Where are the American Whistle Blowers?

[baybee]

I am curious how the mistakes, deaths, infections, etc around circumcision can be kept in the closet in the U.S. Here in Canada, when incidents like that happen, one of the staff members makes a call to the local press and the cats out of the bag. I think that a lot of the movement we've had in this country to end circ has come because, once nurses, clerks, and aides start calling the press, the docs run for cover.

What do you think silences even anonymous phone calls in the States?
Baybee

[MommytoB]

No idea on that wish I would know.

[njeb]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the different systems of health care in the two countries. You lucky Canadians have universal health insurance. I wonder if that makes doctors more accountable to their patients and to society as a whole.
Here in the U.S., the medical system is almost totally privatized. If you can't afford health insurance or can't get it through your job, you are SOL. We have Medicaid for the very poor and Medicare for elderly people on Social Security, but there is an enormous group of working poor whose employers don't provide them with health insurance and can't afford to buy it privately. They go without needed care for years.
Couple that with "the doctor is God" mentality, and doctors here are virtually unaccountable to anyone. They have all the power in the hospitals. Furthermore, if a nurse, medical technician, aide, or clerk were to call up the press, chances are the press would take the doctor's side and wouldn't even investigate at all. It's scary when you think about it.

[Islay]

Originally Posted by njeb

I wonder if it has anything to do with the different systems of health care in the two countries. You lucky Canadians have universal health insurance. I wonder if that makes doctors more accountable to their patients and to society as a whole.

You may have a valid point there. In Britain we have had a National Health Service since 1948. The vast majority of our doctors work under its control. All are automatically accountable to their patients and, by definition, to society. Any newsworthy occurrence is reported locally and if big enough, nationally.

Christopher

[baybee]

I think there's plenty of "doctor God" worship here in Canada and we do have universal medical coverage so that no one gets turned away in an emergency but there are long waiting lists for surgeries (many people go to the U.S. for cancer treatment and surgery, if they can afford it). The really pathetic thing is that the politicians go to the U.S. for care for themselves and their families---doesn't give you too much confidence in our hospitals. I think the drs here are very clever at keeping things closeted behind closed doors, too.

The only way we find out about mistakes and breakdowns in the system is if a staff member calls the press secretly. The press here always seem ready to sell a good doctor bashing story---maybe we are more like Britain in that way. I'm pretty sure that Manitoba recently stopped the funding for circ because of a baby mix up incident in that province and when baby Ryleigh died here in 2002 from bleeding after a circ, that led to stronger statements against circ by our local College of Phys & Surgeons. The Paul Tinari story of a man who received $12,000 from Medicare to have his foreskin surgically restored was hidden on the internet in an obscure med journal. When I got it in my email, I sent it on to a local journalist and voila, we had a 2 page front cover color story on it. People think drs get their input from prestigous med journals, but I'm sure they get freaked out when they see a big story about a circ disaster on the front page of the daily papers.
Baybee

[pdx.mothernurture]

Originally Posted by baybee

What do you think silences even anonymous phone calls in the States?

I think there's currently a HUGE focus on patient confidentiality, and constant reminding and reinforcing of HIPAA regulations in clinics and hospitals. Unless a family comes forward or there's a lawsuit, it seems rare to hear about mistakes made by doctors/facilities that result in harm to or death of a patient these days.

Jen

[MillingNome]

I think we have a few things working against disclosuer (sp? I know I can't spell, whatever ) here in the USA. One is most males here have been cut. I will happily admit that the trend is down but still most do. IMO, since most had it done as an infant, it is difficult to even admit the lack of justification for the procedure. Who wants to see it as mutilation? As a mom who stupidily took the route of "let dh decide", I sure the heck don't like to think of it like that. I could see how others wouldn't either. From that line of thinking and all that backs it up as something NOT to do, I'm left with the conclusion that there is no "good" circumcision. How then do you judge one bad one from another bad one short of obviuos urination problems, infection &or death?

The second thing working against reporting is in general medical mistakes get hidden (or at least try) as much as can be done. No one really knows all the errors hospitals/clinics make since (as far as I know) there is no mandatory reporting, no guidelines for reporting and no central place to do it. The airlines are the opposite- everything has to get reported -every near miss, bag lost, flight delayed... You'd think we'd want the same sort of thing when it comes to our bodies, FCOL. Guess not. It may have to do with the risk of lawsuits.

Last I think there's an odd lack of curiorsity about health in general - how to maintain it, how it looks, how it feels to be healthy...

More than anything, it probably comes down to lots of good reasons to CYA and not enough to let the sunshine in.

[hakunangovi]

Baybee, you are correct, Manitoba was the last province to cease paying for circs . See:

http://www.phsctrust.ca/english/bull...bulletin17.pdf

Also Bulletin 16 shows that the Public Service medical plan won't pay for them any more.

Good news !!!

For some reason this thing won't bring up the entire address. It should read 'bulletins/bulletin17'.

[baybee]

It's just the way the forum abbreviates the weblink Howard, but don't worry it still works when you click on it even tho the middle is missing. The magic of MDC.

I'm still pinching myself that Manitoba has finally dropped circ from the Medical Plan. Now, THAT should be making big news in Canada. They had a mixup of two boys in the hospital in Winnipeg and I guess that was the final nail in the coffin for the medical plan.

Baybee