a glimpse forward toward the brave new world of hillary-care...

for some reason, Britain's fabled system of socialized medicine is causing a dearth in the amount of medical providers willing to work within the system...for example, dentists: many in Britain have taken to yanking out their own teeth.

Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.

Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers.

this comes right on the heels of news from last month, also from Great Britain, that the incidences of
stillborn babies is on the rise, mainly due to understaffing of NHS hospitals, and lack of experience which is being exacerbated by huge numbers of midwives who are set to retire soon. this problem did not just pop up yesterday, as this blog from 2005 illustrates. the problem is so pervasive that the NHS is encouraging women to go through labor in swimming pools, according to this BBC story from September...