JPINFV

A few quick probing questions regarding "sexual orientation" (quotes will make sense as you read the questions), even if not totally germane to gay marriage: Is sexual orientation ternary (binary but with 3, yes I had to use Google to find the term, I'm not that smart) (homo, bi, hetero), or is there a spectrum? Can sexual orientation be like other tastes? I like pizza, but I don't like pizza every day. Is sexual orientation and romantic attraction the same thing? Can someone enjoy homosexual sex, but not want to marry someone of their own sex/gender? Is sexual preference the same as sexual urge? Can you enjoy and engage in a type of sex (thus being a choice) without having an innate urge to engage in a type of sex (non-choice)? If you don't experiment, can you really say you aren't ____? Ever "not liked" something up until the moment you tried it? I'd argue that marriage has for much longer been more of a business and social decision than a love/share life/raise a family decision. Actually, I'd argue that, if anything, the business side has gone down drastically. When was the last time you've heard patriarchs arranging marriages for various reasons? When was the last time you've heard about a bride giving her husband's family a dowry? Even the Code of Hammurabi had laws governing dowrys. If anything, up until recently marriage was a business decision. Then there was a period where it was about love and raising a family, and now it's about legal protections and rights (imagine if you couldn't make medical decisions for your spouse who is in a coma). However, if we want to talk about "traditional marriage," I'm up for hearing your justification for bringing back dowrys and the wife submitting to the husband. After all, those have been tradition for much longer than they have not been. Is not the entire practice of medicine the mere act of playing God? If God is to decide who lives or dies, who are we, as health care providers, to intervene in God's will. After all, if God intended someone to die of pneumonia, who are we to deny God that by giving antibiotics? Similarly, if God decided to cure someone of pneumonia, why would he need us to give antibiotics? Now instead of asking, "Who are we to play God," we should be asking, "To what extend should we play God?" In regards to sexual reassignment, what happens when sex doesn't match gender? Furthermore, how do we define sex? Is it chromosomes? If so, then should we force every woman with androgen insensitivity disorder or 5-alpha reductase deficiency to get a penis (after all, they are XY, and by chromosomal definition male)? If it's about the organs an individual is born with, then what happens when they are ambiguous? Is that a small penis or an enlarged clitoris (look up pictures of congenital adrenal hyperplasia and guess the sex before looking up the disorder)? If a person's sex doesn't match their gender, then how is sex reassignment any different than a boob job or face lift? Where is the justice in saying a woman with a penis must live with the penis, but we can fix the woman with size AA breasts? Shouldn't the woman with small breasts submit to God's will that she have small breasts? edit: After all, is sex reassignment really anything more than cosmetic surgery? Taking a relatively fit male, and a shave, wig (or just long hair), the right clothing, the right padding, the right makeup, a little voice training, and you can probably get a relatively convincing female appearance. It would be relatively easy to legally change names to a unisex name. Besides that, names over time change from one gender to another (I had a male classmate in high school whose name was Ashley, there was no question that he was straight or that he was male), and it would be trivial to choose one of those names. So there's nothing stopping transexuals from going out and acting and dressing like the opposite sex. /edit. Why not? Look at the Catholic Church molestation cases and the Penn State case. Look at rape. If simple social stigmas about sex means that boys who were molested (OMG, the boys are gay) and rape victims (the victim was obviously was asking for it, and doubly so in man on man rape) can force victims to not come forward, can it similarly make men and women suppress urges? Emphasis added. Didn't you just say that such simple social stigmas wouldn't deter folks with a base desire?

To be fair, though, I've never fully understood why skirts are seen as divinely feminine. If skirts/tunics were good enough for the roman legions, and robes good enough for Jesus... I think that there's a difference between how society should view things and what should be legal/illegal. I think that adultery is morally and ethically wrong. However, I don't believe that it should be a crime or anything that the government should regulate. Most of the examples that you used are a failure of the individuals in society to enforce their views, determine who their employees are, and determine who their associates are. Dress standards? Set and maintain a dress code and fire those who don't conform. People don't have proper manners? Don't associate with them. Forwarding dirty jokes to coworkers who you don't know for certain has a similar sense of humor? That should get discipline up to, and including, termination. However, when dealing with what the -government- should regulate through the legal system, we now have to determine what rights individuals have. Just because someone has a right to do something doesn't mean they should, however if someone has a right to do something then they have to enjoy -legal- protection for the exercise of those rights. Otherwise they aren't rights. However, having protection from legal consequences and having protection from community consequences (boycotts, isolation, etc) are two drastically different things. I do think it's the bar that should be set for legal regulation. I think there needs to be a compelling reason for actions to be considered illegal, and many of the vice laws don't really meet that standard. Government should be in the business of protecting rights and administering public goods, not enforcing morality. There needs to be something more than religion or "I find it icky" to justify banning something. If you don't find that polygamy affects you, why should it be banned?

2 gays marrying can't be any worse than the bastardization of marriage known as Kim Kardashian. Pfft. The biggest amount of stupidity is the teacher student circles. Male teacher, female student? Burn him alive for taking advantage of the poor young flower. Female teacher, male student? Give the student an award!

Well, there was that RN in Florida who gave pancuronium instead of pepcid with predictably results.

For the interest of those not familiar with firearms... ...but seriously, compare the pull of a double action, single action, and semiautomatic handgun. Complete difference between the double action and the others. The single action is safer than the semi because it has to be cocked first.

Issue 1. Issue 2 is would standard EMS laws, protocols, and polices also apply? I think this would be much easier using an RN than a paramedic given the practice legalities involved. However many of those positions are not working off of their EMT or paramedic license. The job description requirement is more for the knowledge base than the legal authorization to provide otherwise restricted services.

Dear thieves, The norcuron gives a great high. Please start with this drug, it's to die for. Sincerely, Society.

Breast or butt cleavage?

Of course the other question is, "How is injury defined?" I've had a firearm injury before (stupid damn slide on my Father's Beretta model 1934). No bullet holes yet, and it wasn't reported so I'm not a statistic anyways. Furthermore, what's the per capita injury rate, and how does that compare to, say, injuries and deaths due to automobiles? Can we keep SNF patients off the ambulance since there are equal chances that they have scabies? More important, if an EMS provider hands over my property to some random civilian and it gets "lost," I'm going after the provider who decided to give my property away. Are those registered owners or just CCW licenses? Let's also not forget that not all states require all firearms to be registered. California, for example, only requires "concealable firearms" (e.g. handguns) to be registered and doesn't require registration (or even reporting for transfers between family members) for rifles and shotguns. Really depends. My father's old .22 revolver requires it to be quarter cocked before you can rotate the cylinder to unload it with the push bar. Of course with revolvers I'd be a bit more comfortable storing loaded revolver than a loaded semi-automatic since revolvers either require it to be cocked (single action) or have a heavy pull (double action).

...because they fail to follow the simple rules for handling firearms. Yes, I never fail to follow the handful of simple rules for handling firearms because I take firearms deadly serious, even though my primary purpose of using firearms is for fun (trap shooting). Cocaine with out a DEA number or prescription (cocaine is a schedule II drug)? Illegal. Child pornography? Illegal. Having a firearm? Not illegal depending on the circumstances (license to carry, in one's house, firing range, etc). What if no one is around to sign and take possession of the firearm? Do police respond to every call you get? Do you never end up responding to someone who is alone at the time of the emergency? Gun in hand, and in possession of a gun are 2 drastically different things. Holsters? How do they work?

1. Would that go for your "hardbody cops" as well? 2. What other objects do you not allow? If a patient has pepper spray on a key chain, do you refuse to transport them unless it gets left on the side of the road as well? 3. I'm fairly confident in my ability to safely handle all handguns in the same manner that I'm confident in my ability to handle all cars, even if I haven't been trained in driving every specific make and model ever made. 4. Finally, if you ever want to know a reason to carry a firearm, I highly suggest reading up on Warren v District of Columbia (1981). [biting sarcasm] He bought his gun, he knew what he was getting himself into. Let him die. [/biting sarcasm]

Amateur... Vomiting patients get a food bag. Take 1 red bag, Put hole near top of red bag in one wall of bag. Put patient's head through hole.

Would there be enough energy passing through the firearm and resistance to heat up the bullet enough to cook it off? EMS Myth Busters!

My concern with an outside compartment is that the outside compartments are often not locked, and having a firearm in an unlocked compartment is not a secured firearm.

More importantly, it's what the constitution says. The president gets to run the war (as commander in chief), but he doesn't get to decide if or when we do go to war.

1. To be fair, Ron Paul's response at the foreign affairs debate (last night) was, "I don't go to war. Congress goes to war. If Congress wants to go to war, they can declare war and we'll go to war." 2. ...because everyone else, besides Bachmann, who was asked last night responded with a better option, sanction or invade Pakistan. After all, it isn't like Pakistan has nuclear weapons and a grudge against a neighbor who also has nuclear weapons. 3. The United States currently presents a danger to Mexico via programs like the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious. Would you feel comfortable if the Mexico military took proactive action inside the borders of the United States in order to prevent our assault weapons from making it into Mexico?

You know what's worse than a patient with an SpO2 of 79? A patient with an SpO2 of 79 who's already on supplemental oxygen. Since the patient already had a nasal cannula on, I wonder if the patient was normally on supplemental oxygen. If so, then their conduct was tantamount to malpractice. Assuming the SpO2 was accurate, how is a patient being profoundly, severely, and symptomatically hypoxic "not that serious"?

Two more quick comments in regards to my last post. 1. Electronic billing and ePCRs are not the same thing. If you bill medicare, you bill electronically regardless of if you use paper or ePCR. 2. HIPAA is not the end all, be all of privacy rules. State rules may be cover you regardless of if you are covered under HIPAA and may be more strict with what can or can't be shared and the conditions required to do so. This is another reason why people need to stop using "HIPAA" as meaning "privacy laws."

No worries. I posted those examples in the first one because "treatment, billing, and healthcare operations" is the specific phrase used, but we've all heard or experienced the situations where someone is complaining or concerned about passing on information or getting the sealed envelope that's "for the hospital." Similarly, there's generally at least one person who's surprised that if you don't bill electronically then you don't have to follow HIPAA since you aren't a "covered entity."

....but... Underline added. It would be interesting to know how your lawyers and the CMS lawyers interpreted the statute differently.

However, none of those were HIPAA violations, which was the point I was trying to make and none of those require the patient's permission to disclose.

[deliberately taking this out of context] So we can't disclose patient information to hospital staff, billing, or CQI (respectively treatment, billing, healthcare operations)? So we can't disclose patient information when we believe a crime has been committed? How about a detective asking questions regarding where you took a witness?

Just to clarify something. I wasn't necessarily suggesting those courses. Those courses were simply my college course load at the time I took my EMT course.

Personally, I had no problem taking EMT class along with several other courses (genetics, organic chem 1, and 1 or 2 other classes that I can't remember right now). Personally, I found EMT class to be very very basic and easy.

It's not something that can be stopped, and trying to stop it is normally stupid and counter productive. Don't be the two people in these videos. http://emtmedicalstudent.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/in-the-news-ems-vs-press/ /shameless plug. //Keep a blog so that I can post a link in threads like this.