I have spent an hour as often as possible watching the Idaho Joint Finance Appropriations Committee (JFAC) proceedings. Without making comments about the process of setting a budget, the absolute disconnect between economic reality and public policy is astonishing. During the course of the political pandemic all fifty States have seen a surplus in their […]
In this weekend’s Wall Street Journal Al Hubbard and Brian Blasé have written an article about the high prices charged by major hospitals in the State of Indiana. The article starts out by stating “When most people hear the word non-profit, they think of a benevolent organization driven by the desire to serve their communities”. […]
It is time for Idaho hospitals that fired health care workers —mostly nurses but many doctors, who had acquired natural immunity from Covid-19 and who refused to be vaccinated, to return these brave people back to their jobs. Most took care of sick patients on the wards and in ICUs before there were any vaccines […]
One of the great tragedies that has come out of the Covid political pandemic has been the loss of reputation and respect given to the medical profession by the public. There are many reasons for this. It has been a long time in the making. It actually began many years ago and there are many […]
Based on my 30 years of practical experience on the prescription and use of respiratory protection equipment, I gave testimony last month on the proper use of masks in this crisis we have found ourselves in over this past year. This month, I wish to direct my testimony to a little known topic by the […]
I am about to start a new business. Opportunity is everywhere as they say. I have studied and have done my due diligence. I have had great role models—giants in their fields. Names like Gil Gilbertson (truly a hero he), Ed Dahlberg (humble, competent and ethical), and Sister Patricia Mulvaney (truly a Saint) all who […]
It is truly sad what has happened to the two major hospitals in the Treasure Valley, as it now appears that their commitment is to their bottom line and not the welfare of their patients. In this issue of the Gem State Patriot, we have a letter from a Washington County Commissioner Kirk Chandler who […]
St. Luke’s and My Covid Experience This experience started in August when I got a head cold and it went into my lungs. I had a prior chest injury from 26 years before and have had this issue all through those years. I would be one of those that are considered having a prior issue […]
There has always been a conflict between “science and politics”. Politicians have forever tried to usurp the “authority of science” and use it to support a political narrative. This is what happened when Pope Urban the VIII—truly a man of science he, put his close friend Galileo Galilei under house arrest for Galileo’s support of […]
I subscribe to a Medical continuing medical education (CME) and coalescing web site called MEDSCAPE. I was interested in an article that appeared on its Web site last night entitled “SHOULD DOCTORS WHO CONTINUOUSLY SPREAD MISINFORMATION LOSE THEIR LICENSES?” It was written by Art Caplin PHD. from the Division of Medical Ethics New York University […]
I used to believe that there was such a thing as “the doctor patient relationship”. Maybe a long time ago and if you are a patient and are lucky you may have a doctor who you know and who works for you without being encumbered by a relationship with an insurance company or a “health […]
Hundreds of millions of federal dollars have flowed into our two major hospitals yet they were unprepared for this crisis and have had to institute a “Crisis Standards of Care Emergency”. We know that these hospitals were letting nurses go during the past year and that there was a shortage so to make matters worse […]