You do NOT want these two; “Make deaths from clinical treatments beyond a “placebo” a criminal offence” nor “Abolish all medical patents”.
Something similar to the first, “Make deaths from clinical treatments beyond a “placebo” a criminal offence” exists in Japan. It makes hospitals extremely reluctant to accept patients who most need medical care, those in life or death health circumstances. It leads to what the Japanese call “Taraimawash”-the “Run Around”. Hospitals accept responsibility for the patient”s outcome once they accept the patient. If they refuse a patient who later dies, oh well. The refusing hospital/s are not responsible. Here are some articles I have collected over the years that back up my statements. My comments are in ( ), some of which add additional information not directly connected to this issue but may be of interest.
Refusal of service
8.3% of Tokyo emergency cases refused by multiple hospitals The Japan Times: Feb. 24, 2009
24,089 cases of multiple ER snubs last year The Japan Times: March 12, 2008
30-hospital denial fatal to woman The Japan Times: Dec. 29, 2007
82-year-old woman turned away by five hospitals dies The Japan Times: Nov. 15, 2008
Crash victim refused by 14 hospitals dies The Japan Times: Feb. 5, 2009
Pensioner Dies After Being Denied Treatment at 25 Different Hospitals Mar 6, 2013
Hospitals in Tokyo refusing flu patients The Japan Times: May 6, 2009 (Not just for covid and not new either, folks.)
Hospitals turn away patients at record rate The Japan Times: July 24, 2011
(Keep in mind this is the denial of a service that those denied have already paid for.)
Doctor Shortages
Doctor shortage gives patients runaround The Japan Times: April 12, 2008
Hospital doctors feeling the strain The Japan Times: April 12, 2008
Hospital's docs quit over pay cut The Japan Times: Nov. 1, 2008
Shortage of rural doctors worsens The Japan Times:, April 23, 2009
Planned cut in doctors’ overtime hours worries Japan’s rural hospitals Japan Times May 6.
Doctor’s suicide after monthly overtime exceeded 200 hours recognized as work-related The Japan Times, Date Unknown
A doctor in the house? Do you feel lucky? The Japan Times: Nov. 15, 2008
Hospitals need 24,000 doctors to ease manpower shortage, study shows
The Japan Times: Sept. 30, 2010
Provincial areas experiencing doctor shortages The Japan Times: June 1, 2010
Hospitals stretched to the breaking point The Japan Times: March 13, 2011 (To anyone currently panicking over the Japanese hospitals being overwhelmed by covid, if you’d been paying attention then you would not be surprised.)
If you build an emergency room, they will come The Japan Times: July 29, 2009
Students shun nursing care The Japan Times: Sept. 2, 2008 Wonder why?
EPAs clearing way for foreign caregivers The Japan Times: May 21, 2008 (What? Japan is importing health care professionals? Why? Oh…..)
Solutions (!?!)
Hospital closures eyed in reform plan The Japan Times: April 29, 2009
Abe-led government panel suggests reducing hospital beds to cut costs Oct. 29, 2019 (Yes, everyone knows the solution to turning away patients is to reduce the number of hospital and beds, which is the most common reason given for turning patients away.).
Cancer
Japan fatally behind curve on cervical cancer The Japan Times: June 27, 2008
Doctor scarcity hurting cancer care for women The Japan Times: Jan. 29, 2009
Less than 40% of adults get cancer screening: poll The Japan Times: Nov. 27, 2007
Breast cancer threat ignored Deaths rising but menace kept off the radar: advocate
The Japan Times: Sept. 23, 2005
Quality
Hospitals reused syringes on 10,000 patients The Japan Times: June 5, 2008
Reuse of blood-check devices widespread The Japan Times: Aug. 8, 2008
67 hepatitis B patients sue the state The Japan Times: July 31, 2008 (The above case is not the first time needle have been reused. This is the fallout from a previous instance.)
Hospital topped radiation limit for kids' exams The Japan Times: Sep. 2, 2011
Hospital death exposes 'tip of malpractice iceberg' The Japan Times: Jan. 31, 2006
Medical Education
Doctors cite ‘necessary evil’ of med school exam-rigging Asahi Shimbum August 9, 2018 (This one is an important read. Exams were rigged to hinder female applicants to med. Schools. The “why” is important.)
Childbirth
A medical travesty in Nara (From The Japan Times Sept. 4 issue) A must read.
Woman with brain hemorrhage left untreated for an hour The Asahi Shimbun Oct 21/22 2006 Another must read.
Hospitals need 1,000 more ICU beds for babies, ministry says The Japan Times: July 26, 2008 (Lack of hospital beds are often cited as the reason for turning patients away, especially pregnant women. Remember the article above on the planned reduction in the number of beds to reduce costs.)
Nearly half of perinatal centers short on full-time doctors: poll The Japan Times: Oct. 30, 2008
Obstetricians log 300-hour months The Japan Times: Nov. 1, 2008
Miscarriage rate found unexpectedly high The Japan Times: Aug. 3, 2009
Yes, these are old articles. While not every year, I do periodically assign med students to see if any progress has been made. The last was in 2020, I believe. ZERO progress made on any of these.
If you adopt the second of these, “Abolish all medical patents”, then you’ll see more of this.
Foreign drugmakers closing labs in Japan, moving over to China The Japan Times: July 28, 2008 (Not just foreign companies. Japanese drugmakers have also moved some manufacturing overseas too. Result of price controls. Eventually, the cost to make them domestically becomes greater than what the government will allow them to charge for them.)
While the direct reason differs, the result will be the same; R&D will cease as new drug development will be a massive loss for whoever continues it. Patents are important to all who hold them but more so for pharmaceutical products. Unlike the patents for many over items, certain for copyrights for literature, music and film, pharmaceutical patents expire in a very short time. Given the extremely high costs of research, building and maintaining and certifying facilities and personnel that far far exceed those of products enjoying patent/copyright protects of much longer duration, we have the perversely high cost of medicine and medical devices. Abolishing what protection they have will abolish new medicine development. You can not expect anyone to work for free, not a street sweeper, not a pharmaceutical researcher. You’re certainly can not force them into the red. The solution would be to extend the length of patent protection so that the patent holders have more than a mere decade, give or take a year or two, to recoup what they spent on R&D before they have to just give their work to a generic drug maker who spent zero on research for the drug. Oh, and hopefully have some left over to help fund R&D into other medications.
None of these objectives will last long because the new crop of bureaucrats and Representatives will be corrupted by their self interest by bribery through donation and blackmail. We need to do away with giving a group of people wrongs as rights completely and allow the Free Market to control corrupt business.
You do NOT want these two; “Make deaths from clinical treatments beyond a “placebo” a criminal offence” nor “Abolish all medical patents”.
Something similar to the first, “Make deaths from clinical treatments beyond a “placebo” a criminal offence” exists in Japan. It makes hospitals extremely reluctant to accept patients who most need medical care, those in life or death health circumstances. It leads to what the Japanese call “Taraimawash”-the “Run Around”. Hospitals accept responsibility for the patient”s outcome once they accept the patient. If they refuse a patient who later dies, oh well. The refusing hospital/s are not responsible. Here are some articles I have collected over the years that back up my statements. My comments are in ( ), some of which add additional information not directly connected to this issue but may be of interest.
Refusal of service
8.3% of Tokyo emergency cases refused by multiple hospitals The Japan Times: Feb. 24, 2009
24,089 cases of multiple ER snubs last year The Japan Times: March 12, 2008
30-hospital denial fatal to woman The Japan Times: Dec. 29, 2007
82-year-old woman turned away by five hospitals dies The Japan Times: Nov. 15, 2008
Crash victim refused by 14 hospitals dies The Japan Times: Feb. 5, 2009
Pensioner Dies After Being Denied Treatment at 25 Different Hospitals Mar 6, 2013
Hospitals in Tokyo refusing flu patients The Japan Times: May 6, 2009 (Not just for covid and not new either, folks.)
Hospitals turn away patients at record rate The Japan Times: July 24, 2011
(Keep in mind this is the denial of a service that those denied have already paid for.)
Doctor Shortages
Doctor shortage gives patients runaround The Japan Times: April 12, 2008
Hospital doctors feeling the strain The Japan Times: April 12, 2008
Hospital's docs quit over pay cut The Japan Times: Nov. 1, 2008
Shortage of rural doctors worsens The Japan Times:, April 23, 2009
Planned cut in doctors’ overtime hours worries Japan’s rural hospitals Japan Times May 6.
Doctor’s suicide after monthly overtime exceeded 200 hours recognized as work-related The Japan Times, Date Unknown
A doctor in the house? Do you feel lucky? The Japan Times: Nov. 15, 2008
Hospitals need 24,000 doctors to ease manpower shortage, study shows
The Japan Times: Sept. 30, 2010
Provincial areas experiencing doctor shortages The Japan Times: June 1, 2010
Hospitals stretched to the breaking point The Japan Times: March 13, 2011 (To anyone currently panicking over the Japanese hospitals being overwhelmed by covid, if you’d been paying attention then you would not be surprised.)
If you build an emergency room, they will come The Japan Times: July 29, 2009
Students shun nursing care The Japan Times: Sept. 2, 2008 Wonder why?
EPAs clearing way for foreign caregivers The Japan Times: May 21, 2008 (What? Japan is importing health care professionals? Why? Oh…..)
Solutions (!?!)
Hospital closures eyed in reform plan The Japan Times: April 29, 2009
Abe-led government panel suggests reducing hospital beds to cut costs Oct. 29, 2019 (Yes, everyone knows the solution to turning away patients is to reduce the number of hospital and beds, which is the most common reason given for turning patients away.).
Cancer
Japan fatally behind curve on cervical cancer The Japan Times: June 27, 2008
Doctor scarcity hurting cancer care for women The Japan Times: Jan. 29, 2009
Less than 40% of adults get cancer screening: poll The Japan Times: Nov. 27, 2007
Breast cancer threat ignored Deaths rising but menace kept off the radar: advocate
The Japan Times: Sept. 23, 2005
Quality
Hospitals reused syringes on 10,000 patients The Japan Times: June 5, 2008
Reuse of blood-check devices widespread The Japan Times: Aug. 8, 2008
67 hepatitis B patients sue the state The Japan Times: July 31, 2008 (The above case is not the first time needle have been reused. This is the fallout from a previous instance.)
Hospital topped radiation limit for kids' exams The Japan Times: Sep. 2, 2011
Hospital death exposes 'tip of malpractice iceberg' The Japan Times: Jan. 31, 2006
Medical Education
Doctors cite ‘necessary evil’ of med school exam-rigging Asahi Shimbum August 9, 2018 (This one is an important read. Exams were rigged to hinder female applicants to med. Schools. The “why” is important.)
Childbirth
A medical travesty in Nara (From The Japan Times Sept. 4 issue) A must read.
Woman with brain hemorrhage left untreated for an hour The Asahi Shimbun Oct 21/22 2006 Another must read.
Hospitals need 1,000 more ICU beds for babies, ministry says The Japan Times: July 26, 2008 (Lack of hospital beds are often cited as the reason for turning patients away, especially pregnant women. Remember the article above on the planned reduction in the number of beds to reduce costs.)
Nearly half of perinatal centers short on full-time doctors: poll The Japan Times: Oct. 30, 2008
Obstetricians log 300-hour months The Japan Times: Nov. 1, 2008
Miscarriage rate found unexpectedly high The Japan Times: Aug. 3, 2009
Yes, these are old articles. While not every year, I do periodically assign med students to see if any progress has been made. The last was in 2020, I believe. ZERO progress made on any of these.
If you adopt the second of these, “Abolish all medical patents”, then you’ll see more of this.
Foreign drugmakers closing labs in Japan, moving over to China The Japan Times: July 28, 2008 (Not just foreign companies. Japanese drugmakers have also moved some manufacturing overseas too. Result of price controls. Eventually, the cost to make them domestically becomes greater than what the government will allow them to charge for them.)
While the direct reason differs, the result will be the same; R&D will cease as new drug development will be a massive loss for whoever continues it. Patents are important to all who hold them but more so for pharmaceutical products. Unlike the patents for many over items, certain for copyrights for literature, music and film, pharmaceutical patents expire in a very short time. Given the extremely high costs of research, building and maintaining and certifying facilities and personnel that far far exceed those of products enjoying patent/copyright protects of much longer duration, we have the perversely high cost of medicine and medical devices. Abolishing what protection they have will abolish new medicine development. You can not expect anyone to work for free, not a street sweeper, not a pharmaceutical researcher. You’re certainly can not force them into the red. The solution would be to extend the length of patent protection so that the patent holders have more than a mere decade, give or take a year or two, to recoup what they spent on R&D before they have to just give their work to a generic drug maker who spent zero on research for the drug. Oh, and hopefully have some left over to help fund R&D into other medications.
None of these objectives will last long because the new crop of bureaucrats and Representatives will be corrupted by their self interest by bribery through donation and blackmail. We need to do away with giving a group of people wrongs as rights completely and allow the Free Market to control corrupt business.
Yes, this is the plan. We need to start in our local, parallel systems while we go about delegitimizing the opposition.