farmdoc's blog post number 496

Today’s post is the third of three about this mad world we live in. Because the electricity in my Mole Creek comes entirely from the sun, I need to use it judiciously. So I don’t have an electric clothes dryer. Therefore the sun, as well as supplying my electricity, dries my laundry. I love my clothesline. I love hanging out my wet washing. And I love bringing in my sun-dried washing. Recently I was astounded to read that by 2010 more than 50 million US homeowners will be banned from line drying clothes outdoors. Why? For two reasons: to preserve property values, and due to prudishness. Well for goodness bloody sake. On both counts. Both these reasons are stupid. Especially when our planet’s climate’s being seriously affected by human activity. Americans spend US$5b each year drying their laundry. Imagine how much electricity – and thus coal-fired pollution – would be conserved if they sun-dried their laundry. Pollution free. All of this has resulted in a 2009 documentary film, Drying for Freedom, about laundry, clotheslines, freedom and the environment. And a campaign called Project Laundry List. It’s pitiable – no, deplorable – that this film and campaign were necessary. What’s wrong with the human species? It’s a MMMMW. For sure.

farmdoc's blog post number 495

Today’s post is the second of three about this mad world we live in. The American Medical Association’s Council on Science and Public Health is studying the role clothing plays in transmitting bacteria and other bugs. In its sights are white lab coats, stethoscopes, and even ties (dangly ones, I assume, and not bow ones). MRSA and other hospital infections cause nearly 100,000 deaths in US hospitals each year. And a 2004 study found that 48% of ties worn by hospital workers carried at least one infectious microbe. Big bloody whoopy do! Until bugs on clothing and stethoscopes can be shown to cause infections, there’s no need to intervene. Not to be outdone, two years ago the UK’s NHS adopted a policy prohibiting lab coats, ties, below-elbow sleeves, watches, and even long fingernails. The medical conservatives – I expect of an older demographic – are resisting the change. Professor Richard Cohen of Cornell University said: ‘When a patient shares intimacies with you and you examine them in a manner that no one else does, you’d better look like a physician – not a guy who works at Starbuck’s’. In the popular imagination, a white lab coat is as much a part of a doctor’s persona as a cowboy’s 10-gallon hat…’ Okay, but I think the diehards will lose. Why? Because they’re sheep people in cattle country; and it’s a MMMMW.

farmdoc's blog post number 494

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 comedy film with an all-star cast and memorable music. And a true title, of course. Today’s post is the first of three about this mad world we live in. It’s based on the editorial in the 17 August issue of the Medical Journal of Australia: The federal government, driven by both ideology and pragmatism, is intent on dismantling general practice in this country. It began with the 2008 annual Ben Chifley Memorial ‘Light on the Hill’ address to the Labor Party faithful by health minister Nicola Roxon (pictured). She proposed that health services be delivered by new players, and notably nurses, in ubiquitous teams. Less than a year later, nurse practitioners are to be granted access to the Medicare Benefits Schedule; and to be allowed to order tests, write prescriptions and refer patients. In the Australian Capital Territory there’s to be a ‘trial’ of nurse-only clinics. There are calls for the term ‘general practice’ to be replaced by ‘primary care’. As if that’s not all bad enough, here’s the pièce de résistance: a push for all practitioners working in primary care, irrespective of their qualifications and expertise, to be called ‘doctor’. As C J Dennis wrote and Ginger Mick said: ‘You could er knocked me down wiv 'arf a brick!’ I may be a Sentimental Bloke. But I know I’m a sheep man in cattle country; and that it’s a MMMMW.