Florida conceals tuberculosis outbreak

[Winehole23]

The state of Florida has been struggling (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/worst-tb-outbreakin-20-years-kept-secret/nPpLs/) for months with what the Centers for Disease Control describe as the worst tuberculosis outbreak in the United States in twenty years.


Although a CDC report went out to state health officials in April encouraging them to take concerted action, the warning went largely unnoticed and nothing has been done. The public did not even learn of the outbreak until June, after a man with an active case of TB was spotted in a Jacksonville soup kitchen.


The Palm Beach Post has managed to obtain records on the outbreak and the CDC report, though only after weeks of repeated requests. These documents should have been freely available under Florida’s Sunshine Law.


According to the Post, the coverup began as early as last February, “when Duval County Health Department officials felt so overwhelmed by the sudden spike in tuberculosis that they asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to become involved. Believing the outbreak affected only their underclass, the health officials made a conscious decision not to not tell the public, repeating a decision they had made in 2008, when the same strain had appeared in an assisted living home for people with schizophrenia.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/08/florida-accused-of-concealing-worst-tuberculosis-outbreak-in-20-years/

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/worst-tb-outbreakin-20-years-kept-secret/nPpLs/

[coyotes_geek]

Don't want to scare off the tourists.............

[TE]

That decision now appears to have gone terribly awry, partly because the disease appears to have already spread into the general population but also because just nine days before the CDC warning was issued, Florida Governor Rick Scott had signed a bill downsizing the state’s Department of Health and closing the A.G. Holley State Hospital that had treated the most difficult tuberculosis cases for over 60 years.


The Republican legislator who was the motive force behind the health department consolidation, Rep. Matt Hudson, told the Post on Friday that he was unaware of both the outbreak and the CDC warning. When filled in by a reporter, he promised that as chairman of the House Health Care Appropriations Committee he would see to it that there was funding for TB treatment. That treatment will not come cheap. The drugs to treat a simple case of TB cost only $500, but if a patient does not take them regularly and the strain becomes drug-resistant, the cost skyrockets to $275,000.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/08/florida-accused-of-concealing-worst-tuberculosis-outbreak-in-20-years/

[boutons_deux]

Repug states' willful misgovernance and sociopathy increasing.

[Winehole23]

boutons' bent for demonization of one party and phony baloney psychobabble, remains constant.

[boutons_deux]

gfy

[TeyshaBlue]

bot is as bot does.

[Shastafarian]

I blame Obamacare.

[Nbadan]

boutons' bent for demonization of one party and phony baloney psychobabble, remains constant.

Maybe, but Boutons is right here....Scott tried to keep this his little secret because he cut funding for A.G. Holley State Hospital

[Destro]

This is when politicians need to nut up. Let's get TB under control immediately then worry about the politics later. We all know both sides are dirty little bastards so just get this shit taken care of.

[Winehole23]

Maybe, but Boutons is right here....Scott tried to keep this his little secret because he cut funding for A.G. Holley State Hospitalbeg pardon, this relates to SCott how? was that a joke?

[boutons_deux]

Scott adds restrictions to nonprofit cancer centers


In a move that could have large implications for the state's scientific research centers, Gov. Rick Scott has sent strongly worded letters to the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and two other cancer research facilities warning them they can't make money from expanding their brands if they want to continue to receive state funds.

Scott's letters to University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Shands Cancer Hospital in Gainesville say that organizations receiving state biomedical research funds "may not franchise their name or brand to other private entities" and "may not receive royalties or other remuneration from other entities in exchange for use of their name or brand."

The letters are part of Scott's larger goal to create a statewide funding policy for cancer research centers, Scott spokesman Lane Wright said in an email this week. The letters, dated May 10, note that Sylvester and Shands each received $7.5 million from the Legislature this fiscal year. Moffitt received $5 million.

A former chief executive of the for-profit HCA hospital chain, Scott has previously expressed concerns that government-owned hospitals have unfair advantages over for-profit and nonprofit hospitals.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/07/10/4108982/scott-adds-restrictions-to-nonprofit.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.bradenton.com/2012/07/10/4108982/scott-adds-restrictions-to-nonprofit.html

=========

Scott signs more tax breaks for businesses into law


http://floridaindependent.com/73771/rick-scott-tax-breaks-for-businesses

And of course we know tax cuts on the wealthy and businesses do nothing for job creation, but they do stuff the pockets of the mgmt and investors.

[Winehole23]

http://wap.pbpost.com/post/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=WOPsz2Lj&full=true#display

[TeyshaBlue]

Welcome to the Hotel Sanitorium.

*insert Eagles reference here*

[Winehole23]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdaNz5APlh4&feature=related

[Clipper Nation]

Repug states' willful misgovernance and sociopathy increasing.

:lol Calling Florida a "Repug state"
:lol Florida in reality is a spineless swing state that just goes to the overall winner

[boutons_deux]

FL is currently Repug at governor and legislature.

"Both chambers have been under Republican control since 1996."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/chick-fil-a-brand-approval-rating-anti-gay-controversy_n_1719359.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

[Wild Cobra Kai]

Just another way to limit the poor voter, tbh.