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Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1351: May 13th 2019 at 11:36:07 AM

[up][up]... Are YOU reading them? grin

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
MABfan11 from Remnant Since: May, 2014 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#1352: May 13th 2019 at 1:39:23 PM

the problem with the 'Green New Deal' being a conversation-starter is that the people arguing against it argue in bad faith and ignore science, leading it to stop dead in it's tracks before it even took off, since they never argue about it's goals in the first place

Bumbleby is best ship. busy spending time on r/RWBY and r/anime. Unapologetic Socialist
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1353: May 13th 2019 at 2:12:00 PM

And part of that bad faith is from the tendency to just be unilaterally against anything the other party stands for, regardless of whether or not that makes sense. Bipartisanship is an ugly word for the majority of Republicans right now.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#1354: May 13th 2019 at 4:11:39 PM

While I agree in principle, I'm certain Fighteer was just being hyperbolic.

On the subject of climate change, my main thoughts center around two issues, one being that carbon emissions are produced in large part due to industrial manufacturing, so massive construction projects for "renewable energy" is not going to have the short term gains people are hoping for. Once the infrastructure is down and technology improves then we might see marginal improvement, but we're probably not going to see that in a 10-20 year window. The other is that I don't think anyone actually knows if we can reverse the damage with these projects. Obviously nature has it's own innate carbon emissions recycling program, so the question is a hypothetical "net zero" (which I assume means an equilibrium, not absolute zero) still means a large garbage pile of carbon the Earth has to sort through.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#1356: May 20th 2019 at 7:14:59 AM

The moment I heard "outsourcing work to private contractors" I knew we were going into freaky town.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#1357: May 20th 2019 at 9:10:30 AM

I am still not over the notion of electing coroners. I mean, electing the sheriff is already a really, really bad idea, as is electing judges, but the coroner? WTF?

MABfan11 from Remnant Since: May, 2014 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#1358: May 20th 2019 at 9:26:48 AM

made worse by the fact that many of the jobs John Oliver has talked about doesn't even have an education requirement. and several of them are important government jobs

Bumbleby is best ship. busy spending time on r/RWBY and r/anime. Unapologetic Socialist
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1359: May 20th 2019 at 9:41:06 AM

It seems Americans are taking their zeal for civic engagement a little too far at times.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Rytex Your Friend on the Other Side from Here, There, Everywhere (Ancient one) Relationship Status: Married to the music
Your Friend on the Other Side
#1360: May 20th 2019 at 2:10:22 PM

Or rather, Americans are so blase about government having any power in day-to-day life that we put as little thought into how it should work as possible just so we can rubber-stamp it and move on to more important things like adding another trillion to the defense budget.

The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
MABfan11 from Remnant Since: May, 2014 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#1361: May 20th 2019 at 2:43:47 PM

other times the job is just sold off to some private firm to make money off of, which makes it less efficient, because profit becomes the primary motive. and Americans ignores it because privatization is magically better than the government

Bumbleby is best ship. busy spending time on r/RWBY and r/anime. Unapologetic Socialist
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#1362: May 20th 2019 at 8:25:45 PM

I was mostly amazed that there was zero certification requirements. I would understand for interns or clerks, but giving the person in charge some degree of education and equipment standard should be a priority for anything government related, outsourced to private company or not.

The election thing sounds strange, but I suppose it's to hold them accountable and prevent a conflict of interest with law enforcement, which makes the sheriff-as-coroner even crazier.

Galadriel Since: Feb, 2015
#1363: May 21st 2019 at 4:28:27 AM

Yes, the position needs to require some form of certification demonstrating knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and the like (as well as basic professionalism). However, the requirements should probably be something less than a medical degree.

As John pointed out, doctors don’t generally want to be medical examiners - and I don’t think it’s just a matter of cost and resources. People who spend 7+ years going through medical school are generally going to prefer to work with live people who they can help rather than with dead ones. Which means that if you require a medical degree, you’re going to have a shortage of medical examiners (which John acknowledges), and you’re likely to get the dregs of the medical profession - people with medical degrees who for whatever reason can’t find work as a physician (notably, both brain-guy and photo-with-corpse guy were medical examiners, not coroners).

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#1364: May 21st 2019 at 6:08:21 AM

They shouldn't waste doctors.

They should just train medical examiners separately.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#1365: May 21st 2019 at 6:57:17 AM

Yeah, just put a training program in place. Some sort of separate degree. They can also use people who trained to become doctors but couldn't handle the stress and/or level of responsibility and therefore dropped out early. Those people have still more competency than a f... hair dresser.

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#1366: May 21st 2019 at 4:04:50 PM

Scrubs had their most incompetent side character turn out to be a savant at being the coroner, he made all the mistakes you could on the living patients and so knew every probable cause of death.

Something too is that artificially inflating the salary (by double) of a position to attract actual doctors will have its own problems, as that will probably further impact facility issues. Rural areas also have different needs compared to cities. It would be better to certify someone and keep a doctor on retainer.

terumokou Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object from In a bamboo forest full of bunnies, California Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Mu
Pitiable and Illegally Dumped Object
#1367: Jun 3rd 2019 at 1:16:01 AM

Burning love!
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#1368: Jun 3rd 2019 at 1:33:13 AM

You know, I am starting to get the feeling that Americans are basically guinea pigs for the rest of the developed world….

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#1369: Jun 3rd 2019 at 1:44:17 AM

Americans are pioneers in all things, for better or worse.

Disgusted, but not surprised
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#1370: Jun 3rd 2019 at 3:18:52 AM

More true than you probably meant, the US is consistently at the top of medical research spending both as a country and per capita.

The difference between FDA-Cleared and FDA-Approved was shocking, as I would have assumed the difference would be "this is safe to use and sell in stores but your results may vary" (ie Airborne vitamins) vs. "this is confirmed as viable for physician recommendation." As Oliver says, streamlining the approval process in mild changes to existing products should be a good thing, but has become a problematic loophole for major mechanical redesigns. The idea that doctors themselves are not aware of the issues is probably the bigger nightmare.

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1371: Jun 3rd 2019 at 3:53:16 AM

Most of the problems John covers seem to come down to awful corporate culture and ineffective legislation, to say nothing of one party apparently dedicated to protecting companies at all costs, and hurting the opposition through their voters.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#1372: Jun 3rd 2019 at 3:54:46 AM

Well, the US is a huge market which a so called competitive medical market. It makes sense for companies to design their products and test it in the US market first and foremost, because for one, the barriers for approval are not that high (Europe has tightened regulation considerably after the Kontagan scandal), and you can spread your product to a huge market (remember, each country has its own rules for approval, though the process is somewhat streamlined in the EU).

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1373: Jun 3rd 2019 at 4:03:53 AM

Clearly they need a little less competition and a little more regulation. And maybe not tie salaries and bonusses to sales numbers. That seems like a particularly horrible idea.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#1374: Jun 3rd 2019 at 4:28:46 AM

[up] Honestly, you can apply this to pretty much every area of the US.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#1375: Jun 3rd 2019 at 6:22:44 AM

I work for a medical device manufacturer (albeit not in any sales, marketing, or RA/QA capacity) and we have run into some public issues with device safety. The employees of MDMs, like those of other healthcare companies, are generally committed to patient safety as the absolute first priority; when these sorts of problems occur, it's usually with upper level management and the corporate philosophy they encourage.

There's a delicate balance to be struck between the demands of safety and the demands of sales. Clearly some companies are going way too far in the latter direction.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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