Rethinking Patient Safety

Change the Senate Rules: 41 / 100 is Not a Majority - 1 / 100 is Not a Majority

One of the lessons from my college years was a principle derived from Robert MacIver's book: The Web of Government. 

Government exists to serve the needs of the people. 

At this point, I confess that I do not recall whether this conclusion was articulated in the book, or at the end of a path to which the book led me. The principle seems reasonable if not obvious. 

Recently, the Republican leadership in the Senate made it clear that it was willing to use its block of 41 Republican Senators to block progress in healthcare reform. The Republican leadership was not willing to do anything but "start over" going "step by step." Any other approach was unacceptable, including: 

          Starting with the points on which the Republicans agree with the Democrats, 

          Proposing amendments to the existing legislation, 

          Forwarding a Republican bill for consideration.

Senator Mitch McConnell insisted that we must start over with a blank piece of paper.  

I expressed some dismay that this is the posture in which we find ourselves after a year of hard work by all involved.  This call to "start over" comes after more than 70 years of hard work by numerous Congresses and Presidents. This blank piece of paper is all we have to show for over 450 Congressional hearings. Insisting that we "start over" throws all the hard work into the wastebasket. 

(See Links to information about the 451 hearings here. )

The Senate became even more absurd when Kentucky Senator James Bunning insisted on blocking extension of unemployment benefits all by himself. One senator. One lone senator. A filibuster of one. How is this possible? How can it be that 59 of 100 Senators cannot vote to provide healthcare for Americans? How can it be that one lone senator can deprive millions of Americans of what they need to survive? 

The Constitution provides that each house of Congress may "determine the Rules of its Proceedings." (See Article I Section 3 and Article I Section 5. Additional sources of information: 1   2  3)

When the Senate rules allow one, count 'em one, Kentucky Senator James Bunning the ability to singlehandedly block extension of unemployment benefits and knock thousands of Americans out of work, the rules need to be changed. 

The principle is: 

Government exists to serve the needs of the people. 

Since the Senate rules prevent the Senate 

from serving the needs of the people, 

the rules must be changed. 

How can we accomplish that? 

What do you think? 

Let me hear from you. 

February 2010 Patient Safety in the Medical Literature

Today's Updates

The future of otolaryngology training threatened: The negative impact of residency training reforms    

Singer MC     Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2010 Mar;142(3):303-305..

Residency reforms of 2003 have not achieved their goals, but have diluted the residents' experiences. 

Perspectives of staff nurses of the reasons for and the nature of patient-initiated call lights     

 Tzeng     BMC Health Serv Res. 2010 Feb 26;10(1):52

"53% thought that answering calls prevented them from doing the critical aspects of their role. "

"Additional efforts are necessary to reach the ideal or even a reasonable level of patient safety-first practice in current hospital environments."

Hospitals' disregard of patient safety alerts is risking lives, claims charity.

O'Dowd A     BMJ     2010 Feb 17;340:c984. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c984.

Also see:

Daily Mail article

Broadening never events: is it a plausible road to improved patient safety?

MacLeod JB   Arch Surg 2010 Feb;145(2):151-2.

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What medical issues would you like to see reviewed here? 

1 > 99 Today's Constitutional Law Lesson from Sen. Bunning

My Constitutional Law class 

didn't cover this:

Lone Senator can block government action

Open letter sent to the President, my senators and congressperson objecting to:

          a. Senator Bunning's stunt, and 

          b. the failure to stop it. 

Send your own letter to your government representatives:  

www.congress.org

____

Dear 

I am disappointed that Senator Bunning took steps to block the extension of unemployment benefits. I am profoundly disappointed that the rest of Congress and the White House failed to override this lone senator. 

My class in Constitutional Law in law school did not cover the provision in the Constitution that allows Senator Bunning or any other lone senator to singlehandedly stop the rest of our government from acting. I can only imagine the howl from the talk show hosts if a Democrat ever tried the stunt Bunning just pulled off. 

My father, a civil rights activist, risked his life getting arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964. He worked tirelessly to extend voting rights to all Americans.  He was a lifelong Democrat who cared about the working class. He told us that the Democratic Party stood for the working class, for human rights, for the downtrodden. He would tell us stories about how Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and FDR would overcome obstructionists in Congress. 

My father might wonder what good the right to vote is when one lone senator can singlehandedly block action by the rest of Congress and the White House that is essential to the working class putting food on the table. Congress cannot afford for today's children to learn that one lone senator can get away with this.

This recent tactic by Senator Bunning ranks as one of the most idiotic things I have seen any senator do in my life. It exposes the Party of No for what it is. The political benefits of taking him to task for his outrageous stand will be enormous, if you can find the will to do so. 

Remind us what it means to care about the working class. I ask that you consider what Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman or FDR would have done had one lone senator singlehandedly blocked unemployment benefits for millions of unemployed Americans. 

Call Congress back into session immediately. Vote for unemployment benefits. 

The right of working families to eat is more important than anything else you had planned. Show us that you still understand that. 

Lee Tilson

www.rethinkingpatientsafety.com

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Wealthy retired baseball pitcher 

Kentucky Senator James Bunning 

singlehandedly blocks benefits for unemployed

__

Right wing:  Senator Bunning’s Unappreciated Gifts    [Alan Reynolds]

____

Michigan Democrat blasts GOP leaders

 for Bunning's objection on benefits

"Durbin said Friday that it was "because of the objection of one Senator who says we have to learn our lesson about deficits.” And Reid said on Thursday that "When 99 senators want something done, it is not right for one Senator to hold it up. My friend has that right. But it is a real problem for so many different people."  '

From The Hill, By Jordan Fabian - posted 02/27/10 10:54 AM ET

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/84039-dem-rips-gop-leaders-for-bunnings-objection-