By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    An Expert’s Guide To Building and Improving Endurance
    June 30, 2022
    medical assistants
    What Do Medical Assistants Do On a Day to Day Basis?
    April 5, 2022
    superfoods to help with prostate health
    10 Healthy Foods That Can Help Protect Your Prostate
    August 29, 2022
    Latest News
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    healthcare cost crisis
    What If the Health Care Cost Crisis Solves Itself?
    May 11, 2013
    Do You Need Life Insurance? What Does It Cover?
    December 23, 2022
    HIE metal plans
    The Four “Metal Plans” of Health Insurance Exchanges
    May 28, 2013
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: The Olympics, Doctors, the NHS, Transformation and Heroes: Why the Difference between the USA and UK? Part II
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Global Healthcare > The Olympics, Doctors, the NHS, Transformation and Heroes: Why the Difference between the USA and UK? Part II
Global Healthcare

The Olympics, Doctors, the NHS, Transformation and Heroes: Why the Difference between the USA and UK? Part II

Kent Bottles
Kent Bottles
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

 

 

First posted on Kent Bottles Private Views on 7/30/2012

 

More Read

healthcare sector and text importance
Making Connections: 7 Benefits Of Texting In Healthcare
Health Inequality and Modern-Day Slavery
The Top Healthcare Innovations For 2025
Stanford Disaster Relief Program – Video
PFCD 2011 Year in Review & Looking Ahead to 2012

 

First posted on Kent Bottles Private Views on 7/30/2012

Like many in the United States, I was surprised when the National Health Service (NHS) was honored during the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympic Games.  The media guide said, “The NHS is the institution which more than any other unites our nation.  It was founded after World War II on Aneurin Bevan’s famous principle, ‘No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.’”  (http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2012/07/u-k-national-health-service-gets-gold-medal-mention-at-olympics/)

Should the Bevan principle make Americans think about what makes a society civilized?  Does the American health care delivery system unite our nation?  I could not help thinking back to the Republican Presidential Debate where the audience and Ron Paul seemed to be saying that those without health insurance should be left to die. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T9fk7NpgIU) (http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/gop-to-uninsured-feel-free-to-drop-dead/) Health care in the United States divides our country into those who believe health care is a human right and those who think it is not.  Paul Starr summarizes this tension by stating:

“Americans are still at odds over the most basic question about health care: whether it is a requirement for a free life that the community has an obligation to provide or a good that needs to be earned (and if you can’t earn it, too bad for you).” (Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care Reform, New Haven:  Yale University Press, 2011)

Starr traces our dilemma back to the establishment of Medicare as an earned right even though seniors have never paid enough in payroll taxes to cover their insurance costs and Medicaid as an unearned benefit that lacks a moral claim on the community.  This history has created a “protected public” who believe they have earned their medical coverage, and they are largely unwilling to subsidize coverage for the less fortunate.  By creating separate health insurance financing for the elderly, the United States created a political problem that has caused partisan bickering.  It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court decision upholding most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act created a way for governors to elect not to participate in the expansion of the “unearned” benefit of Medicaid.

Although Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday labeled the American health care delivery system “the finest in the world,” most Americans recognize the status quo as unsustainable, expensive, and unsafe.  Otis Brawley, MD, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, has a different take than McConnell:

“Our medical system fails to provide care when care is needed, and fails to stop expensive, often unnecessary and frequently harmful interventions, even in situations when science proves those interventions are the wrong thing to do.”  (How We Do Harm:  A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America, New York:  St. Martin’s Press, 2012)

Michael L. Millenson reviews the depressing statistics about preventable errors causing death in the United States in an article titled “The Toll of Preventable Errors:  How Many Dead Patients?” According to Millenson, the best estimate comes from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 90,000 hospital patients die each year from preventable, treatment-caused injuries. Millenson also cites a 2010 study of hospital error-reduction programs that concluded “harm remain common, with little evidence of widespread improvements.” (http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/the-toll-of-preventable-errors-how-many-dead-patients/)

A July 20, 2012 article titled “Why Can’t Medicine Seem to Fix Simple Mistakes?” provides an overview of the ongoing patient safety issue in American medicine.

“Time and again reporters have uncovered unfathomable lapses at medical facilities, often resulting in patient injuries and death.  Time and again, hospital officials have put in place solutions that seem ridiculously obvious.  And, inconceivably, the fixes are frequently ignored or ineffective.” (http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-medicine-seem-to-fix-simple-mistakes)

The article describes five wrong site surgeries at Rhode Island Hospital, nurses at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center ignoring monitors in six cases where patients died, and the recent death of a 12-year boy from sepsis where important laboratory results were not reported by NYU’s Langone Medical Center.  The article states:

“That’s what’s so difficult to understand about medical mistakes.  It seems inconceivable that nurses and doctors would reuse a syringe on multiple patients or that they would turn down alarms on cardiac monitors after patients at their hospital had died as a result.” (http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-medicine-seem-to-fix-simple-mistakes)

In Part III of this blog we will explore why human doctors and nurses do “inconceivable” things.

TAGGED:NHSOlympicsUKUS
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

technology in medical research
The Tools Helping Medical Researchers See the Full Picture
News Technology
August 3, 2025
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
Health
July 31, 2025
holistic dental
Holistic Dentist Services Are Natural and Safe
Dental health Specialties
July 28, 2025
botox certification
Help Improve People’s Skin Health Via Botox Certification
Skin Specialties
July 22, 2025

You Might also Like

Medical Malpractice Cases
BusinessGlobal HealthcarePolicy & Law

The Most Common Medical Errors That Lead to Medical Malpractice Cases

April 4, 2019
Screen shot 2015-06-25 at 12.43.01 PM
Global HealthcareHealth ReformPolicy & LawPublic Health

Obamacare Subsidies Continue, Court Rules. Now Let’s Get to Work.

June 30, 2015

Calling for Responsible Healthcare Journalism

October 27, 2014

NCD Prevention in India: Setting an Example

November 15, 2011
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?