Two new books take up patient safety and quality of care issues from opposite perspectives, one a physician’s, the other a patient’s, and both have compelling lessons. Lisa Sanders, MD is the New York Times Magazine “Diagnosis” columnist. Her book, “Every Patient Tells a Story — Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis,” starts with….
Continue ReadingArchives for September 2009
“Ghostbusters” Are Weeding Out Fake Authors at Medical Journals
A few brave medical journal editors are cracking down on the common practice of drug companies ghost-writing articles for authors who are willing to lend their names to drug industry propaganda. But at other journals, editors seem to have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. For patients, it is vital that the truth come out…..
Continue ReadingA Virginia Child’s Story Shows Why Every Patient Needs an Advocate in the Hospital
Every hospital patient needs someone with them at all times to help prevent medical errors and keep them safe. That’s a mantra I have advocated for years, and another example of why it’s good advice comes with a riveting story in the Washington Post by health writer Sandra Boodman. Ms. Boodman’s article tells how a….
Continue ReadingState’s Lawsuit Reveals How Drug Sales Reps Tried to Influence Doctors
A lawsuit by the state of South Carolina has turned up evidence that one sales representative for Eli Lilly bet golf scores with a doctor client — and the payoff was the doctor’s agreement to write more prescriptions for the drug Zyprexa. According to an article by Bloomberg News, notes from this and other sales….
Continue ReadingNew Patient Safety Report Cards in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania continues to lead the nation in showing how public health authorities can cast a little disinfecting sunshine onto the patient safety practices of hospitals. In its latest report, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority says that in 2008, a total of 194 surgery patients were sewed up with a foreign object still inside them. They….
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