The convenience of the Internet allows consumers to evaluate and compare their experiences with anything from piercings and dog walking to a visit to their doctor’s office. Although the website ratings may be helpful in an initial survey of local doctors, patients should not look to them as their sole source of information when determining….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2008
Error Rates Mean Patients Should Carefully Select Colonoscopists
Colonoscopy is widely known as a powerful screening/early detection test for colorectal cancer, capable of preventing, or so it was thought, up to 90% of cancers. However, recent studies show that colonoscopy misses many cancers, according to the New York Times in an article by Gina Kolata. A newly published Canadian study documents the low….
Continue ReadingAbnormalities in Scans Can Be Misleading
A torn meniscus that shows up on the MRI scan may not be the reason why your knee is hurting. For Cheryl Westein, who demanded an MRI and saw a torn cartilage on the scan, the culprit behind her painful knee was actually arthritis. Gina Kolata in a New York Times article reports recent scientific….
Continue ReadingSeroquel’s Manufacturer Knew Drug Could Cause Diabetes
Seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic drug used to treat mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But patients who take Seroquel are 70% more likely to become diabetic than those who don’t take this drug, a risk that the drug manufacturer AstraZeneca was aware of as early as 2000. Joe Schneider and Margaret C…..
Continue ReadingTired Resident Doctors Prone to Error
Despite reforms in medical training, many resident doctors are still sleep-deprived and therefore more likely to make mistakes than well-rested doctors in training, according to an Institute of Medicine study, as reported by Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times. In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education capped resident doctors’ working hours at….
Continue ReadingArrogant, Abusive Doctors Pose Safety Risks to Patients
Nearly every nurse can tell stories about doctors who yelled at them in public, threw scalpels across the operating room, ignored calls to come to a patient’s bedside, or otherwise acted in an arrogant and abusive way. While this behavior used to be tolerated as an inevitable byproduct of working in a high-stress environment, health….
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