Iowa and Midwest News for the Day - Dogs, Medical Mistakes and Going Green

Cleveland Heights, Ohio – A woman died and her family is saying the pet Rottweiler bites in her shoulder were her dog's attempt to save her not to kill her. An autopsy is being performed to determine if the woman had a heart attack, and then perhaps the dog ate my homework story might have some validity. This comes to us from The Columbus Dispatch.

Fontana, California – Five dogs dug under a fence allowing them to escape then to attack a mother and her children ages 5, 7 and 8 year-old. One child is not able to breathe on her own and remains hospitalized. One child required 237 stitches to close a leg wound. An officer said the dog owners are “sorry about what happened.” The one dog's breed is a mastiff and the other three are pit bull mixes. One dog was shot by officers; the others were taken to the pound. This from the AP, the Sacramento Bee and KIVI-TV. Amazingly, it appears all the dog owners get is a citation for a dog being at large.

St. Louis, Missouri – Some times it’s embarrassing being a Republican. The party can be so lame when it comes to how to appeal to the voters. One example is health care reform. Once again they are beating the drum for limiting the financial responsibility of those who do the most harm to the poor unsuspecting patient. They don’t seem to be getting it. Remember the Republican Party was also responsible for the Wall Street mess by taking a weed-wacker to regulations that would have prohibited the subprime meltdown. The RP allows Wall Street to steal the voters retirement money and they are right back in their face with making them pay for someone else's mistakes; maybe we should be a little bit conciliatory.

A poll came out last Friday saying 75% of Americans want health care reform. That inspired Republican politicians to say they want it too, but not in a way that common sense would dictate. They ignored the bottom line that we are spending too much on health care – PERIOD. You don’t need to be an accountant to know we are spending too much. There is too much money being spent on brick and mortar projects. The insurance company profits are soaring. We have hospital CEO's taking home huge paychecks and still the Party slams the patient. If the doctors need higher pay give it to them, but not at the sake of the medically injured patient. Remember the studies showed that health care reforms embracing limiting compensation in the tort system is nothing more than a shell game. The CBO did a study on this entire issue of tort reform, but it seems politicians never allow fact to get in the way of their own version of the truth. All I can say is that Evan Bayh’s decision not to run is a sign of things to come. When the discretionary spending gets so low those veteran politicians don’t even want the job you know we are heading to the end of the time when printing money is thought to be a solution. Perhaps we are getting closer to a time when pork reform will be seriously addressed. Here is another interesting twist on the subject: The Death of John Murtha: Preventable Medical Errors in A Broken System, Mark Bello

Cyberspace, Healthfinder – Seems the government, ours that is, has found most surgical errors occur due to poor communication. See Errors in Surgical Procedures Persist, Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter.

Let me see if I have this right:

Surgeon: “Good morning nurse is this a lefty or a righty surgery this morning?”

Head Nurse: “I think it’s a lefty?”

Another nurse: “No I think it’s a righty.”

Anesthesiologist: “Damn the patient has already been sedated so we can’t ask them.”

Scrub Nurse: “What do you think we should do doctor?”

Surgeon: “Well, has anybody read the chart?”

Surgical Crew: (Chorus) “We didn’t think of that! What a novel idea!”

Chicago, Illinois – All morning I’ve been waiting for a “Blame President Obama” story and this is it. Because the story has a Chicago connection it qualifies as having at least some fact associated with the President, so the Obama-blamers can shout loudly, “It’s not his color that bothers us we just don’t like him, he’s a socialist.” Here is the story. A man is being sought in the Halloween Hit-n-Run of a pedestrian, a 25-year-old DePaul University student who died. Although it’s reported the man doesn’t have a driver’s license and may have fled to Mexico it could still be the fault of President Obama because … umm … well it just could, trust me.

Anywhere-But, Ohio – Speaking of the new Hasbro game called Blame the President, Joe-The-Plumber is back in the news. Joe, a/k/a Wurzelbacher is mad as hell at McCain for trying to use him and for screwing up his life. “On February 13, 2010 Wurzelbacher attended a political event for Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, Sam Rohrer. Speaking to a reporter afterwards, Wurzelbacher said that "McCain was trying to use [him]", and accused McCain of having "really screwed [Wurzelbacher's] life up". But really the big buzz is the efforts to draft Joe Wurzelbacher as Ohio’s 9th District U.S. Congressional seat. The campaign slogan? “Plunge The Crap Out Of Washington”. Visit his website and see if I’m kidding. There is nothing odder than the truth. Check out review on the Wonkette.

Beatrice, Nebraska – the Nebraska Highway Patrol closed I-80 due to ice and white-out conditions. That was on Sunday, February 14, 2010. On February 11, 2010 the Iowa State Patrol had to shut down I-80 near Davenport due to a traffic accident in the westbound lanes.

St. Cloud, Minnesota – From the InjuryBoard Mike Bryant tells us of an accident that took the life of a Reverend and his wife while on the road. Life can be so cruel.

Sherman County, Oregon – Going green can be deadly for those maintaining the equipment that creates the environmentally friendly energy. A 34-year-old technician died when the 230-foot wind turbine tower he was in collapsed falling to the ground. What the heck is that one about? How does a tower of this height just fall to the ground?

Forest City, Iowa – The Iowa plane crash victim was a man from Florida. The FAA is investigating.

Mt. St. Helens, Washington – Kings5 TV – A climber fell into the crater at Mt. St. Helens after a cornice he was on broke away. He fell approximately 1,500 feet. The 52-year-old is noted to be an experience climber who initially survived the fall. A rescue helicopter got within 50 feet of the climber and thought he was unresponsive. Standing on a cornice without being roped to someone or something isn't really a good idea. A cornice is simply an overhang of snow.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Climber-falls-into-Mount-St-Helens-crater-84414752.html

And for those of you who never get tired of the mountains here is the 1980 eruption.