You fill a prescription with a brand-name medication. The pills are light-blue ovals that come in a plastic bottle. When the generic version becomes available, your insurance company insists that you purchase only that, and your doctor agrees. This time, the pills are round, white and come in a carboard blister pack. If the medicine….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2011
UCLA to Pay Fine for Violating Privacy of Patient Records
Here’s a case that opens a window on how tabloid newspapers get intimate details of celebrity’s medical lives: They pay hospital employees to rifle through private medical records. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health System has agreed to pay the federal government $865,000 to resolve allegations that its employees violated patient privacy, according….
Continue ReadingStudy Examines High Percentage of Dropped Medical Malpractice Claims
Most medical malpractice lawsuits are not settled or decided by trial. They are abandoned by the patients and family members who brought them. A study in the medical journal Health Affairs reviewed the outcome of 3,695 malpractice claims filed in Massachusetts between 2006 and 2010, The Boston Globe reports. Nearly 60% of the lawsuits filed….
Continue ReadingGender Differences in Who Survives Abdominal Surgery
Generally, a gut-check is an informal, instinctive assessment. But researchers at the University of San Diego Health System took matters literally in studying the impact of gender in major gastrointestinal surgery. They found that women are more likely than men to survive the procedure. Published in the Journal of Surgical Research, “The Battle of the….
Continue ReadingMaryland Says “Been There, Done That” to Federal Requirement to Track Hospital Quality
MarylandReporter.com reports that the state will request an exemption from a new requirement by Medicare that hospitals demonstrate their quality of care. Taking effect Oct. 1, the requirement financially rewards hospitals that meet the new standard and penalizes those that don’t. Robert Murray, executive director of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, said the state….
Continue ReadingAMA Seeks New Policies on BPA, Competitive Eating and Airport Scanners
At its annual meeting last month, the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates adopted several new policies, including one that recognizes that bisphenol A (BPA) interferes with human hormones, one that decries the practice of competitive eating and one calling for more research on full-body scanners used in airports. The AMA says BPA is an….
Continue ReadingStudy Says Stop-Smoking Drug Carries Cardiovascular Risk
A drug prescribed for smoking cessation is linked to an increased risk of heart problems, according to a study published July 4 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Varenicline, known by the brand name Chantix, was associated with a 72% increased risk of a serious cardiovascular “event.” That sounds huge, but the scientific number-crunching shakes….
Continue ReadingDeaths from Colorectal Cancer Decline; More Screening Would Boost Results Even More
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the rate of death from colorectal cancer has fallen substantially in recent years. It also noted that the decline could be even greater if more older adults were screened for colon polyps with colonoscopy. National death rates from colorectal cancer dropped by 3% annually between….
Continue ReadingMammography–One Size Does Not Fit All
Ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggested relaxing the rigid schedule for mammography testing in 2009, patients seeking a unified, authoritative voice on the topic have been rewarded with confusion. Probably because the medical community, too, is unresolved about who needs what kind of breast screening and when. A study published this week….
Continue ReadingExpanding the List of Medical Misadventures that Should Never Happen
Nearly 10 years ago, the National Quality Forum (NQF) published a report, Serious Reportable Events (SREs) in Healthcare. It identified 27 really horrible mistakes occurring in hospitals deemed largely preventable and of concern to both the public and health-care providers. Thanks to their extreme nature, these “adverse events” have come to be known colloquially as….
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