This is the End
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the end of TriAge, at least for now.
It evolved into more or less my personal blog, and I'm moving on from the health round to pastures new, so TriAge will have to be laid gently into a prone position in the depths of the internet, where it will hibernate like some kind of mythical ancient Greek giant.
Thanks for being a great audience.
Nick Miller
- Posted by Nick Miller at 12:50 PM
- Comments (3)
Healthy reform
''Let's imagine a 67 year old man who is retired and lives in the outer suburbs of one of our major cities. He's just been placed on a waiting list to get a hip replacement at his local hospital but he's been told there's a wait of around 12 months.''
Yes, let's. This was the hypothetical case study introduced by Prime Minister in his speech yesterday as he outlined the health reform plan.
This case study was the ''human face'' of the ''current problems'' in the system.
In other words, the narrow (but deep) reform announced yesterday is to be sold on its potential for reducing waiting lists for elective surgery, and reducing the real human suffering that those waiting lists represent.
Will it do this? Will it do it for Victorians in particular?
The answer is ... maybe. Maybe later.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 4:44 PM
- Comments (0)
Healthy reform
''Let's imagine a 67 year old man who is retired and lives in the outer suburbs of one of our major cities. He's just been placed on a waiting list to get a hip replacement at his local hospital but he's been told there's a wait of around 12 months.''
Yes, let's. This was the hypothetical case study introduced by Prime Minister in his speech yesterday as he outlined the health reform plan.
This case study was the ''human face'' of the ''current problems'' in the system.
In other words, the narrow (but deep) reform announced yesterday is to be sold on its potential for reducing waiting lists for elective surgery, and reducing the real human suffering that those waiting lists represent.
Will it do this? Will it do it for Victorians in particular?
The answer is ... maybe. Maybe later.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 4:44 PM
- Comments (1)
Sex, violence and madness
Hiya, in case yr interested I had a few stories in the weekend Age that are worth a read:
Fears proposed new illness will be misused in court by rapists
The new 'paraphilic coercive disorder' could change the way our courts view rapists. Happy with this story, though they took out the reference to a very interesting paper on the subject written last year.
This blogger picked it up, and gave a bit of international context.
Peeling back the psychiatric labels that define us
This is the small feature-length piece that goes a bit further into the debate over the DSM-V manual.
And now for something completely different:
No R-rating for games does not compute
is an opinion piece I wrote to accompany my colleague's feature story on the debate over an R rating for computer games.
Not really health related (well, maybe mental health?), but a fun read I think... Seems to have generated a few hits, which is what we're after in this cutthroat digital world, innit.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 12:04 PM
- Comments (0)
Premium comedy
It's not well known, but the major health insurance companies share an ancient stone castle perched somewhere in the mountains near Canberra, for easy access to the seat of power and as somewhere to store the winged monkeys.
Last night a strange, haunting cackling noise could be heard emerging from its echoey depths.
"Hehehehe! The circle is complete! The circle is complete!"
The joy was unconfined, over the argument they put forward to defend the latest rise in premiums approved by the government.
Said the head of Medibank Private: ''More people are using their private health insurance - last year we paid claims on over 860,000 hospital admissions - in many cases to avoid the long wait time experienced in the public hospital system across the country.''
Chimed the head of iSelect: more people were joining health funds, ''driven in part by a lack of trust in the public system'' ... People were ''willing to dig deep, even in tough times, for the peace of mind of having private health cover''
And so they needed more money to pay for it all.
more- Posted by Nick Miller at 8:05 AM
- Comments (2)
YourHealth.Bodgy.Rushed.gov.au
The Sunday Age had a fantastic whistleblower piece from an ex-insider at the current federal government's health department.
It's a cracker of a read from start to finish, exposing policy on the run, bureaucratic money-wasting verging on rorts and the frustration of being inside a system that seems to value announcements over action. [Note: department's detailed and angry response has been added to the end of this blog]
Of course, it should be taken with a grain of salt. We don't know if the author has any undisclosed axes to grind, though his background as a video game reviewer and World of Warcraft gamer (see the first comment here) speaks more to me of genial nerd than Machiavelli.
And of course any refugee from any government bureaucracy, of any political colour, will have war stories like this.
But one thing caught my eye in particular - the bit about the YourHealth website.
more- Posted by Nick Miller at 11:48 AM
- Comments (32)
In the wake of Wakefield
The Wakefield case is a scary example of how science can fail to get its message across, with literally fatal consequences.
Medical science has a dangerously real PR problem.
The real villain here, of course, is Dr Andrew Wakefield. Last week the UK General Medical Council, in a 'fitness to practise' hearing, made a series of 'findings of fact' that could lead to a finding of serious professional misconduct.
They were in relation to research that culminated in 1998 in a now-infamous paper in the distinguished Lancet journal, which drew a link between the MMR (measles, mumps + rubella) vaccine for children, and autism.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 9:42 AM
- Comments (2)
Happy Christmas
Hi to all TriAge readers... just to let you know that the blog will take a long-ish break over Christmas and the New Year, as I sit on my balcony and contemplate the infinite...
But look out for an exciting new revamp in the new year...
If you're desperate to hear what's going on in my head over January, then A) find an amenable psychic, or B) check out my occasional Tweets under @NickdMiller
Have a great holiday season (if not an actual holiday)
cheers
Nick
(aka TriAge)
- Posted by Nick Miller at 11:09 AM
- Comments (1)
Silly Season
It's begun.
I'd lay pretty short odds that this is going to get the electronic media excited. Sigh.
MEDIA RELEASE: Eye experts warn of champagne cork danger
Hello,
With millions of champagne bottles being uncorked this festive season, leading eye surgeons are warning Australians to be aware of the danger and threat to sight posed by a misdirected or errant cork.
Every festive season ophthalmologists at the Vision Eye Institute note an increase in the number of Australians needlessly suffering eye injuries caused by champagne corks and other projectiles.
A champagne cork can travel 60 cm in less than 0.05 seconds, and as the blink reflex takes about 0.1 second, the cornea of the eye usually receives the full impact of the cork.
Please find attached a media release that outlines the eye-experts' tips for safely opening champagne bottles this festive season.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 9:04 AM
- Comments (1)
Risky kidneys
If your kidneys were failing, dialysis was wracking your body and your lifespan was revised ever downward by the docs - would you accept a cancerous transplant?
That's the question posed by a story I wrote today.
This idea is gradually gaining momentum around the world, but it's still highly controversial.
The living donor has a cancerous kidney removed. If the tumour is small and contained, it can often be cut out leaving the surgeon with a working kidney in their hands that would otherwise be chucked in the bin.
So why not give it to one of the hundreds of people in desperate need of a transplant?
more- Posted by Nick Miller at 11:56 AM
- Comments (0)
Scan scams
I've got a story in the paper today about a couple of hospitals sprung in the hazy practice of 'cost shifting'.
It's interesting not just because it's a little 'gotcha', but because it's a perfect example of a problem that might not even exist if we had a more sensible health system.
The way it works in Australia: you come to a public hospital as a public outpatient (that is, not an admitted patient), you get treated free. Right? Isn't that the point of public health care?
Well sort of. There are a bunch of exceptions, some obvious, some not. You still have to pay for some drugs, or prostheses, or hearing aids or dental services as a public outpatient, for example.
more- Posted by Nick Miller at 12:23 PM
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The M-word
Don't mention the m-word!
I used it once but I think I got away with it.
Well, ok, actually I've used it five times in the last two years.
- Twice in quotes from the guardian of the recently conjoined twins Krishna and Trishna
- Once (not in quotes) in the phrase 'not a miracle cure' about cell therapy
- Once in quotes ''little miracle girl'' in a story about a premature baby
- Once, to my shame, I described an early bionic eye prototype as a 'minor miracle'.
When it comes to miracles, I'm virtually a non-believer compared to other journalists.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 1:38 PM
- Comments (4)
Stat-tastrophe
Numbers are great things. They can prove anything.
The Medicare vs insurance, public vs private hospital argument is replete with figures that each side uses to prove contrary positions.
I came across another conflict this morning, which is either a case of differently compiled stats saying apparently contradictory things... or just a screw-up.
- Posted by Nick Miller at 9:02 AM
- Comments (0)
The minds, they aren't a'changin
How do you change someone's mind?
It's a simple question. But in the medical world, especially in these 'patient centred care' days when we are increasingly asked to make our own health choices, it can be literally a life or death issue.
I'm pondering this after spending a day or so in email ping pong with a concerned mum about, (no prizes for guessing) the swine flu vaccine.
I'll get to that in a minute. But there's a preliminary question: is it my job, or anyone else's, or our responsibility or duty or moral obligation, to even try to change someone's mind?
more- Posted by Nick Miller at 11:11 AM
- Comments (3)
