Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 1521

@Edano Good point there re: "reports are from TEPCO [...]". So we should try and find the medical reports associated with these cases. I'm pretty sure there must be information out there.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:28:05 PM

@Pedro Jesus : of course, these reports are confidential. the patient has the right of discretion. (so many typos in one sentence)
by Edano edited by Edano 6/6/2011 6:32:09 PM

@Edano , yup in the US they called HIPA rules.
by Peter Melzer 6/6/2011 6:32:32 PM

Since these are occupational injuries shouldn't they be reported to some agency? That would likely be where to find more information.
by lillymunster 6/6/2011 6:33:12 PM

@Pedro Jesus , I do not think the tepco
statements were written by a physician.
by Peter Melzer 6/6/2011 6:33:22 PM

@Edano re: "hospital workers and medical personnel, even cleaning staffs at hospitals, have always secrecy clauses all over the world." Do they? I know doctors and nurses (some are my friends) and they never told about secrecy clauses in their contracts... are those secret as well or is Portugal an exception to the rule?
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:33:48 PM

@radioguy I'll have to dig a little. I know it was blamed on other things...maybe even asbestos exposure. My father died from smoking related lung cancer and my mom made excuses long after his death so she could justify the habit...not unlike the industry itself.
by LM 6/6/2011 6:34:29 PM

@Peter Melzer Of course not, they don't even have one in their team at Fukushima. But they should have been based on medical reports. Or are we implying that it is all fake?
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:34:40 PM

@lillymunster , I would suspect so. In the US plant operators must report accidents, certainly those resulting in release of radiation and worker exposure. In Japan they must report to NISA I assume.
by Peter Melzer 6/6/2011 6:36:01 PM

@pedro I suggested that the staff at hospitals designated for workers fro Tepco Fukushima would have had clauses added to their contracts - this is more than possible at this time and would be explained as not wanting to create panic
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:36:32 PM

@nancy do you have this report I am looking for further invoices webcache.googleusercontent.com
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:38:07 PM

@elainekirk nope didn't have that.
by lillymunster 6/6/2011 6:42:25 PM

@Radioguy thought this might make you laugh..this was recent...........Lawyers for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. argued that lung cancer can be caused by "other things besides smoking." Ben Reid, the lead lawyer for the cigarette maker, said her illness could have been caused by other factors, including "meat wrappers asthma" from Koballa's work years ago in a meat processing business.
www.news-journalonline.com
by LM 6/6/2011 6:43:22 PM

@Pedro Jesus : they don't have it in their contracts, it's a law.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:43:22 PM

@elainekirk You mean their [medical personal and staff in the vicinity] former contracts were scrapped and they've signed new ones after the crisis set off? I have never heard of something like that before. TEPCO doesn't employ medical personal (as far as we know and we have been complaining about that) and they don't own clinics nor hospitals... I really don't see how they could manipulate that. That's a far fetched theory there. I wouldn't bet on that one.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:43:34 PM

Update on the TEPCO dogs. They were decontaminated and examined. There is a pic of the two of them at the vet clinic. Trying to get word on their physical health. hachiko-coalition.org
by lillymunster 6/6/2011 6:45:08 PM

"just" because they have to report incidences, doesn't guarantee their publicity by law !
by Veenie 6/6/2011 6:46:00 PM

@Pedro Jesus : you have eyes, why don't you see ?
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:46:07 PM

@Edano Ah, you're talking about confidentiality policies. But confidentiality and secrecy are two different things. Any medical reports have to be filed and reported to regulatory institutions and also to the national statistical service (at least in Portugal). We would have access one way or the other. The only thing that is not allowed to be published is personal information that could lead to the identification of the patients. The reports don't vanish in thin air (at least around here).
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:48:51 PM

@Pedro Jesus umanitoba.ca
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:49:42 PM

@Edano I have eyes to analyse evidence but little patience to tolerate unfounded conspiracy theories. I apologize for that.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:49:49 PM

@Pedro Jesus : yes you are right. you can see this reports in a few months or years. of course, they are anonymized.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:50:46 PM

@you and sure we have access to confidential meti and nisa reports. sure.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:51:48 PM

@pedro Portugal are members of the european union therefore nobody in Portugal may discuss a patient without permission of the patient it would be a contravention of that patients human rights and the patient could sue.
Many institutions put this reference to human rights into staffs contracts .
I suggested that under emergency regulations Japan would have ordered that health, government, nuclear workers would not speak of their work without authorisation it is quite a common clause that would be activated in most countries upon the outbreak of an emergency.
Japan is signed up to the UN human rights act and therefore their health staff will not be allowed to discuss a patients health as in europe
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:52:01 PM

@all Bye for now...
by smoss 6/6/2011 6:54:26 PM

@smoss see you laater I hope
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:54:48 PM

@elainekirk Like I said back there, confidentiality is always observed, which means details of the person's identity are never disclosed. On the other hand, every single case is methodically reported to the National Statistics Institute. There is no secrecy involved, only confidentiality. But I'm not saying it is the same case in Japan. I don't know what the case is like
there.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:55:21 PM

Europe has laws about Public Health as well. Any relevant information (except for personal details that would violate confidentiality) that concerns Public Health must be reported and made available to the public. Every single one of them.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:58:13 PM

Potuguese Law on Personal Heath Data (sorry in Portuguese only)
Lei n.o 12/2005
de 26 de Janeiro
Informação genética pessoal e informação de saúde
www.cnpd.pt
by estacion 6/6/2011 6:58:55 PM

@pedro as I see no way of some nurse / doctor wandering out of a hospital and into a news office to give us a account of a patients health without identifying which of the 2 patients they are speaking of is beyond the realms of possibility I am bowing out of this conversation now
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 7:00:21 PM

@elainekirk A good and very recent example is the new E.coli related deaths in Germany.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 7:01:37 PM

@estacion I'm talking about Public Health.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 7:01:54 PM

@Pedro Jesus Just because it's reported doesn't mean it's the correct or full diagnosis and a cause will seldom be entertained if big business or government is involved. Would it be in the best interest of the hospital, GoJ or Tepco to tell the world that radiation also might have contributed to illnesses of workers..I think not..money talks. I'm not saying they weren't dehydrated but we're probably not getting the full story and I'm not a conspiracy theorist just because I'm now a skeptic...seen too much of late! Just my opinion...
by LM 6/6/2011 7:03:29 PM

@Pedro If the E. Coli deaths resulted from a big money making enterprise I think the response would be different. Just my 2 cents...
by LM 6/6/2011 7:05:13 PM

@Pedro Jesus Yes, you are. Legislators are too. Did you read the text of Law?
by estacion 6/6/2011 7:05:38 PM

Is Tepco running the show- www.nisa.meti.go.jp
Summary of Laws, Regulations and Requirements on Radiation Protection
3) Clarification of the Operator’s Responsibility
- The operator develops its own Operator’s Plan for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness after
consulting with related local governments, and submits it to the competent minister.
- The operator establishes on-site organization for nuclear emergency preparedness, and
designates a Manager for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness who administers the
organization.
- The Manager for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness shall notify specific initial events to the
competent authorities
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 7:08:14 PM

@LM I'm with you there. We have to make an effort to keep a certain balance and unbiased opinion regardless of our beliefs otherwise we lose perspective and with that credibility.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 7:18:04 PM

@estacion Where exactly does it state that information about public health issues should be suppressed and kept secret? It would save a few hours of reading if you could pin point that out to me. I'm still going through the MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON
SPECIFIC ECONOMIC POLICY CONDITIONALITY which will directly affect Portuguese economy and everything is associated with it in the short, mid and long term and it is a very complex and detailed reading. I don't have a lot of time to study legislation at the moment. By the way, that document you provided is specifically directed to DNA sequencing and manipulation, it does not apply to other health issues.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 7:26:08 PM

Artigo 2.o
Informação de saúde
Para os efeitos desta lei, a informação de saúde
abrange todo o tipo de informação directa ou indirectamente ligada à saúde, presente ou futura, de uma pessoa,
quer se encontre com vida ou tenha falecido, e
a sua história clínica e familiar...

Artigo 3.o
Propriedade da informação de saúde1 — A informação de saúde, incluindo os dados clínicos
registados, resultados de análises e outros exames
subsidiários, intervenções e diagnósticos, é propriedade
da pessoa, sendo as unidades do sistema de saúde os
depositários da informação, a qual não pode ser utilizada
para outros fins que não os da prestação de cuidados
e a investigação em saúde e outros estabelecidos pela
lei.

Artigo 4.o
Tratamento da informação de saúde
3 — A informação de saúde só pode ser utilizada pelo
sistema de saúde nas condições expressas em autorização
escrita do seu titular ou de quem o represente.
.....

It's your law, not mine. :)
by estacion 6/6/2011 7:37:58 PM

Is it the corium in Reactor 1 breaking through containment now in the basement casuing
by Sam 6/6/2011 7:40:54 PM

causing the 20 tons plus water to boil and come out as steam?
by Sam 6/6/2011 7:41:17 PM

@sam I don't know myself hope somebody enlightens us :)
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 7:43:13 PM

@elainekirk Sure would account for some 4Sv/hr steam wouldn't it?
by radioguy 6/6/2011 7:47:15 PM

Though it would probably be even higher if it were through?
by radioguy 6/6/2011 7:48:49 PM

Japan's Exporters Clamor for Radiation Tests
TOKYO—Since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis, many global consumers have equated "Made in Japan" with "potentially radioactive," hurting business across the country.
online.wsj.com
by Panserbjorne9 6/6/2011 7:50:19 PM