Health Care

It is disconcerting that Santo Greco‘s letter makes the distinction between himself (clinical biochemist) and Janet McCallum (history lecturer). In this letter, he expresses anger that a "lay person" dare to judge his work. Is he suggesting that only those with an expert medical knowledge are competent to judge the…

Visit a hospital cafe between 8.30 and 9am. In the past, the "hospital cafeteria" was deserted at this time - it was too early for practitioners to take a morning tea break. Nowadays, it is filled by women and men (though mostly men) in dark suits on their way to…

Since case mix funding was introduced, there is no statistical evidence of an increase in readmissions for the same diagnosis. But there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that patients are requiring readmissions for complications. Take for example one patient in my study of 600 admissions to an intensive…

While I agree with Professor Singer that saving a lone yachtswoman last week was well worth it (Sunday Age, 8/1/95), I am  concerned that the examples used to support his argument were misleading. One of his examples was an Intensive Care Unit in Melbourne where "many patients who would be…

While it is true that the Victorian Government’s budget cuts have had serious implications for the provision of public health services, it is disappointing that the media has focused most of its attention on critical care services. As most practising health care professionals will confirm, much of the publicity has…

It was misleading for the Alfred Hospital’s spokesperson to suggest that a patient’s “chances would have been better” had an intensive care bed been available. Emergency departments have access to drugs, life-support equipment and competent professionals. It seems likely, therefore, that Mrs Long died as a result of her illness,…