A subway station might seem an unusual place to try to educate the public about protecting the rights of injured patients — but maybe not so much when that station is the nearest to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and is traveled by thousands of staffers who work on Capitol Hill. “Tell Congress to….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2009
More on Those Glossy Ads for Cancer Treatment
Several thought-provoking letters appear in the New York Times responding to the recent piece about the cancer treatment industry’s advertisements. One letter was from Dr. James Rickert, of Bloomington, Ind., president of the Society for Patient Centered Orthopedics: To the Editor: As a cancer survivor who has faced recurrent bouts of disease, I agree that….
Continue ReadingDifferent Points of View on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
A physician writes in the New York Times about her own emotionally trying experience being sued for malpractice by a patient’s family, and seeing the case dropped after four long years of litigation. The case happened to be against an internist for colon cancer, something where I have fresh experience. Here is the text of….
Continue ReadingCancer Treatment Industry Markets Hope to Desperate Patients:
The ads are striking: Handsome, smiling people, very much alive, victors over cancer — thanks to their choice of a prestigious cancer center for their treatment. But are they true? The cancer centers — with brand names like Sloan-Kettering and Massachusetts General — cannot prove that the patients are alive because of something unique about….
Continue ReadingA Patient Safety Leader Speaks Out
An interview with patient safety leader Dr. Robert Wachter in the New York Times was both encouraging and dismaying. Encouraging because Dr. Wachter gets it right about what the medical system needs to do to make health care safer. Dismaying for some of the shrill and hysterical comments from physicians posted on the NYT blog….
Continue ReadingWhen Prevention Just Isn’t Worth It for the Patient
A drug that can cut a woman’s risk of breast cancer in half when taken regularly is proving to be a tough sell when women have a chance to fully understand the pros and cons of the medication. The drug is tamoxifen. For women at high risk of breast cancer (who have a gene associated….
Continue ReadingImproving Quality of Care by Paying Attention to the Need for Hope
Almost nothing is worse in medicine than a cold-hearted delivery of bad news that sucks all the hope out of a patient’s lungs. And almost nothing is better than an honest dialogue between doctor and patient that explores the hopes and fears of a patient faced with a very serious condition, in a way that….
Continue ReadingFrom Bitter Tragedy to Optimistic Hope: A True Patient Safety Story
Actor James Woods’ brother Michael died of a heart attack three years ago in an emergency room hallway in Rhode Island because no one was paying attention. Now, something good will come from Michael Woods’ death, thanks to a settlement reached between the Woods family and Kent Hospital in the middle of a jury trial…..
Continue ReadingReforming Health Care One Pilot Project at a Time
How is our medical care system like American agriculture before the era of modern food-growing practices? Pretty similar, argues Dr. Atul Gawande in the New Yorker. Both were expensive, wasteful of human resources and completely fragmented. And the cures for their problems could be similar too. What reformed American farming and turned it into a….
Continue ReadingPractice Makes Perfect: How Patients Can Learn about Hospital Volume
Medicare’s “Hospital Compare” website is something every patient needs to know about. Based on statistics collected by the government program for medical care for patients over age 65, the website has a wealth of information — not always easy to find, but interesting. One recent addition to the site is information about the volume of….
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