Washington Post Sold at Bargain Basement Price

…..lower than pawnshop markdowns.  WaPo, selling at a 87% percent loss (from its value 10 years ago, not counting inflation) was priced somewhere between flea market and free-cycle rates, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com  snapped it up as a cute news accessory.

Possibly the headlines touting his name and his company’s name constitute advertising which is worth the cost of this purchase.

This change of ownership is the buzz of media everywhere, eclipsing even the news of the New York Times selling off the Boston Globe for pennies on the dollar.

Pharmer had personally experienced the bias of the Washington Post, and  asked the interviewer about its effect on their readership and ad sales.   This might have been a reason for a stoppage of the regular, early summer calls from Rob Stein. 😉   It appears that he has jumped ship and moved to the NPR science desk.

Certainly internet news has put a huge dent in the print media industry, but almost all large newspapers maintain an online presence.   The leftie press has so tarnished its reputation, and chased away readers, that they can no longer maintain advertising  sales.  The occasional publishing of an actual news story has been aptly termed a “random act of journalism”. 

 

Celebrities Have Access to Vital Nutrients Which Are in Shortage at Hospitals.

“Children are dying,” says Steve Plogsted, a clinical pharmacist who chairs the drug-shortage task force of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). “They’re not getting any calcium or any zinc. Or they’re not getting any phosphorous, and that can lead to heart standstill. I know of a neonate who had seven days without phosphorous, and her little heart stopped.” Click the quote.   This situation of parenteral (administered intravenously)  nutrient shortages, described by Alexandra Robbins in the Washingtonian is absolutely true.   Your friendly Pharmer has been adjusting physician orders, in response to this situation for years now.

At one time, the U.S. could take drastic measures to enhance the supply of  life saving drugs.  Breweries were co-opted during war time to bolster supplies of penicillin, halfway through the last century, for example.   Mired in the inertia of huge government and its regulations,  shortages of relatively easily supplied medications can no longer be managed.  Now it takes years to bring up a new production facility when an older one fails or goes out of business. There are only a few manufacturers  which provide electrolytes and nutrients for parenteral use, for those patients whose digestive tracts are not able to process food.   Very possibly, the new progressive administration, staffed with many who regard humanity as a pestilence upon the earth, is not motivated to address the shortages and mal-distribution of lifesaving drugs.

Most recently Ms. Robbins has exposed the fact that celebrities are using parenteral nutrients for cosmetic reasons, performance enhancement, or hangover treatment  while premature babies are dying for lack of vital nutrition. It seems that the clinics which provide these treatments are not put at the back of the line for products which have been on shortage.

Your friendly Pharmer knows directly that there have been shortages of many electrolytes, soluble vitamins, lipids and trace elements which are needed for parenteral nutrition.  When some shortages subside, other shortages take their place.   There is a constant need to reformulate parenteral nutrition solutions in order to rebalance electrolytes to make up for those which are unavailable.  While older patients can usually  survive for awhile without some nutrients,  the premature babies are out of luck.    It’s not good for health care business for providers to  advertise that vital supplies are missing from their institutions.   It’s not good for the current administration for the media to advertise their incompetence or unwillingness to address this problem.

Please take the time to read Alexandra Robbins two articles linked above.  Her style of writing will adequately convey the nature of this problem and its consequences to those without specific medical training.  Pharmer recommends either to  lower your expectations of health care, or call your legislators and ask them to address this problem, and while they’re thinking about health care, remind them  to defund the “Affordable” Health Care Act  this September.  Links to the Senate and House contacts are on the side bar of this blog ALWAYS.  Monitor drug shortages for yourself.  There’s an app for that!