Note: Steve Kube is a regular on Rick Cowles' Electric Utilities and Y2K.

There's been a bit of defensiveness on the Y2K issues from industry insiders and authorities. Authorities from Koskinen, supposedly at the top, industry insiders in the middle and community leaders at the local level tell us it's under control. Don't worry, don't panic, they even warn us against preparing too much. Hell, they don't even want us thinking about it. They don't seem to like it when we stick our noses into their business and find out something they didn't know.

Almost ten years ago my then wife was near full term with our second son and wasn't feeling well. We called her doctor who downplayed it, said it was probably the flu. A few hours later she experienced a siezure. I called 911, I raised the only alarm I knew. It took over twenty minutes for the authorities to arrive. This was about four o'clock in the morning and the paramedics came from less than one mile away. Excrutiatingly slow response!

Shortly thereafter doctors came out of a delivery room in the hospital and told me my son was dead. Three hours later they told me he wasn't dead but might die any minute. The story goes downhill from there. All the way down the doctors, nurses, hospital staff, etc. assured me everything that could be done was being done, or that my wishes were being followed, and if that couldn't be done then Supreme Court decisions dictated what had to happen, (we said Do Not Resuscitate, No Heroic Efforts), our wishes were over-ruled by a greedy hospital. I later found out they flat out lied to me. It was a horrible gut wrenching experience. The worst of it was being mislead and deliberately lied to.

I got totally fed up with the deceit and educated myself. I had to become Sherlock Holmes and discover what was going on here because the authorities could not, would not or dared not tell me. The bevy of doctors weren't even following what the other doctors were doing. Two anti-siesure medications were being pumped into him. When I told them to wean my son off of the suspect one, (I studied the paperwork that came with the medicine), my son woke up and they called him the miracle baby. This was an exaggeration but he did wake up seemingly from the dead. People came from all over the hospital to see him. When the doctor who had prescribed that med found out what I'd done he ordered my son back on it. My son promptly sank back into a stupor and I raised hell, to no avail.

I was up against the machine! I was surrounded by authorities! I was hog-tied and was not permitted to make decisions. They did not like for me to even think about it. Hospital staff and social services were oh so sympathetic to my plight. They reassured continually; The best was being done. My son would have to live in a nursing home. They said they wouldn't send him home with us because it would be too difficult for us. When the insurance company refused to pay anymore the hospital called us to come get our son or we would be charged several thousand dollars per day. (no preparations)

He came home, ended up getting worse and going back to the hospital. Later his mom and I held him in our arms as they disconnected life support, (I'll take y2k over that any day),.... He pulled through and eventually ended up going to a nursing home where he still is.

A law suit was won, an annuity pays his expenses and the nursing home blatantly breaks the law by double billing, getting paid from his annuity and charging the State for his expenses. I've spoken to the authorities about that matter as well but it slides past them like so much unimportant information.

There were many different types of authorities involved in this; The slow talking ponderous authority who stretched the "truth" in the favor of the hospital. The terribly sympathetic authority who eventually got sued. The nervous authority who ran the hospital and relied entirely on lawyers. And later on there was my own authority, a lawyer who made demands in my favor, and forced those other authorities to listen and act more responsibly. There were also industry insiders, nurses, who cheered me on,(privately), after I dressed down a doctor in front of a group of authorities who were his allies. The nurse told me she witnessed doctors making mistakes regularly.

It was a horrible game of vested interests protecting themselves. Parochial stands and stand-offs, self centered viewpoints. No open honesty anywhere. None! Records were even altered which brought them down in the end. We went for enough money to cover my son for life. The attorney said we could get twenty million if we wanted it. I didn't. I was sick of the awfulness of the greed and dishonesty and couldn't turn my son's dillemma into something we might profit from.

Since then I've wondered should I have nailed the bastards for twenty million and given the excess to charity. Nothing changed in the system and I don't think a twenty million dollar hit would've been punitive enough to change it. It will take more than that to break through faux authority and dishonesty. To the last, every authority involved defended his or her actions or inactions.

After the rollover if there have been disasters, if there have been deaths or maimings or any other of hundreds of horrible things that could potentially happen, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if every single authority, every CEO or CFO or lawyer or public relations person or other vested interest, every industry insider with the opinion that since his or her portion of the work is done therefore it must all be done, it wouldn't surprise me at all if all of these people and the rest of them, every programmer and electrical engineer and anyone else involved in taking care of Y2K, if all of them defended their position and went on telling why such and such wasn't their fault until no one wants to hear them anymore and we all just give up and move on with our lives and our families or what's left of them.

Now if the authorities had paid attention in the first place none of it would have happened, (that first doctor was at a party when we called him and he said it was probably the flu). Then, if they had responded promptly to the 911 alarm my son wouldn't have gone nearly so long without oxygen, (the placenta came loose). And if the doctors had been a bit more coordinated among themselves my son might have had a better chance. The fields of practise are very specialized and they weren't checking one another. Also, if there was honest open communication between them and us we would've been better able to cope with the situation. We wouldn't have left it all up to them to take care of everything for as long as we did.

I didn't have an advocate on my side through that until I got a lawyer. I wouldn't have gotten him if he didn't smell money. With regards to Y2K the only advocates I have are people like Rick and Bonnie and all of the very vocal persons who contribute to this and other forums.

When Rick or anyone else goes over the charts, the reports, and makes sense of them for me I feel like I owe him or her an awful lot. More than I could ever pay. It lifts a mountain of manure off of me. It clears the air of the stink of deception. And it allows me to make well informed decisions. The value of that is priceless.

When Malcom speaks I get no spider sense tingling. It rings of truth. The truth of his domain. It comes across as clear, open, honest communication. No deceit. He doesn't venture guesses under the guise of authority beyond his domain either. A very respectable and honorable man.

I believe that all that anyone who ever visited this forum ever really wanted was clear, open, honest communication about this confusing, murky, sometimes bewildering situation, with particulars to electric utilities. That's all we ever wanted. We don't want good news, we don't want bad news, we just want it told like it is, whatever it is. If you don't know then say so. It is more than okay to say you do not know. It is much preferred to B-Sing your way through it. That goes doubly for the doomers who can't hold themselves back from jumping the gun and telling me the baby died when it hasn't. If your area is coming along brilliantly then say so, but don't say so about areas other than your own! If you've spotted a problem say so. If you've found a solution then say so.

If you are posting as an authority or an insider and wish to express an opinion then you'd be safest by making it perfectly clear that you are expressing a personal opinion. We are all entitled to our opinions. Many of us want to hear your opinions. But by posting as an insider or any kind of authority whatsoever you have taken on the onus of a higher responsibility. Simply tell it like it is. Your life will be much easier if you have nothing to defend. All you need to do is simply tell it like it is. When ANY "authority" speaks in placating, reassuring, sympathetic or even cynical tones my spider senses start to tingle and I sense danger.

That's just the way it is with me.

Steve

-- Steve Kube (stevekube@perigee.net), August 15, 1999.

-- Critt Jarvis (critt@critt.com), August 15, 1999

Answers

"...For they will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

The difference between the present human condition and outright anarchy is getting smaller by the minute. Lord help us!

-- Jeremiah Jetson (laterthan@uthink.y2k), August 15, 1999.

In the human saga, some truth is simply too painful for mortal man to admit.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), August 15, 1999.

(cross posted from the Util forum)

My wife is a certified nurse-midwife currently suing a semi-nearby hospital for 23M for the unspeakable way that they tried to destroy her ability to practice ever, anywhere. She has never had a single bad outcome of ANY kind, but she supports home as well as hospital birth, etc. Given the kind of person she is, she would be just as glad to simply receive an apology. Unlike you, I'm not satisfied with that. The only way to slow these people down, regrettably, is to turn one sleazy group (lawyers) against the other (medical professionals).

Bringing the lawsuit, btw, was the only way we could put adequate pressure on the other local hospital so that they were forced out of fear to give her hospital privileges.

Is this a swell country or what?

Yes, there are still tens of millions of Americans whose word is their bond.

But there is a corruption and deceitfulness that has spread like poison through our culture over the past fifty or so years that may be too widespread to reverse. It is the worse that the culture as a whole is arrogantly blind to it. Y2K has proven to be an especially gross example of deceit.

My deepest sympathies to you for the pain that you endured about your son. And I agree with you about those who have done their best to handle Y2K with integrity -- they may prove to be right or wrong about their opinions, but I will always be grateful for their willingness to step up and walk the honest road.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), August 15, 1999.

In our humble opinion, we believe the current medical system is on its last legs. Many Drs, RNs, PTs, OTs, MSWs, etc. are totally "dyed in the blood" of the system without even realizing just how sleazy it has become. When you're both inside and outside you see it. Most do not know the truth of Y2K and what it portends. They just say, "Oh our Help Desk is taking care of that. We're not getting paid to worry about it."

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 15, 1999.

Yes, there is something basically evil that has taken over and replaced the values that were being taught as I was growing up. I have seen this happening now for quite some time, especially during the last 25 years or so. I can remember the first time I saw someone say "Greed is Good". It was a person in the investment field and while it shocked me, they were saying it with a smile on their face. Another one was "Who ever ends up with the most toys, wins". Where does this thinking and value system come from? It is a cancer at the core of our societal system. Even without Y2k, it would guarantee a social collapse in the near future.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 15, 1999.

You all have good points. Seems to me that one way to reduce the incentive for this kind of monkey business is to enact and ENFORCE penalties for negligence, or malfeasance. Personally, if I can prove that a doctor, nurse, or other health professional screwed up and cost me harm to a loved one, they're going to receive a nasty visit from someone who will do them harm. Eye for an eye and all that. Hell with the corrupt lawyers and judges. It's all a game to them, and to hell with justice and the victims, as long as they make their money, and keep their power.

I'll take care of justice, if it comes to that point.

-- Bill (billclo@msgbox.com), August 16, 1999.

Got guns? Maybe gonna be time to use them.

Soon.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), August 16, 1999.

Part of the reason, I think, is that our society has turned so many relationships into adversarial ones. You only need to look at the flood of litigation. People sue when some contractual bond or trust has broken down, when they no longer feel that the other party is treating them honestly and in good faith.

I feel compelled to place much of the blame for this on our legalistic culture, where the lawsuit is a product and lawyers are an industry. This one profession has sealed itself up like a medieval guild, and nurtures society's disputes for profit the way farmers grow corn.

We are a society who eyes their neighbors with suspicion, distrusts authority and institutions. The cultural expression of this is the lawsuit, and sucking like a tick, the lawyers.

It gives one pause as to what may happen if y2k rips the lid off.

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), August 17, 1999.