New York in the news

New York was in the news quite a bit today. For starters, the state legislature finally passed its budget. This would ordinarily be unremarkable, were the budget not 125 days late. The latest budget ever to be turned in, according to The New York Times, was passed on August 11, 2004. This year's edition avoided that dubious milestone by the narrowest of margins. I maintain that California remains the most dysfunctional state, but this budget fiasco certainly didn't help New York's standing any (neither did temporarily relinquishing control of the AL East).

The state legislature also passed a bill that would count prison inmates as residents of their pre-incarceration towns and cities, rather than counting them as residents of the town in which their prison is located. I'm not philosophically opposed to the idea--it makes some sense--but there's one part that confuses me. In some circumstances, individuals with felony convictions are not permitted to vote. What then is the purpose of redrawing Congressional districts to better represent people who cannot vote for their representatives in the first place?

On a more positive note, Tuesday's New York Times also featured an article about an experimental treatment for cardiac arrest patients: Induced hypothermia. The article, which was satisfactory but superficial, focused primarily on the implementation of cooling therapy in New York City. Apparently they piloted the treatment with local hospitals and are now beginning to train prehospital providers in its use.

Induced hypothermia is an interesting and promising treatment. Current research indicates that the actual mechanism of clinical death among cardiac arrest patients is a buildup of lactic acid and other toxic byproducts of cellular respiration. By lowering the body temperature, the reasoning goes, the body's metabolism is decreased, thereby slowing the release of these toxic byproducts. Early results from this new therapy are encouraging.

My only beef with the article--besides failing to give a suitable overview of what the treatment entails and why it might be effective--is that it barely mentions Buffalo's induced hypothermia program, which is much further along than Manhattan's. Whereas New York City paramedics are just now receiving training in the procedure, some ambulance companies in Western New York have been using it on the street for months. I did part of my field internship with one such agency, but I didn't have the opportunity to employ the treatment during my ride time.