[geeks] just to stir things up, a few predictions

[Mike Meredith]

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 15:18:09 -0400, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
> These other countries do not have HIPAA laws on the books; do not
> allow you to sue the govt in most cases even when there is clear
> medical malpractice; and further do not have the medical technology
> the USA does.

Bollocks. For a start, in the UK you don't sue the government in case of
medical problems, you sue the hospital or health care trust. And there
are regular occasions when people manage to get compensation out of the
system. Is it as much as is obtained in the US ? Almost certainly not,
but the UK hasn't got quite as much of a tendency to sue at the drop of
a hat.

As to levels of technology, I've got no idea how the levels compare and
neither do you unless you have evidence you haven't presented. But let
me let you into a little secret ... none of the UK, Germany, and Japan
are third world countries, and could well have better medical technology
than the US (I'm not claiming that's true ... just claiming it is a
possibility).

> England's health care in particular is NOT comparable to USA; at least
> according to the NHS horror stories written about in the Guardian and
> Telegraph.

Sigh. You judge the quality of health care on scare stories written
in the media that is obsessed with coming up with scandal stories ? If
statistics sometimes tell small white lies, anecdotal stories splatter
enormous tall stories.