Comments on: California Poison Control System about to fold

By: FDM

FDM — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:38:04 +0000

Ulno, your way off. CPCS (Califonia poison control system) handles call for everyone. From my experinence with them most calls are from the insured. As to their level of expertise, consider this. Some of these people are doctors from UC Davis, UCSF, UCSD, and Childrens hospital in Fresno. I used to work for them so I know exactly who’s who.

By: Whatashame

Whatashame — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:19:29 +0000

Some of the above comments are based on complete misinformation. Poison Control is used by doctors and hospitals on a daily, routine basis for managing poison exposures. As someone else said, a single doctor cannot possible index every conceivable exposure in his/her brain on top of all the medical information necessary to perform his/her job effectively. What if the exposure wasn’t a pill? What if it was a household cleaner or a plant or an inhalant or a pesticide? All common exposures. Some potentially fatal if not treated properly and in a timely manner. The toxicological experts at Poison Control are specifically trained to manage these exposures and that is why 9-1-1 operators, pediatricians, emergency room physicians and parents all use the service. 164,000 emergency room visits are spared per year. But, Poison Control manages over 300,000 cases per year and many of those are directly from health care facilities.

Most importantly, every $1 spent on Poison Control saves $7 in other areas of healthcare. This is simply a matter of dollar shifting and it is an immensely unwise one. Save a dollar here, spend 7 times as much somewhere else. The overburdening on emergency rooms is already overwhelmingly high. The influx of patients that will be caused by the lack of this emergency hotline will cause other patients, some critically injured or ill, to have longer wait times and lower quality service.

For Ulno, you pay for healthcare coverage, great. But I hope you realize that your access to medical care, even through your own physician, is going to change because of patients who could have otherwise called a free service to find out whether the silica gel that came in their child’s box of shoes is actually toxic or not.

By: JB

JB — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:42:45 +0000

Would anyone have a single medical specialty cut because of funding? What if you cut all cardiology, or pediatrics, or…? The people need access for help, and physicians need access to competent consultation on poisonings!

By: MO

MO — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:05:09 +0000

Just hope to God it’s not your child, grandchild, nephew, or cousin that ate a few of the blood pressure pills that fell out of your fathers pocket. Hospitals call this line for help. This is a specialty and time is critical when you are dealing with a child and a toxin.

By: RPh

RPh — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:23:19 +0000

Ulno mistakes single anecdotes (“my Doctor….”) with evidence or lack of benefit, which is a simplistic argument that many uninformed use to emphasize their own biased viewpoints.
Ulno, NO physician living today can keep up with the volume of medical information published – it exceeds the human brain’s capacity to memorize and maintain it – and this includes poison information. Let’s be honest, few doctors encounter poison situations on a regular basis, nor do they invest in the kind of systems that would be required to investigate a particular remedy for any given poisoning. I know MDs who can’t even keep simple drug interactions in their memories (because there are too many of them to know) and so your blind faith in any one doctor knowing what to do when a child swallows something he or she shouldn’t is naive at best.

By: Wow

Wow — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:11:57 +0000

Having worked at the poison control center, some examples of the calls are: My child ate a tube of toothpaste; My dog ate part of the poinsettia; My child ate some wild mushroom; etc. MDs do not know right away what to do. These experts know right away and would advise you to go to the hospital or not.

By: Ulno

Ulno — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:44:19 +0000

Sorry, Ace, it ain’t so.

I happen to have had experience with a situation covered here. I spoke with my Doctor about this hotline and he said any Doctor calling this thing up is either inexperienced or incompetent–the hotline’s primary audience is for uninsured individuals who don’t pay for health insurance.

Good fortune has little to do with health insurance coverage. Hard work and long hours do.

Unbelievable!

By: RR

RR — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:21:14 +0000

San Diego: If your doc doesn’t know what to do when a kid swallows pills– and you know precisely which pills they were– find a new doc. The Poison Control Center is worth saving, but in most cases it is intended for use by the public in emergencies, not to advise doctors.

By: ace

ace — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:48:48 +0000

I don’t think Ulno realizes that his good fortune to have health insurance only buys him access to a doctor that calls this hot line.

Unbelievable.

By: San Diego Res

San Diego Res — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:04:46 +0000

Children will die if they shut down this center. When my young daughter swallowed some pills (the lid wasn’t tight and she though they were M&Ms), my pediatrician called the poison control center for advice before advising us what to do. The people at the Center have a huge amount of up-to-date, specialized knowledge and expertise at their fingertips. That’s why they get 900 calls a day; that’s why every state — from Georgia to Alaska — has a Poison Control Center; and that’s why they save lives.