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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 1st, 2023

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  • Todays results:

    • Diarrhea for a week. Didn’t think he needs to see a GP but today he felt it does not get better and he needs to see someone now.

    • Diarrhea and didn’t feel good. Yeah. That’s it.

    • Had a fall three days ago. Now the elbow hurts. Does not want to go to the GP/ED,but now the daughter has arrived and basically forced the patient.

    • Fall. Zero injuries. But the nursing home wanted to get

    • Another fall yesterday. Zero pain when not moving, minimal pain in slight bruise.

    To be fair we had a massive multi vehicle (5 cars) accident as the last call (5min before the end of our shift) that required helicopter backup and everything (severe brain, spine, thorax and abdo trauma). But still…





  • A few (German language)sources: https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/der-geheimdienst-will-auch-die-internetkabel-anzapfen-895734682308

    https://www.republik.ch/2024/01/09/der-bund-ueberwacht-uns-alle

    Basically: The Swiss Intelligence Agency do monitor all traffic going in and out of Switzerland(including incountry routing that uses external routes)and have the right to safe as much traffic as they want for 18 months- and can force swiss companies to give them access to their infrastructure even when they do not provide a service for non-swiss customers. Coming from a Intelligence agency that had the highest amount of files of their citizens of all democratic nations once (see Fichenskandal) it is more than troublesome.

    Additionally swiss privacy law itself,while improved in 2023 after years of doing nothing, is still inferior to the GDPR. Unlike the GDPR it is not necessary for a person to explicitly consent to data collection unless the data is deemed especially sensitive. Unlike the GDPR there is no time-limit to notify authorities of data breaches and it is only mandatory for high risk breaches. And the right of data deletion is severely limited as the company can refuse to delete the data if it is still deemed “necessary” for the original purpose.

    For me this is also why I can’t take Proton and Threema seriously. Whoever uses “swiss privacy law” as a marketing catchphrase without lobbying for improved laws (especially before 2023). And Proton openly lies on their “Why Switzerland” page.










  • If you count cars: A Skoda Octavia PHEV.

    I love Skoda. I love the Octavia. It was my fourth Octavia and I already ordered two more for my staff. PHEV would have been ideal for our use case.

    Well,things didn’t go as planned.

    The whole car was bugged with software and hardware problems from day one - controll units randomly crapping out, when my dealer wanted to replace them he often had to get 5 units because four would be DOA and the one that worked kicked the bucket before I left his premises. Highlights:

    • A steering wheel coming loose (only slightly,but still)
    • The main display that shows your speed,etc. randomly shutting down. (Especially nice as I live close to Switzerland with their exorbitant speeding tickets)
    • Randomly playing a screeching sound at full volume (especially nice at 3am or when on a highway)
    • Randomly shutting of AC, some motor controls , etc.

    It took 12 months for VW to take that steaming pile back, and only we sued them (Shortly before the hearing).

    Second place goes to LG which sold me a OLED TV for 2k that randomly showed faulty pixel lines exactly 3 years and 3 days after I bought it (so it’s out of the extended warranty programs as well). And when asked for a quote for the repair they had the audacity to ask for almost the new price for the TV back then, aka 150% of the current market value - without even looking at it first. Good way to make sure that I never buy LG anymore.



  • At least Mayo has decent healthcare most of the time, that’s at least what I hear from my colleagues. The elephant in the room in the US is not only the affordability and access, sadly it’s also very often the quality.

    As someone who has changed roles from an actual healthcare provider to a healthcare economist/manager in international health(amongst others)I am often appalled by the qualify some US facilities provide - while others offer astonishing levels of care. And often the former are the more expensive ones.



  • Both.

    The US never had a comprehensive EMS system as it was never seen as an essential service, both because EMS is expensive to run (especially in the healthcare/insurance/taxation environment the US has) and because there was significant lobbying against it (there is money in EMS on a large scale if you operate it in a very cut-throat way).

    But the recent downturn in healthcare availability and county-tax-income in rural regions and the dwindling volunteer numbers and enshitification of medicine have all done their part in making the whole situation so much worse.

    There is actually a good study showing “ambulance deserts”. (Just as a reminder: That does not mean that no Advanced life support provider comes…it means that no Ambulance is available at all. So not even one staffed by an EMT-B and an emergency medical responder. And we’re not talking about "what happens if we need two ambulances at the same time)


  • A EMT is in no way qualified to handle emergencies on their own (and yes,I know their curriculum very well). And no, the majority of ambulances are not paramedic-staffed in the US - Actually only 25% of all licenced providers are Paramedics and there are large areas which have only BLS available in a reasonable timeframe. Or no EMS at all, as ambulance services are NOT an essential service in most states. (Only 11 States see it differently).

    So no, not even remotely “most ambulances” are paramedic staffed. Mathematically impossible.

    Besides: The shortest current timeframe in the US for paramedic training is 6 months.

    That is incredibly short in international comparisons, especially when one does compare it to the skills allowed with it.

    Comparison: Australia: 3 year bachelor degree to even make it on a Emergency ambulance (not counting very rural WA&NT), a master degree for the more serious skills.

    Germany: 3 Year apprenticeship to be in command in the ALS ambulance, but emergency physicians are tasked to more serious cases

    Switzerland: 3 year degree, emergency physicians being somewhat common, though, often additional nursing and critcare degree required for more serious cases.

    Hungary: 2 Year EMT course for EMT, 4 year Bachelor for Paramedic

    Poland: 3year Bachelor as minimum.

    South Africa: 1year minimum for the entry, 2 year’s for most jobs, 4 years for paramedic.