Heath Ledger Died

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by frodo potter

The problem with our medical system is that it relies heavily on the patient to be in charge of and on top of their own care.

Just as aside, this is not always a bad thing. If my friend Ginny (with the giant brain tumor) hadn't been in charge of and on top of her own care, she'd have been dead six times over.

That's not to say that most people are more qualified than doctors, just that it takes a good dose of both patient and doctor involvment to get really good care ... and often the patient will know best about the care they need (and well, tragically, often not)

Originally Posted by frodo potter

In short the system in open to abuse and mistakes and only a complete overhaul of the whole system would make such abuse stop. As long as such abuse exists we will hear stories like this.

But at least a high-profile drug-mix accidental overdose of common mistake like Heath's will likely lead to more awareness of the problem and save at least a few lives, at least in the short term.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Just as aside, this is not always a bad thing. If my friend Ginny (with the giant brain tumor) hadn't been in charge of and on top of her own care, she'd have been dead six times over.

Ditto that, iSm, in terms of my mom. The coumadin clinic actually consults HER as to what she should be taking - after eleven years with an auto-immune disease and 28 years dating DVT-preventative medication, her charts and graphs give her way more perspective than the docs. And whenever she goes to the hospital, her very tricky medical cocktails (none anti-depressive, but most required due to side effects from the steroids - which, if she weren't taking them, she'd die right away) always get mixed up, and it's up to her in her ill state to realize they're mis-medicating her. This is why - hmm, I haven't talked about this on the board yet - this is why she is no longer seeking actual treatment and refuses hospital stays even though she's frequently bleeding internally and lately passes an average of 2 kidney stones per day.