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Friday 14 January 2005

Feeling better?

An interesting article in the American Journal of Public Health, giving an indirect bigup to free healthcare. The overview, not surprisingly, says it all.

"The US health system spends far more on the "technology" of care (e.g., drugs, devices) than on achieving equity in its delivery. For 1991 to 2000, we contrasted the number of lives saved by medical advances with the number of deaths attributable to excess mortality among African Americans. Medical advances averted 176 633 deaths, but equalizing the mortality rates of Whites and African Americans would have averted 886202 deaths. Achieving equity may do more for health than perfecting the technology of care."

In another part of the US, Michigan to be precise, it turns out that if you plead guilty but can't afford a lawyer, you can't appeal. Of course, those wanting to appeal against this ruling would need a lawyer, but if they could afford one then they obviously wouldn't be able to appeal against it. My brain hurts now.

Posted by dustbinman at 16:05 | Permalink

Comments

Oh this is just absurd. If the reasoning is that once you've pleaded guilty there's not much point in appealing anyway, what about people who only wish to appeal against their sentence and not the conviction itself? *shakes head* I bet we lawyers end up getting the blame for this one too... x

Posted by: MJ

on January 14, 2005 05:41 PM