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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Could Tim Russert's Heart Attack Have Been Avoided?

Not trivial or academic. Time magazine identified the NBC's Meet the Press moderator and bureau chief in Washington as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. His loss at such a young age, 58, is tragic. Make clear his ability to communicate complex topics to the public and the hard questions, this historic presidential election race question in American history major.

But was his death and fatal heart attack, a preventable tragedy? His internist, Dr.Michael Newman, who is affiliated with George Washington Medical Center, found that Mr. Russert died one
sudden heart attack, which can occur without warning. Mr.Russert was with asymptomatic heart disease, controlled with medication and exercise reportedly was well diagnosed. He came on a heart stress test in late April. It seems as if he received the appropriate care.

But our health care system provides only the right, preparing for 55 percent of theTime. What physicians know, showed reductions in blood pressure, cholesterol management, and arranging age-appropriate cancer screenings in order to save lives are not done routinely in this country. The ability of physicians and insurance plans vary for the creation of this basic care by about 20 percent. If you compared the safety of the top 10 percent of the airlines with the
national average, the quality gap was far less at less than 1 percent.

The National Committeeestimates for Quality Assurance (NCQA) that all doctors and insurance plans on the level of the top 10 percent of the country had done that every 80,000 Americans had health insurance, would be premature deaths can be avoided. That is double the number of breast cancer deaths per year. A study of 20,000 patients in 12 large U.S. cities showed that only 68 percent of people with heart disease and was only 65 percent of people develop high blood pressure, the recommended care by expertsCommittees.

Unfortunately, one can not assume that the best prevention is carried out in the university medical centers. A study in California showed that the integrated health care organization Kaiser Permanente two university hospitals and community hospitals more than in descending order of their
Heart patients' risk of attack or death by 30 percent. The vertically integrated VA Health Care System was established to community hospitals for the care of diabetics outperform. Itconsistently ensures his patients the right drugs at the right dosage better that those in the communities around them.

It seems that a country that we take for granted the defects keep the health system, which occur with alarming frequency. As we mourn the unexpected death of a great journalist, we should instead ask ourselves whether the systematic errors in health care that was based on Mr. Russert to keep him well? The goal would not be foundTo determine negligence or scapegoats, as in the aerospace industry, is the provision of health care systems are too complex to easily isolate
a person or entity, which resulted in the accident. It is very likely that General Electric, NBC's parent company, which his health insurance options that were kept by NCQA as well with people healthy accredited.

Is it possible that the recommended treatment has not been delivered? As our nation struggles with how the health care systemmore affordable, accessible and of higher quality, boil the debate on who is best in determining the right care at the right time. Is the patient for us? Is the responsibility of the healthcare industry? It is an important conversation of our country and certainly would have gone better with an experienced moderator like Mr.
Russert. We will miss him greatly.



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