Re: (OT) SCOX Files Chapter 11 (Reorg)

rsteiner@xxxxxxxx (Richard Steiner) wrote:
Here in comp.os.linux.misc,
floyd@xxxxxxxxxx (Floyd L. Davidson) spake unto us, saying:

Wonderful... except the infant mortality rate in the US
is higher than New Caledonia, Cyprus, Brunei, Cuba, New
Zealand, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Canada, The United
Kingdom, Slovenia, Israel, The Netherlands, Luxembourg,
Austrailia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France,
Belgium, South Korea, Switzerland, Czech Republic,
Finland, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Singapore,
and Iceland.

Those statistics are not necessarily an indication of a problem.

Virtually everyone who understands the health care
delivery system in this country says those statistics
indicate a *huge* problem.

One of the reasons for that is because of the
disparities between different groups of people in the
US, and because when various parts of the system have
been adjusted, it *did* result in changes for the group
affected. One example, which I've commented on before,
is the effects that have been seen on Indian
reservations and in rural Alaska since 1960.

See the below web site and accompanying discussion about the increase
of successful premature births in the US and some other countries and
their potential negative(?) impact on infant morality statistics:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/03/infant_mortality.cfm

I didn't see anything like credible support for more
than one claim made in that piece. For example:

"However, a closer look reveals the
counterintuitive possibility that high infant
mortality in the United States might be the
unintended side effect of increased spending
on medical care."

Then we get suggestions that, for example, "extreme
prematurity" is the cause of the high rates for infant
mortality in "developed countries". To begin with that
is never demonstrated to be true, and second the US
infant mortality rate is not worse than the "poor
countries" that is contrasted to, the US infant
mortality rate is worse than the very "developed"
nations that this difference is alleged to affect!

In short, that article is about as logical as a four
year old kids explaination of why candy is good for
breakfast. They say a lot of serious things... but
it doesn't add up to even a poor reason to believe
what they are trying to convince you is true.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@xxxxxxxxxx
.

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