Wrong Doses, Compensation for Organ Donors, and Bending the Curve on Health Care Costs
By John Goodman Filed under Uncategorized on January 12, 2010 with 5 comments
Tara Parker-Pope (NYT Health Blog): Why do patients take the wrong dose? Because they don’t know the difference between teaspoons and tablespoons. (A 1992 study of dosing errors.)
Jacob Goldstein (WSJ Health Blog): In this country, it’s legal to compensate donors of eggs, sperm and blood, but it’s illegal to pay organ donors. Compensating donors of bone marrow… is also illegal. But a lawsuit in federal court could change that.
Byron Caplan (Econlog): If Obama really wants to “bend the curve” of health care costs why not try outsourcing Medicare and Medicaid to India?
On bone maarrow, there is only one important question: whose life is it anywa? If you think you belong to the government, then I suppose you might approve of these kinds of laws.
If you think your life belongs to you, these restrictions are completely indefensible.
Hard to believe patients don’t understand the doses. But how hard could it be to spell out the words instead of abbreviating them?
Eggs, sperm and blood but not marrow? What gives? Seems completely irrational.
I’m still thinking about sending everyone to India. Wouldn’t it be much simpler if we allowed one of the Indian hospitals to set up shop on an American Indian reservation?
CATO recently published a study on organ donations and how their sale works well in Iran. Follow this link – http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9273
And in reference to bone marrow, IJ has a very strong case not only because it is irrational but also because bone marrow is not an organ – it’s actually more similar to blood.