Depressing story from the hospital today

[XemaSab]

So I was up at the hospital today and I chatted up one of the nurses and I asked her if the joint and spine unit was the worst unit to work on. (I asked because I figured that working with people who are in agonizing pain and doped up on opiates would be massively stressful with very little reward.)

She said that in her opinion, the worst unit to work on was obstetrics.

She said that when she was a nurse, she had wanted to work with babies, but she almost quit halfway through the first shift on that ward because it was so depressing.

She said that in her estimation, 40% of babies born at the hospital in Redding have serious problems when they are born because of poor prenatal care and drug use on the part of the mother.

What the hell is wrong with this country?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. That's sad.

My mother was a nurse (many years ago), and she said working in obstetrics was the best because of the babies and the fact that, at least most of the time, people were happy. I guess times have changed.

[Confusious]

2. No jobs, no money, no hope

Let me just state, you don't need money for hope, but you can hope for a better job to make money. Not these days.

50% of the people in this country are unemployed or underemployed.

My dad has retired recently, got a nice pension with medical benefits.

People replacing him? They just get a job, nothing else.

30 years of Repug policies is what is wrong with people.

We're closer to 1875 then 2012, economically.

Ps. I am such a bad speller.

[dkf]

4. No jobs, no money, no drugs...or so you would think

[HiPointDem]

39. +1

[Arugula Latte]

3. Wow, I'd always assumed obstetrics was the only happy part of a hospital.

So sad to hear otherwise.

[undeterred]

9. I think it is in most hospitals.

I worked on software that was in labor and delivery units. They were all happy places except for the high risk hospital which managed high risk pregnancies which include a lot of multiples. Lots of babies die. That makes it a very sad place.

Nothing to do with prenatal care. Everything to do with reproductive technologies.

[ReasonableToo]

5. Tale of two countries

I'm recalling a story I heard years ago. Two hospital workers were visiting a neonatal unit in Canada. One visitor asked where all the state of the art life saving equipment is and wondered how they deal with the problems of the newborns with serious problems. The second visitors says "you're from the us aren't you. We have excellent prenatal care for everyone so our newborns don't have all those problems" (paraphrasing)

[Honeycombe8]

8. Wow. That's an eye opener. nt

[XemaSab]

11. Damn

[Daemonaquila]

6. What's wrong with America?

Attitudes promoting having babies and opposing abortion. What's sad is that women who aren't ready or don't want babies are having them. Half that number of messed-up babies would probably never be born if not for the silly attitudes. The other half probably can't be helped. Not every baby is going to come out well, and not everyone will have great prenatal care.

[tblue37]

10. And also attitudes opposing sex education and birth control. nt

[Tumbulu]

46. I agree, I think that all this crazed anti-abortion mania

is encouraging the people who really may have had an abortion to not have one- thinking they are being so good having the baby.

But the society has changed, instead of there being societal support for parents, and even more for single moms- it is worse. It is draconian and the mom's and babies suffer. I have seen it in rural areas all over the west. Grandparents raising babies while their children are in jail......

Very sad.

[Mimosa]

55. Agree.

Also, pregnant teenagers who drop out of school can easily become 'independent' by latching on to the 'safety net' programs. Food, medical care, housing assistance and $700 a month per child.

Most of us wouldn't become parents with so little but some know how to live well at 'sustenance level'. I had close friends in New Orleans who used to think I was naive or dumb not to use the available services.

[Honeycombe8]

7. Really? That surprises me. I thought that was rare. Maybe it was the area of the hospital.

How sad.

[RobertEarl]

12. It was a prediction that

Babies born a year after the radiation from Fukushima landed, would have serious health problems. I see here on this thread some saying they are surprised to hear of these problems you have related to us.

[LeftyMom]

14. Radiation from Japan made Redding full of unemployed meth addicts?

[RobertEarl]

15. No. Who said they were?

Radiation from Japan has been found in the milk, and on the ground all over California.

I think calling these poor mothers meth addicts is unfounded.

[LeftyMom]

16. The problems with birth outcomes in rural Northern California are caused by drugs and poverty.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses. Not zebras.

[RobertEarl]

17. Now add radiation from Japan

40%..... is that an historical percentage?

[LeftyMom]

18. Yeah, that's pretty much par for the course.

Do you have a non-crank source for a significant uptick in radiation? I can't find one and I'm looking.

FWIW, coastal California doesn't have these sorts of issues. AFAIK Hawaii doesn't either. Of course both are closer to Japan, but also much higher in socioeconomic status than inland California. Radiation wouldn't respect class, but drug abuse and poor medical care are class issues.

[RobertEarl]

19. Berkley (sp?)

Berkley has done a good bit of monitoring and that is where I got the facts about radiation from Japan being found in the milk and on the ground. Wait, you live there and this is the first you've heard?

Good gawd, they sure have kept you folks in the dark and fed shit! It is all around you and they never even warned you? I bet all they talk about is meth just to keep from telling you the truth.

Now, if you would so kindly point me to where I can find the facts about 40% of babies always having these problems, would be ever so thankful.

[LeftyMom]

20. I don't see a link.

Ever been to Redding? Could you find it on a map? Quick, what's the biggest local landmark. Man-made or natural, I'll let you pick.

Hell, you can't even spell Berkeley.

If I ever want to know what the hell is going on in wherever the hell you're from, I promise I'll ask, instead of telling you whatever nonsense comes into my head. But Xema and I are lifelong Northern Californians, and trying to ride your hobby horse to 'splain to us what's going on around here is ridiculous and you should be embarrassed.

[RobertEarl]

23. Ahhhh

So you take umbrage at the fact that you don't know about the radiation from Japan being in your milk and on the ground?

That is the first step toward gaining knowledge. Good for you. I can find a link if you really want to know.

You feel put upon me asking for some facts about your area?.... well... that's odd. I'd like to know where you come up with the reason for these poor babies being sick. That's all.

[LeftyMom]

24. What milk?

I weaned when I was two.

I'm really not interested in your conspiratorial assertions. Let me know when you have a credible citation.

[RobertEarl]

25. I'll find the link.

So you and Xema are buds, eh? Heh, she's a tough one.

She and I have talked about radiation over in E&E a good bit. She knows I know what I'm talking about. You should ask her about how much I know about radiation.

[RobertEarl]

32. Here's your link, Lefty

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/UCBAirSampling/MilkSampling

I hope this knowledge doesn't scare you as much as it scares me.

But I am most concerned about children and what we are doing to them.

[LeftyMom]

34. I don't see a control there.

Got a link that compares pre and post Fukushima readings? For sake of your argument I'd suggest something in inland Northern California, because poor moms in Redding are almost certainly not drinking organic grass-fed milk from the Bay Area.

[RobertEarl]

36. Ignore at your own risk

Pretty much the whole damn planet is now polluted with Fukushima waste.

And if you got a problem with Berkeley, take it up with them.

Oh, EPA found pretty much the same readings of the damned nuke waste from coast to fucking coast. Yep, we're all being stewed.

[LeftyMom]

40. A significant finding would be published in a journal, not on a single web page.

I'm sure a lot of students were looking, and at any number of schools other than Cal- anything of interest would have made somebody's academic career. Do you not know how research works?

edit: I think hijacking a serious discussion about rural poverty to flog your pet conspiracy theory is in poor taste. You can't honestly think you know more about the cause of poor birth outcomes in Redding, CA than a nurse who has worked L&D in Redding.

[RobertEarl]

41. Heh

It is being hidden from folks. It is deadly, especially to babies in the womb. If the truth were widely known, a lot of wealth, like that of the Rmoney, would be washed away.

Nuke plants would be closed in a matter of days, and the costs would mount. Costs for medical care would be the greatest and we know the last thing the rich people want is to provide medical care for us peons. You do know that at least, right, Lefty?

[LeftyMom]

44. Oh, you're a hopeless conspiracy nut. I'm sorry.

Good luck with that.

[RobertEarl]

45. Yeah, Berkeley and I are conspiring

My gawd I've been outed! How will I ever face the guys at the lab?

See, the grass cows ate are from a pasture of organic grass, so the feed would be as pure as could be expected. And they found cesium, et al, from Fukushima in the milk from that feed.

Now..... what that means is that the dispersion from Fukushima was widespread and went everywhere. That is just plain science. No conspiracy, just science.

[LeftyMom]

47. *facepalm*

[Confusious]

49. Yea, that's what I thought too.

If it was radiation, it would effect everyone, not just poor druggies.

But some people see only what they want to see, whether it's reality or not.

[XemaSab]

50. Especially since this all went down about 5 years ago

[XemaSab]

35. Are you really that ignorant about rural poverty?

I suggest you educate yourself.

[RobertEarl]

37. Nice attack

No. I am not ignorant about rural poverty. And I would think that you would be up to speed on nukes, by now. I see your friend, Lefty, was not aware. It's right where you guys live and she didn't have a clue? OMG!!

[XemaSab]

42. If you think that's an attack, you're welcome to hit the alert button

n/t

[RobertEarl]

43. No need to bother anyone else

Seems you and Lefty are in a dither and that's too much already.

I know hearing the truth about nukes hurts and I forgive the both of you for lashing out. Peace.

[Alameda]

13. I'm in the SF Bay area, and didn't realilze Redding has such a serious drug problem.

It that a fact? There is a serious problem there? I ask because I was thinking of buying land there.

[ellisonz]

22. Redding is on a major smuggling corridor...

...also it's the country and meth has ravaged rural areas across the board.

[PufPuf23]

26. My impression is there is more meth and opiates in Shasta county than on the Humboldt county Hoopa

and Yurok Indian Reservations (smoke pot and drink instead). I have lived in both areas (and spent 7 years at Cal Berkeley); lots of meth in Shasta county. Also a very red and conservative / anti-intellectual area.

[XemaSab]

27. It's like there are two Reddings

One of them is very middle class, conservative, lots of Mormons, but it's getting bluer by the day. The other Redding is full of sketchballs.

[PufPuf23]

21. Recall the Redding Medical Center Heart Surgery scandal?

The snippet from the article linked below was first item on a search; a regular two for one of scandals.


"Published Tuesday, March 22, 2011


The Catholic priest who was one of the key whistleblowers in the Redding Medical Center heart surgery scandal has been placed on leave by his religious order while his superiors investigate allegations that he had affairs with a number of women and abused drugs.

snip

Corapi was the first patient to allege that Redding Medical Center’s doctors were performing unnecessary heart procedures.

In 2002, Corapi received a heart catheterization and other tests from the hospital’s cardiology chief, Dr. Chae Hyun Moon. The doctor insisted he needed immediate open-heart surgery, Corapi said in court documents and in interviews.

Corapi told investigators he postponed the surgery for a week and traveled to Las Vegas, where four heart specialists tested him, examined him and told him he was perfectly healthy.

Corapi notified the FBI. In 2005, Corapi was awarded $2.7 million in a whistleblower suit.

In October 2002, acting on Corapi’s allegations and other complaints of unnecessary procedures, a team of FBI agents raided the Butte Street hospital.

The raid, which drew national headlines and a “60 Minutes” expose, sent the stock of the hospital’s parent company, Tenet Healthcare Corp., tumbling.

In subsequent years, Tenet, the doctors and their insurance companies paid out a half-billion in criminal and civil settlements. No charges were ever filed and the doctors maintained their innocence.

Moon’s medical license was stripped by the Medical Board of California in 2007.

http://m.redding.com/news/2011/mar/22/redding-heart-surgery-whistleblower-corapi-accused/

RMC got a lot of fancy equipment and an expensive heart doctor and needed the surgery volume to support the investment. My ex-BIL, a good man, was permanently disabled because he had unneeded "emergency surgery" by Dr. Moon.

I had major shoulder reconstructive surgery in 1981 at El Camino Hospital in Cupertino. My friend since first grade to present was an intern then after graduating from UC SF Med School and researched doctors for me. The surgery then (and maybe now) was atypical where my left shoulder is held together by a rearrangement of muscle and salvaged cartilage. Took a fall from a large log in a chopped but not yet yarded skyline setting here on the NC when wearing vibram instead of caulks as did not expect rain that day nor having to scramble around in large downed timber. I lost movement and never again have had fine motor control in my offhand but was able to use a chain saw etc for years. It is degenerating now and last year it dislocated but then I am 60.

Shared a room with a guy about my age who had spinal surgery and was about ready to go home. The 2nd day post surgery a group of his buddies came in along with a case of beer!!! The nurses knew. It was my worst post-op day and the stay the only time I have ever taken Demerol or any opiate in my life. The nurses were kind to me It was also the day the USA beat the Russians for the Gold in ice hockey. Good times.

Shasta county is a cesspool of meth, oxycontin, and rw Christians. My anedotal impression is many single mothers from the surrounding rural counties / towns accumulate in Redding / Anderson because of the social services.

[XemaSab]

28. This was at the non-unnecessary-heart-surgery hospital

[PufPuf23]

29. Exactly. RMC needed the volume to pay for their investment and specialized

in OMG you need emergency heart surgery right NOW!!

[Freddie]

30. When my daughter was in nursing school

She did not like pediatrics because, she said, it seemed like every seriously sick kid had a "messed up" family situation and as a nurse you always have to deal with the parents. Philly suburbs. Quite a few of the peds patients were babies with prenatal drug exposure.

[BlueStreak]

31. That is a big part of what the ACA is trying to address

ACA includes funding for neighborhood clinics. Hopefully some of these mothers would take advantage of that and get some care -- and education -- DURING pregnancy.

And if you think the baby ward is depressing, imagine what the public school teachers deal with as these kids enter school.

At the risk of wandering off topic, a big part of our "unemployment" number is that so many people simply aren't employable in any meaningful way. We really have serious problems, and all this move to gut the public schools with vouchers and charter schools will only make that worse.

There has been lots of talk about the needs of the middle class. We have serious problems below the middle class that are really not being discussed at all in this election cycle.

[XemaSab]

33. I have a friend who's a teacher here

and she has learned to cut her losses.

[HiPointDem]

38. Thirty years of relentless concentration of wealth at the top.

[Tumbulu]

48. and in the rural areas glorification of stupid

at the bottom.

It is the same group who listens to Limbaugh, takes drugs, have babies they cannot dream of caring for in any way possible........

My goodness, what a mess Limbaugh and his ilk- paid for by the republican party- have created for us to try to clean up.

[HiPointDem]

52. I don't know if you live in a rural area, but I do, & your blanket stereotypes are off the mark.

[Tumbulu]

53. I do live in a rural area

and have done so for over 30 years and this has been the case for where I have lived for these years. Perhaps it is just an AZ, CA thing and not true elsewhere- oh that would be wonderful!

So, I am pleased to hear that there are rural areas not riddled with meth and the glorification of being uneducated.

Thanks for giving me hope. I feel pretty discouraged about the rural areas that I have lived in for many of these reasons.

[XemaSab]

54. You're dead on about reveling in being uneducated

A few years ago when they were shopping around for a place to put a new UC campus, Redding was mentioned, but the powers that be told the selection committee that they didn't want a UC here because they were afraid it would change the character of the area, so Merced was chosen instead.

[Tumbulu]

56. Oh how sad!

I wonder what in what part of the country meth has not wrecked rural communities? I am still waiting to hear.

[HiPointDem]

58. Aside from saying I live on the northwest coast, I'm not telling you where I live. But I was born

here & will die here.

It's not drugs that wrecked my rural community, it was the loss of good working class jobs under Reagan & middle class jobs thereafter, most notably under Bush 2 & continuing with Obama.

There's drugs here aplenty, on my very street in fact -- but that's not what's wrecked my community -- it's just a symptom. We have unemployment approaching 15% at the moment, and it's been 8% in "good" times and upwards of that for literally decades. It's the long-term sucking of capital out of my rural community that's the root cause of all its social ills, & Reagan was where it started.

[HiPointDem]

57. Hope it was enough hope to make you stop talking in stereotypes.

[Tumbulu]

59. Why do you consider a description a stereotype?

I do not understand this.

The stereotype that I grew up with of rural Americans depicted wonderful hard working people who were sincere, kind at heart and always willing to help out and help each other. They fed the country and cared for most of the wildlife through good land stewardship and hard work.

And indeed there are some people like this in rural areas.

But what I have found more often living in the poorer rural areas in California and Arizona is a culture that dismisses all sensitivity and encourages callousness - ie the horrid 4H practices of raising a meat animal as a pet and then forcing the kids to sell it to someone who will send it to slaughter- oh yes they make good money, but it breaks a sensitive person's heart in such a way that they do not recover. Normal meat producers do not make pets of their meat animals. This is but one of many cruel practices foisted on the kids.

I have found that the people in general glorify wealth and trivialize -if not resent- education. I have observed terrible parenting skills. Kids often spanked, not paid enough attention to, favorite teachers ridiculed in front of the kids. And generally treated as a big pain. I see kids given soda in bottles- I kid you not.

In short I have not been pleased with the cultures of the rural areas that I have lived in and do not think that these patterns have served their communities well.

These are my observations, not stereotypes since as I said they differ from the normal stereotype - at least the one I was raised with.

[HiPointDem]

60. whatever dude or dudette. you like the blanket generalization, run with it.

[Historic NY]

51. My niece works pediatrics icu....

its pretty intense even for her a critical care trauma nurse. Lots of babies with addictions that are pretty demanding. They have to give them drugs to wean them from them illegal drugs.