VA Medical mistakes: 700 dead in 2 years Report documents 2,927 errors at veterans hospitals around the nation
By Robert Pear New York Times
WASHINGTON - Federal investigators have documented almost 3,000 medical mistakes and mishaps in less than two years at veterans hospitals around the country, and more than 700 patients have died in those cases, the Department of Veterans Affairs says in a new report.
The accidents and deaths occurred from June 1997 to December 1998, in the first 19 months of a new policy that requires employees to report medical errors and "adverse events." Since then, the department has been getting such reports at a rate of more than 200 a month.
Congressman Charles Taylor pretends to be a friend of the forests in western North Carolina, but his actions and political flip-flops demonstrate his lack of commitment to our district's most valuable natural and economic resources.
The Progressive Democrats of North Carolina are holding a Progressive Summit on Saturday and Sunday, June 3-4 at the Summit at Haw River State Park north of Greensboro. Go check out their website for more information and to register. I got this announcement last night from Pete McDowell who is president of the PDNC PAC. The main thing he said that caught my eye is this: There's a lot of interest in running a real progressive for Lieutenant Governor in 2008.
Last evening, President Bush addressed the nation on the ever popular immigration issue. It is no secret that Latino immigrants are growing in numbers each day. All one has to do is open their eyes and they will see Latinos doing jobs in most every sector of our economy.
I am torn over the immigration issue. I feel the pain of the immigrants trying to earn a better life in the United States. I often think of my Scicillian relatives who migrated to the United States at the turn of the century. The hatred on talk-radio and the conversations in right-wing circles directed at Latinos is heart-breaking for me because it reminds of what my family members went through while trying to assimilate into the American melting pot.
When free market types start moving their lips on the subject of education, you're sure to hear many wonderful stories about how the entrepreneurial spirit can transform schools, leading us down a miraculous path toward the corporate takeover of teaching and learning in America.
Well, there's one sector of education that has already been taken over by corporations: textbook publication. And in the neverending push to sell more books to more states, publishers have dumbed down their products to satisfy lowest-common denominator states, most notably Texas. It's a sad saga of profit-above-all-else, a perfect example of factory-schooling run amok where the only common good is creating wealth for shareholders.
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