U.S. News & World Report recently issued its ranking of Best Hospitals in the United States as well as a host of interpretive articles to help people refine their understanding of what constitutes “best” and how to locate the “best” hospital in your area. The article “When a Hospital is Bad for You” explains that….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2011
Does Being Polite Save Lives in the OR? One Surgeon Says Yes
If you believe the stereotype, surgery isn’t a warm and fuzzy medical specialty (that would be family doctors), it’s a cold, clinical engineering-like pursuit. And a surgeon is more likely to be known as “the knife” than “the smile.” The head of one major transplant center, however, would like to rearrange the stereotypical furniture. Says….
Continue ReadingThe Myth of the Hypo-Allergenic Dog
Bo, the presidential family pooch, might be a real sweetie, but he can still make some people sneeze. According to the New York Times, the notion that certain dog breeds–such as Portuguese Water Dogs, of which Bo is a member–are less likely to stimulate an allergic response seems to be misguided. A study in American….
Continue ReadingStudy Casts Doubt on Brain Cancer from Cellphones
Hold your cellphone against your head too long and you can get a brain tumor. Text too often and you can forget how to spell. Converse on your Bluetooth while waiting in line and annoy everyone around you. One of those statements is undeniably true, one could be true, and one-about brain tumors-is probably false,….
Continue ReadingBad News for Surgical Mesh and a Drug Infusion Device
A couple of implantable devices recently received new scrutiny with negative results. Medtronic issued a “medical device correction” about possible diminished battery life of its infusion pump, the SynchroMed II. The device is surgically implanted to deliver painkilling medication. According to About Lawsuits.com, of 140,000 implants worldwide, 55 were reported to have reduced battery performance…..
Continue ReadingThe Difference between Pharmaceutical Research and Marketing Blurs Yet Again
The road from conception to useful application for a new drug therapy, when properly navigated, is fully mapped, carefully followed, scientfically rigorous and honestly appraised. Not so with a big study of the lucrative drug Neurontin, according to Yale researchers. In the case of Neurontin, a drug to treat epilepsy, critical parts of that journey….
Continue ReadingAsthma Study Shows the Importance of the Doctor “Being There” for the Patient
Only someone who suffers from asthma can understand the panic that comes with a sudden attack that feels as though you’re suffocating. Many such victims reach for an inhaler to dispense the drug albuterol, which provides lung relief. Now, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms not only the drug’s….
Continue ReadingPatient Receives New Windpipe Created in a Lab
Cancer of the trachea–or windpipe–is extremely rare, representing only 1% of all cancers. One patient, who had been diagnosed in 2008, had undergone chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, but his tumors were threatening to block his windpipe when technology came to the rescue last month. The first-ever synthetic windpipe was transplanted on June 9, and last….
Continue ReadingPlaying the Doctor Office Waiting Game
As if the doctor-patient relationship isn’t one-sided enough, the subservience patients often feel can be made even worse when you must wait way beyond the appointed time for your consultation. For some patients, time is money, and for all patients whose doctors assume the doctor’s time is more important than yours, extended waiting is disrespect…..
Continue ReadingTesting for Life-Saving Communications Skills in Young Doctors
Want to go to medical school? How well do you listen? How well do you work in a team? Those issues are now being tested by the nation’s newest medical school in screening applicants. This is not just a matter of touchy-feely. Preventable deaths and malpractice have been proven to happen all too often when….
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