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Seeking less information, and Hospital-acquired infections
by Herb Ruhs, MD, July 19, 2005
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[Re Bloggers need not apply]
Now this was funny. The implication of this article is that this search committee (and no doubt most search committees) would rather know less about a prospective candidate, that they want to be lied to and deceived about the true character of the applicants.
The ideal candidate would be someone they knew almost nothing about -- except perhaps WHO is recommending her.
We see the results of this all the time, but, other than the occasional phony journalist exposed as a plagiarist or bold-faced liar, we hear nothing about it in the "news."
Does help me understand a little better how all these wingnuts end up with jobs, while deserving candidates end up dumpster diving. Kind of analogous to the startling discovery I made a few years ago when it came out that police departments across the country have been systematically screening cop school candidates to make sure they are not too bright, because "police work is boring and we don't want to spend a lot of money training someone who will get bored and walk off the job." ... or perhaps actually try to think critically about things.
Herb Ruhs, MD
A sound theory.
Generally speaking, in police departments, in office situations, for almost any job unless an employer is looking to hire rocket scientists or philosophers, the people making hiring decisions want to screen out people who are creative, innovative, critical thinkers ... anyone who might potentially to make waves.
They want people bright enough to do what they're told, and do it competently, but not people so bright they ask challenging questions, challenge the routine, blow a whistle, or provide a threat for their boss's job. =H&HH=
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[Re Hospital-acquired infections killed 11,600 Pennsylvanians in 2004]
As a physician who practiced in Pennsylvania for four years, I would caution accepting anything from this State Government or medical establishment at face value.
I suspect that even cynical readers would be flummoxed by a close up look at corruption in Pennsylvania medicine. Maybe it is true that they are reporting partial results as a sincere move, but, considering the past uniform corrupt behavior in Pennsylvania politics, not probable. Successful conspiracies always back us into a corner by forcing us to speculate on the basis of inadequate information.
However, I would not be surprised to hear some whistleblowin' (not so surprised by the whistleblown information, very surprised that anyone would have the courage to do it) information that this study was designed to discredit hospitals that are not currently sources of power for the grossly corrupt political machine that is Pennsylvania Government. Sorry for the blanket condemnation, but any half way effective research would reveal corrupt practices that would curl your hair.
This is not to denigrate the fact that hospital acquired infections are a terrible scourge. But this is far from being, as implied, a simple problem that hospitals could easily do something about. The reality is that systematic practices that are nearly uniform across the country cause this "preventable" problem.
To fix it, it will be necessary to fix the entire system so as to simultaneously address the various causes of the preventable mountain of corpses that is piling up while we wring our hands and do nothing. As I have pointed out here before, the Public Health community recognizes "health care" as the sixth leading cause of death in the US. And that is undoubtedly a gross underestimate.
Remember, Corporate Medicine is NOT interested in your health, not interested if you live or die, just whether or not the bottom line looks good. The race to the ethical bottom in the "health care industry" is essentially over. Now the money prizes are being divided up. Don't expect the corporate managers to be distracted by news of their own incompetence.
Herb Ruhs, MD
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