Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Today's edition of: Capitalism Kills
All in today's paper:
Item:
"Shortages have dramatically worsened for normally cheap generic injected medicines that are the lifeblood of hospitals: drugs for cancer, pain, infections, even liquid nutrition and anesthesia for surgery...at least patient 15 deaths since mid-2010 have been blamed on the shortages...As of Nov. 30, there had been 251 different new drug shortages this year. Multiple causes have been cited, including manufacturing deficiencies leading to production shutdowns, companies ending production of some drugs with tiny profit margins, consolidation in the generic drug industry and limited supplies of some ingredients."
Item:
A Texas woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office and staged a seven-hour standoff with police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself.
Item:
In the biggest settlement ever reached in a U.S. mining disaster, the new owners of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 men were killed in an explosion agreed Tuesday to pay $210 million over a tragedy the government blamed on the ruthless pursuit of profits ahead of safety.Not in today's paper (or yesterday's or tomorrow's) - the estimated 50-100 people who died yesterday (and every day) because they lacked health insurance.
