Almost 400 elderly patients were discharged recently from a large medical center; 96 in 100 of them said they knew why they had been hospitalized, but only 6 in 10 could describe their diagnoses accurately. About 35 in 100 of the patients had trouble explaining why they were in the hospital in the first place,….
Continue ReadingArchives for August 2013
Free Apps, Get Your Free Apps!
A person could spend all day at the app store-it’s the new retail therapy. And the federal government is happy to enable your app downloading habit. Among the various free offerings on the U.S. government apps page are many relating to health, fitness and product safety. Here’s a roundup of a few that might be….
Continue ReadingFDA Warns of Possible Nerve Damage from Certain Antibiotics
In 2011, the FDA reported that about 23.1 million patients filled retail prescriptions for an oral antibiotic in the fluoroquinolone class. About 3.8 million hospital patients that year received an injectable form of fluoroquinolone. That’s a lot of people who, according to a warning issued earlier this month by the federal agency, are at risk….
Continue ReadingWe Don’t Know Enough About Electronic Cigarettes
You’ve probably seen people puffing on what look like fat, fancy pens, and exhaling what looks like smoke, then vapor that disappears faster than smoke would. They’re electronic cigarettes-e-cigarettes-that offer nicotine but not smoke, and they’re increasingly popular among smokers who want the pleasure of their habit but not the ill health effects, and those….
Continue ReadingHospital Staff Shortages Harm Patients
In some ways, nurses are like cops: They all have stories to tell that make you simultaneously grateful you do not have their job and relieved that someone competent does. A commentary earlier this month in the New York Times written by Theresa Brown, an oncology nurse, warned about overtaxed nurses who have “too many….
Continue ReadingReport Debunks Many Ideas Blamed on Medical Malpractice Litigation
In a report issued this month by Public Citizen, the nonprofit that lobbies on behalf of consumer interests, the idea that medical malpractice lawsuits are responsible for a range of social and medical ills has been disproved. Again. The clunkily titled report, “No Correlation-Continued Decrease in Medical Malpractice Payments Debunks Theory That Litigation Is to….
Continue ReadingSurgical Errors — When Technology Is the Problem
Surgical errors are a common cause of medical malpractice lawsuits. Sometimes it’s the result of an horrific human mistake such as operating on the wrong body part or leaving a tool inside the patient. A new study shows that a significant number of surgical mistakes are caused by problems with the equipment or technology used…..
Continue ReadingLack of Oversight Promotes Dangerous Conditions for Health-Care Workers
Roofers, firefighters and athletes all have risky, injury-prone jobs. So do health-care workers. According to a recent report by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, nurses, nurses’ aides, orderlies and hospital/continuing care attendants suffer more musculoskeletal injuries than people working in any other profession. The reason, the report suggests, isn’t just because much of what….
Continue ReadingJudgment in Vaginal Mesh Trial Favors Plaintiff
Last month, we wrote about Donna Cisson, who had sued CR Bard Inc., which had sold vaginal mesh that the company itself had said was not suitable for human implantation. The mesh is surgically implanted to resolve urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, a condition in which the organs have dropped out of their normal….
Continue ReadingSuggested Reading— Patients at Risk in Assisted Living Facilities
Last month, the PBS show “Frontline” documented the horrors of some patients in assisted living facilities. The hour-long film was produced in conjunction with ProPublica, the investigative news organization. The “Frontline” production was but a tip of the iceberg of this major investigation exploring America’s largest assisted living company. It has about 500 facilities in….
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