No more nukes?

Somebody asked me, “Should Japan switch its nukes back on?”  Here's my answer.

It’s such a shame. Geology notwithstanding, Japan should be the ideal place to build nuclear power stations. Few nations have more to gain from nuclear power, and the Japanese values of safety, cleanliness, and attention to detail are exactly what is needed to operate a nuclear power station safely. But it has a cultural Achilles’ heel so severe that the only question still worth asking is: “When, and how are we going to shut these nukes down?”  (Read more...)

Don't get sick in Grimsby

This is what they missed
(©2010, James Heilman, MD; CC-BY-SA 3.0)

We're visiting family in Grimsby, England. On Friday, Chisako came down with a high fever and sore throat, so we took her to hospital to get her checked out.

The doctors were mystified by her condition. They put her in an isolation ward, and tested her for malaria (even though she hasn't been to a malaria region), typhus, and goodness knows what else. They X-rayed her, ultra-sounded her, and swabbed every orifice. Finally, on the fourth day, in sheer desperation, they tried listening to the patient:

"Why don't you look down my throat? I think it's tonsillitis."

"Er ..." shines the flashlight from his cellphone down her throat "Yes, you're right. It's tonsillitis. That's solved the mystery. I'll get your discharge papers."

what

the

fuck

I wouldn't mind so much but, as Japanese residents, we have to pay for our NHS treatment. Three unnecessary nights in an isolation ward and dozens of unnecessary tests won't come cheap. We have travel insurance, of course, but that only pays for treatment that is medically necessary.

Mistakes happen. If it was just that one simple oversight, I guess we could forgive them. But everything was just so sloppy. The nurses couldn't even insert a cannula or mount a drip correctly. When Chisako was moved to isolation, the ward that she left had no idea where she was. I could go on....

I know that the NHS has some excellent, world class hospitals. The Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby is not one of them. In fact, while Chisako was in hospital, it was announced that parts of the hospital would be closed after inspectors found that hundreds of patients were dying every year due to inadequate care.
If Chisako has a relapse, I'll hire a taxi and we'll go to Scunthorpe.

---

ADDENDUM
In response to comments on Facebook:

1. I got the photo on Wikipedia. It's not Chisako.

2. Many thanks to well-wishers. Chisako's doing well.