You have to wonder how in the modern world it is possible that a surgeon with 16 prior malpractice lawsuits for medical mistakes was allowed to operate on Maribeth Chase’s brain. She certainly was unaware the checkered history of Dr. Robert Tenny. Her tortuous trip through medical misadventure and the system that enables it was….
Continue ReadingArchives for September 2011
The Dirt on Hospital Uniforms
It’s enough to make you want to shrink-wrap yourself in your hospital bed. A report published in the American Journal of Infection Control concluded that as many as 6 in 10 uniforms worn by hospital caregivers tested positive for potentially dangerous bacteria. Swabs of the uniforms of 75 RNs and 60 M.D.s at a 550-bed….
Continue ReadingConsumers Seek Recall of Brazilian Blowout
It sounds like a World Cup Soccer match result, but in fact, Brazilian Blowout is a hair-straightening product. And thanks to a wave of unpleasant responses to its use, the FDA has issued a warning letter to its manufacture. Because it contains chemicals that become formaldehyde when heated – thanks, for example, to a hair….
Continue ReadingThe Real News on Chocolate Is Not So Dramatic
We’ve come to expect inflated or simplistic “news” offered by careless, undertrained and/or headline-hungry media covering medical and health topics. Now, even the people in charge of publicizing a recent scientific study published in BMJ (formerly called the British Medical Journal) are guilty of pandering at best and dumbing down at worst. “It’s official –….
Continue ReadingScience 1, Common Sense 0
Common sense says that putting stents into blocked arteries in the brain should help prevent strokes, just like propping open heart arteries cuts heart attacks. But Medicare asked for a scientific study before it started paying for widespread use of the brain stents. So doctors tested stents versus medical therapy in high-risk patients. After one….
Continue ReadingOutpatient Chemotherapy Centers Pose Risk of Toxic Exposure for Nurses
A new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center reports that nearly 17 in 100 nurses who work in outpatient chemotherapy infusion centers reported being exposed to the toxic drugs on their skin or eyes. Approximately 84 in 100 chemotherapy sessions are delivered in outpatient facilities. As published in BMJ Quality and Safety,….
Continue ReadingNew Safety Concerns Over Celexa, Proton Pump Inhibitors
A few widely used drugs once again are coming under fire, one thanks to the FDA and the other class courtesy of a consumer watchdog organization. High doses of Celexa, an antidepressant, can cause abnormal heart rhythms, prompting the feds to issue a new warning that it should not be prescribed at doses higher than….
Continue ReadingGrowing Numbers of Physician Assistants May Help Cut Assembly Line Feel for Patients
It’s increasingly common that when you visit the doctor you’ll be seen first, and maybe exclusively, not by the person with the M.D. degree, but by another trained medical professional. According to a report commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2009 nearly half of all office-based physicians practiced with nurse practitioners….
Continue ReadingP.R.P. Injections for Sports Injuries: Proven Effective Only in Lightening the Wallet
Platelet-Rich Plasma injections are the latest treatment fad in sports medicine. Celebrity athletes like Tiger Woods and NFL player Hines Ward swear that P.R.P injections helped them miraculously recover from torn ligaments, and now regular patients are pressing their orthopedic surgeons to try the same thing. There’s just one question: Do they work? And the….
Continue ReadingAntibacterial Soap: Few Clear Benefits, Many Murky Questions about Safety
The chemical triclosan has been a popular ingredient in many household cleaning products despite the fact that its supposed antibacterial properties have not been proved. Making a questionable claim is one thing; promoting an ingredient that also might have harmful side effects is quite another. Triclosan is found in so many products ranging from soap….
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