IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

Health Care and Hydroxychloroquine - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Somebody I know is afflicted with a particular medical condition and is in need of a particular medication which is manufactured by one and only one particular company.

I am told that several months ago, that company finished the construction of a new factory for the manufacture of that medication, and for the manufacture of many other medications as well, but has not yet been able to secure FDA approval of the new facilities. As a result, despite accumulating product inventories, that needed medication has not been possible to obtain.

With the Trump administration having gutted FDA staffing and thus having created a crippling personnel shortage, and now with the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a long, ongoing and still indeterminate delay in the medication's availability for lack of the manufacturer having been granted FDA approval of their new factory.

This first came to light last November. After several approval date postponements, the latest projected approval date is in June. Meanwhile, month after month has gone by with the planned approval date getting pushed out and pushed out and then getting pushed still further out.

I have been told by one pharmacist that this is not uncommon. He expressed his awareness of some patients whose lives are in mortal jeopardy because of similar situations. Unfortunately, the present WH administration is not the least bit concerned over such matters but is instead far more focused on presidential touting of the anti-viral powers of hydroxychloroquine and denial of the importance of wearing face masks.

Our health care system these days is very much under attack.

To Err Is Very Human - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

If only to prove the point: 

 

Idioms - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I once inadvertently offended a woman from India in the course of a conversation.

I don't remember the topic of discussion but she offered a rather startling remark to which I reacted in astonishment: "You're kidding!". She thought I was calling her a lair which of course I had no intention of doing.

It took me a moment to comprehend her misinterpretation and explain to her that I was not questioning her veracity in any way. I was never quite sure if I succeeded in that or not.

For no reason whatever, the incident recently came to mind. For lack of anything better to do at that moment, I began to think about the use of idiomatic expressions. I put a bunch of them into Google to see what would come up and the list below is the result.

Language can be a funny thing, can't it.

Spring - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

We took a walk around the block today. We often do that. Here is some of what we saw:

Starting at the top left and going clockwise, we see a forsythia, a magnolia tree, daffodils, a Bradford pear tree and a quince.

For all the bad stuff going on, both natural and man-made, there are still things out there to admire.