WOW! NOW THIS IS SOCIALIZED MEDICINE AT ITS FINEST!

"Poland -- Prosecutors have charged two doctors and two ambulance workers with murder for letting patients die or killing them outright in order to collect kickbacks from funeral homes, officials said Wednesday.

The four defendands were charged in a total of 19 deaths. Under the alleged scheme, funeral homes in the central city of Lodz paid the emergency workers bribes to give them early tip-offs about deaths so the homes could snap up clients. Prosecutors say the defendants went a step further and killed patients.....

A 35-year-old ambulance crew member is accused of killing four patients with injections of a muscle relaxant and informing funeral homes of the deaths in exchange for a total of least $6,200, prosecutors said....

In 2002, police launched an investigation into ambulance staff suspected of taking bribes from funeral parlors. The investigation grabbed national attention after Polish media aired allegations that some crews may have delayed ambulance arrivals or administered drugs that resulted in the death of severely ill patients. State officials have acknowledged the system is prone to corruption. They blame low pay for government-employed medical workers and a lack of laws regulating intense competition among funeral homes".

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Australian check-up finds sick and sorry hospitals

"High levels of anger, starved of funds, staff not sure if anyone is in control: two major Sydney hospitals have been diagnosed with severe internal problems. At Royal North Shore Hospital, where morale has been battered by 10 years of funding cuts, rivalries have sprung up between doctors and anaesthetists and medical staff no longer trust management, an independent report has found. The report also found Ryde Hospital no longer had the resources to sustain emergency surgery, which should be abolished or limited to simple daytime procedures. Staff were "uncertain that anyone is actually in control at the level of middle management".

Last night the Health Minister, Morris Iemma, said he was shocked by the report, and said he had no idea about the state of the operating and surgical services at the two hospitals. "[The health system] is a big and complex system. My job is to get involved and do something to correct these issues when they are raised," he said. Mr Iemma denied funding had been run down at North Shore and said management denied some of the report's allegations, but he would accept its recommendation to convene immediately a restructuring committee to be chaired by North Shore's general manager, Deborah Latta.....

The report said North Shore medical staff believed management emphasised revenue raising over treatment and was dishonest in its explanation of cuts to services. Growth of adjoining private hospitals, carrying out procedures North Shore would once have charged for, had starved it of revenue. Senior management had no strategic vision, while surgical clinical committees overseeing the allocation of resources were so disaffected they had simply ceased making decisions. Some doctors believed the hospital's anaesthetics section "was managed by anaesthetists for anaesthetists". Doctors' lack of control over or input into decision-making had led to a "high level of anger and frustration at the situation" exacerbated by the simultaneous growth of the private hospitals.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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