* tours the emergency room at St. Luke's East Hospital - pics

[Kadie]

U.S. President George W. Bush (2nd R) tours Saint Luke's East-Lee's Summit Hospital in near Kansas City, Missouri, January 25, 2007. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)


President Bush tours the emergency room at St. Luke's East Hospital in Lee's Summit, Mo. Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007. At left is Jim Hart, of St. Luke's Health System. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

[Maddy McCall]

1. Did patients consent to him gawking at their medical info?

Or did the ER have to refuse treatment to patients while Bush was playin' doctor?

[etherealtruth]

11. Do you see how uncluttered the surfaces are?

That alone tells me: There is no way that patient care was being rendered while the Chimp was there

[Maddy McCall]

14. That's what I was thinking.

So no care was rendered (meaning patients were blocked from the ER, and probably the hospital, for hours), and Bush got to gawk at some poor guy's x-rays, more than likely without consent of the patient.

[jmowreader]

17. Who says they're a patient's X-rays?

I see an arm on the screen, and I don't see a break in it. Nothing says one of the hospital staff couldn't have "posed" for this X-ray.

[Maddy McCall]

20. So Occam's Razor doesn't apply when you're dealing with Bush?

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

[jmowreader]

21. Dealing with Bush has its own set of rules

But if you want to apply Occam's Razor to a $2 million (or whatever they cost; I know it's a lot) digital X-ray machine, the unit either comes with a set of demonstration X-rays so you can show it off to dignitaries, mayors, governors and whoever else decides to visit your hospital on meaningless photo ops, or you make a set yourself.

Come on. You KNOW people want to show things like this off so they can demonstrate the fine work they're doing and get even more money to buy other machines. And "this is a wonderful machine that has many applications in the healing arts, but because of medical privacy regulations we have it turned off today" doesn't work.

[shadowknows69]

2. "Is this the machine that goes ping?"

apologies to Monty Python

[originalpckelly]

10. ...

:spray: :rofl: :spank:

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Captions for each

(top picture)

Doctor: This machine allows us to look inside a patient without having to perform exploratory surgery. It could prevent tens of thousands of unnecessary operations every year and save Americans millions of dollars in medical costs, but it is very expensive and few hospitals can afford them.

(bottom picture)

Bush: I have something like this in my boat for fishin'. I once caught a trout this big usin' it, heh, heh.

[nada republic-cons]

4. Why is the idiot flying around wasting fuel?

Why isn't he setting a good example for the nation and the world?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

6. Because he's a colossal fuckwit, who thinks he's god's gift . . .

Welcome to DU!

[jmowreader]

18. The farther he is from Washington, the less damage he can do

We keep him out of Washington. We fax him one-page summaries of the bills we want him to sign. It'll be great.

I would be more than happy to let him burn all the Jet A he wants if it keeps him from deploying troops to Iraq, cutting taxes on rich people, or wiping his ass on the Constitution.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

5. "Heh, yer another bald guy. I like bald guys!"

"Wanna go dancing?"

[MiniMe]

7. Is this thing connected to the internets?

[flordehinojos]

8. why didn't they sit him in the ER as a silent observer ??? he for sure could have learned something

there about human beings, and human suffering, human needs for good medical care.

technological advances shown to him ... speak little about the need for good medical care in this country.

[aquart]

9. Message: "I care."

Didn't work for your Daddy, either.

[Virginia Dare]

12. How many patients sit outside waiting in ambulances..

or get diverted to hospitals further away, while chimp has his photo op with Doogie Howser?

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. 2nd pic: 2 Different Captions

Well, if it's that bad, can't you just use ampumentation?

OR


:::I didn't hear a word you said::::
"Now, that reminds me of a story all about me. Let me tell you about clearing brush, and then the time I fell off that people mover what-cha-ma-call-it!"

[TZ]

15. Birds of a feather..

So maybe if folks see me hanging around enuff of these white coated fellers they will begin to think I is smart like them...

[madrchsod]

16. you know the whole hospital was on lock down

only emergency patients could come through the doors

[graphixtech]

19. Thanks for photos. One LS resident's response to Bush visit

LEE'S SUMMIT CITIZEN REPUDIATES TAXPAYER FUNDED PRESIDENTIAL VISIT
TO LUXURY HOSPITAL AND CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE FUNDING OF MEDICAL TREATMENT
FOR 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS AND RESIDENTS

Lee’s Summit, MO -- 25 January 2007 --
On the dawn of a Presidential visit to St. Luke’s Hospital in Lee’s Summit, one resident is outraged by the political irony. “As a Lee’s Summit resident and a recent patient of St. Luke’s Hospital, I am appalled that President Bush has chosen to use Lee’s Summit and St. Luke’s East as a public relations podium for the health care crisis in America."

"Polls clearly show that the majority of Americans do not support the Iraq occupation. That politicians continue to ignore the will of the people is representative of a system that is broken. Savings from a tiny fraction of the Iraq invasion could be used to take care of our own infrastructure and citizen's basic health care needs."

"Today Lee’s Summit and Jackson County taxpayers are being required to pay for extensive security surrounding President Bush's visit to Lee's Summit and St. Luke's East Hospital. If the CEO President truly wants to improve America's health care system, eliminating the OBSCENE profit margin of the health care "industry" is the place to start. The President's new health care proposal makes a mockery of the root causes of America's health care crisis and serves only to do further harm to to the shrinking middle class."

"Additionally, I recently had the opportunity to spend a couple of days at the St. Luke's Hospital in Lee's Summit. The patient care was outstanding, but the ultra deluxe hospital is by no means representative of hospitals across America. St. Luke’s East accommodations include having each room designated as a “private room” with two (plasma) televisions and a guest sleeper sofa standard in each private room."

"Furthermore, as a resident and taxpayer of Lee's Summit, Missouri I personally would much prefer that the exorbitant amount of public money spent on security for this political visit had instead been used for a health care issue that more accurately represented the compassion of the majority of Missouri citizens."

"At Tuesday's President Bush's "State of the Union Address" there was one noteworthy attendee who represented an honorable class of citizens in urgent and desperate need of health care. Ceasar Borja Jr., was invited to attend President Bush's speech as a reminder of 9/11 workers who were stricken with a host of illnesses after exposure to toxic World Trade Center debris."


9/11 Officer Dies as Son Attends SOTU Speech
Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/23/220845.shtml?s=lh

"WASHINGTON -- A former New York policeman died Tuesday night as his 21-year-old son prepared to appear at the State of the Union address to symbolize the desperate health problems of some Sept. 11 workers."
(more)"9/11 is not over. It didn't end in 2001. It is still affecting my father and numerous other first responders," he said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

9/11: Toxic Legacy
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/toxiclegacy/index.html

"Within two weeks of 9/11 a disturbing analysis of the dust done by another agency – the U.S. Geological Survey – found it was extremely caustic, some of it as corrosive as oven or drain cleaner. When in contact with the moisture in people's eyes, nose throat or lungs it could burn tissue. The analysis of the dust was immediately given to the EPA, which did not release the data."
(more)
"Hugh Kaufman, a senior analyst at the EPA, says, "If there's a battle between economic interests and the health of firemen and policemen, it's a no brainer. The economic interests trump the health of firemen and policemen every time."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Large Study of World Trade Center Responders
Finds Persistent Health Problems in Many
60 Percent Still Suffer Respiratory Problems from Exposure to Environment at Site

For Immediate Release from The Mount Sinai Medical Center
September 5, 2006
http://fusion.mssm.edu/media/content.cfm?storynum=298





(what about their right to basic health care coverage, Mr. President?)