My son, 23, died in a Joint Commission in Bangkok, Thailand on 23 Feb 2006. His death was the result of malpractice, negligence, a cover-up and, we believe, murder. The investigation into the cause of his death which is now under investigation by the Royal Thai Police and the US Embassy in Bangkok. Deep research of my son's mysterious death led me to understand how US interests are being served by setting up 'medical tourist' destinations where cheaper healthcare is sold...with the assurances that these hospitals are accredited by the gold standard bearer in the US, the Joint Commission. After being blown off by the hospital, formerly owned by Tenet Healthcare, one of the US's most notorious offenders of medical ethics, Medicare fraud etc, I turned to the US agency, which is now selling accreditations abroad...thus providing implicit assurance of safety to an unsuspecting public. Instead of receiving help...I quickly discovered, that the fox has been left guarding the hen house...for over 40 years...since the passing of Medicare under Lyndon Johnson. In following this further, I have learned, first hand, how this band of bad boys have worked in collusion to control the healthcare industry by concentrating power in the hands of the hospital corporations, the insurance companies and private interests....who care allot more about $ than they do about healthcare. By registering on our website, www.bumrungraddeath.com you can view a synopsis and detailed materials regarding my son's case is available.....but it also opens the door to what is behind why unimaginable malpractice, cover-up land worse...can happen! I discovered that the Joint Commission actually consists of members from the very industry it was empowered by the Amendment to the Social Security Act of 1965 to police.....Instead of policing....they have, as a not for profit, been selling accreditation, developing laudable standards but do little, if anything to enforce those standards....all of which is required by the legislation which empowered the Joint Commission in the first place. This story involves the death of my son...certainly....but it goes allot further....into why and how corruption on a grand scale has allowed to evolve while patients pay the price. The US is 37th in the world in terms of healthcare quality...but spends 2 to 3 times more than ANY other country in the world to achieve this abominable ranking. I don't believe that it's a matter of the lack of money available for healthcare...I think that it's a matter that vast sums of money have been concentrated into the hands of a few...who put back as little as possible into the system...and into the actual application of good practice. Although sued for billions, the hospital corporations of America....have constructed, with the blessing of the Joint Commission, a scheme where doctors have become 'providers', patients have become statistics...and the blame for wrong is placed, conveniently, on people who cannot defend themselves against the giant legal machines which sue doctors and nurses into the ground, who crush patients or their loved ones into submission....by simply out spending and out lawyering everyone in sight. Hence, only 1.5 percent of those who are wronged ever seek legal redress.....they simply walk away. Since 1965, when JCAHO, the Joint Commission started accrediting hospitals, 18,000 institutions have been accredited....YET, despite an admission of 100,000 unexplained deaths in US hospitals...only 1% of those 18,000 institutions have every had their accreditation revoked. This must be old hat to you...but, based on what I have read...I don't think that the economic motives, which are carefully hidden, have been fully unearthed....the reason that JCAHO does what it does...or, should I say, doesn't do what it should....is the result of the dominance of the AHA (American Hospital Association)....who have protected their interests...at all costs.... I have researched extensively....and have not found where the complaints about JCAHO over the years...has ever crossed over into the economics behind their modus operendi... Instead congress, commissions etc have come up with other bodies, schemes, commissions, panels etc....to do what JCAHO was empowered to do in 1965.....Even the legislative assistants I have met with on the Hill seem to be ignorant of the law.....!!!...What ever happened to the law!? I believe that JCAHO should be attacked on the basis that they really are a profit making organization....and that their not for profit status...has been a rouse...for decades.....but, that's just one way to finally put an end to this reign of absolute power....there are others..... Dr. Dennis O'Leary, the current CEO of the Joint Commission has announced his resignation, effective early next year. This is a perfect time to force this fantastically important issue. Medical Tourism, as a result of the efforts of a well oiled PR machine at Bumrungrad Hospital...has received laudatory media coverage...on 60 minutes last September and many other outlets. It is my intention to form an international patients union....and I need help to do it. Please contact www.bumrungraddeath.com for details No story, to my knowledge, has yet been broken which shows what the other side of this rising phenomena is all about. Unfortunately, through my direct experience, I have come to know the dark side of Medical Tourism...and in the process of investigating what happened to my son...I have also seen that this phenomena has it's root base right here in the USA. This trend is going to grow...and while it does, it takes away attention as to why American healthcare is so badly broken....at home....and soon, internationally. I'd like to talk with you about how this important story can be developed....and to determine other means of attacking the root cause of this insidious societal problem. I again thank you for your interest and courtesy. Jim Goldberg Venture Resources, LLC Innovation, Implementation, Management James Goldberg 516 625 6844 Tel 516 319 1787 Cell 516 908 4978 Fax SKYPE: goldjim1