Illiness

The life expectancy of a law enforcement officer that retires with at least twenty years on the job is 66 years (Link ) while the average life expectancy of an American is 77.5. One of the reasons for this, I believe, is how sick days are handled in law enforcement.

I receive one sick day a month that is rolled into a bank. However, once you reach a hour threshold in the bank (it takes usually 7 years of no sick days) there is a six and six split. So six days are placed into the bank but the other six days are put into a medical mutual fund. The medical mutual fund is tax free going in and if it is a medical expense, it is tax free coming out. Then after another threshold is met, the bank is maxed and all twelve days are rolled into the fund. At retirement the bank is paid off at the current salary rate and the fund leaves with you.

Thus the days are incredibly valuable. The tax free nature saves about 28% of the value of the money and the bank is an investment, that unless the governing body of the jurisdiction goes bankrupt, with pay off with a profit.

The bottom line is basically for every sick day not taken it will be worth about five days in a 20+ career.

The idea was that the city would not have to cover a shift at time and a half to fill the slot of the sick officer. However, in the long run the city will end up paying much more than one shift at time and a half. The officer knowing the value of the sick day will also go into work despite any current aliment and "ride it out". A result of that is a delayed recovery. It would be an interesting study to see if officers are sick more often and for longer periods of time. If that is the case it has to be a cause of a quicker physical decline as seen in the life expectancy in this profession verses the public at large.

So off I go into work tonight, sick as a dog. The flu has hit me and my family full force. I will put in a good nights work, it will not deviate from my normal production and I will be sick a few days longer than if I just stayed in bed and slept. Further, I hope I do not spread it around the station but there have been shifts were every squad was a virus vector.

2 Chronicles 21:15
and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day.

Quick Emotional Decisions make for...

I believe there are three types of decisions.  The "A" decision-the one that helps you.  The "C" decision-the one that does not help you but does not hurt you either, and the "F" decision-the one that hurts you.

Two huge factors in determining which type of decision will be the result of your the judgement you caste, is the decision time frame crossed with the level of emotion at the point of the choice.  Simply put, quick emotional decisions make for more "F" decisions and the opposite make for more "A" decisions.

I just recently spent a week in the hospital when my wife's great aunt was stricken ill and via the E.R. was placed into the I.C.U. (and I.C.U. too).  The relative is in her early nineties and does not get around easily but other than that her health is basically good.  She had developed Pneumonia and was having trouble breathing and fluid was building in her lungs.  When she made it to the I.C.U., they also discovered that she had a large bleeding ulcer in her stomach that required a tube to be inserted into her nose down to her stomach for drainage.  She also had an infection that required an IV drip of antibiotics.  She was in bad shape.  When we arrived, she did not look good, so I began trying to prepare my wife for the worst.  A short time later my mother-in-law arrived and the nurse then stepped into the room.

The nurse said, "Okay I was told by the doctor to wait till you got here to start the morphine drip, so I'll just start it now.

My mother-in-law then said, "Oh no your not, I know what the morphine is for (have you heard any songs by Youth In Asia?)...and it will depress her breathing so it will not be used."

The nurse, looking perplexed said, "I spoke to the doctor and he said...".

But my mother-looked-up and said, "I will not permit the morphine to be used."  The nurse then went away looking puzzled.

The next day the elder care physician came in and took the position that the morphine should be used to ease my wife's great aunt's suffering because this patient would not recover and it would be cruel to allow her to continue to suffer.  Again my mother-in-law said "no" and the doctor then stormed off.

Now my mother-in-law is a R.N. and had already planned for this eventuality (the relative/patient was in her early 90's after all) and had set up the parameters for the use of morphine or not, long before this day.  Now the rest of the family started rolling in.  One brother of my mother-in-law came in frantic and upset and decided morphine was the right thing to administer.  He was followed by his sister and then the other brother and all voted for the morphine.  Their decisions were made in the height of emotion and extremely quickly.

The conclusion?  The elder relatives infection is now gone, her ulcer has stopped bleeding and the tube has been pulled.  She is eating on her own and is now without any supplemental oxygen and will be leaving the I.C.U. any day now.

So the "A" decision was to keep her alive and the "F" decision would to have killed her with the morphine.  Too short decision time frame and too high emotionally would have killed the elderly patient had my mother-in-law not had the power of attorney and made a good decision before she arrived at the hospital.