How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine

[plugger]

Due out August 1, 2023. This could be interesting.  Move over John Oliver and friends.

[SooMK]

Thanks for posting! It will probably make me so mad. It's follow the money time once again.

[plugger]

Yeah, I'll probably have to take blood pressure meds to read it.  It has been over 22 years since my daughter was in a clinic and over 15 years since I first went to  the Colorado Statehouse - but I still get the impression things haven't changed enough.  If I had a magic wand I think I would first bust up the big dialysis companies into smaller pieces, they just seem to have gotten way too powerful!  I feel bad for both staff and patients.  My recollection is you can often get good staff but they many times face headwinds from the corporate office - I would be surprised if things have changed much.

[kristina]

Many thanks plugger for pointing out to us this most interesting book.
It is very fascinating to observe the development of different ESRF-treatments.

This reminds me of our late IHD-member “Stauffenberg”, who started his dialysis-treatments (whilst he studied/researched in London/England) at the same hospital where my own dialysis-treatments started about 14 years later than his and the great difference of quality in both our treatments is very startling:

Whilst he was constantly sick after each of his treatments three times every week, I was lucky enough to experience the latest dialysis-machines, which, during my time were already much kinder and gentler to the dialysis-needy-body, so that I was lucky enough to be able to keep myself strong enough for my transplant…

Despite the fact that my transplant was extremely difficult for me to take afterwards, due to constant SLE/MCTD-flare-ups starting straight after my transplant etc., which made my life difficult enough ...  but I also had to deal with the fact that some nerves “inside” near the new transplant were accidentally harshly “touched” (severed?) during my transplant-operation and therefore my recovery took about three and a half years for me to get a little better, but after all of these terrible upheavals my quality of life has  become steadily better, whereas “Stauffenberg” was not given such a chance to eventually get better ... and then his body became too weak for another transplant ... and ... I feel strongly, that because his treatments took place 14 years earlier than mine, it made all the difference and gave me a much better chance than he ever had because science had already moved forward a lot during these 14 years …

Let us hope that very soon scientists find new and hopefully even better ways to make ESRF easier to endure for an ESRF-patient in the future and hopefully there are enough nephrological scientists world-wide in many different countries, all working on clever and newly developed better and different methods and treatments for ESRF-patients, so that hopefully “Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine” is not given the total go-ahead world-wide after all? Fingers crossed that new nephrological developments go into a very humanitarian and patient-orientated-direction and I send my best wishes and best of luck in 2023 from Kristina and again, fingers crossed! 

[plugger]

Kristina,

I'm sorry to hear about your transplant troubles!  I guess we were lucky and I don't remember too many problems with my daughter's transplant.  She has had some infections along the way and the doctors put her in the hospital as a precaution.  Probably the worst thing I can recall happened last year.  Early in the year she fell on some stairs and broke some ribs.  It looks like later in the year it caused necrotizing pneumonia, which is some pretty awful stuff.  She was in the hospital and almost wound up in the ICU, but they decided against it at the last moment.  She's recovered and back to work and taking care of my granddaughter - the daughter won't be running any marathons though.

But that is enough catching up!  But yes, I do hope the technology has gotten better after all these years!  I just still wonder if it is still assembly-line medicine like I remember back in the day - this book might shed some light.

The author, Tom Mueller did interview me - but our experience was a long time ago.

[kristina]

Hello plugger and many thanks for your kind explanation and for the update on your daughter’s progress. I am very glad she has recovered from this awful experience and I do hope she is continuing to do well. Good luck!
My own circumstance was quite “a bit” unlucky from the start but hopefully “things” continue to get better and I shall give it my very best to become able again to "get on with my life" a.s.a.p.

Kind regards to you and your family from Kristina and I also wish you the best of luck.

[plugger]

Thank you!  And I'm wishing for a gentle path for you and yours!