NT- Look at this

[Karen Lee]

Do an internet search for "michelle childers tree"

She is my granddaughter. We had a very long Labor Day weekend but all is well at this point. She will be on the Today show Friday at 7am

[TaxmannEA]

Thank God she's doing OK. I hope that everthing works out for her. She is a very lucky young lady.

[bstaxes]

She is a very lucky woman. I pray everything continues to improve for her.

[TAXBILLY]

I'm glad she's O.K. That has to be scary.

taxbilly

[Catherine]

Wow. What a story.

I hope your grand-daughter continues to improve and that she has -no- long-term effects from this.

Separate notes:

Some of the sites Google brings up lead directly to places that try to scan your computer -- be warned if you look!

And, tangentially to Karen Lee's first post, there is an old saying: "If you're born to hang, you'll never drown". Obviously Michelle has some other (preferably much -better-) fate in store for her.

[mcb39]

Karen...I just watched the video and it just gave me chills. Particularly, since my Granddaughter is being married tomorrow. Thank God that Michelle is doing well. How is Grandma doing?

[Karen Lee]

Grandma is fine. I have Prozac and Ativan. We left for the 10 hr drive knowing "Michelle, accident, air lifted" about 3 hrs into the drive we heard "internal injuries and surgery" then we heard "stick and neck". Coming from the land of logging "stick" is pretty inconsequential. When we saw the "stick" it went to "branch" quickly, as big around as a silver dollar.

The branch missed everything vital. Infection is the problem and will be for quite awhile. They are in New York now and totally blown away about 4 hamburgers being $195.00.

Marilyn, thanks for asking.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Karen,

I am so happy for your family that she made it through this experience. She is definitely a miracle.

[Lion EA]

Wow. Smart, quick-thinking offspring you have there to keep calm, leave everything alone, and drive to help. May all of you have some more peaceful times now.

[Edward]

Karen: I did get your message - thanks and best of luck on her speedy recovery.

Edward

[Kea]

I'm glad she's OK. I hope she has good insurance.

[Karen Lee]

Unfortunately, no insurance. She is doing great though. Still concerned about infection from the bits and pieces not removed from surgery.

[kcjenkins]

Thqnk God she is doing well. If they had not known to leave it right where it was until at the doctors could remove it, the outcome would have been very different. Or, for that matter, if she had been in the UK, it seems.

Government Doc Goes for Jugular

More tales of British socialized medicine, from London's Daily Mail:

A young woman died in hospital after waiting nearly two hours for a blood transfusion that could have saved her.

Sally Thompson, 20, lost two litres [4.22675284 pints] of blood when a doctor punctured her jugular vein after failing to follow NHS guidelines while inserting a drip into her neck.

Doctors at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) made an urgent request for blood from the hospital's blood bank to help revive her--but none arrived before Sally died, one hour and 45 minutes later.

Now a coroner has ruled that the inability to supply the blood was a 'significant failure' that contributed to Sally's death. . . .

Sally's father, John Thompson, 62, said after the inquest into her death: 'This hospital is supposed to be the cornerstone of the NHS in Manchester, but they couldn't get any blood for two hours.

According to former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false." Feel better, Sally?

[Catherine]

Unfortunately, no insurance. She is doing great though. Still concerned about infection from the bits and pieces not removed from surgery.

If the bills are very high, remember that old standby, the fundraiser. People are in general -very- generous.

[Kea]

We've had plenty of similar scary stories right here in the US. Private US hospitals and doctors make mistakes, too.

[Catherine]

We've had plenty of similar scary stories right here in the US. Private US hospitals and doctors make mistakes, too.

Mistakes get made, but here at least one can sue. Doesn't bring someone back, but can make sure the family left behind doesn't suffer financially from the loss of their loved one.

You can't sue the NHS. There is NO recourse.

[kcjenkins]

We've had plenty of similar scary stories right here in the US. Private US hospitals and doctors make mistakes, too.

Yes, doctors and nurses do make mistakes, but I've never heard of a US hospital taking an hour and a half just to deliver blood to the OR. And if they did, the family would at least get well compensated. Not if it's a national system.

[Kea]

I haven't heard of this particular problem before in the US, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. There was a case recently of a lady waiting in an ER for many hours and even though medical personnel walked by her and saw her getting worse or even lying on the floor, no one came to help her. She died right there in the waiting room and it was all caught on security cameras.

I'm not defending or promoting any type of system (at this time). I'm pointing out that mistakes can happen in public or private systems. The lawsuit option should always be available regardless of what type of system is in place. I get real worried every time I see a politician talk about setting up arbitration boards or other methods to prevent or restrict lawsuits. I agree that there have been frivolous lawsuits, but in order to tackle that problem too may people suggest severe limits or elimination of lawsuits. When someone makes a severe mistake (doctor, hospital, oil company, local store, whoever), the victim has a right to compensation that is significant enough to teach the company or individual not to make that mistake again.

[joanmcq]

Yeah, there's a guy here who lost his legs due to blood loss to the legs. went in to have his gall bladder removed. doctor knicked the main artery going to the leg and took hours before they did anything about it. S#$% happens. I don't think the UK has a problem with patient dumping either, like seems to be more common here. Last one in Sacramento was a young man who had been having seizures and was on psych meds was put in a cab and told to be dropped off at 3am in front of a closed homeless shelter. The cab driver was worried and called the young man's father.

Yeah; the lady that died in the ER. After she had keeled over and was laying on the floor, someone (an orderly I think) did come over and nudged her with his foot. She didn't move. A few hours later someone else noticed she was dead. I really don't appreciate this thread being hijacked for political crap.