Editorial calls for compulsory flu shots for all Canadian health care workers

From “Health workers should be required to get flu shots” in the Toronto Star:

“Every year, as many as 8,000 Canadians die from the flu. Another 20,000 are hospitalized. They are often old or sick and are already in the care of doctors and nurses. So there is more than a little irony in the fact that many of these medical professionals are reluctant to get their annual flu shot.

While most of us take the routine jab-in-the-arm like good citizens, too many health care workers don’t get vaccinated, exposing patients in their care to days of fever and chills — or worse.

Forced vaccination of health workers

From the Lyme Disease Sentinel:

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“Yesterday I attended a social function where I learned a bit more about hospital politics. A friend, who is an anesthesiologist, was very concerned over the changes being made in the hospital where she has worked for many years.She wasn’t specific about the changes but did say these changes were not in the best interests of the patient.

I half jokingly responded saying that these changes were probably in the best interests of the corporations. Her eyes widened and she exclaimed just how “on target” I was. YES, she said….that was the exact inference that hospital management made clear to us. Then my friend proceeded to relate to me one of her greatest concerns, one that she personally had to deal with……forced vaccinations of health care workers.

H1N1 vaccine which only last year was recommended for pregnant women is now blamed for many miscarriages

From a recent post on the Socio-Economics History blog:

“I told you not to take the H1N1 vaccine last year! Vaccines are used as a method of depopulation and many vaccines cause sterility. The Illuminati ruling elite has an ongoing depopulation plan. Fact or fiction? You decide. I strongly recommend you avoid all flu vaccines. Try Vitamin D and lots of sunshine instead !

Slovenian health-care secret: raw milk!

Slovenian raw milk automat. Keeping health care costs manageable!

Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist: “….In several columns, I’ve noted indignantly that we have worse health statistics than Slovenia. For example, I noted that an American child is twice as likely to die in its first year as a Slovenian child. The tone — worse than Slovenia! — gravely offended Slovenians. They resent having their fine universal health coverage compared with the notoriously dysfunctional American system.

NY Judge halts mandatory H1N1 flu vaccination for health care workers

This just in from WCBSTV, via Swine Flu Watch blog:

“NEW YORK (CBS): Health care workers in New York will no longer be forced to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, CBS 2 has learned.

A state Supreme Court judge issued a restraining order Friday against the state from enforcing the controversial mandatory vaccination.

Three parties – the Public Employees Federaion, New York State United Teachers, and an attorney representing four Albany nurses – challenged the order and for now the vaccination for nurses, doctors, aides, and non-medical staff members who might be in a patient’s room will remain voluntary.

New York was the first state in the country to initially mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers, but many health care workers quickly protested against the ruling. In Hauppauge, workers outside a local clinic screamed “No forced shots!” when the mandate came down at the end of September.

The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care — Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan makes this point in a NY Times opinion piece published yesterday. Here’s an excerpt:

Michael Pollan thinks eating might be connected to health care. Photo from Treehugger.com

“To listen to President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night, or to just about anyone else in the health care debate, you would think that the biggest problem with health care in America is the system itself — perverse incentives, inefficiencies, unnecessary tests and procedures, lack of competition, and greed.

No one disputes that the $2.3 trillion we devote to the health care industry is often spent unwisely, but the fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by our being fatter. Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet.

That’s why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases.” Not all of these diseases are linked to diet — there’s smoking, for instance — but many, if not most, of them are.