Why He is Wrong!

In response to “Attention nonsmokers: Butt out of our choices” Jan 31 editorial: Bradley frame smoking as an infringement up on the rights of small business owners, rather than as a public health concern. A more accurate assessment would also include the high insurance premiums these small businesses pay because millions of smokers tax the health care system with preventable illnesses. Which is the greater burden, the loss of a few dozen customers or the irretrievable health damage which must be paid for by healthy, nonsmokers? In your article, he claims that the intervention on the part of the government is unreasonable, yet there is no justification. How is it impinging the rights of business owners? Is it reducing the quantity of patrons to their restaurant or bar? Do you have any data to support your assertion that a smoking ban has somehow hurt businesses? Or is it that since he is inconvenienced, the world must also be inconvenienced and put out too? I know of no legally binding document that lists smoking as an inalienable right.
Bradley’s piece actually touches on a broader question, should the desires of a few people be permitted when they are detrimental to the health and safety of the majority? When the choices of one group impinge upon those of another, it is the province of government, be it city, state, or federal to intervene. In this case then, the city government is not “unreasonable restricting the choices of business owners” , it is rather, restricting the rights of smokers to benefit the greater population. One of the tasks of government, as outlined in the US Constitution, is to “promote the general welfare”. A smoking ban, then, is perfectly acceptable since it promotes the general welfare. Smokers, as you point out, are allowed to choose to smoke. The remainder of the population, however, should not, be involuntarily subject to second hand smoke because a smoker exercises his “right” to smoke. In short, the smoker has the dubious right to endanger his own health, but the government has the duty to safeguard the health of others. As a consequence, the smoker is ostracized.

-George

Link to OP-Ed piece

Since I don't want to violate some copyright law, I'll simply post the link the online text of this crappy article for your convenience.

http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/01/31/43df3be985270#feedback

SMOKING IS ASININE

SO, in today's Daily Emerald, our perennial source of poorly written op-ed pieces displaying a dearth of logic and a wealth of vitriole, a piece decrying Eugene Oregon's smoking ban in restaurants was published. In responded to this execrable piece because it was too awful to pass up. In responding, I took a legalistic federalist approach, though to debunk and rebutt it you could take the equally easy "smoking is unhealthy" tack as well.

I will publish both in separate posting so you can see them in their respective crapulence and glory
-G

veni vedi vici

Ok, Perhaps Caesar's hyperbole regarding gaul (i think) is excessive for my exam. Suffice it to say, however, that I got an A. What a relief. I really need to kick it into gear for the weekly quizzes to mitigate the effects of potentially poor exam showing in the future. My current project is writing my Bio paper on the B-type natriuretic peptide. I'm struggling with direction right now. If any of my faithful readers have some input or know anything about it, drop me a line and I'll send you an autographed t-shirt and mug.

Sprinter in the blocks

Well this week's major trial is over, the first Ochem midterm. After studying nonstop for about a week, I took the test. There were a few dodgy bits, but mostly it went well. The only thing I was clueless about was a question regarding aromaticity of a double ring system connectied by a double bond. I forgot about electron withdrawing tendencies, so I think I pretty much bombed that question. Fortunately, It's only 6 points out 90. Hopefully the next exam goes just as well as this. Funny thing, this morning after bio, I felt totally relaxed and calm. I studied for the two hours between nevertheless and I helped, I was more confident on sulfide and thiol substitution reactions. IF the faithful reader is clueless about what this means, good. Suffice it to say, last minute cramming paid off.
After the exam I went to the Volunteers in Medicine clinic today to start volunteering. Hopefully they'll be amenable to my presence. I have no medical volunteering experience at the moment, something that needs to change before I apply to medical school. I hope my enterprise doesn't seem to cynical to you, dear reader.

Same bat crap, same crappy channel

Well this week ended in a fiasco with an execrable o-chem quiz. So I studied for about 8 hours for this quiz, but was caught with my pants down on the ol' nomenclature again. I WILL LEARN NOMENCLATURE. Then there was a tricky alkyl halide substitution on a vynilic cyclo alkene. Well, dear readers, I know that a halide cannot react on an SP2 hybridized carbon, but Darn it all to heck, I FORGOT. Then there was the tricky subtle tautomerization of the enol to a ketone which I would have forgotten about, but I made my mistake further upstream. GO GEORGE. I hope that this was the bad quiz for the term, since I can't exacltly affort to chuck points out the window.

Upon the horns of a dilemma

First off, is a dilemma related etymologically to the rhetorical (and logical) device of a 'lemma'? (small proof serving as a subset of a larger proof?). Now that we have obtained today's non-sequitur, on to business. So, the first week of classes has ended. At the beginning of the week, I was registered for 15 credits, but now only 11. I decided to drop Cell Bio after the first day. My primary reason for so doing was based primarily on sentiment rather than reason. I had never looked forward to the class, didn't think it sounded too interesting, and had been warned off it by a friend. I just had a bad feeling about the class. I am, however, still registerd for Investigations in medical physiology which I think will prepare me adequately for the medical portions of the biological sciences section of the MCAT. Concurrently, I am also taking more O-Chem and O-chem lab. Ochem will be lots of work this term, I think. With more time on my hands, however, I think I'll be able to tackle the innumerable chemical reactions I"m required to learn. MCAT preparation is going well right now, I have two good books from KAPLAN to supplement the binders from eh KAPLAN course I received from a friend. Reading lesson plans is ok, but I'd rather read tips designed to be exclusively for the student. I think the hardest parts are going to be the Gen. Chem and the Physics portions, for two reasons. They are the most calculation intensive portions, as well as the parts over which I think my grasp of the material is the most tenuous.

First Day again

Faithful readers will no doubt rejoice that Dr. Longfinger has been removed from his position as substitute author of George's irresistible blog. I am, as the French say, de retour. School starts today, which provides a merciful break from the endless tedium (te deum?) of the winter holiday. For those amongst who who hang on my every word, chronically addicted to following my every move, I am taking more O-Chem, Ochem lab, Cell bio, and Investigations in medical physiology. IN any spare time I might have, I'm going to be cramming for the MCAT. YAY!

Addendum from Dr. Longfinger, M.D.

In Fretful's email, s/he opined that I was making up the events which fill my stories. As Dave Barry vociferously asserts when he recounts the absurd, " I am not making this up"
-Dr. L

Counter rebuttal

Dear Miffed,
Let me assure you that the events under consideration did in fact occur, without any embellishment. (Granted, there my be some narrative lisence taken in the case of Dr. Longfingers replies in certain instances. His actual replies are far more tactful than what is recorded here. The answers recorded here represent what Dr. Longfinger WOULD have said, had the world been perfect.) In response to your accusation that I am promoting my own personal agenda, let me assure you this is not the case. That the bulk of the simpletons in his stories seem to be nurses is due only to his disguise as a phlebotomist which brings him in contact primarily with RN's, not MD's. To allay your fears, however, I have decided to recount the following story in order to prove I am not an anti-nurse crusader.
I was sitting in the Phlebotomy department office one day, on my break, when a phone call came in. 'Twas a doctor calling to see about the feasibility of obtaining a CBC (complete blood count). Of course, we said. On bagged urine, he said. Excuse me? a CBC on bagged urine? No can do pardner. a CBC is done on Whole Blood. Not pee. Perhaps if we spin the urine fast enough in the centrifuge it will turn to whole blood? No Dr. Sanscerveau, 'tis impossible. [editor's note: it should be noted that it is possible for there to be blood cells in urine, so asking for a count of those in a urinalysis is feasible. it is not, however, possible to use urine in the machine which normally runs CBC's.]

Miffed, I hope that this proves there are dunces universally distributed in hospital settings.
-Dr. L.

Rebuttal

Dr. Longfinger, it would appear that you have an anti-nurse agenda which you are shamelessly promoting using George's normally dull Blog as a forum. I am an RN and have never seen, let alone committed the blunders which seem to permeate Dr. Longfinger's anecdotes. I would maintain that either Dr. Longfinger is in fact covering for his own blunders and pawnign off these mistakes on others, or the events in question never in fact occured.
-Miffed in Missoula

Q&A with Dr. Longfinger

A: You have raised an interesting question. By and large, most nurses are quite competent. There are, however, some remarkably dim RN's servicing our nation's ill. Perhaps the following anecdote from the annals of Dr. Longfinger will answer your question. It was early one morning on our little floor, not a patient was stirring, not even Bill Moore. As I out wheeled my cart, I saw with alarm, 'twas an Isolation room, I could come to harm. I donned glove and gown, and prepped my syringe. I pushed open the door, which swung on its hinge. A sign on the wall read "I have a PICC, use it to get blood, mine, all" Puzzelled by syntax I asked for his nurse. She said No More Verse and belted a Curse. OK, said I pleased, I'll stick to my prose, and don't get bent out of shape. you or your nose. So I went in the room to draw out his blood, the PICC wouldn't work [editor's note: A PICC is a special type of IV that has a long canula in the vein that terminates just outside the heart and can occaisionaly be used for blood draws]. I poked him instead with my needle. He had a CBC, or complete blood count. As I left the room, his nurse who was waiting outside asked me if I had the results back yet. WHAT THE CRAP??? Umm, no, I replied, barely tactfully. The blood, you see, is still in this tube in my hand. I have not yet been certified on teleportation, and consequently, the blood must physically go TO the lab to be tested. I can, if you like, hold it up to the light to count the RBC's. [Editor's note: Using full phrases and names is anathema to those in the medical profession. RBC stands for Red Blood Cell]. Very well. Do you at least have the resulst of his blood sugar test for 0900? NO, again I replied, carefully checking my tongue at the tongue check. ( they gave me a chit I have yet to redeem for my tongue). You see, it is only 0645, and we dont' do sugars until 30 minutes before their time. THat would be, at the earliest, 0830.
To return to your original question, Fretful, don't ever leave the side of your loved one. Those nurses, seemingly benign, can be quite dull of mind.

From the annals of Dr. Longfinger

Dear Sr. Sassy in Md.
Your most recent correspondance bordered on the unquietly dignified. If, however, we are to be scatalogical, let us then be so utterly scatalogical as to collapse in a fit of giggles over the meerest mention of poo. As in teh poo-r in spirit. Let me regale you with an acoount of fecal woes unparalleled. Occaisonally, in the hospital setting, there are times when it becomes necessary to induce a BM in a patient. One such a chance was two weeks ago in the medical ICU at Sacred Heart. Your beloved Dr. Longfinger was in his customary disguise as a phlebotomist for Oregon Medical Labs. As he padded down the hall, his poorly made cart chattering all the way, a wretched miasma filled his nose and mouth. Unsuccessfully trying not to gag, he walked past the room from which the stench emanated. Dorren, the nurse staggered out of the room, halfway between laughter and nausea. I asked what had happened. He told me that he had just seen the world's largest poop. How big? I asked, my morbid curiousity piqued. The size of a newborn, he replied grinning and gagging. By smell alone I could not doubt the veracity of his assertion. He told me that the nurse was trying unsuccessfully to flush it down the toilet. Hmm, I thought to myself, would I try to flush a poop the size of a child down the toilet ? NO. But, I am not a registered nurse, so such "outside the box" (read: poorly concieved) solutions are beyond my grasp.
Q: I have a hospitalized relative who is quite dear to me. The nurses who are attending her seem, however, to be less than teh Florence Nightingales I expect to see roaming the hospital. Should I be concerned for her wellbeing? or is she in good hands?
-Fretful in Fresno

Editor's Note

Due to extreme laxity on the part of George in updating his posts, his Blog has been temporarily taken over by Dr. Longfinger until such time that George will be able to reclaim his duties.