Insights

<p>It sounds like a line a standup comic might use while flailing for a laugh: "What's a guy gotta do around here to get arrested? Steal somebody's kidney?"</p> <p>If you are a doctor in a hospital in most of the United States, the answer is: yes.</p>

<p>Here's a quick roundup of recent articles localizing the potential impact of federal health reform and California's health budget cuts (see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's additional $656 million in line-item vetoes <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/vetoes1.pdf">he…; and the full California budget document <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/FullBudgetSumma…;).</p>

<p><em>UPDATE: The Associated Press <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090728/ap_on_re_us/us_michael_jackson_inve…; Monday afternoon that Dr. Conrad Murray gave Jackson propofol to help him sleep, and the dose proved to be lethal. Today, police and federal drug enforcement officials are reportedly <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/07/detectives-in-michael-jac…; Murray's Las Vegas home. <br /></em></p><p>It is the most anticipated autopsy in modern history.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.theheart.org/article/932995.do">Dr. Sidney Wolfe</a>, the acting president of <a href="http://www.citizen.org/">Public Citizen</a> and the head of its <a href="http://www.citizen.org/hrg/">Health Research Group</a>, is a guy you don't want to have as an opponent. He has an encyclopedic command of the facts and a delivery that manages to be both gracious and a little intimidating.

<p>Here's more coverage of the California budget cuts and their impact on health care, along with some new ideas for stories. </p>

<p>The general media consensus is that the state's Republicans won big in forcing major cuts in health and welfare programs, while Democrats are spinning their victory in saving the CalWORKS welfare program and the popular Healthy Families children's health insurance program from being
eliminated outright. </p>

<p>Ask your doctors about the hardest period of their lives, and they likely will say their medical residency. The hours are long. The work is mentally and physically exhausting. There's little credit when you get something right. Getting something terribly wrong can send you packing.</p> <p>Dr. Bruce Anthony Ames, Jr. (Oregon License No. 23261, California 97046) found a hobby, of sorts, to relieve his stress.</p>

<p><br />
As California lawmakers finally <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-california-budget22-2009jul22,0… a budget agreement</a>, it's time to start assessing how the proposed deep cuts in health care services may affect your community. </p>

<p>Public Citizen put together an <a href="http://www.citizen.org/documents/1873.pdf">important report</a> in May that was mostly missed by the <a href="http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/042209/sta_431717193.shtml">press</…; (including me).</p> <p>It's a comprehensive and critical investigation of <a href="http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/">The National Practitioner Data Bank</a> (NPDB), created by the <a href="http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/legislation/title4.html">Health Care Quality Improvement Act</a> 19 years ago, ostensibly to protect patients from rogue doctors.</p>

<p><a href="/blogs/qa-andrew-schneider-part-1-what-do-when-big-story-finds-you"><br /></a></p>