hospitals
(SMH) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is stripping away a woman's right to have her baby at home, protesters around the country have been told. Hundreds of people have come together across Australia at 13 simultaneous rallies to protest against the government's planned overhaul of maternity care. NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon told a crowd of about 100 in Sydney that access to a homebirth was a woman's right. "We are in an extraordinary situation when a woman can choose to have a caesarean but she can't choose to have her children at home," Ms Rhiannon said outside the office of the federal Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek. Ms Rhiannon said the government had succumbed to pressure from Australian Medical Association, which is opposed to home birthing. The proposed new laws, introduced to parliament last year, will require all midwives to be insured and part of a new national register. But a two-year exemption will apply for up to 200 independent midwives, who are unable to gain insurance because it is no longer provided for home birthing. They will also have to work in collaboration with a doctor - who will be able to override their decisions - to access Medicare insurance and pharmaceutical benefits for homebirths. The overhaul has outraged homebirth groups, which say the practice will be forced underground, a concern that was also highlighted in a recent Senate inquiry. Christine Wrightson, who had two planned home births, one of which ended up being in hospital due to complications, told the crowd in Sydney that it was not for the government to decide how women give birth. "I had one child in hospital and one was born at home - for both births we chose to be under the care of a privately practising midwife," Ms Wrightson said. "This was because it was extremely important to me to minimise the chance of medical intervention as I strived to have a natural birth. "At the time I never imagined that this could be something the government could take away from me - not in Australia and not in 2010." Less than one per cent of births registered each year in Australia are homebirths. By contrast, The Netherlands has the highest home birth rate in the western world at around 30 per cent. source
(SMH) AUSTRALIANS are visiting the doctor more than ever amid growing speculation the federal government is preparing to announce a major package of reforms to control spiralling health costs and set the scene for the election. Australians are now seeing a GP or specialist more than once every two months - a rate well above the levels of a decade ago, and far more than in other comparable countries. The figures from the Department of Health show Australians make an average of 6.3 trips to the doctor a year, compared with 5.8 visits in Canada, 5 in Britain, 4.7 in New Zealand and just 3.8 in the United States. read more
Yeah we all know the effects, but what's the cause of "soaring"sickness? Food, water, air quality, toxic formaldehyde in roofs and /or "systemic side effects" from swine flu shots?
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(SMH) PUBLIC hospitals in NSW are the worst performing in the country when it comes to causing death and serious injuries to patients. Even accounting for NSW having the largest population and the largest number of hospital admissions, the figures still show the state performing worse than the rest of the country, with 40 per cent of sentinel events but only 30 per cent of public hospital admissions. read more
"There are fears that the use of private auditors to check food safety standards at nursing homes and hospitals may lead to a rise in cases of food poisoning in New South Wales. The State Government changed the law to allow private operators to carry out inspections instead of the Food Authority. But the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association says the change could compromise the health and safety of older people. The Association's Antoine Mangion is concerned it will lead to a drop in food safety standards. "Providers of food services like hospitals and nursing homes will look to find auditors who go soft in the private sector," he said. [...] The Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan says it gives organisations more flexibility as well as providing a greater number of auditors to carry out inspections." read more
More "flexibility" for what? Either food is safe, or it isn't. Gee, they could hire Monsanto to check all the Canola frankin food with GMO's in it.
