Yossarian, Bologna and the NHS

Yossarian, Bologna and mortality coding

 There are still some deniers who are backing the HSMR methodology, despite the many criticisms by academics about the limitations of the method. In particular, members of Cure the NHS claim this is all part of a denial mechanism. All this reminds me of Catch-22.

In Joseph Heller's famous war novel, bombardier Yossarian and his squadron dread their missions over Bologna. So in the middle of the night Yossarian moves the bombline. In the morning there is great relief from the squadron that they don't have to fly over an enemy-held Bologna any more.

Of course the reality is that they still do. The bombline did not reflect reality. So to insist that the reality was what the bombline said would be insane. But this is what Cure the NHS are doing in effect. They insist that the people that state that the HSMR does not reflect the actual mortality rates are denying reality. But they are the people who are fooled by Yossarian.