The blood-thinning drug Pradaxa has starred in a long-running drama with hundreds of adverse event reports, scores of lawsuits and more than 500 deaths. Introduced in 2010 as an option to Coumadin (warfarin), Pradaxa is under fire for dire side effects including hemorrhage and internal bleeding, as we wrote earlier this year. Unlike older anti-clotting….
Continue ReadingArchives for November 2012
The Difference Between Medical Negligence and Complication
Like any other endeavor involving judgment, the practice of medicine sometimes brings surprise. Sometimes the surprise is good, sometimes not. In a thoughtful essay posted on KevinMD.com, Dr. Michael Kirsch contemplates the difference between a medical complication and medical negligence. Sometimes the latter, of course, involves a legal remedy in court for medical malpractice; Kirsch’s….
Continue ReadingMore Evidence of Over-Reliance on Mammography
Another study examining the benefits and risks of routine mammograms has confirmed earlier concerns that, in many cases the tests at best complicate the assessment of breast health and at worst pose significant harm for people whose results show the presence of a small mass. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers….
Continue ReadingWant Bad Health Advice? There’s an App for That
Americans love technology. We love our iPods, our tablets and our smartphones. At the swipe of a finger, we can map a route, make a reservation, buy a pair of boots and, now, cure what ails us. Or can we? Published in the Washington Post, an investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting….
Continue ReadingCopy and Paste Medical Records: A Tempting Shortcut with Perils for Patient Safety
Electronic medical records make it easy — too easy — to document that a doctor or nurse has performed a model examination of a patient. One click, and the empty slots fill in the results of a normal exam from head to toe. But was that thorough exam really done? Copy and paste is another….
Continue ReadingTake Justice Back Launches Consumer Website
The American Association for Justice has launched a website to support people against interests that would like to limit their legal right to hold corporate misconduct or negligence accountable. Take Justice Back vigorously defends the Constitutional right “to pursue justice in court when you believe you’ve been harmed. But well-financed corporations circling in Congress are….
Continue ReadingWhen Medical Research Studies Overreach (Pretty Often)
News outlets love “breakthrough” stories about medical research studies, which seem to promise a new cure almost every week. A new report shows how the scientists who conduct such research sometimes add to the hype. The problem, according to a researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, is that research claiming sweeping effect usually is….
Continue ReadingMeningitis Outbreak Spawns Dicey Treatment Claims
Meningitis-a life-threatening inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord-has seldom been more prominent in the news, and for all the wrong reasons. The contaminated steroid made and distributed by a compounding pharmacy has caused meningitis fatalities and widespread fear, and the story is developing daily. So a warning letter sent by the….
Continue ReadingTaking the Post-Election Health-Care Temperature
Now that President Obama has won a second term, the Affordable Care Act (ACA, commonly called “Obamacare”) has gained renewed attention and urgency. As Kaiser Health News reminds, “[T]he law will have sweeping ramifications for consumers, state officials, employers and health care providers, including hospitals and doctors.” Courtesy of KHN, here’s a refresher about the….
Continue ReadingMedical Identity Theft Is a Health Risk
Last year we wrote about how the privacy and security of your medical records are vulnerable, and what happens when those records are stolen and used by someone else pretending to be you. A story earlier this month in the Los Angeles Times explains more about how the illegal use of your medical records threatens….
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