THE CHECK LIST
Kevin Smith: “I’m
with a large hospital here in Indianapolis
and I’d seen the New Yorker checklist
article ... was glad to see you pick up on it this week. However, you’ll probably want to see this
– the program's being shut down! Pretty sad!”
F Not just sad – outrageous:
. . . The results
were stunning. Within three months, the rate of bloodstream infections from . .
. I.V. lines fell by two-thirds. The average I.C.U. cut its infection rate from
4 percent to zero. Over 18 months, the program saved more than 1,500 lives and
nearly $200 million.
Yet this past month,
the Office for Human Research Protections shut the program down. The agency issued notice
to the researchers and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association that, by
introducing a checklist and tracking the results without written, informed
consent from each patient and health-care provider, they had violated
scientific ethics regulations. Johns Hopkins had to halt not only the program
in Michigan but also its plans to extend it to
hospitals in New Jersey and Rhode Island.
The government’s decision was bizarre and dangerous. But there
was a certain blinkered logic to it, which went like this: A checklist is an
alteration in medical care no less than an experimental drug is. Studying an
experimental drug in people without federal monitoring and explicit written
permission from each patient is unethical and illegal. . .
F Let’s not rest until we get this
fixed. This one is so basic and obvious,
even the Bush Administration should be able to get it right. And that’s saying something.
THE COMMISH
As
in, the Commissioner. Wasn’t that the name of a TV series? (I rub Google’s tummy . . . yes!) I assume it was about a police
commissioner.
This is about a
water commissioner. I gave $500 to help
get her elected, giving me a 100% batting average. Every time I support the candidacy of a water
commissioner, she wins. (Long story; her
brother gives to the DNC, she got it into her head to run for this, so next
thing you know I’ve got my money on Debra Shore for a seat on the Chicago Water
Commission.)
And there are two
things I want to tell you about her.
– Her Essay
It ran on
Chicago Public Radio, and it’s really lovely.
Read or listen to it here.
Just a sweet little piece about how hard it is to put yourself out there
and run for office. (“It was the most
humbling experience of my life. As a candidate,
you go out in the face of colossal indifference and sometimes outright
hostility. . . .”) Go ye and do
likewise.
– Her First Year
The only thing I’d
thought about less than “how are water commissioners selected?” is “what new
life could they possibly bring to the job?”
I mean: water should be potable and plentiful (Chicago
sits on a Great Lake, how hard can it be?); no
leaks. End of story.
But no, the report
she issued on her first year had some really interesting ideas.
- Like making rain
barrels available at cost ($40) for Chicagoans to put under their rain
gutters. “Using rainwater means you
are not using – or paying for – filtered drinking water. And the captured rain, when used to
water your garden during a dry spell, then helps to recharge our
underground aquifers rather than flowing into the sewers as it would
during a storm.” (For more on this
idea for your own rain gutters, click here. For an example of some of the features
of a pricier rain barrel, here.)
- Like using permeable paving materials “to allow
rainwater to infiltrate the ground” rather than, again, enter the sewer
system. Debra refers us to this site for more.
- Like caffeinating the
water supply, so people will just feel perkier. Which is my idea, not Debra’s, but it’s
always fun to see whether you’re paying attention.
One of the links
at the end of the report lets you click on
each room in your house for water-saving tips.