Corruption at Emory University:Opening a Pandora's Box...UPDATED

By another Special Request, I bring you Proprietor Nation, a cross-post:

When Erick, at Redstate, published a piece about corruption at Emory University, I thought it was an interesting story and I published a follow up on my own blog. At the time, I had no idea the Pandora's box that I had opened.

Last night, I had a three hour conversation with a whistleblower by the name of Kevin Kuritzky. Kevin was 41 days from graduating from medical school at Emory University when he was expelled.

Emory claims Kuritzky was dismissed for "plagiarism, repeatedly missing required clerkship training involving patient care, lying to his professors, and engaging in other unprofessional, dishonest and unethical conduct."

But according to a complaint filed Jan. 31 in DeKalb County Superior Court, Kuritzky believes something else was a factor in his expulsion.

Kuritzky claims in the lawsuit that Emory officials kicked him out after he complained about patient safety and possible health care violations at Grady Memorial Hospital and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Both medical centers are associated with Emory's medical school.

Well, what Kevin told me last night could never be summed up in one blog post. In fact, it is ripe for a book and a movie, and so I will be featuring a series of blogs about this matter.

In my first, I want to talk about how Emory's corrupt practices lead to poor people and Veteran's receiving egregiously below standard care because it was simply unprofitable for Emory to provide good care.

Emory runs a handful of hospitals in their Emory University Health Care System. Grady is the largest however because it serves the indigent, the poor, it is also the most unprofitable. Because of this peculiar relationship in their mix of hospitals, this is what ultimately lead to what Erick described as double dipping. What this meant was that residents and attendings who were supposed to be on call at Grady and the VA hospital would leave and go to one of their more profitable hospitals like the Emory University Medical Center.

At Grady almost everyone was either on Medicare or Medicaid or even worse they had no insurance. This meant that no matter how extensive their treatment their bills were limited. In fact, Grady merely paid Emory University a one time fee once per year regardless of the services provided. At the other hospitals the attendings and residents could charge the patients for their services and since the patients were much more affluent they could afford the extensive services the Emory doctors provided. Emory would then profit much more from extensive care provided at one of those hospitals than they ever would from providing extensive care Grady or at the VA.

What this lead to was residents and attendings who were supposed to be on duty at Grady or at the VA, leaving their posts and heading over to one of the other hospitals like Emory Medical Center. As a result medical students, like Kevin, were left in charge of entire floors of patients. Kevin said that he himself was left in charge on 5 different occasions. Doing this is like leaving a flame on. Most times nothing will go wrong but it is only a matter of time before the flame catches on fire.

One night that is what happened. One time he was left in charge of the entire step down unit from 4 PM to 2AM. The first emergency came from one patient who was recovering from lung surgery. The patient's lung collapsed and Kevin was called in to save his life. The patient was suffocating and time was of the essence. Kevin was panicked and needed to move quick. He needed to find a chest tube, but because of his own inexperience, he didn't know where they kept the chest tubes. In a rush, he did the only thing he could think of at the time. He grabbed the dirty chest tube that had already been used on the patient and injected into their lungs.

Next, Kevin was asked to read an x ray of the patient's lungs to determine if they were stable. This is again not something a medical student is supposed to do on their own and without supervision but since their was no supervision there wasn't much choice. Kevin gave it his best estimation and determined the patient was fine however as it turns out that was just a lucky guess. This patient survived but it had nothing to do with the type of care that was provided them at Grady.

On the same night, Kevin, again being the head doctor on the floor, was asked to save a patient from internal bleeding who was recovering from a heart attack. He was first asked to perform a hematocrit level test , which measures the amount of internal bleeding and then perform a blood transfusion on the patient. Again, he did this all without proper supervision.

The most egregious lack of quality health care that Kevin documented came with patients that came in for potential heart attacks. In order to determine whether or not a patient is in fact having a heart attack doctors perform what is known as a cardiac enzymes test. Proper procedure is to perform this test within 90 minutes since of course time is of the essence in a case of a heart attack. According to Kevin's documentation, the average wait time for performing such a test was about seventeen hours.

There is really only two reasons why a test that needs to be done in 90 minutes would be done in roughly 17 hours. The first is simple negligence. The doctors just didn't care or maybe they were incompetent which is also possible since as I documented many times the doctors in charge were themselves medical students.

The second reason is even more nefarious. If it is determined that someone is having a heart attack, then there needs to be a battery of tests, surgery, and weeks of recovery. This would cost a lot of money for the hospital and by extension Emory University. Since the patient on Medicare, Medicaid, or worse without insurance altogether, has limited funds, it is much more cost effective if that patient died.

This is only the first in my series. Anyone that wants to speak with Kevin themselves please contact me and I will get you his information.

Soon coming, an exclusive interview...

UPDATE is below:

The Blog Talk Radio exclusive will be here...all times are Texas time, CST.

cross post by Snooper

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Wisdom From Ayn Rand-UPDATED AND BUMPED

I originally posted this Sunday, October 8, 2007. I posted originally because a passage (quoted below) "spoke" to me about how things are going today, particularly with the islam attitude toward the Great Satan (America) and how the dems are becoming more and more communistic in their attitude.

I had no idea today was the publishing anniversary of this work.

I also got some comments calling me delusional because I didn't interpret the book the way the commenter thought I should interpret it.

Here's the comment:

It’s clear that your attempt to use Ayn Rand’s work as an analogy to illustrate and substantiate your beliefs is extremely misguided.

Although you acknowledge that the book must be “read and absorbed, thought about and ruminated upon,” it’s clear you have not been doing that. The use of that ‘conditional’ passage beginning with “If” means that you absurdly contend that Muslims can survive only by destroying all non-Muslims! Either your reading ability is extremely deficient, or your belief system is so extreme you’ve become delusional and are no longer able to differentiate your delusion from reality.

It’s also clear that you have little or no knowledge of the philosophy of Ayn Rand and what she stood for. Ayn Rand opposed US involvement in every war of the 20th century; WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Viet Nam. Since her views, especially about war and religion, are in such direct conflict with those you advocate on your website, it makes no sense that you would associate your views with anything from her.

It seems you were just trying to impress others by saying you were reading the book of a famous, though dubious, intellectual. However, you should not even attempt to do that unless you really understand the material and the person that wrote it. Ayn Rand actually wrote about her views on what is true knowledge and understanding; when the truth of a subject and one’s belief about that subject overlap. You would be doing yourself a great service by working on that problem so you can become more objective and less delusional.
Themis109 | | themis109@gmail.com | 10.09.07 - 5:36 am | #

This commenter also comes from Phuket, Thailand.

This commenter likes to post on Real Clear Politics, using "text message shorthand". He got a tad irritated with me and decided to try to post something on RCP intended to denigrate me--however, when one clicked on the link for the article, it went directly to the Wikipedia entry on Ayn Rand. Real original, huh?

The purpose of thought provoking literature is it touches something in each person--no one person is going to have the same interpretation of it. To attempt to slam someone for their personal interpretation, including name calling, is outright childish.

I don't agree with everything Ayn Rand stood for. What I do know about her is this--her formative years were spent in Russia during Russia's upheaval from a monarchy to communism. She was definitely a product of her time and yet--she was also in her own way a revolutionary. The fact she was a woman living life according to her terms, with no apologies to anyone, during the time period she lived, was remarkable. She was indeed true to herself.

To even get your head around her literature you have to have some inkling of the woman and her background. Not an easy thing to get your head around, particularly in a country where freedom is taken for granted.

Her works are visionary and sometimes frightening. We often hear about Orwell's 1984. Yes, I've read 1984 as well. I found Rand's "Anthem" infinitely more chilling. And yet, how often do we hear something called "Randian" instead of "Orwellian"?

I often bemoan the fact her works are not required reading in high schools. They are timeless and they offer much for classroom discussion. They offer a point of view not often so starkly presented. I would much rather have studied her works than Lysistrata or Dante's Divine Comedy (yes, those were on my high school reading list--of course, I was an honors student and Cliff Notes were forbidden). It would be wonderful to balance out the Greek classics with American classics such as this.

I'm still getting through this tome, and as I find passages I think are relevant, I will continue to post on them.

In the meantime, perhaps it would be prudent to take a look at your bookshelves and reading lists. Maybe, if you've already read Miss Rand's works, you might wish to revisit them--particularly in this election cycle. If you've never read them, maybe it's time to start--and give yourself plenty of time. There are too many layers to read these through quickly.

Who would have thought a book written by a woman in 1957, a communist/atheist woman who followed her own drum, during a time of McCarthy, would produce something so timeless? Something still giving insight and food for thought, 50 years later?

To still be able to challenge people to think for themselves? What better legacy can one leave behind?

My friend Spree over at Wake Up America asked me a few months ago if I had ever read "Atlas Shrugged". I hadn't, although it has been on my reading list for years. I HAVE read "Anthem", and found it to be not only a quick read, but very thought provoking, even after having read the last line over 20 years ago.

I haven't had much time for personal reading lately; I've been in a very intense study group. I have a break until after Halloween; then I have to hit the textbooks again. So thought I would FINALLY read "Atlas Shrugged".

While it "reads" quickly, it's not a book one can whiz through. It has to be read and absorbed, thought about and ruminated upon.

One passage today stood out. To me, it illustrates exactly the divide between those that recognize the true nature of the islam tide and the fact they mean EXACTLY what they say they mean regarding the annihilation of Israel and the United States--and eventually world domination under sharia law and those that want to pander to our enemies, trying to "negotiate" and use "diplomacy" with them (Read: the right who fully supports our troops, their mission and the fact our troops are protecting us HERE by fighting them THERE and the left who hasn't got a clue, preferring to live in a fantasy world with purple skies and cotton candy colored clouds).

The passage in question takes place between Dagny Taggert, Operations Manager of the Taggert Transcontinental Railroad and Dan Conway, owner of the Phoenix-Durango line, immediately after the National Alliance of Railroads has voted to abide by the "Anti-dog-eat-dog" legislation in which Dan Conway will be "punished" for being successful where the other lines are NOT succeeding.

Dagny's brother James is a major proponent of the "common good"--and everyone has to work together with some being sacrificed--punished--along the way for being successful. Sound familiar? Think Hillary's quote:

Many of you are well enough off that the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. [Emphasis mine]

And:

The other day the oil companies reported the highest profits in the history of the world. I want to take those profits and I want to put them into a strategic energy fund that will begin to find alternative smart energy, alternatives and technologies that will begin to actually move us toward the direction of independence! [Emphasis mine]

We are RIGHT THERE in this election and with the left's ideas toward socialism.

Here is the relevant passage:

"If the rest of them can survive only by destroying us, then why should we wish them to survive? Nothing can make self-immolation proper. Nothing can give them the right to turn men into sacrificial animals. Nothing can make it moral to destroy the best. One can't be punished for being good. One can't be penalized for ability. If that is right, then we'd better start slaughtering one another, because there isn't any right at all in the world!"

That about sums it up. We ARE on the road described in "Atlas Shrugged". The real question is, of course, how many people are going to recognize it and fight it and how many are going to follow along the left's path to the slaughter?

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Emory University Medical Services Fraud Busting Wide Open

Thank you Miss Beth for allowing me, Snooper, to place this plug for my upcoming Blog Talk Radio show.

Currently, the wanton medical abuse and funding fraudulent activity is limited in knowledge to the local area of Atlanta, GA. We will see to it that this information and travesty of misappropriation of funds, monies lining the pockets of prior AGs of the State of Georgia and University top-dog officials will not go unnoticed.

There have been prison sentences handed out in the process of this story unfolding but these were mere scapegoats...the real criminals have managed to buy off witnesses and whistle blowers with federal funds and placed these witnesses under gag orders. In short, they were bribed with quite a bit of money to stay quiet.

However, there is ONE whistle blower that CANNOT be bought off. You can hear his tale on my Blog Talk Radio show tomorrow evening, 10/11/2007, at 2100 hours, Texas time, CST.

For more background, one can check the stories here, here, here, and here.

Hold onto your hats folks...this is bigger than big. Major news media outlets have been "bought off" as well. The whistle blower on my show on 10/11/07 will name names and dates and all the particulars in his quest to Do The Right Thing.

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Hate Crime Blamed on Young America's Foundation; Actually Committed by Muslim Student Association

Isn't that a lovely flyer?

It's disgusting. What makes it more disgusting is hundreds of these flyers were posted around the George Washington University campus.

What puts this poster in the troglodyte basement is down towards the bottom, where it says:

"For more information, contact the GWU Young America's Foundation" and "Brought to you by Students for Conservativo-Fascism Awareness" (an unregistered and fictitious student organization).

Here's the problem. It wasn't designed, produced, distributed or in any way connected with the GWU Young America's Foundation.

It was a hoax [they claim satire] perpetrated by the Saudi-funded radical islamic front group Muslim Student Association.

It was designed to perpetrate a media circus of condemnation for conservatives and when the criminals were caught, or admitted to their crime, they plead "satire". It is in fact libel. It is media manipulation--and I didn't see it covered on any MSM outlets today in my area. The criminals were lucky there wasn't a mass riot on campus based on these posters, as any time there's any inkling of anti-islam feelings anywhere there is an obligatory riot and screechings of "hate crime".

And we all know the only protected values these days are islamic ideals over and above the Judeo-Christian values this country was founded upon. There are no concessions made to any group other than islamics, from special kitchens and foods, footbaths and prayer times in schools to Congress voting to commend Ramadan.

So these criminals felt safe. They, however, don't seem to "get it" that REAL Americans in general and conservatives in particular are fed up with this crap and are fighting back.

That's when they decided to "fess up to their "satire" [hoax designed to incite hatred and a riot]. Those they had falsely accused spoke up and fought back.

Freedom of Speech is a beautiful thing. However, that freedom comes with responsibilities and part of those responsibilities include not purposely slandering/libeling someone else.

So who are the criminals? Stop the ACLU has this quote:
The students - Adam Kokesh, freshman Yong Kwon, senior Brian Tierny, freshman Ned Goodwin, Maxine Nwigwe, Lara Masri and Amal Rammah - said their motives were misinterpreted. Students for Conservativo-Facism Awareness hung the posters in opposition to Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, an event being held beginning Oct. 22.

Little Green Footballs has much more here and Hot Air has quite a bit here; head on over and read more.

Catch the Wave!

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Myth vs Fact-Part 113

Myth	Fact
Islam: Religion of peace.	48:21 And other (victories and much booty there are, He promises you) which are not yet within your power, indeed Allâh compasses them, And Allâh is Ever Able to do all things.
Tafsir	Good News of continuous Muslim Victories until the Day of Resurrection Good News to the Participants of the Ridwan Pledge of Allah's Pleasure and earning Spoils of War

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