New healthcare thread...

[Huckleberry]

Measles outbreak erupts in one of Texas’ least-vaccinated counties

Nine cases are confirmed, 3 are probable. Officials says more are likely to come.

arstechnica.com

According to state data for the 2023–2024 school year, only about 82 percent of kindergarteners in public schools in Gaines County were up to date on their vaccinations, including doses of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine. The public health target for vaccination coverage is 95 percent, which is the level that can prevent community spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and shield vulnerable members, including children too young to vaccinate and people with compromised immune systems.

With 82 percent vaccinated, Gaines County ranks in the bottom ten counties with the lowest coverage among those reporting data (four counties out of over 250 did not report). Nearly 18 percent of kindergarteners in Gaines have conscientious exemptions, which is an exemption from school vaccination requirements based on reasons of conscience, including a religious belief.

Still, the county-wide number obscures pockets of yet lower vaccination rates. That includes the independent public school district in Loop, in the northeast corner of Gaines, which had a vaccination rate of 46 percent in the 2023–2024 school year.
Holbrooks noted that the county has a large religious community with private religious schools. These may have yet lower vaccination rates. Holbrooks said that, so far, the measles cases being seen and traced in the outbreak are linked to those private schools.

 

[Padreruf]

Sorry to hear than man and I hope you feel better soon.

My sister in Jonesboro, Arkansas has the flu -- and was taken to the ER not only sick but irrational. She kept folding the same towel over and over...did not know what year this is...said 2028.

She also may have some early stage dementia, i.e., Parkinson's and/or early stage Alzheimers. Our father had both and started manifesting @ this age. Another sister has Alzheimer's but they have managed to control it somewhat with drugs.

Be careful with this flu...seems to be especially virulent. I had the flu shot last October and am avoiding indoor settings.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

My sister in Jonesboro, Arkansas has the flu -- and was taken to the ER not only sick but irrational. She kept folding the same towel over and over...did not know what year this is...said 2028.

She also may have some early stage dementia, i.e., Parkinson's and/or early stage Alzheimers. Our father had both and started manifesting @ this age. Another sister has Alzheimer's but they have managed to control it somewhat with drugs.

Be careful with this flu...seems to be especially virulent. I had the flu shot last October and am avoiding indoor settings.

I’m very sorry that your family has been afflicted by dementia/parkinsons/alzheimers.

My father had dementia near the end and it was unbelievably upsetting. I think his was triggered early because he was heavily addicted to opioids and almost never slept and just lost his mind.

I hope that your sister’s symptoms have been only flu related and that doctors can help her.

 

[Padreruf]

I’m very sorry that your family has been afflicted by dementia/parkinsons/alzheimers.

My father had dementia near the end and it was unbelievably upsetting. I think his was triggered early because he was heavily addicted to opioids and almost never slept and just lost his mind.

I hope that your sister’s symptoms have been only flu related and that doctors can help her.

Update...she was admitted but is doing better. She is belligerent and has hit her daughter 2 times...fortunately the daughter works with Seniors in PT and knows how to deal with this.

In my last pastorate (15 years) I had @ 75 members or family members who had dementia of one sort or another. I really felt for them...as with my father -- who would not even tough a sip of wine and was in perfect physical health but started downhill @ the age of 70 -- died @ 77....some tough years for Mom but he was calm and cooperative.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I'll be 86 my next birthday and feel blessed to have most of my marbles still about (I'm sure some here would disagree). I honestly don't know how I would react to a cognitive decline diagnosis. One friend, a bit younger than I, got an unfavorable diagnosis. He and his wife went out to dinner and he excused himself to go to the restroom. Instead, he went out to their vehicle, retrieved his pistol, sat down on a bench and blew his brains out...

 

[75thru79]

I'll be 86 my next birthday and feel blessed to have most of my marbles still about (I'm sure some here would disagree). I honestly don't know how I would react to a cognitive decline diagnosis. One friend, a bit younger than I, got an unfavorable diagnosis. He and his wife went out to dinner and he excused himself to go to the restroom. Instead, he went out to their vehicle, retrieved his pistol, sat down on a bench and blew his brains out...

As sad is this story is, I get it. My father started suffering dementia in his mid-90's and he lived to 99. He was pretty cantankerous towards the end and it was a little unpleasant when he would come to visit. He would barely get in the door for a visit when he would tell my Mom that he needed to get home because the Air Force Reserves were trying to get in touch with him (he had retired from the Reserves 30 years prior).

I told my wife that if that were to start happening to me I would rather take my life than put my family through it.

 

[Its On A Slab]

I'll be 86 my next birthday and feel blessed to have most of my marbles still about (I'm sure some here would disagree). I honestly don't know how I would react to a cognitive decline diagnosis. One friend, a bit younger than I, got an unfavorable diagnosis. He and his wife went out to dinner and he excused himself to go to the restroom. Instead, he went out to their vehicle, retrieved his pistol, sat down on a bench and blew his brains out...

That is the irony about dementia and losing control of your personal freedom. When you are with your senses, you want to think that you don't want to die in a nursing home when your quality of life goes into the crapper.

We watched my Dad succumb to Lewy Body Dementia, and my Mom to Parkinson's. I don't know about my Dad, but my Mom had been doing research on the Hemlock Society, assisted suicide. It was never a real option for my Mom in MIssissippi.

It is always the present thought that you would wish to go out on your own terms. Not too many people are able to do it, sadly. And it's also unfortunate that people will take extreme measures such as guns, or grab a rope.

 

[rjtide]

Man dies of asthma attack after inhaler cost rises more than $500, family sues to save others

Cole Schmidtknecht couldn’t afford that, and so for the next five days, he struggled to breathe with only an emergency asthma inhaler, the suit states.

www.al.com

totally unnecessary clinical outcome for that young man in wisconsin. i hope this forces some serious changes in the PBM atmosphere. there is NO need for those entities to jack up the prices for rx meds as much as they've done.

 

[Padreruf]

I'll be 86 my next birthday and feel blessed to have most of my marbles still about (I'm sure some here would disagree). I honestly don't know how I would react to a cognitive decline diagnosis. One friend, a bit younger than I, got an unfavorable diagnosis. He and his wife went out to dinner and he excused himself to go to the restroom. Instead, he went out to their vehicle, retrieved his pistol, sat down on a bench and blew his brains out...

I keep some Oxycodone in my safe if I ever decide to go quietly into that dark night. The problem is that with dementia you are never sure that you will be able to make that decision in any rational form. My father had Alzheimer's, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's and had developed diabetes when he died. He was rarely rational...but not violent.

He died from complications of a drug -- Haldol -- which he took to control his dementia. Without it he would have had to be restrained-- and we all knew he would not want that. Basically assisted suicide the last six months of his life here.

Who ever thought that leaving this world could be so difficult?

 

[tusks_n_raider]

As sad is this story is, I get it. My father started suffering dementia in his mid-90's and he lived to 99. He was pretty cantankerous towards the end and it was a little unpleasant when he would come to visit. He would barely get in the door for a visit when he would tell my Mom that he needed to get home because the Air Force Reserves were trying to get in touch with him (he had retired from the Reserves 30 years prior).

I told my wife that if that were to start happening to me I would rather take my life than put my family through it.

Stuff like that happened with my Dad a lot.

I never really talked about it here but I had moved back home to live with both my Mom and Dad for their final years to help take care of them because both their health issues were so bad.

After my Mom passed my Dad really started losing his mind and hallucinations started happening.

Sometimes they were really creepy like he would be convinced that the ‘Hatman’ was in the house and that FBI agents were trying to get him.

One time I woke up in the middle of the night because it sounded like holes were being knocked into the walls with a sledgehammer and I found him in his bedroom with the whole place a mess because he was ‘throwing the Football around with Coach Saban’.

It’s very upsetting to deal with from the outside so I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to be the one living it.

If given the choice I can’t say I’d want to live with dementia or Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.

They are cruel conditions.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Man dies of asthma attack after inhaler cost rises more than $500, family sues to save others

Cole Schmidtknecht couldn’t afford that, and so for the next five days, he struggled to breathe with only an emergency asthma inhaler, the suit states.

www.al.com

totally unnecessary clinical outcome for that young man in wisconsin. i hope this forces some serious changes in the PBM atmosphere. there is NO need for those entities to jack up the prices for rx meds as much as they've done.

there will not be any changes. it has been like this for years. inhalers are insanely expensive and even with good insurance with no deductible, they cost $45 or more

 

[75thru79]

there will not be any changes. it has been like this for years. inhalers are insanely expensive and even with good insurance with no deductible, they cost $45 or more

It's not going to change until we (Americans) rise up and demand change. Did you know we pay the highest price in the world for prescription drugs? It's because 1) we are subsidizing the medical industry for the benefit of the rest of the world and 2) at the end of the day we'll pay whatever it takes to save our lives.

At the very minimum we should pass a law saying drug companies cannot charge a significantly higher price in the US than say Uganda or Brazil, or wherever. I get it, the citizens of those countries likely do not have the money to pay the market value for drugs but why should US citizens continue to subsidize medical care for the rest of the world. It's basically medical care welfare for third world countries.

 

[jthomas666]

Our insurance regularly switches out what they cover; they've always notified us 30 days in advance. They do not provide a list of approved alternatives (which seems to be the least they could do), forcing me to call them and get a list of alternatives, which I then have to pass along to my doctor.

And yeah, they pulled this crap on me with Advair.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I have been unemployed for seven weeks, not a big deal as it happens with contract work and you plan ahead.

However, it was so nice of the for-profit company that runs the hospital in Wyoming to offer me a 20% pay cut to come back and do more work.

It took less than two seconds to give my response to that one. And I was even willing to come back for less money than I was making when I left, but not far less than I was making when I arrived almost one year ago to the day.

I understand the pandemic is over, but your hospital still has no workers……..

 

[CrimsonJazz]

 

[Huckleberry]

When research facilities can't pay their utility bills, equip/build out important laboratories, or provide infrastructure for clinical trials, then important research can't continue as before. This is a Project 2025 Heritage Foundation policy that will impede research and likely lead to the unnecessary deaths of untold numbers of people.

Discussion about NIH research funding cuts requires 'data, time and careful evaluation'

NIH’s plan to cut what it pays universities and other entities for indirect costs associated with scientific research would create “extremely challenging” short- and long-term impacts, according to a renowned data scientist and researcher.“If this comes to fruition, we’d be in a situation where...

www.healio.com

 

[CrimsonJazz]

When research facilities can't pay their utility bills, equip/build out important laboratories, or provide infrastructure for clinical trials, then important research can't continue as before. This is a Project 2025 Heritage Foundation policy that will impede research and likely lead to the unnecessary deaths of untold numbers of people.

Discussion about NIH research funding cuts requires 'data, time and careful evaluation'

NIH’s plan to cut what it pays universities and other entities for indirect costs associated with scientific research would create “extremely challenging” short- and long-term impacts, according to a renowned data scientist and researcher.“If this comes to fruition, we’d be in a situation where...

www.healio.com

I didn’t know P2025’s master plan was to create more cancer by reining in waste and theft. Pretty crafty, I must say.

 

[Huckleberry]

I didn’t know P2025’s master plan was to create more cancer by reining in waste and theft. Pretty crafty, I must say.

Their plan was to cut government, regardless of the impact to science (which they don’t seem to particularly care for anyway).

 

[75thru79]

When research facilities can't pay their utility bills, equip/build out important laboratories, or provide infrastructure for clinical trials, then important research can't continue as before. This is a Project 2025 Heritage Foundation policy that will impede research and likely lead to the unnecessary deaths of untold numbers of people.

Discussion about NIH research funding cuts requires 'data, time and careful evaluation'

NIH’s plan to cut what it pays universities and other entities for indirect costs associated with scientific research would create “extremely challenging” short- and long-term impacts, according to a renowned data scientist and researcher.“If this comes to fruition, we’d be in a situation where...

www.healio.com

The unspoken part is the double, triple and quadruple hits at the trough for the research community. The "infrastructure" money is meant to help pay for those expenses you referred to. The truth is that most of these university affiliated labs have multiple research initiatives going on at the same time. For every grant the government is paying for infrastructure so that after the money is all counted these institutions are probably being reimbursed more money than the costs being incurred. I am all in favor of medical research but I am not in favor of overpaying for it.

 

[Huckleberry]

The unspoken part is the double, triple and quadruple hits at the trough for the research community. The "infrastructure" money is meant to help pay for those expenses you referred to. The truth is that most of these university affiliated labs have multiple research initiatives going on at the same time. For every grant the government is paying for infrastructure so that after the money is all counted these institutions are probably being reimbursed more money than the costs being incurred. I am all in favor of medical research but I am not in favor of overpaying for it.

I’d like to see some evidence of this waste that’s pervasive in the scientific research community. If these accusations are valid, then certainly adjustments need to be made.