Pat's Note: This is from the Wall Street Journal - Ms. McCaughey, a
former lieutenant governor of New York State 

...and gives you a taste of just how bad the financial fall out is
going to be if Britain's bent government vets have had anything to do
with spreading either mutated PMWS or resultant "piggy" MRSA ST398 to
the United States.

Britain's government vets thoroughly shifty perfomance makes them look
guilty. They probably are.

That had to have a reason for trying to intimidate a witness before
Britain's Parliament, didn't they?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121867229022038907.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Hospital Infections: 
Preventable and Unacceptable
By BETSY MCCAUGHEY
August 14, 2008; Page A11

On July 30, a jury awarded over $2.5 million to James Klotz and his
wife Mary in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a heart surgeon,
his group practice and St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis, Mo.
In 2004 Mr. Klotz, now 69, was rushed to the hospital with a heart
attack and a pacemaker was surgically implanted. He developed a
drug-resistant staph infection called methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It was so severe that he underwent 15
additional operations, spent 84 days in the hospital and lost his
right leg, part of his left foot, a kidney and most of his hearing.

This verdict should send a warning to physicians, hospitals and
hospital board members. Until recently, infection was considered an
unavoidable risk. But now there is proof that nearly all hospital
infections are avoidable when doctors and staff clean their hands and
rigorously practice proper hygiene and other preventive measures.

Hospital infections will cause the next wave of class-action lawsuits,
bigger than the litigation over asbestos. The germ that Mr. Klotz
contracted, hospital-acquired MRSA, infects about 880,000 patients a
year and accounts for only 8% of all hospital infections. Hospital
infections caused by all kinds of bacteria sicken millions.

The Klotz verdict is not the first sign that hospitals are in a new
legal environment. In 2004, Tenet Healthcare Corporation agreed to pay
$31 million to settle 106 lawsuits by patients who contracted
infections after heart surgery at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in
Florida. Since then, numerous lawsuits have been filed against
hospitals in Florida, Kentucky and elsewhere by infected patients.
Hospitals being sued are saying that their infection rates are within
national norms. But for most infections, the only acceptable rate is
zero.

Medicare calls certain device-related bloodstream infections, urinary
tract infections and surgical infections after orthopedic and heart
surgery "never events." Starting in October, Medicare will stop
reimbursing hospitals for treatment of these infections. Hospitals
will be barred from billing patients for what Medicare doesn't pay,
forcing them to take a loss. Next year Medicare will add other types
of infections to the list of "never events."

The evidence justifying Medicare's new policy is compelling. Central
line bloodstream infections, caused by the contamination of certain
devices, are preventable. Hospital patients in intensive care are
commonly medicated through a tube inserted into a vein. The risk is
that bacteria will invade the tube and enter the bloodstream. Rigorous
hygiene, including clean hands, sterile drapes, and careful cleaning
of the insertion site with chlorhexidine soap, can keep bacteria away
from the tube.

Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City reports that it hasn't had
a central line bloodstream infection in the cardiac intensive care
unit in over 1,000 days. Dr. Brian Koll, chief of infection control
there, explains that the key is using a checklist that doctors and
nurses must follow. Implementing the checklist cost $30,000 and saved
$1.5 million in treatment costs. Lives saved: priceless.

Other hospitals -- from Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore to
Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Sacramento -- have reached the goal
of zero central line bloodstream infections. No wonder Medicare calls
these infections "never events." Why should jurors reach a different
conclusion in a lawsuit?

We have the knowledge to prevent infections. What has been lacking is
the will. A recent survey from the patient-safety organization
Leapfrog found that 87% of hospitals fail to consistently practice
infection prevention measures. Insurance companies that sell liability
coverage to hospitals could change that by offering lower premiums to
hospitals that rigorously follow infection-prevention protocols.

To be sure, lawsuits are not the best way to improve patient care.
Many verdicts are unjustified, and few truly injured patients find a
lawyer to take their case. Still, the coming wave of lawsuits, as well
as financial incentives from Medicare and insurers, will fight
complacency about hospital hygiene.

Ms. McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York State, is
chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths.

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/