How Hospitals Systematically Harm People

[marmar]

from Ode, via AlterNet:


How Hospitals Systematically Harm People

By Kim Ridley, Ode. Posted October 10, 2007.


Visiting the hospital is supposed to heal people, but it's hard to get better in a place that uses toxic chemicals and serves processed food. Is change on the way?



The minute you're admitted into the hospital, you confront a disturbing paradox: Most hospitals aren't particularly healthy places. As a patient, you're likely to encounter toxic chemicals, eat lousy food, breathe unhealthy air and suffer stress triggered by an often-dismal and alienating environment. Even worse, you may find yourself at the mercy of drug-resistant "super bugs" or overworked staff members who make mistakes -- all in a place that's supposed to help you heal. It's enough to make you sick. And sometimes it does.

In the U.S. alone, an estimated 2 million people a year contract infections in hospitals, and nearly 100,000 are expected to die from them this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although such statistics are deeply troubling, hospitals around the world also contribute to a subtler but equally insidious threat: They expose patients and staff to a host of substances and practises that can harm their health.

For example, hospitals use cleaners and disinfectants containing chemicals that can trigger asthma and other problems. A major study by Spanish researchers published in The Lancet last July hints at the extent of the problem. The study found nurses twice as likely as workers in other fields to develop asthma on the job, due to chemical exposure.

Needless to say, patients breathe the same air as the nurses. Fumes from disinfectants and other cleaners as well as pesticides contribute to indoor air pollution, a particular threat to patients with weakened immune and respiratory systems. These chemicals can also irritate the eyes, nose and throat, and trigger symptoms ranging from headaches to nausea to loss of coordination.

Another problem, perhaps the most obvious, is hospital food. Not only unappetizing, it was probably produced with pesticides, artificial preservatives, hormones and unnecessary antibiotics. To make matters worse, the usual alternative to a bland hospital meal comes from the fast-food joints encouraged to operate in many hospital lobbies. These sorts of things send people like Gary Cohen through the roof. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/64747/

[midnight]

1. This post, and one from last week siting the Institutes of Health

condemning U.S. doctors handling of patients, and causing too many deaths because of bad practice culminates along with insurance co. blocking of doctor to patient treatment. In America, if you are lucky enough to see a doctor, and healthy enough to survive the treatment, and hospital experience your lucky.

[madrchsod]

2. i do know that the design of new construction of medical health facilities

is taking into account these problems. the use of new surfaces that do not trap germs,more single bed rooms to cut down on transfered germs,and the use of materials/design to improve air quality.

the food? try not to eat it!

[Oak2004]

6. Believe it or not the local hospital food is the only highlight of the a stay there

The food is both nutritious and genuinely good. Fresh fruits, vegetables, tasty poultry and seafood, a wide variety of genuine vegetarian items (as opposed to what passes for vegetarian in most institutions), and the ability to order off-menu items cooked to order. I can't comment about the red meat because I almost never eat it, but I imagine its to the same quality.

Meal time was the only highlight of the day (well, unless it was pet visiting day :)) After my one extended stay that didn't involve an intestinal obstruction, I actually gained weight.

Medical errors on the other hand? Meh. The aforementioned intestinal obstruction, for example, was caused by a very botched "routine" gallbladder surgery (along with bilateral pulmonary emboli and the massive internal bleeding. Yeah, I said very botched). I won't even begin to go into the many ways they tried to kill me over a serious case of cellulitis (they did, of course, but I was alert and better able to fight back). Or how they tried to choke me by forcing food down my mouth while I was still not quite awake from anesthesia and unable to swallow after outpatient knee surgery, so they could shove me out the door faster.

I really don't mind being a disabled person. I really don't mind dealing with chronic health issues. Stuff like this is just life. What drives me to distraction, depression, and rage is having to deal with the medical system.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Not to mention that many instruments and equipment are not properly

(if at all) disinfected and sterilized, thus spreading bacteria to otherwise "healthy" patients.

[MADem]

4. Don Imus's wife used to get into 'greening' hospitals with natural cleaners and disinfectants. NT

[Locrian]

5. silly rabbit

"It was incredible that the very institutions devoted to healing people were actually poisoning them," says Gary Cohen.


Cohen actually believes hospitals dont make MONEY off of people being sick?!