For the Health Care professionals in the crowd... update article... quite long.

Diane

Merging Off Course
Unexpected red ink forces layoffs, service cutbacks at UCSF Stanford Health Care
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, June 17, 1999
)1999 San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/06/17/MN09PAG.DTL

[snip]

Not only are UCSF's hospitals losing money, but two-thirds of a $125 million computer billing overhaul for the four-hospital system is being spent in San Francisco. UCSF's antiquated machines were found to be especially vulnerable to the Y2K computer bug, needing replacement before Jan. 1, 2000.

[snip--to end]

Question: What happens to our health care system if Y2K costs and cash flow cause closings?

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 21, 1999

Answers

Midwives. Leeches. Do-it-yourself surgery. No problem. Geesh.

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), June 21, 1999.

What will happen? Hmmm, maybe terminally ill patients will die peacefully instead of lingering on for months using up expirimental drugs at costs of tens of thousands of dollars to families. I always thought that most hospitals are a money making racket. And thats why I think Dr. Kevorkian was wrongfully convicted and wrongfully sentenced. For once someone in the professional community stod up and said hey, let the laws of selection (ie, survival of the strongest) prevail. No more spending billions of dollars anually to keep sick people getting sicker and healthy people worrying about every little thing.

Maybe Y2K will force some necessary cutbacks in hospitals. Finally show people that most illness starts in the head and ends up in the hands of doctors who require six digit yearly salaries.

IMHO

-- (FWIW@Y2000.com), June 21, 1999.

I resent the "survival of the fittest" talk. I had a kidney transplant last November. Right now, I am strong enough to spend a good portion of the day splitting wood and doing other preps.

Because I have a health concern, am I supposed to die off to make room for people like you? Is this your belief system?

Are you really saying that we are all better off without any hospitals and any medical facilities?

Please think things through before posting.

I know that a lot of medical care is spent of those who are very close to the end of their lives. The problem there is there is no easy way to make a decision as to when to pull the plug.

I wish you a long and healthy life. If you do have a problem, I hope there will be the resources to patch you up. And I hope you will have a more positive outlook on the rest of humanity.

-- David Holladay (davidh@brailleplanet.org), June 21, 1999.

I never said we should do away with modern technology and hospitals and such. The very fact that you read that from what i said just goes to show how susceptible society is to the whims of doctors. I only said that modern technology has been used as more of a money making scam than a real benefit to society.

And as far as resenting the "survival of the fittest" theory, how would you rather have this world function? Survival of the weakest? Survival of the immoral? Survival of the decadent?

Sorry if what I said offended you, but I'll never back down on what I said. A world where every single person gets to sponge off society no matter how useless they are is what we are headed into. I can't see how the future of humanity is ever going to look optimistic if keeps going down this path.

No, modern technology is good, but more and more this political correctness has given way to a total dependence on technology. And I don't see how having a kidney removed or replaced is on the same level as keeping brain dead patients alive for fifty years, just because they "have a right to live". This subject is hard to describe in a few words because it's all so situationally relative. I'm not saying "hey, let's go and slaughter everyone who has the slightest weakness". I'm saying "hey, let's have a little perspective about the synthetic ecosystem we have created in the last fifty or sixty years". Just outside our front door is "the real world", and it's not forgiving and it's certaintly not politically correct.

I was raised on an isolated farm in Montana. And where I come from, when you stop pulling your weight you get left for dead. It may be a harsh reality to you but when I get to the point where I can no longer pull my own weight I wouldn't resent it if I was put out to pasture in the spirit world. Call me barbaric but if you ever have a spiritual epiphany then you'll understand that you can't change human nature no matter how many legislators you hire.

Maybe some people are just too insecure about death to face it with a clear conscience,... perhaps?

Don't fear the reaper. IMHO

-- (FWIW@Y2000.com), June 21, 1999.

in his great=MERCY GOD gave us doctors'& NURSES'st.-luke was a physician.HURRAY for GOOD drs. & NURSES.come y2k-many will have=ONLY the''great-phycision''

-- al-d. (catt@zianet.com), June 21, 1999.

Al-d ,

In a strange way you have said exactly what I was fumbling around trying to say. Yes doctors and nurses are a good thing, I wouldn't ever advocate getting rid of modern medicine. But if when we die we go to Heaven, why is everyone so scared of dying? Sooner or later you have to ask yourself if maybe God is telling you that it's time to "exit stage left"

Like I said,... don't fear the reaper.

-- (FWIW@Y2000.com), June 21, 1999.

yup, I LIKE THAT exit-school-of-prep.--JESUS conquered death. when HE rose from the grave. && my bible say,s as HE is so are HIS kids. immortal---just walking around in earth-suit.

-- al-d. (catt@zianet.com), June 21, 1999.

My daughter works at a clinic. They are working on theri computers right now. It is a total mess. Data is being lost, insurance claims are being assigned to the wrong accounts, claims are not being posted at all, and the computer is sprewing forth wrong information.

I received call lst Friday reminding me of an appointment for today to get a shot with a doctor I have never heard of before. I did not have any appointment for any type of shot. My mother received a letter telling her it was time for her check up since her open heart surgery. My mother has never had open heart surgery or any problems with her heart.

And this is just the start. If y2k doesn't kill us, it will drive us crazy.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), June 21, 1999.

"Survival of the fittest" is usually the call of the arrogant healthy until something happens to them, then they change their minds!

Without high-tech medicine, there are several sculptures that would not have been created, several posts that would never have been written, several spiritual talks with friends that would not have happened. I'm prepared for 1 year, and I'm all for medical support of people to live their lives to their fullest. I'm also for better comfort care to relieve pain and maintain quality of life....even if the medicine that provides comfort helps someone cross over, as we all must one day. I too resent the arrogance of the TEMPORIALLY ABLE group who have not YET encountered medical problems! GET COMPASSION!! In Y2K, that type of compassionate emotional hardiness may mean the difference between hope and dispair....dispair is not helpful to survival.

-- Leslie (***@***.net), June 21, 1999.

The concept of survival of the fittest, as first proposed in "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859)," was Charles Darwin's way of expressing his theory of evolution. He meant it to apply to species. To try to apply it in a sociological sense---survival of the fittest individual, or as "social Darwinism"---is a canard. It is an inappropriate application of a this principle.

Homo Sapiens has not "evolved" in any measurable extent since before civilization began. Any change in worldview or social organization is an "adaptation" to a physical or social environment. Using anthopological terminology in a sociological sense only leads to inaccuracy and confusion, as exemplified above.

Hallyx

"Mortals are just silly diversions."--- Andy Savage

-- Hallyx (Hallyx@aol.com), June 22, 1999.