SpaceX: To infinity and beyond, or at least the International Space Station for now
Nick Tann 1 Comment Nation, The Baltimore Sun Cape Canaveral, Falcon 9 rocket, International Space Station, NASA, PayPal, space, Space Shuttle, SpaceX
1 of 22 photos
A new era in space travel may have been ushered in this morning with the successful launch of a spacecraft from Space Exploration Technologies also known as SpaceX. Elan Musk, CEO and PayPal Founder Elon Musk hopes SpaceX will be the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station.
As of 3:44 a.m. eastern time, Falcon 9/Dragon was reported to have launched successfully. According to SpaceX, its Dragon spacecraft was developed by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program and is made up of a “pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members.”
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April 15, 2010: US President Barack Obama tours the SpaceX launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Obama traveled to Florida in a bid to soothe critics of his plan to scrap an over-budget Moon launch program and reshape NASA’s future. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
December 8, 2010: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX successfully launched the Dragon space capsule into orbit, marking the first such attempt by a private enterprise that could pave the way for the future of space travel. The spacecraft was to circle the Earth twice before attempting a re-entry from low orbit and a splash landing into the Pacific Ocean, a risky operation that even the company said carried about a 70 percent likelihood of success. (Bruce Weaver/AFP/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
April 5, 2011: SpaceX CEO and PayPal Founder Elon Musk unveiles the Falcon Heavy rocket at the National Press Club in Washington. SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 19, 2012. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
April 19, 2012: CEO Elon Musk ponders about the launch to the International Space Station in the mission control room at the Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. If successful, it will be the first time a private company will dock with the International Space Station. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/MCT) PHOTO LINK
April 19, 2012: A worker at the Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, works on a capsule under construction. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/MCT) PHOTO LINK
April 19, 2012: CEO Elon Musk with the SpaceX Dragon capsule on display at the Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/MCT) PHOTO LINK
May, 18, 2012: SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 sits on Pad 40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Titusville, Florida. The launch Saturday morning launch would make SpaceX the first commercial company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. (Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
May 18, 2012: The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket is being prepared for launch from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. An Obama administration plan to cut the cost of spaceflight services faces a key test on Saturday, May 19 when a privately owned rocket attempts lift off for a practice run to the International Space Station. If successful, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, would become the first private company to reach the $100 billion outpost, which flies about 240 miles (390 km) above Earth. (Pierre DuCharme/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 19, 2012: The engines of the SpaceX Falcon 9 light but fail to launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Titusville, Florida. The launch, in the early hours of Saturday morning, would have made US firm SpaceX the first commercial company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. (Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
May 19, 2012: SpaceX attempts to launch its Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch was aborted right before the countdown reach zero when flames began curling beneath the rocket. It was quickly extinguished and full ignition was prevented by computer. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT) PHOTO LINK
May 19, 2012: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket remains on the launch pad as engineers check the main engine section. The launch attempt with the company’s Dragon capsule to the International Space Station from launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida was aborted when one of the nine main engine appeared to falter. (Bruce Weaver/AFP/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
May 19, 2012: SpaceX workers gather at the Falcon 9 rocket engines after and attempt to launch its Falcon 9 rocket was aborted at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT) PHOTO LINK
May 19, 2012: SpaceX Pesident Gwynne Shotwell (L) and Alan Lindenmoyer, Manager of NASA Commercial Crew & Cargo Program, speak at a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch of a privately owned Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was delayed on Saturday when a computer detected a possible problem with one of the rocket’s engines, a Space Exploration Technologies official said. (Michael Brown/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 19, 2012: SpaceX technicians work around the number five rocket engine on the SpaceX Falcon 9 in the Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (Pierre DuCharme/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 21, 2012: News photographers work on their remote cameras as the SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket is being prepared for a second launch attempt from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral. The launch of SpaceX Falcon 9, scheduled for Tuesday, will mark for the first time a private company will send its own rocket to the orbiting International Space Station. (Michael Brown/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 as ground fog covers the pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The 178-foot (54-meter) tall Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:44 a.m. (0744 GMT) from a refurbished launch pad just south of where NASA launched its now-retired space shuttles. (Pierre DuCharme/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The unmanned rocket owned by privately held Space Exploration Technologies blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday for a mission designed to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. The 178-foot (54-meter) tall Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:44 a.m. (0744 GMT) from a refurbished launch pad just south of where NASA launched its now-retired space shuttles. (Michael Brown/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft blasts off from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SpaceX is the first private company to build a rocket for a mission to the International Space Station. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft atop rocket Falcon 9 lifts off from Pad 40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Titusville, Florida. The launch this morning makes SpaceX the first commercial company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. (Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mock shuttle Explorer, in the foreground, had been on display at the Kennedy Space Center Complex, and will be moved to the Johnson Space Center in Houston this week in order to make room for the arrival of Space Shuttle Atlantis. (Pierre DuCharme/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket takes off early Tuesday morning as it heads for space carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Dragon capsule is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station in a few days. (Bruce Weave/AFP/Getty Images) PHOTO LINK
May 22, 2012: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaks to the media and congratulates SpaceX after the Falcon 9 test rocket was launched successfully from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Michael Brown/Reuters) PHOTO LINK
More on The Baltimore Sun: SpaceX rocket lifts off for space station trial run,
SpaceX launches rocket to International Space Station
By: Scott Dance / Baltimore Sun
Space Exploration Technologies is vying to be the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, and its mission got off to a successful start with a launch this morning.
A Dragon spacecraft launched from the company’s launch pad at Cape Canaveral at 3:44 a.m. Tuesday. It will soon begin a series of tests in space to determine if it can indeed dock with the space station.
Read More.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Subdued Dimon is confronted over $2B trading loss
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By PALLAVI GOGOI
Associated Press
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The CEO of JPMorgan Chase offered a quick but blunt apology to shareholders Tuesday for a $2 billion trading loss that "should never have happened" and survived a push to strip him of the title of chairman of the board.
CEO Jamie Dimon, who in recent years has given expansive answers to questions about the bank's handling of foreclosures and loan modifications, was unusually subdued at the JPMorgan annual meeting.
He spent four minutes talking about the trading loss and steps the company has taken to address it, and just two more talking about accomplishments of the company over the past year.
The loss, disclosed Thursday, rattled investor confidence in the largest bank in the United States and in the ability of Wall Street to fight regulatory changes more than three years after the financial crisis.
It also added some theatrics to the JPMorgan annual meeting, traditionally a staid affair. Reporters swarmed, police with guns stood guard on the roof, and protesters threw eggs at a poster with Dimon's picture on it.
Of the trade, an ill-timed bet on so-called credit derivatives, Dimon said: "This should never have happened. I can't justify it. Unfortunately, these mistakes are self-inflicted."
Speaking with reporters later, he added: "The buck always stops with me."
Dimon won a non-binding shareholder endorsement of his pay package from last year, which totaled $23 million, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory filings.
Most of the shareholder ballots were cast in the weeks before Dimon revealed the trading loss. The pay package passed with 91 percent of the vote. The vote to strip him of the chairman's title won only 40 percent support.
Dimon was confronted at the meeting by shareholders upset about the trading loss. To some questions, he offered a simple, "OK, thank you."
The Rev. Seamus Finn, representing shareholders from the Catholic organization Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, said that investors had heard Dimon apologize before for the foreclosure crisis and other problems.
"We heard the same refrain: We have learned from our mistakes. This will never be allowed to happen again," Finn said. "I can't help wondering if you are listening."
Lisa Lindsley, director of capital strategies for an influential union of public employees that is also a major JPMorgan shareholder, said independent board leadership was in shareholders' best interest.
"An all-powerful CEO is his own boss," she said. "Looking for an infallible CEO is a fool's errand."
Most large American companies combine the jobs of chairman and CEO, but shareholders have pushed in recent years to separate them. About one in five Standard & Poor's 500 companies separate the jobs.
Supporters argue that an independent chairman can provide a check on the CEO's power. Shareholders also frequently push for separation at turbulent times for a company.
In JPMorgan's case, the move to separate the jobs was put on the ballot before the $2 billion loss was unearthed. It was also on the ballot last year, but it received far less support then, 12 percent.
While the meeting took place, JPMorgan stock climbed for the first time since the trading loss was revealed. It had fallen from $40.74 last Thursday to $35.79 after Monday's trading, but bounced back to $36.24 on Tuesday.
Dimon said he did not expect the trading loss to jeopardize JPMorgan's quarterly stock dividend, which is 30 cents per share.
A law enforcement official said that the FBI's New York office is heading an inquiry by the Justice Department into the JPMorgan loss. The official, who was not authorized to speak about the decision, spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official characterized the inquiry as preliminary.
Dimon got something of a vote of confidence from President Barack Obama, who appeared on ABC's "The View" for an episode airing Tuesday. Obama used the appearance to press for tighter regulation of Wall Street.
"JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is," the president said. "Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got, and they still lost $2 billion and counting."
Obama has reason to tread carefully on the JPMorgan trading debacle. Four years ago, when he captivated Wall Street during his first presidential run, JPMorgan employees were among his most ardent financial backers.
People who said they worked for JPMorgan Chase gave more than $800,000 to Obama in 2008, compared with $340,000 for his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.
Obama is struggling with Wall Street's resentment this year. His campaign has received barely more than $75,000 in donations from JPMorgan employees, while Mitt Romney has attracted more than $370,000.
Obama said the bank was "making bets" in the market for the complex financial instruments known as derivatives. Dimon has said the bank was hedging against financial risk.
A part of the 2010 financial overhaul legislation known as the Volcker rule is designed to prevent banks from placing bets for their own profit, a practice known as proprietary trading.
The idea is to protect depositors' money, which is insured by the government. If a bank's losses wiped out those deposits, the government would be on the hook.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, for whom the rule was named, wanted speculative trading by investment banks to be separated from the deposit-taking and lending business of traditional commercial banks.
Dimon and critics of the industry have disagreed over whether JPMorgan's trading would have violated that rule.
In Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said JPMorgan's trading loss strengthens the case for tougher rules on financial institutions, as regulators continue writing rules from the 2010 law.
Geithner said that the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Obama administration are "going to take a very careful look" at the JPMorgan incident as they implement the rules.
"I'm very confident that we're going to be able to make sure those come out as tough and effective as they need to be," Geithner said. "And I think this episode helps make the case, frankly."
At the annual meeting for the investment bank Morgan Stanley, which took place Tuesday in upstate New York, CEO James Gorman appeared to allude to the JPMorgan trading loss when he said: "Events of the last few days remind us that risk levels remain high in the global markets."
He noted twice that Morgan Stanley has jettisoned or is in the process of dumping all of its businesses that do proprietary trading, or trading for the bank's own profit.
Gorman also said, unprompted, that the bank maintains the right to take back pay from executives who act improperly. Gorman was confronted by shouting protesters who said the loss at JPMorgan was proof that banks are out of touch with their customers.
On Monday, Ina Drew, JPMorgan's chief investment officer and one of the highest-ranking women on Wall Street, left the bank. Drew oversaw the trading group responsible for the $2 billion loss.
___
Pallavi Gogoi reported from New York. AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode in New York and Associated Press writers Tom Hays in New York and Stephen Braun, Jack Gillum and Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.
Desperate Man Commits Suicide After Shocking Foreclosure Mistreatment
May 15, 2012 |
Photo Credit: AFP LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?Join our mailing list:Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email.
Norman and Oriane Rousseau were one more couple pushed by a huge, greedy bank to the brink of homelessness. On Sunday, desperate and with nowhere to go, Norman Rousseau shot himself. This is the story of what happens when an average couple is up against a giant, wealthy, powerful bank. Unfortunately the result is what the result always is when people are on their own against the wealthy and powerful: the bank ends up with all of their money, takes their house to sell and throws them out onto the street. In this case the bank is Wells Fargo.The quick version of this terrible story is that Norman and Oriane Rousseau of Newbury Park, California were scammed into a predatory mortgage. But they made their payments anyway, always paying with a cashier’s check in person at the same branch. Then one day the bank misapplied their payment and said they still owed the money. This started a long, nasty process that led to the bank evicting the Rousseaus from their home. Here’s the shocker: right at the start the Rousseaus came up with proof that the bank had received the payment and had cashed the check. But the bank continued to claim it had missed the payment, gave the Rousseaus the runaround, started applying fees, and used it as an excuse to foreclose on the house anyway. The Rousseaus fought back, the bank dragged it out for so long and pulled so many tricks, getting its way every step of the process, until this last Sunday Norman Rousseau finally gave up and shot himself in despair – two days before the scheduled eviction, Tuesday, May 15. (The Rousseau’s lawyer just said he was able to win a 2-week delay.)
It is a tragic story, but when you dig into the details it becomes much worse. See for yourself. The court case filed by the Rousseaus puts on the record the facts as they state them. The complaint reads as one more story like so many others that we have been hearing about the abuses by banks and banksters and the tricks they pulled on people. Never mind the big “National Mortgage Settlement” – this story shows that the abuses are still going on, with the same tragic consequences. The following describes the facts in the lawsuit filed in Norman Rousseau and Oriane Rousseau vs. Wells Fargo Bank in the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura.
In March 2000, Norman and Oriane Rousseau put 30 percent down to buy a house at 580 Wilshire Place, Newbury Park, CA. In the following years they were solicited to refinancetheir loan. In October 2007 they met with the loan officer and “stated that they were only interested in obtaining a conventional 30-year, fixed-rate loan, and explained their desire to have consistent payments over the life of the loan.” They were “assured … that they could significantly reduce their monthly payments, by more than $600 per month, with a lower interest refinance loan.” The bank assured them that the Payment Option ARM was “the new industry standard” that had “historically low rates that were continuing to decrease” and in “the worst case scenario [they were] assured that historical data for the index indicated that changes in interest rate were slight, and if an increase should occur it would have a negligible effect on their monthly payments of no more than a fewdollars.”
May 15, 2012 |
Photo Credit: AFP
LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
Join our mailing list:
Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email.
Norman and Oriane Rousseau were one more couple pushed by a huge, greedy bank to the brink of homelessness. On Sunday, desperate and with nowhere to go, Norman Rousseau shot himself.
This is the story of what happens when an average couple is up against a giant, wealthy, powerful bank. Unfortunately the result is what the result always is when people are on their own against the wealthy and powerful: the bank ends up with all of their money, takes their house to sell and throws them out onto the street. In this case the bank is Wells Fargo.
The quick version of this terrible story is that Norman and Oriane Rousseau of Newbury Park, California were scammed into a predatory mortgage. But they made their payments anyway, always paying with a cashier’s check in person at the same branch. Then one day the bank misapplied their payment and said they still owed the money. This started a long, nasty process that led to the bank evicting the Rousseaus from their home.
Here’s the shocker: right at the start the Rousseaus came up with proof that the bank had received the payment and had cashed the check. But the bank continued to claim it had missed the payment, gave the Rousseaus the runaround, started applying fees, and used it as an excuse to foreclose on the house anyway.
The Rousseaus fought back, the bank dragged it out for so long and pulled so many tricks, getting its way every step of the process, until this last Sunday Norman Rousseau finally gave up and shot himself in despair – two days before the scheduled eviction, Tuesday, May 15. (The Rousseau’s lawyer just said he was able to win a 2-week delay.)
It is a tragic story, but when you dig into the details it becomes much worse.
See for yourself. The court case filed by the Rousseaus puts on the record the facts as they state them. The complaint reads as one more story like so many others that we have been hearing about the abuses by banks and banksters and the tricks they pulled on people. Never mind the big “National Mortgage Settlement” – this story shows that the abuses are still going on, with the same tragic consequences.
The following describes the facts in the lawsuit filed in Norman Rousseau and Oriane Rousseau vs. Wells Fargo Bank in the Superior Court of California, County of Ventura. 

In March 2000, Norman and Oriane Rousseau put 30 percent down to buy a house at 580 Wilshire Place, Newbury Park, CA. In the following years they were solicited to refinancetheir loan. In October 2007 they met with the loan officer and “stated that they were only interested in obtaining a conventional 30-year, fixed-rate loan, and explained their desire to have consistent payments over the life of the loan.”
They were “assured … that they could significantly reduce their monthly payments, by more than $600 per month, with a lower interest refinance loan.” The bank assured them that the Payment Option ARM was “the new industry standard” that had “historically low rates that were continuing to decrease” and in “the worst case scenario [they were] assured that historical data for the index indicated that changes in interest rate were slight, and if an increase should occur it would have a negligible effect on their monthly payments of no more than a fewdollars.”
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Jamie Dimon
At some point during my struggle with the bank, I became aware of that Jamie Dimon was the CEO of Chase Manhattan. He reminded me of a compilation of the best of salesmen, sales managers and executives, I knew in the computer industry. In October of 2007, I wrote a personal letter to Jamie from the local Corona motel I was staying in, asking him to resolve this issue. I was pleasantly surprised, when a week later, on a Friday Afternoon, someone from Chase Manhattan called, apologized, and assured me that this would be resolved, but could I give him a few day's to get all the facts. Take all the time you need, I replied. I was elated and thought, why didn't I think of this earlier.
Unfortunately, a while later he advised me that the bank, Chase Manhattan, was simply the trustee of a trust of loans, and perhaps I should contact Ocwen.
Unknown to him, of course was the fact that in 2004, new Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had contacted the Office of Thrift Supervision on my behalf who then contacted Ocwen, who simply lied in their four page reply.
Next began a period of drunken video's on YouTube in various 'open letters' to Jamie Dimon concluding on May 17, 2009, with a postal letter to three Chief Executives, including Jamie.
Now, eleven years after the blatant violation of law, I am still waiting to receive a judicial hearing to show my proof, make my claim, and have the law applied. Jamie Dimon, today was grilled by his board of directors. I have always given Jamie the benefit of the doubt as to his intentions since he took over the bank years ago, but now with Elizabeth Warren's call for Jamie to step down from his post on the federal reserve, I'm not so sure.
We will see.
Unfortunately, a while later he advised me that the bank, Chase Manhattan, was simply the trustee of a trust of loans, and perhaps I should contact Ocwen.
Unknown to him, of course was the fact that in 2004, new Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had contacted the Office of Thrift Supervision on my behalf who then contacted Ocwen, who simply lied in their four page reply.
Next began a period of drunken video's on YouTube in various 'open letters' to Jamie Dimon concluding on May 17, 2009, with a postal letter to three Chief Executives, including Jamie.
Now, eleven years after the blatant violation of law, I am still waiting to receive a judicial hearing to show my proof, make my claim, and have the law applied. Jamie Dimon, today was grilled by his board of directors. I have always given Jamie the benefit of the doubt as to his intentions since he took over the bank years ago, but now with Elizabeth Warren's call for Jamie to step down from his post on the federal reserve, I'm not so sure.
We will see.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
From CNN: Why we need a new kind of doctor
By Richard Galant, CNN
updated 12:15 PM EDT, Sun May 13, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Atul Gawande: Medicine developed around the idea of the "cowboy" doctor
- He says today's doctors don't know it all; they have to specialize and be part of a team
- He says strong teams in medicine get the best results and provide care more cheaply
- Gawande: Today's doctor should interact as if he were part of an auto racing pit crew
Editor's note: Atul Gawande spoke at the TED2012 conference in Long Beach, California. TED is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Ideas worth spreading" which it makes available through talks posted on its website
(CNN) -- In the years before penicillin came into wide use in the 1940s, medicine couldn't do very much for many of the sickest patients. A hospital could keep you warm and provide food and nursing care, but as surgeon and writer Atul Gawande pointed out, in many cases the patient would do no better than if he or she had stayed home.
In those days, doctors who mastered the few techniques that could make a difference, such as setting fractures and treating certain kinds of heart conditions, were seemingly all-powerful, Gawande told the TED2012 conference in March. "A doctor could kind of know it all and do it all," he said in an interview with CNN following his talk.
Doctors were rewarded for being cowboys, for being daring and self sufficient.
Today, the world of medicine promises and provides much more -- cures and care for many of the worst health problems people have.
But doctors can no longer know everything and do everything. As medical knowledge has exploded, doctors increasingly must specialize in a field to absorb all the relevant information to treat a certain kind of illness. And a patient who goes to a hospital often winds up being treated and cared for by as many as 15 doctors, nurses and therapists, Gawande said.
The result? "Well, it's been a disaster," he said. "We have 40 percent of coronary artery disease patients who receive incomplete or inappropriate care, we have 2 million people pick up infections in hospitals because one of those people on that team failed to follow basic hygiene practices."
"Holding on to our streak of autonomy, each of us, we end up losing the patient in between," he said. Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, also is a researcher at Harvard University and a writer at The New Yorker.
Today doctors are still often rewarded and trained as cowboys, but Gawande says what we really need are doctors who can function as members of a team, the way those in an auto racing pit crew work together to get vehicles back in the race.
Gawande has been a pioneer in advocating the use of checklists by medical teams working together in surgery or on other procedures.
"We've had checklists in medicine for people we considered the lowest on the totem pole, but the idea that the surgeon would have to follow a checklist is anathema," Gawande said. But in fact, he added, "when checklists have been used to make sure even the best, most specialized doctors don't miss key steps in providing care ... we're finding that carefully designed checklists cut death rates in half in surgeries, that they can eliminate certain kinds of infections and that they can slash costs."
Gawande has found reason to question the assumption that the most expensive care must be the best care. "What we're discovering is that the best care, the places getting the best results, are often among the least expensive," he said. In those places, doctors and nurses providing care function like teams.
"We are going through a dramatic change where it's no longer about what your doctor knows, it's about what a team of doctors, nurses and others are able to do together."
These days Gawande brings a checklist with him into the operating room. At first, it was a bit of a shock for him.
"I did it reluctantly. I have been someone who believes, you know, do I need a checklist? No ... but i didn't want to be a hypocrite. I was bringing them to Tanzania and Seattle, so I started using a checklist myself. So that meant before the patient went to sleep we would do a series of checks -- not just, 'Do we have the right person and the right side of the body?' But also, 'Do we have a plan for what happens if this is a high-blood-loss case?'
"Before the incision, we'd introduce ourselves by name because it would turn out often that you would have a team of people working together for the first time who may not know each other very well.
"We discuss the plan in detail, and in doing these things I found from the very beginning that we were catching problems that we were missing otherwise. The anesthesiologist or the nurse was noticing things that I had missed.
"I have not gotten through a week of surgery in three years using this kind of checklist without it catching something that was a danger for the patient or would have made the care better."
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Tuesday, May 8, 2012
My Letter to Ann Romney
May 1, 2012
Ann Romney:
311 Dunemere Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
Dear Ann:
I saw you on television a few day’s ago and felt compelled to write you.
I have previously written to President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. I have also appealed, pro-se, to the United States Supreme Court, three times, and written to the media and banker Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan. All with no results.
What have I sought for this decade long effort?
A hearing in a court of law to hear my complaint about how the bank blatantly violated bankruptcy law which cost me my family home of 26 years, and the home based business operated from that home; Residential Fire Sprinklers, a licensed California fire protection business.
The bankruptcy court - Judge Jury - claimed she lacked jurisdiction to hear my complaint, and all of the appeals courts, to the Supreme Court summarily agreed. In 2006, in a subsequent case for a violation of the same law, 11 USC 362, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 9th Circuit, reversed Judge Jury, and ordered a hearing for damages. I then asked for the Supreme Court to reconsider this different treatment of violations in the 9th circuit without success.
Now, May 2012, Judge Jury still claims she lacks jurisdiction to hear my case in spite of precedential law from the BAP in 2006 to the contrary; she must hear my complaint. I now have an appeal in to the 9th Circuit, to reverse the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, who in a May 2011 petition denied my request for a hearing. It is more problematic this time, however, since Judge Jury, now, in addition of her bankruptcy duties is also a justice on this seven member Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 9th Circuit.
Since both the facts and the law are undeniable, and on my side, it feels like these jurists are covering for each other, while my fate twists in the wind. I have been at this since 2002, with and without professional legal help.
Now while my case is again being reviewed, for the third time, by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, case 11-60039, all it would take, I believe, would be a short meeting with you or your husband which would attract enough media attention to force these jurists at the 9th Circuit to look closely at my case and apply the law to the facts.
When your campaign journey brings you to California, if your schedule permits, I would appreciate a brief meeting, which I believe would then force the appeals court to not summarily dismiss my case, as they have over the last decade, and grant me a hearing.
That’s what I am hoping for. You can read about my case at the web blog that I created to document my case at www.banksters.us My social ID on most services is ‘firesprinklers’
Ann, I have lived a law abiding and responsible life here in southern California for over 62 years, and am just beginning to receive Social Security benefits. I would love to finally put this injustice behind me, and regain my faith in American law.
God Bless you and your husband as you campaign across our great country.
All my best,
Gary L. Ozenne
firesprinklers@gmail.com
951-496-7525 cell
www.firesprinklers.us
Ann Romney:
311 Dunemere Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
Dear Ann:
I saw you on television a few day’s ago and felt compelled to write you.
I have previously written to President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. I have also appealed, pro-se, to the United States Supreme Court, three times, and written to the media and banker Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan. All with no results.
What have I sought for this decade long effort?
A hearing in a court of law to hear my complaint about how the bank blatantly violated bankruptcy law which cost me my family home of 26 years, and the home based business operated from that home; Residential Fire Sprinklers, a licensed California fire protection business.
The bankruptcy court - Judge Jury - claimed she lacked jurisdiction to hear my complaint, and all of the appeals courts, to the Supreme Court summarily agreed. In 2006, in a subsequent case for a violation of the same law, 11 USC 362, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 9th Circuit, reversed Judge Jury, and ordered a hearing for damages. I then asked for the Supreme Court to reconsider this different treatment of violations in the 9th circuit without success.
Now, May 2012, Judge Jury still claims she lacks jurisdiction to hear my case in spite of precedential law from the BAP in 2006 to the contrary; she must hear my complaint. I now have an appeal in to the 9th Circuit, to reverse the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, who in a May 2011 petition denied my request for a hearing. It is more problematic this time, however, since Judge Jury, now, in addition of her bankruptcy duties is also a justice on this seven member Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 9th Circuit.
Since both the facts and the law are undeniable, and on my side, it feels like these jurists are covering for each other, while my fate twists in the wind. I have been at this since 2002, with and without professional legal help.
Now while my case is again being reviewed, for the third time, by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, case 11-60039, all it would take, I believe, would be a short meeting with you or your husband which would attract enough media attention to force these jurists at the 9th Circuit to look closely at my case and apply the law to the facts.
When your campaign journey brings you to California, if your schedule permits, I would appreciate a brief meeting, which I believe would then force the appeals court to not summarily dismiss my case, as they have over the last decade, and grant me a hearing.
That’s what I am hoping for. You can read about my case at the web blog that I created to document my case at www.banksters.us My social ID on most services is ‘firesprinklers’
Ann, I have lived a law abiding and responsible life here in southern California for over 62 years, and am just beginning to receive Social Security benefits. I would love to finally put this injustice behind me, and regain my faith in American law.
God Bless you and your husband as you campaign across our great country.
All my best,
Gary L. Ozenne
firesprinklers@gmail.com
951-496-7525 cell
www.firesprinklers.us
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