ?
Not on your life.
For the past two years, at least the French government has been involved in a major propaganda campaign to limit antibiotics. (Some say.. education, but I say propaganda. I think that probably all MASS education/information has the structure of propaganda, but we can debate this if you wish.)
And there is considerable pressure on the GP's NOT to prescribe antibiotics, even though everybody pays lip service to the idea that "of course, of course, antibiotics are necessary in some cases".
So... just what do the powers that be obtain through their... pennypinching, and their fumbling attempt to correct a situation where too often, antibiotics were prescribed for conditions that did not warrant them ?
A remarkable opportunity to favorize the creation of new antibiotic resistant strains of illness, EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSEDLY ATTEMPTING TO CORRECT BY RESTRICTING PRESCRIPTIONS !!!
Kafka, anybody ?
Much of this nonsense is the result of... too much government control over health care.The attitude underlying so called "socialist" government in Europe has led to the top heavy, suffocating structure in Brussels that I so dislike, while it permeates our European ideas about what government is supposed to be/do for its citizens.
Actually, I rather like Adam Smith.
When you posit at the base of a liberal ideology an individual who is... cooperative, caring, and altruistic while also being greedy, selfish, etc, you get a vision of man that enables you to have faith that the individual is not necessarily out to cheat "the system" at the first opportunity.
Not necessarily. And "you" are free to go on to another drum to beat.
10 comments:
Amen
I like this post! ;-)
Check out my last comment on your last post, Thai.
The one I responded to then deleted?
"The one I responded to then deleted?"
I hate to think how many Ambien-induced regrets I miss when I miss a day ;)
So I've missed a lot of debating from the last post, but I still wanted to play:
"This is the one thing that Hell has taught me is incorrect thinking: you really are not, even though I do find this hard to remember at times.
Kidney failure, etc... shortens lives and also require that healthy people care for those who are ill. This means that their total costs go down as they live shorter lives and that further those who are healthy earn more as their services are in even higher demand.
Remember how I said one cannot change the underlying structure of society- at least if the conservation of energy and Sugarscape are to be believed."
If one frames the question as "Is Dink likely to spend more of the collective's money (by living longer) relative to the frat boy?" The answer may be yes.
But if you frame the question as "Is Dink better off not being yoked to the frat boy's lifestyle-induced health expenses relative to being taxed for boundary-less universal healthcare?" I believe the answer is no.
Framing = which Sugarscape field is being analyzed under the current query?
Which makes your statement "I think my next post will be on non-linear systems and how linear thinking gets us into so much trouble in a non-linear world" very intriguing.
Related, have you ever played Sudoku? Its game with simple rules, but it shows "planes" interacting so perhaps it makes a very stark, basic example of the linear appearing non-linear at times. Or maybe I'm reaching, here.
"I want more life. ;-)"
That's the spirit!! Fight like a bastard for every minute of lifespan we can steal!
I can tell that you guys are much younger than I am.
All of those aches and pains have not started to intrude on your consciousnes, to limit your mobility in any permanent, definitive way.
You are not forgetting names yet.
You are not thinking about the dim prospect of having your adult children farm you out to a nursing home at some point in time.
Your capacities for identification are still limited on this topic.
I'll have to rattle my neurons to find the Shakespeare play (no, I found it immediately, it's "As you like it", where the character Jacques gives his long speech about the human condition, finishing at the finish "sans eyes, sans teeth, sans everything".
NOW tell me how excited you are about living right up to the very last minute.
Hey guys, just working a lot so not much time.
If something is deleted, it is still in your gmail inbox. ;-)
Remember, it is not a good idea to always leave a comment on a public blog.
I would suggest you have your gmail accounts forward to your main email accounts and the comments will simply flow into your inbox.
How do I go about doing that Thai ?
I seem to vaguely remember SEEING my gmail at some point in time, but now it has disappeared and those faulty neurons do not allow me to keep up with all the stuff that I need to maintain in my head all the time. You know, all those passwords, user names, etc etc.
LOL!... Sometimes you guys
Deb, when you write a post on this blog, you use an email address from gmail to log in.
Just go to Google and in the right upper part of the screen it says "sign in". Use that email and sign in and then go to "gmail" and it will be right there.
Once you are in your gmail inbox, again look in the right upper portion of the screen for "settings" and then click on the tab for "forwarding and POP/IMAP". Once you have done this, click on the circle that says "Forward a copy of incoming mail to"
and put in your main email address. This means anything that is produced as a comment on any blog you also comment will simply be forwarded to your email inbox.
I personally find it much easier to do this than to have to come back and forth to check for new comments on any blog I comment.
Saves you lots of time.
Let me know if you figure it out.
And when you look in your gmail inbox, you will find my response to your comment which I deleted to keep it form remaining public"
Good advice! I just checked and found a message about a new sci fi series. But if I open it I may fall into rabbit holes. And then how will I experience 36 minutes of order? Must... strive... for... order!
So in one of the last books I read had a 78 yo genius who needed to train a replacement quick. Watching a street urchin playing a complex video game, he decided to choose him. The kid grew up in post-apocalyptic anarchy, but within ~2 yrs he had passed the master in ability. But then this same author had a different book where the gov tried to "download" training into people and it fried their neurons. So it begs the question of what the max capacity for learning/integrating/perceiving is.
My screen doesn't work the way that yours does, Thai. I can see how to get comments forwarded, but the Gmail doesn't appear automatically like yours...
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