So You Think You Have Healthcare Problems?

Injured man dies after rejection by 14 hospitals

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press Writer February 5, 2009

After getting struck by a motorcycle, an elderly Japanese man with head injuries waited in an ambulance as paramedics phoned 14 hospitals, each refusing to treat him.

He died 90 minutes later at the facility that finally relented - one of thousands of victims repeatedly turned away in recent years by understaffed and overcrowded hospitals in Japan.

Paramedics reached the accident scene within minutes after the man on a bicycle collided with a motorcycle in the western city of Itami. But 14 hospitals refused to admit the 69-year-old citing a lack of specialists, equipment and staff, according to Mitsuhisa Ikemoto, a fire department official.

One of the hospitals agreed to provide care when the paramedics called a second time more than an hour after the accident. But the man, who suffered head and back injuries, died soon afterward of shock from loss of blood.

The motorcyclist, also hurt in the accident, was denied admission by two hospitals before a third accepted him, Ikemoto said. He was recovering from his injuries.

Similar problems have occurred frequently in recent years. More than 14,000 emergency patients were rejected at least three times by Japanese hospitals before getting treatment in 2007, the latest government survey showed.

In the worst case, a woman in her 70s with a breathing problem was rejected 49 times in Tokyo.

Role Reversal: Woman Sexually Assaults Man

(Meet the Molester)

JANUARY 29--Meet Janice McCarl. The Colorado woman, 53, was arrested last night for allegedly sexually assaulting a male friend late last year. McCarl, seen here in a Longmont Police Department mug shot, was booked into jail on a felony charge of suspicion of sexual assault. According to a police report the victim, 50, told investigators that he invited McCarl to a barbecue at his home last November. Following the barbecue, the man contends that he passed out and awoke to find McCarl molesting him. The man, who believes that he was somehow drugged by McCarl, told police that she "had her hands...inside his ass." The man said that when he later confronted McCarl, she laughed and asked, "What did I do, kill somebody." He added that McCarl eventually acknowledged the molestation and apologized. The victim said he had been forced to seek medical care after the assault, for treatment of hemmorhoids. When asked to describe his assailant, the victim told police she was "butt ugly and had large hands." McCarl's arrest was first reported today by the Daily Camera. The victim told police that, prior to the attack, he had been "intimate" with McCarl "approximately 5-6 times since July 2008." McCarl is scheduled to appear this afternoon in Boulder County District Court.

En Vitro Woman Has Big Plans, Bigger Vagina

(Sample of other children not belonging to Ms. Suleman.)

February 4, 2009 AP Placenta City, CA

In a follow-up to a recent news story about a California mom, Nadya Suleman, who has had 14 children by the same donor, who she describes as a friend, using en vitro fertilization, the last 8 all at the same time, Ms. Suleman revealed the purpose behind her seemingly deranged behavior. She told a reporter from the Placenta News-Gossip that she hopes to jump start a career in television or talk radio offering advice, counseling, and free sperm to other women who are child obsessed but unable to land a man willing to have children by en vitro instead of conventional copulation. "Conventional sex is so hit or miss and a woman is almost never able to conceive octuplets by simply having sex," according to Ms. Suleman. "All women need from men is the sperm. I expect to get at least $2 million for the rights to our story. I've retained a publicist. I really thought Gerber and Pampers would be all over this but they haven't offered me a dime."

"It's best to just side-step the whole man question from the outset. It eliminates all issues of custody, sharing of royalties, out of state travel, even moving to another country when there is no dad to have to approve of anything. You get to be both mom and dad and it helps to increase the wear life of the children's shoes when they don't have to run back and forth from one parent to the other, only to hear, 'Go ask your mom, or go ask your dad,' which also can lead to bi-polarism, a disease that prevents the child from distinguishing between the North and South Poles in later life," she explained.

Asked how she planned to care for 14 children the woman said her own mom and dad would care for them, in her home. The woman's parents, who bought her a home in which to raise the six original children, recently had to move in with their daughter because they lost their own home in foreclosure proceedings when they were forced to file for bankruptcy after purchasing their daughter's home for her. The father now must to return to Iraq, to work as a truck driver, to earn money to support his daughter's growing family.

The woman's mother said the only way she knew to describe her daughter was, "just plain nuts." The woman's father said he couldn't understand why his daughter didn't have the kids in the normal way because she was missing out on a lot of fun by foregoing the opportunity to have sex with dozens of men, to produce 8 kids. He also noted that the men his daughter did not have sex with were deprived of a lot of fun, too. "It's a social waste," he opined, "and for what reasonable purpose? If I've told my daughter once, I've told her a dozen times, 'Go out there in the streets and have fun making these babies, and make a lot of good men sleep better.'"

Toilets Torched By Arsonists

Original Unburned Toilet

San Francisco February 3, 2009 AP

Construction workers are anxious and investigators are puzzled. Someone has been sending San Francisco's portable toilets up in flames in a wave of potty pyromania.

"I'm scared" said a burly construction worker, "I go in one of those toilets every day for my afternoon constitutional. I don't want to go up in a fiery ball of poop."

In some instances workers were avoiding using the portable toilets and sneaking behind buildings to relieve themselves.

"It's an outrage," said Scott Johnson, a 57-year-old contractor who has been working on apartment building renovations on Russian Hill, the elegant neighborhood that is home to famously crooked Lombard Street and has had most of the fires. (Editor's note: Mr. Johnson was mistakenly quoted in another news story about an Australian man smuggling pigeons in his pants.)

Since November, at least 20 of the ubiquitous construction site toilets have been set afire in the city, creating a trail of malodorous wreckage and causing an estimated $50,000 in property damage, according to fire officials.

Investigators have little to go on other than splatterings of mixed poop on walls, streets and on stray dogs. Most of the fires have been set at night, although one portable potty burst into flames during a recent afternoon. Several nearby workers were given the rest of the day off, to go home and shower.

"Somebody's getting very bold," said Fire Department Lt. Mindy Talmadge. It's not unheard of for vandals to strike the portable restrooms but "this is unusual," she said.

Contractors have been trying to foil the attacks by securing or camouflaging their industrial outhouses. A walk around Russian Hill last week found almost none of the familiar bright blue toilets, save for one lashed to a large metal trash bin and another tucked discreetly behind folds of black material.

Theories vary on who is responsible.

"Kids would be my guess," said Johnson. Another person, who wished to remain anonymous, believed the anti- same sex marriage people were involved. "They don't want people of the same sex to use the same toilet." said the anonymous paranoid.

Alex Rodriguez, president of Concord-based Far West Sanitation & Storage Containers, thinks whoever is doing it is motivated by the thrill of lawlessness, "trying to play catch-and-seek with the police." His company has lost a couple of units to the restroom arson.

The loss of a portable toilet can amount to several hundred dollars.

Plus, there is the unenviable job of cleaning up a disgusting mess, and there is the threat that a fire could spread.

"It kind of worries me and worries everybody that I talk to," Rodriguez said. "These people, I don't think they're criminals, but they are kind of out of their minds to do that.

"Birdman of Alcat.....oops, ......Australia?"

(AP Photo/Australian Customs Service, HO)

February 3, 2009 Melbourne, Australia CP

An Australian traveler was caught with two live pigeons stuffed in his pants following a trip to the Middle East, customs officials said Tuesday. The 23-year-old man was searched after authorities discovered two eggs in a vitamin container in his luggage, said Richard Janeczko, national investigations manager for the Customs Service

They found the pigeons wrapped in padded envelopes and held to each of the man's legs with a pair of tights, according to a statement released by the agency. Officials also seized seeds in his money belt and an undeclared eggplant.

The alleged bird smuggler, who arrived in Melbourne on Sunday on a flight from Dubai, was being questioned.

Australia has very strict quarantine regulations on the importation of wildlife, plants and food to protect health, agriculture and the environment of the isolated island nation.

Janeczko said the pigeons were not endangered and that the case _ as well as the birds, eggs and seeds _ had been turned over to the Quarantine Service to assess the health risk associated with bringing the birds into the country.

It was not immediately clear why the man was attempting to smuggle two ordinary pigeons, which can be found in any Australian town, into the country. The pigeons can be bought for $10 AUS a pair in any pet shop.

Charges of wildlife smuggling _ which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of 110,000 Australian dollars ($70,430) _ could be brought against the man.

The Quarantine Service would not comment on the continuing investigation.

"It's an outrage," said Scott Johnson, a 57-year-old contractor from San Francisco who has no connection with this incident or Australia and should not have been quoted here. Sorry.

In a Feb. 1, 2009 photo (see above) released by the Australian Customs Service, the legs of the Australian man caught with his pants full of pigeons on arrival on an international flight from Dubai to Melbourne, Australia, are shown. Police were asking anyone who recognized the legs to contact them. The 23-year-old man arrived in Melbourne on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009 and was questioned by Customs officials after two eggs and some seeds were found in a vitamin container in his luggage. A search of his body found the live pigeons wrapped in padded envelopes and held to the man's legs with a pair of tights.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' OR HALLUCINATIN' ?

(Sample of six other children - not the children of the woman mentioned in the story.)

February 1, 2009 UPP

A California woman who already has six children, gave birth to octuplets two days ago, giving her a total of 14 young children. The woman, who has never been married has been diagnosed with obsessive foetal-hogging syndrome, an extremely rare (she is the only observed case) mental illness which causes her to be obsessed with the concept of having babies.

All of her previous children were by en vitro fertilization and none of the children have legal fathers. When asked by reporters if she now was satisfied with fourteen children, the woman said, "Oh, no. I'd like to set a world record. I'd like to birth 100 babies." When told that would not be biologically possible, she replied, "It is if I have them eight at a time."

The woman's mother, who agreed to speak to reporters only on condition of maternity, said her daughter had been "obsessed" with the idea of having babies since she was a young girl. "She owned more than 50 dolls and would spend hours grooming each of the dolls," accordings to the woman's mother. "When I tell people I have 14 grandchildren but only one child who has never been married they look at me strangely and try to leave as soon as possible."

Lunch At Upscale Australian Hotel Turns Shitty

(Sample poop - not the actual dollop originally served Mrs. Whyte)

Sydney, October 26, 2008...3:54 am
Coogee Bay Hotel Is In A Whole Lot Of Sh*t!

How much would you want for eating someone else’s shit? Seems Coogee Bay Hotel reckons $5,000 should do it! Jessica Whyte’s thinking was more like $1 million after she was served up human feces on her ice cream. Mrs. Whyte and her husband thought they would go to the iconic Coogee Hotel with their kids for a light lunch. All was going well, until Mrs Whyte scooped up what she thought was a dollop of chocolate (see photo) on top of her ice cream and put it in her mouth. From there, it all just went rapidly down hill. The moment the spoon touched her lips she knew. The smell was evidently horrific. After she let her friend have a whiff, she screamed “Oh my god, they’ve served you s***.”

The Whytes alleged that someone in the hotel had defecated on their food. They confronted staff about the offending ice cream before taking the evidence down to the local police station. From there it was submitted to the Health Department, which confirmed their worst fears, “the sample has an offensive odour and physical properties similar to human excreta”. The hotel offered the family $5,000! But the Whytes countered for a great deal more. Mr. Whyte believes the incident was a deliberate act of retaliation after he fought with the staff over ice creams he originally bought in the venue for his children, and for complaints they made about the loud music.

The hotel claims that if “the incident did happen as claimed, then it may well have been an act of industrial sabotage — with the hotel as a victim alongside your family” (yeah, but no one from the hotel ate shit, did they?). This incident is wrong on so many levels.

(Follow up to this story in December, 2008, revealed that DNA testing of the ice cream topping determined the poop in question was supplied by a female. But the sample was not large enough to trace it to any one individual. The Hotel ultimately settled the whole shitty matter with Mrs. Whyte for a reported $50,000.)

Mrs. Whyte declined to answer a reporter's question whether or not she thought the $50,000 had helped alleviate any bad taste left by the incident. She terminated the interview abruptly.