How about a Little Help Here?

This is a thought provoking post:

Two EMTs on a coffee break who failed to help a dying pregnant woman acted “to the best of their abilities,” their lawyer said Tuesday, while the woman’s mother condemned them as “inhuman.”

The EMTs, Jason Green and Melissa Jackson, were suspended without pay and the Brooklyn district attorney opened a criminal investigation into the case. State health officials, who called the inaction “appalling,” were also investigating along with the city’s fire department, which oversees EMTs.

The two emergency workers were at the eatery when Eutisha Rennix, an employee, collapsed. Witnesses have said the EMTs told workers to call 911, then left when they were asked to help the woman, a mother of a 3-year-old son who was expecting her second child.

Of course, I am saddened that people who had the training to help didn’t help. I admit that I don’t know ALL of the facts, as one commenter pointed out. I also think that it is clear that the employer of these EMTs have the right to fire them, and the people who certify the EMTs have the right to strip them of their EMT credentials.

But I honestly don’t understand the LEGAL issues here: are there LEGAL grounds for civil or criminal actions? Anyone who knows more (facts about this situation or knows law) or just wants to comment: please do so!

23 December 09, midday

It is rainy and nasty outside, though much if not all of the snow is gone.

Workout notes the pool was closed (no lifeguard), so I did weights, 1.25 miles of running, and about 6 miles of elliptical/stair master stuff.

Breakdown: weights: dumbbells: curls: 2 sets of 10 with 25, military: 10 with 35, 10 with 40, bench: 10 with 50, 10 with 55.
Lat pulldowns: 2 sets of 10 with 120
Pull ups: 2 sets of 5
Bench press (barbell): 5 x 135, 2 x 155, 1 x 175 (not easy).
I am weak.
Then I did some yoga stretches.

Then 12 minutes on the treadmill (1.25 miles; varied the speed from 10 mpm to 8:57 mpm)
2.05 miles on the elliptical, 2.20 miles on the stairmaster (really focused on “no rails” as much as possible on the first 10 minutes), 1.6 miles on the elliptical (“gluteal” program)

Injury: some slight pain at the end of the stairmaster; it went away with stretches.

Comment:

(hat tip: Alan Colmes)

End of the Year Posts: Favorite Issues Blogs

Ok, the grades are in, the family is away and so I can just type some silly posts (yes, I will get some research done this break!)

This post will be the first in the series of “the best X” of the year.

Blogroll These blogs/websites were my favorites of the year (in no particular order)

Daily Kos. Yes, my fellow progressives sometimes have me reaching for the pink bismuth; you do get a lot of noise from those who have never faced the challenges of holding elective office. But it is also the kind of place where you can make a quantum mechanics joke…and not only will some others get it, others might even correct you on a nuance!

As far as the politics, this is an example of Daily Kos at its best.

Paul Krugman Hard hitting and insightful. Here is one of his articles on economics in which he blisters the….over-reliance on mathematical models!

Robert Reich No, he doesn’t write as much as Krugman does, but his articles are well worth reading. Here is one example. Yes, it is critical of President Obama’s caution on economic matters.

Legal Satyricon Yes, this civil liberties attorney uses over the top language, and it is very easy to end up on his “asshat” list. But he does a great job of explaining the legal issues to the lay-person and of pointing out the harm that well intentioned censorship can cause. Here is an example of his discussing obscenity laws.

Why Evolution is True Jerry Coyne is a world class scientist and a best selling author. His blog keeps you up to date on new discoveries in evolution and new results in zoology. He also pulls no punches on his assault on superstition.

The Conservation Report: not updated all that often but the Animal Camouflage series is fun!

Cosmic Variance: great updates on cosmology and astronomy, with an occasional dash of humor.

538.com: Nate Silver’s excellent statistics and politics blog. This is a sample of the well thought out, evidence based ideas that you’ll find here.

3 Quarks Daily: ok this is a link dump, but it provides links to a wide variety of articles on a variety of topics:

example one, example two, example three. They also have stuff on the arts (which I usually skip over); this is sort of like a Utne reader of the internet.

Schneier on Securty I am not a security professional, but most of these articles are interesting to read. Here is the article that lead me to his blog to begin with.

Fail Blog: good for the belly laugh.

Of course, these aren’t the only blogs that I read and follow.

Contestant Fail « FAIL Blog: Epic Fail Pictures and Videos of Owned, Pwnd and Fail Moments

more about "Contestant Fail « FAIL Blog: Epic Fai…", posted with vodpod

Health Care Reaction: Circular Firing Squad at Daily Kos

During the campaign for President, then Senator Obama did put out his plan, which you can read here:

Quality, Affordable Choices
If You Don’t Have Insurance, the Obama Plan:

* Creates a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
* Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance.
* Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees.
* Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
* Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.

Looking at the bills in Congress, it appears that the Senate bill has 4 out of 5 elements, whereas the House has 5 out of 5 (albeit a weak public option).

When asked about criticism of the Senate health care bill, the President had this to say:

Although Obama noted in the interview that “the most important thing we did this year was to ensure that the financial system did not collapse,” health-care reform dominated his agenda and will stand as at least one pillar of the legacy he leaves behind. He has come under sharp criticism for the size and shape of the legislation, including from former Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean, who has said he would prefer that the Senate defeat the bill rather than pass what he considers weak legislation.

In the interview, Obama vigorously defended the legislation, saying he is “not just grudgingly supporting the bill. I am very enthusiastic about what we have achieved.”

“Nowhere has there been a bigger gap between the perceptions of compromise and the realities of compromise than in the health-care bill,” Obama said. “Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill.”

In listing those priorities, he cited the 30 million uninsured Americans projected to receive coverage, estimated savings of more than $1 trillion over the next two decades, a “patients’ bill of rights on steroids,” and tax breaks to help small businesses pay for employee coverage.

Those elements are in the House and Senate versions of the legislation; their competing proposals will have to be reconciled in conference committee next year. The House bill includes a government-run insurance plan favored by progressive Democrats; the Senate version does not. “I didn’t campaign on the public option,” Obama said in the interview.

Throughout the health-care debate, the president has declined to weigh in with specific preferences. The tactic has exasperated his supporters, but his advisers have deemed it key in keeping the bill moving through a balky Congress. Obama called the public option his preferred choice to ensure broad coverage and provide cost-cutting competition to the private insurers. But he has never demanded that it be part of a final bill.

“We don’t feel that the core elements to help the American people have been compromised in any significant way,” Obama said. “Do these pieces of legislation have exactly everything I want? Of course not. But they have the things that are necessary to reduce costs for businesses, families and the government.”

So, what we see here is a President who made health care reform a big part of his platform, put out the plan that he would push for, and now we see the plans that Congress has came up with.

Sure, one can criticize the plans, or say that the President didn’t do a good job (though I wonder how he was to get conservative Senators to vote like liberals or to use reconciliation measures on a bill that was losing popularity but never mind).

Surely, people knew that the plan he proposed as a candidate was just that: a plan; what he was going to strive for, right?

But oh no; now we have the liberal circular firing squad at Daily Kos screaming that the President is lying, sold us out, or whatever.

There are scattered voices of reason here and there:

A candidate does not “campaign on” every single detail in every policy position paper they put out in a campaign, or mention in a debate. They campaign on the things that they present as their major priorities and reasons for running. Barack Obama did not run for president to establish a public option, and it was not a central plank in his campaign. So he is being entirely truthful.

As for the observation that every single priority he stated was in the bill, that’s true. Not everything he proposed in the campaign was one of his priorities for health care reform. These are the principles he stated as priorities. The public option was not one of them.

But when I get disgusted with people at Daily Kos…I see this: