Friday.  Another busy day of spring cleaning.  That will be on going for some time.  We had rain over night so I don't know if I will get anything done outside.  It may be too wet.  It is dark yet so I can't really see much outside.

I am not surprised by this but I still get angry when I see these stories and when I remember my late ex-husband who died seven months before the only appointment with the VA hospital near him he could get.  He had made the appointment five months before he died.  Explains why I get a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth whenever I hear some politician tell a veteran "Thank you for your service."

This must be a day for medical related posts.  Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has a long one on the growing commercialization of medicine thanks somewhat to Obamacare which intensified longstanding trends in the health care field.  She covers most of the trend and implication rather well. However, as I was reading this I had a question that isn't covered:  what happens if the patient refuses the doctors advice.  Mom has done it once with an osteoporosis drug.  She had several reasons for refusing to stay on the meds.  She had been having leg pains that were described as a side effect.  She also found the stories about major thigh bone breaks associated with the drugs after prolonged use and she had been on the drugs for several years.  And she noticed that the drugs did not improve her bone density at all.  Tests after she stopped her drug showed no deterioration without the drug.  But what would happen if she did that with her statin (which she is thinking about)?  Would her doctor at some point decide she is an uncooperative patient rather than an informed and engage customer?  What if he decides to drop her and she can't find another?  Do we really want medical care reduced to a commercial transaction?

And for another post on the same theme--Susie Madrak links to a story about doctors refusing to follow new guidelines for when and for whom statins are prescribed.  I questioned the use of guidelines that would double (or more) the number of people on statins some time ago.  Evidently some cardiologists are also.  I wonder if the drug manufacturers had a hand in writing up the guidelines.

Unfortunately, elected despotism may be what we are moving towards.

How many times can a company's facilities fail (in any way) before some government takes action to protect the people?  Oh, I forgot.  That would cut into the sacred profits.