Safety in Numbers...Hardly
Accidental Deaths, totaling 113,000 rose by more than 20% over the 10 years ending in 2050, according to a study by the National Safety Council. The all-time high was 116, 385 in 1969. Motor vehicle crashes were leading cause followed by poisonings (including overdoses from legal and street drugs), falls, choking and drowning.
For people up to age 41, accidents were the top cause of death and ranked fifth in the nation over all, exceeded only by heart disease, cancer, stroke and respiratory diseases.
"A silent epidemic," the Council's president, Alan McMillan, said. (New York Times, June 10, 2007)
Note- About two-thirds of parents who keep a gun at home fail to store them safely, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.
More than 3700 parents in 45 states, Canada and Puerto Rico were interviewed when they brought their children, ages 2 to 11, to their pediatrician for a visit. Twenty-three percent said they owned a firearm but only one-third said they stored their guns safely by keeping them in a locked cabinet or safe with gunlocks and ammunition stored separately.(New York Times, June 10, 2007)
Thought- If you aren't wearing your seatbelt, pausing before going when the light turns green, getting home by midnight, safely locking your weapons away and generally behaving safely and with some sense, there's going to be Hell to pay. Pay attention out there-Think SAFE.
Note- Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, recently released its annual report ranking how effective state medical boards are at disciplining doctors. There were 2,916 serious disciplinary actions (involving issues such as insurance fraud, and drug abuse) taken by state medical boards in 2006, down 10.4 percent from 2005.
According to the report (www.citizen.org), South Carolina ranks among the 10 "worst" states for adequately punishing doctors who do wrong. Actions can include fines, formal reprimands and license probations, suspensions and revocations.
Information about doctors' disciplinary records is available to patients at sites such as http://www.healthgrades.com/ and http://www.physicianreports.com/. (Charleston Post & Courier, June 18, 2007)
Thought - So what's new? South Carolina has never shown much interest in getting the worst of the lot off the street and out of practice. What South Carolina has done, instead, is pass a boatload of laws designed to make it HARDER for the injured or cheated or mistreated patient and family get a clean fair shot at the miscreants.
Nice. So much for all that State House and Gubernatorial lip service to "Taking Personal Responsibility" and respecting the basic rights of the average citizen. So, what to do? Check 'em out before you let 'em touch you and ask questions, ask questions, ask questions.
You MUST become your own and best advocate.
