About this Blog
This blog is about the truth, patient dignity, and my ramblings. The "patient dignity" section is hoe patients who have been traumatized by the healthcare system view the healthcare system.About Me
I am highly educated, believe in God, ethical, and live an exciting life. I have multiples degrees in the arts and sciences. I am not always right, I will take responsibility when I am wrong, and I will apologize.I believe there is one Supreme most perfect being. ... I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those He has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous. -Benjamin Franklin "Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion" (1728)
I claim no special knowledge of God, He does not speak to me, I am not sure what He even wants of us other than to love Him and to...
"Be excellent to each other." --Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
I support the cause of Human Dignity, especially as it relates to "Patient Modesty."
I am no saint. I do not believe that homosexuality is wrong. My political views are what I describe as Constitutional: When it comes to personal liberties I am like a Libertarian, fiscally I am a Conservative, socially I am a Liberal. I want LESS government regulation.
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin for the Pennsylvania Assembly in its Reply to the Governor (11 Nov. 1755)I am against all these surveillance cameras, fingerprinting of business professionals, TSA scanners, etc. I do not want guaranteed safety, I just want "reasonable" safety. I am all for free speech. That does not mean that I won't make an ass of myself sometimes.
I am a philosopher, an artist, and a scientist. As I stated previously, I have advanced degrees. My education and skills are of a odd mixture. My undergrad degrees were counseling and business. Professionally the easiest way to describe my job is risk manager. I deal with very dangerous situations. Sometimes I come in before hand, to prevent something BAD from happening.
But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. -Taken (2008)Sometimes I am brought in after something VERY BAD happened, to try to figure out what went wrong. I need to thoroughly understand, be able to predict, and alter human behavior (hence my counseling background). I also need to know how things work mechanically (hence my mechanical engineering certifications).
As a philosopher, I enjoy the debate of ethics. Many people don't realize the intricacies or the rules of philosophy. Philosophy is a "questioning search" and ethics is doing what is right and how "what is right" is justified.
Philosophy (from Wikipedia) is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. In more casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group".
Philosophy is divided into many sub-fields. These include epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics.
Ethics (from Wikipedia) is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity. Philosophical ethics investigates what is the best way for humans to live, and what kinds of actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances. Ethics may be divided into three major areas of study:
- Meta-ethics about the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions and how their truth values (if any) may be determined
- Normative ethics are more concerned with the questions of how one ought to act, and what the right course of action is. This is where most ethical theories are generated.
- Applied ethics goes beyond theory and step into real world ethical practice, such as
what a person is obligated to do in some very specific situation, or within some particular domain of action; such as business, medicine, or thebusiness of medicine (healthcare).
I base my ethical decision making on what has been commonly referred to as the "The Greatest Commandment" ("love God above all else") OR "Golden Rule" ("do unto others as you would have done to you"). But I base my decisions based on the entire text:
One of the scribes,i when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-31)
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:34-40)
I want to make the world a better place, and I do at least one thing a day that makes it a better place. It does not have to be a big thing, it can be as little as picking up garbage that someone was too lazy to throw in to a trash can. I have done big things too; even saved the world once. That is another story...
You will not always like what I say because it will make you look at yourself. My goal is to get you to critically think and to (hopefully) make the world a better place.
Feel free to disagree with me (and others here), but do so in a respectful, dignified way.
Like this blog, I am constantly improving and updating.
I will speak the truth, and the truth will...
...scare the living hell out of you.
--M. Banterings
Although the libertarian movement is attractive, socially liberal and fiscally conservative, it appears that its not so simple.
ReplyDeleteMany republicans aka the GOP main street partnership have tried this, the problem is that the appeal of socially liberal is there, but as a fiscal conservative, many GOP politicians have become beholden to special interests such as the US chamber of Commerce.
For instance, laws saying private student debt is not discharged but credit can be, treating private student debt like a criminal who cannot discharge his debt for restitution for a victim. Another thing is medical malpractice caps on non-economic damages, it attacks folks who have other insurance, and benefits the wealthy ceo who gets injured and thus has "economic damages" but not the infant. To add to the corruption, insurance companies get the benefit of much less liability and guaranteed profit from the government, because the government then requires folks to purchase insurance. Sure no "taxpayer money" is involved, but its still not a free system.
What about elderly patients, do we go back to the days before Medicaid, and require sons and daughters with filal responsibility laws to take care of their parents, if you aren't required to support your children after 18-21, then why should your parents who knows what they gambled, didn't pay their bills,etc force you to support them. We as a society are not going to just let elderly folks die right unless of course they choice but that's another debate.
Just my 3 cents, also defense spending is out of control, planes we don't need, and modern technology reduces costs (take a look at computers 20 years ago and the costs). We have nukes, nobody as attacked france or the UK because they have them.
Anyways I ranted, but I just wanted to point that out since you seem interested in politics,ethics, and debates.
Medical Literature Question: Was there literature following the appearance of
ReplyDeleteMcKinlay, J. B., and S. M. McKinlay. 1977. The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century. that challenged or confirmed the paper's findings? Thank you. REL