The FDA says it is re-investigating the issue of whether drugs like Fosamax, which are given to post-menopausal women, can actually cause fractures of the thigh bone (femur). A number of lawsuits are pending about death of jaw bone tissue allegedly caused by this family of drugs, called biophosphonates. Previously the FDA said it had….
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Malpractice Patterns in Long-Term Care Hospitals Under Federal Investigation
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is investigating deaths of patients at long-term care hospitals, in follow-up to a report in the New York Times last month. That report showed that the profit-making chains who run these hospitals, which cater to chronically ill patients, sometimes skimp on staffing and training, and disasters have resulted. More on….
Continue ReadingPSA Test’s Inventor Says It’s Time to Say No to Routine PSA Screening
The man who discovered the PSA test for prostate cancer now says the test is so overused it has become a public health disaster with an annual price tag of $3 billion in wasted testing. Dr. Richard Ablin writes an op-ed piece in the New York Times calling for the test to be abandoned for….
Continue ReadingMedical Malpractice Is a Leading Cause of Preventable Death in District of Columbia
Deaths from preventable medical error kill as many people in the nation’s capital as guns, and far more than motor vehicle crashes, according to a new report from the D.C. Department of Health. The report, the first of its kind in the District of Columbia, analyzed the 5,168 total deaths reported to health officials in….
Continue ReadingIs Sexism Dangerous to Patient Safety?
It sure is. Work by Peter Pronovost and other pioneers in the patient safety movement has shown over and over that medicine’s culture of “doctor knows best” can be dangerous to patient safety and can cause episodes of medical malpractice. That’s because nurses (still mostly female) often see errors in the making and yet feel….
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