(edit title) Medical Malpractice Reform Isn't it time for accountability? Options

[byke]

The value of life does have a price tag in Sweden and thats based on your tax payments which are in turn offset by the thousands who can't/dont pay. Another member stated in the past that 10% of all taxes goes on healthcare. It would be interesting to see what percentage of taxes fund the royal pole dancing family and what percentage of taxes go towards other things such as administration etc.

[what would thomas paine d...]

As suggested by other posters, I agree that in Sweden, it very often seems taboo to question the authority of the State. Like others, my opinion of this taboo is based on personal experience, as well as the shared experiences and writings of numerous others. And given this taboo, it is reasonable to assume that some posters will resist criticism or even pro-con discussion of Swedish malpractice policy—especially by “outsiders”—because they equate doing so as a hostile and taboo act, a form of heresy and dissidence, especially frowned upon in the culture of Jante Law (1). Note to the OP: Law 3: “You are not to think you're smarter than us,” Law 5: “You are not to think you know more than us,” and Law 10: “You are not to think you can teach us anything” (1).

Though I have not yet read “The New Totalitarians” (c. 1972/1980) by Roland Huntford (2), this book was recommended by a Swedish acquaintance as a realistic portrayal of Swedish society and politics. A wiki article on the book’s themes says, “Sweden never really developed a civic culture that champions individualism like other countries of Western Europe” (3). It seems logical, to me, that problems related to medical-malpractice are, in part, related to issues regarding the power, rights, and authority of the individual vs. the power, rights, and authority of the State and its proclaimed experts. Journalist Ola Tedin, for example, wrote recently about the reluctance of Swedish journalists to question State guidelines (4) and the contradictions in behavior allowed for the everyman vs. that of the State expert (5).

In discussing Scandinavian nation stereotypes, socialist Thomas Hylland Eriksen noted that early 20th century playwright August Strindberg described Sweden as a “stiff and inflexible country ruled by a degenerated aristocracy with soiled underwear” (6), and German writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger described Sweden “as a cold, authoritarian and joyless society”(6). Eriksen further noted that Norwegians associate “Sweden with arrogance and state power… a bureaucratic rationality, uncompromising Enlightenment ideology, a centralised, authoritarian State, and an air of arrogant overbearance (6); Danes stereotype Swedes “as humourless bureaucrats who, like obedient dogs, do whatever the State tells them to, and who are obsessed with material status symbols” (6). Additionally, “some Danes talk jokingly about ‘going in the direction of Russia’ when crossing the narrow strait separating the countries” (6).

In regard again to medical malpractice, political blogger Patrik Stenvard wrote that medical injuries are tallied twice a year. Stenvard notes that when injuries were down during one six-month period in Gävleborg, the politicians were loud and proud. But when the next six-month period showed Gävleborg with the most injuries in all of Sweden, the politicians were suddenly quite mum. Stenvard goes on to say that he’s heard numerous times from healthcare staff that inadequacies in the system are affecting patient safety (7). Nevertheless, politicians continue to strip healthcare budgets and further ration care (8).

So, how is medical negligence defined by the Swedish state? Does rationed care not operate in a perpetual state of medical negligence? How long do people have to suffer and their conditions worsen before it’s considered medical negligence?? How dated do diagnostic tools and treatment protocols have to be before they are considered negligent?? And who decides these thresholds? Politicians and the experts they employ? What rights do patient advocacy groups and the patients and their familes have in determining acceptable standards of care? What rights do patients have in citing the opinions of their own choice of experts? As stated by one State councilwoman, citizens are demanding more and more, and that is what’s worrisome (8). …To possibly be continued…

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
(2) http://www.scribd.com/doc/27911594/The-New...Huntford-Roland
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Totalitarians
(4) http://www.thelocal.se/40998/20120525/
(5) http://www.thelocal.se/41786/20120702/
(6) http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Scandinavian_images.html
(7) http://stenvard.blogspot.se/2012/05/vardre...kraftigt-i.html
(8) http://www.ka.se/index.cfm?c=102280

[organic225]

Excellent post and insight. Thanks for taking the time to write a well-cited piece. What many proponents of socialism don't understand (or simply overlook) is that the very people who push forward this sort of system do not live by it themselves. Those with power will always be wealthy and held to a different standard. If a population can be convinced that everyone is basically the same, that equality of outcome is more important than individual achievement or hard work, then that population is more easily controlled, because the people themselves take part in their own oppression.