Search

Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

2008 No Money for Poison Control

Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 3:52 PM

Seriously, less than a week after posting about how I accidentally brushed my teeth with antifungal cream and had to call Poison Center for help (and quickly received that help), I get an email concerning our Governor's plan to cut the Poison Center's budget by 50%!

Writes William Hurley, the Medical Director of Washington Poison Center:

The recent proposed Washington budget calls for a 50% ($1 million) reduction in Poison Center funding. The leadership team at the Poison Center estimates such a cut would leave us unable to continue 24/7 operations & unable to maintain certification as a center. This would lead to our closure. Such a cut would cost lives & multiple millions of dollars.

Is this the same budget that Gregoire deserves so much credit for? A budget with such an idiotic cut? A cut that will endanger lives? Writes William Hurley about my encounter with anitfungal cream: "Glad it wasn’t the hemorrhoidal cream... If it has dibucaine in it, it can be fatal!" People, this is not funny; this is as serious as a heart attack. Poison Control must always run at 100%. It only costs us two million dollars, and every buck is worth it.

Share via

Comments (21) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

But if they have poison control, then where will we get money from the estate tax?

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 20, 2009 at 3:55 PM

So you'll be writing the first check, then?

Posted by EmilyP on January 20, 2009 at 4:04 PM

I'm guessing that people, upon not getting a quick answer from Poison Control, will just wind up calling 911 instead, which of course will be way more expensive in the long run.

Posted by keshmeshi on January 20, 2009 at 4:08 PM

Is the fungus gone from your teeth?

Posted by George on January 20, 2009 at 4:10 PM

this is nothing some euro titties can't cure, eh Muede?

Posted by Dick Cheney's Colon on January 20, 2009 at 4:14 PM

We'll pay for everything with magic budget fairy dust!

Posted by Greg on January 20, 2009 at 4:16 PM

It's an essential service for drunks and inattentive parents, you mean.

IF WE MUST have this special service, why not tax the poison producers?

Posted by Name your poison on January 20, 2009 at 4:20 PM

Oh no. We have tried calling 911 when we couldn't remember the poison control number, it didn't go well. Instead of giving us the number they sent an ambulance, and fire truck for good measure. Rushed our child to the ER giving him an IV in the amubulance. And almost fed him a charcoal mixture, before the ER doc called poison control and learned all was well. THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN.

Posted by jkjk on January 20, 2009 at 4:44 PM

You need to find some Mr. Yuk stickers.

Posted by Gern Blanston on January 20, 2009 at 4:46 PM

believe me, we have it covered now, this was years ago.

Posted by jkjk on January 20, 2009 at 4:51 PM

Good thing you didn't put toothpaste on your hemorrhoids, Charles, that's fatal, too.

Posted by crazycatguy on January 20, 2009 at 4:51 PM

A tube of hemorrhoid cream is in the mail to you. Try to do it right the next time.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty on January 20, 2009 at 5:07 PM

The pounding that public health is taking in this state is brutal. There's no money in the budget for Public Health Seattle-King County from KingCo after 2009, and that's on top of city, state, and federal cuts.

The way we're going, it's going to make an epidemic ravaging Seattle inevitable. Might as well go ahead and invest in an NBC suit, because your taxes won't save you.

Posted by dw on January 20, 2009 at 5:18 PM

Darwinism. If you're stupid enough to poison yourself, you're not smart enough to breed. I see no problems here.

Posted by truth squad on January 20, 2009 at 5:26 PM

Yes, Charles. It /is/ funny.

Posted by :) on January 20, 2009 at 5:34 PM

@13 - a lot of the public health people knew this was coming a few months back, actually.

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 20, 2009 at 5:49 PM

i'm with #14. i've been pretty shitfaced before but what you did is moronic under any influence.

Posted by taint on January 20, 2009 at 6:05 PM

Yes, we're too stupid to breed, which is why our three year old figured out how to open child proof medicine lids. Bite me.

Posted by jkjk on January 20, 2009 at 6:07 PM

@18, it is true that you are not actually too stupid to breed. That is unfortunate. You are, however, too stupid to raise a child in a safe manner, as proven by your experience. Maybe you shouldn't have, y'know, put the medicine where your kids could get to it?

Posted by truth squad on January 20, 2009 at 8:55 PM

I wish vulgar Darwinists would shut up at times like this. You go around calling people stupid every time there is an accident but you're not even smart enough to guess how little you understand what Charles Darwin was saying.

Posted by elenchos on January 20, 2009 at 9:20 PM

OK, really? You're calling jkjk a bad parent because her kid got into something he shouldn't have? I suppose you never got into something/done something you shouldn't have when you were a kid. Is your mom still stapled to your backside, or are you allowed to be on your own now?

Posted by chaipants on January 21, 2009 at 3:23 PM