Early this year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report quantifying the epidemic of drug overdoses and adverse events from the use of opioids, otherwise known as narcotics. The report, “Grand Rounds: Prescription Drug Overdoses – a U.S. Epidemic,” pointed out that too many doctors prescribe powerful painkillers such as OxyContin without….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2012
“Lessons Learned in Blood:” Capt. Sullenberger on Preventing Medical Malpractice
Readers should check out a powerful NYT column by Maureen Dowd on the unnecessary death of a 12-year-old boy from an undiagnosed but easily treatable strep infection. Rory Staunton’s hero was Captain Sully Sullenberger, who safely landed the airliner in the Hudson. As Sullenberger told Ms. Dowd: “If something good comes from Rory’s death, it….
Continue ReadingSeniors Stop Taking Antidepressants When They Fall Into Medicare’s Donut Hole
The advent of Medicare’s Part D drug plan introduced everyone to the concept of the “donut hole.” That’s the point at which prescription drug coverage ceases for a period during which the plan member pays full price. The gap closes when the patient has spent a set amount for drugs, and subsidies resume. As reported….
Continue ReadingLow Testosterone: A Problem or an Invention?
Many health and medical journalists, and watchdogs of the practice of medicine, have noted a peculiarly American phenomenon: “disease mongering.” As defined by journal PLoS Medicine, disease mongering is “the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments.” We’ve discussed the topic before,….
Continue ReadingGlaxoSmithKline Settlement Sets a Record for Penalties and Consumer Abuse
We’ve written a lot about pharmaceutical company misbehavior because pharmaceutical companies misbehave a lot, and their actions can pose serious health harms. One such breach of decency and law was so monumental that last week it made top-of-the-news headlines across all media. GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturers of well-known drugs including Flonase, Levitra and Zantac, agreed to plead….
Continue ReadingVitamin D Deficiency—Fashion or Fiction?
Like hemlines, nutrients are subject to the whims of fashion. Lately, Vitamin D has taken center stage. In excerpting a piece originally posted on The Scientist, Health News Review recently noted that U.S. consumer sales of vitamin D increased fivefold from 2005 to 2010. Caregivers are embracing doses higher than the 400 to 600 International….
Continue ReadingWake Up and Go to Sleep: This Hospital Routine Is Not Funny
No one goes to a hospital for fine dining, fabulous room views or 500-thread count sheets. A hospital is not a hotel. Nor, according to a recent study, is it a place for a good night’s sleep. Hospitals are where people go to be treated and to heal. And because healing generally requires sufficient rest,….
Continue ReadingWhen a Medical Device Warning Was Ignored, the Patient Died
Last month, we wrote about the danger of drug and medical device warnings and recalls that go unnoticed by hospitals and doctors, much less patients. A recent story reported by CNN demonstrates the tragic consequences of such ignorance. When Florinda Gotcher entered the hospital to donate one of her kidneys to her brother, recalled her….
Continue ReadingExtra Baggage—How Disease Is Transmitted on Airplanes
Most people who find air travel unpleasant object to the long lines, intrusive security, price gouging and cramped quarters. Thanks to so many people jammed into such a small space, what they also should be concerned about is sharing their fellow travelers’ germs. Conventional wisdom says that sitting an airplane with sick people puts you….
Continue ReadingAMA Calls for Doctors to Consider Costs
One component of the changing U.S. medical industrial complex is a greater awareness on the part of physicians that superior health care isn’t only about science and practice management. It’s also about the efficient and fair delivery of medical care. There is, perhaps, no better example of this awareness than a recent report that issued….
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