Isn’t it refreshing to read about a medical adventure in which all parties got it right? “Doing Things Right: Why Three Hospitals didn’t Harm My Wife” is the tale told by Michael L. Millenson on the Kaiser Health News website earlier this month. “My wife was lying in the back of an ambulance, dazed and….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2011
Efforts Ramp Up to Reduce Drug Shortages
Last month we wrote about an executive order that renewed attention to the problem of drug shortages and the FDA’s inability to fix them. This month, both the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and a U.S. Senate Committee provided more ammunition for granting greater authority for the FDA to address the problem. There’s no real news,….
Continue ReadingOur Nation’s Hidden Elderly Deaths Scandal
Last week we reported about the shockingly deficient numbers of hospitals that do not conduct autopsies, and, as a result, miss important diagnostic and/or treatment lessons from the results. In a related and equally disturbing reality, when elderly people die under suspicious circumstances, the reasons often remain unknown because autopsies are seldom performed on people….
Continue ReadingDo All Your Caregivers Have Your Test Results?
Although the consequences of medical malpractice are often clear, devastating and sometimes irreparable, malpractice is not always the result of a mistake a doctor or hospital makes during treatment of disease or disorder. Sometimes, the problem lies in the communication of information, or failure to communicate. A recent study published in JACR – Journal of….
Continue ReadingTried and True Beats the New in Medical Devices, Yet Again
If you’re facing a hip or knee replacement, today’s story in the New York Times is a fresh reminder of something we patient safety mavens see over and over with new drugs and devices: the new ones often work no better, and sometimes worse, than older versions on the market for a long time. But….
Continue ReadingMedical Apps: When Sharing Goes Too Far
There’s an app for that. Ever since Apple claimed primacy over the smartphone universe, we’ve all become familiar with that refrain. And as noted in a recent report on NPR, mobile medical applications are hot property. Even the stodgy American Medical Association (AMA) has introduced an iPhone app that keeps track of your medications. It’s….
Continue ReadingRating Hospitals by Readmissions Is Not Simple
We’ve written numerous times about hospital readmissions-circumstances that prompt a hospital patient to re-enter the hospital within a short time of his or her release. Often, readmission rates are a clue about the overall quality of care provided by a facility: When patients come back too often and too soon, it can be a sign….
Continue ReadingAutopsy-Averse Hospitals Bury Their Mistakes
Thanks to the proliferation of crime procedural TV shows, most Americans understand the value of autopsies in identifying a catalog of biological factors that add up to being able to nab the perp. But in hospitals, medical mistakes are being buried without autopsies, and that’s a problem for safe, high quality medical care. A recent….
Continue ReadingLap-Band Clinics Are Warned by the FDA for Overly Rosy Promotions of Weight Loss
For a couple of years now, Southern California drivers have become used to seeing billboards for a medical procedure that promises to turn overweight people into the thin creatures they want to be. By calling 1-800-GET-THIN, you could sign up for a gastric Lap-Band surgery at an outpatient facility and change your life. So they….
Continue ReadingWhat Psychotherapy Won’t Fix
As one year ends and a new one begins, some people think about ways to start over. Be happier. Renew energy. Often, they turn to psychotherapy, and in many cases, it works, or at least provides a roadmap to a more satisfying life. But mental health is like physical health-some things just don’t change. In….
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