List Archives

Wed Dec 29 22:01:26 GMT 2004

"Little wonder that so much of the world thinks Americans are jerks.  What's
more amazing is that most Americans don't."
Hey Pret,
Feel free to move and live elsewhere any time you want - that way you join the cacophony as the world calls all of us Americans "jerks" - until they need our help.

What is with all of you today - is it the time to beat up on ourselves and on each other, or am I the only one who missed my dose of nasty pills today?

>>> pbjorn at emh.org 12/29/04 03:32PM >>>
I'm not terribly surprised at the lack of dialogue.  Lots of reasons, no
excuses.

First, it's a total holiday eclipse in the US and elsewhere.  Many folks are
intentionally remote from their keyboards, enjoying a week perfectly nestled
between Christmas and the New Year.  Even Dr. Mattox probably has his
Blackberry in a drawer somewhere.

Second, this was a natural disaster, not a result of violence or a stupid
decision (as if there's a difference between the two).  The Trauma List
hasn't traditionally percolated around hurricanes or earthquakes.  There's
nobody to be angry with to inspire ire or passion; all we have is our
sadness.  

Third, most of the deaths were presumably from drowning and related causes,
which most of us don't immediately throw into the category of trauma.
Certainly not much to learn from in terms of injury management--at least not
that's been published so far.  (The most interesting factoid, if you ask me,
is the reported absence of local ground fauna among the dead: "not so much
as an elephant, a monkey, or a hare," as one witness in Phuket observed.
What's up with that?)

Fourth, even the bona fide trauma deaths were rural and blunt.  There again,
not much to profitably discuss: immediate fatality stays dead, and survivors
are mostly observed.  Plenty of fracture management to talk about, I
suppose; but most of the data in this event will be in the realm of disease
management.

Fifth on my list, but on the list nonetheless: Bert's observations scratch
at a painful kernel of truth.  The American (government) response to this
immeasurable tragedy has thus far been pathetic.  To date, my president has
pledged the equivalent of about twelve hours of Iraq invasion expenses to
the relief effort.  

Let's put this in perspective: the preliminary estimates of the quake/flood
damages in the Maldives alone is over a billion dollars--about 200 per cent
of that country's gross domestic product.  Now consider that the relief the
US has mobilized thus far totals about $35 million--an insignificant
fraction of one per cent of our happy shiny GDP.  This from a country that
offered Turkey SIXTEEN BILLION DOLLARS to fly over its air space in 2003.  

Little wonder that so much of the world thinks Americans are jerks.  What's
more amazing is that most Americans don't.

Pret Bjorn, RN, etc.
Bangor, ME USA

-----Original Message-----
From: Hill, Barb [mailto:bhill at lakeregional.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 2:44 PM
To: 'Trauma & Critical Care mailing list'
Subject: RE: trauma-list Digest, Vol 18, Issue 36

All I can say about this note..is..........WOW!
On behalf of myself, my co-workers, my friends, etc. in this Hospital and
hopefully  Mo., we are very saddened and our hearts go out to these people,
however, why the bitterness Bert?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bertil Leidner [mailto:bertilleidner at bredband.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 1:19 PM
To: trauma-list at trauma.org 
Subject: Re: trauma-list Digest, Vol 18, Issue 36

I might have missed something on the list, BUT I have not noticed any
comment on the catastrophý............ (as I sure did on 9/11)

Are the any thoughts about the catastophy of many, many thousands deads, and
many more woundeds of the flood wave in south east asia, or are AMERICANS to
BIG to acknowledge any disaster outside of their great country????????

KEN????   keen on comments as YOU are  - any comments from THE GREAT STATE
OF TEXAS???

Bertil Leidner radiologist from Sweden prepared for HOMECOMING Swedish
tourists from Thailand (or thousands of missing!!)

(HOMECOMING means something different from the american event of
homecoming!!)/ Bert

******<bertilleidner at bredband.net>******

 Bertil Leidner, M.D.
 Specialist of Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology

 Department of Radiology
 Karolinska University Hospital - Huddinge
 SE-141 86 Stockholm, Sweden

 Phone: +46-8-585 80727
 fax: +46-8-711 48 40
E-mail: Bertil.Leidner at karolinska.se 

 HOME ADDRESS
 Brevduvegatan 2,
 SE-169 72 SOLNA, SWEDEN
 fax and phone +46-8-655 44 31
 Cellular: +46-70-64 37 118
 E-mail: bertil at leidner.nu 
 *****************************************
--
trauma-list : TRAUMA.ORG
To change your settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://www.trauma.org/traumalist.html

List Archives

For your convenience, find the Trauma List Archive Below

Tsunami Disaster