It has been nearly 50 years since the surgeon general’s report on smoking laid out the truth for the Average Joe about the dangers of smoking. Smoking rates have declined by about half since then, but despite ongoing education efforts, misconceptions about tobacco abound in the U.S. As detailed in a recent story on ScienceDaily.com,….
Continue ReadingArchives for November 2013
Medtronic Cardiac Guidewire Warning
The procedure to implant a cardiac stent, which keeps blocked arteries open, includes inserting guidewires to move the device into place. Federal health officials have issued a warning about a defect in some Medtronic guidewires that might cause serious injury, or even death. The FDA classified the company’s Oct. 21 recall as Class I. That….
Continue ReadingCongress Passes Compounding Pharmacy Bill
Last week, Congress made a big leap forward in protecting patients from contaminated drugs when it passed legislation to give the FDA greater authority to monitor compounding pharmacies. Those are manufacturers of medicine that tailor drugs and doses for individual patients with specific prescriptions. The legislation was prompted by last year’s outbreak of meningitis and….
Continue ReadingQ&A: Buying Health Insurance on the Obamacare Exchange for Self-Employed People
This week, in another post in our series to help consumers understand the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”), experts from NPR address how self-employed people may use the state or federal exchanges to purchase health insurance. Assuming, of course, that the balky websites are improving… Q: If you are self-employed, can you get insured….
Continue ReadingMarketing the Latest Drug Fad, Testosterone
Hey guys, worried about “Low T”? That’s the drug industry’s marketing slogan for alleged low levels of the male hormone testosterone. Brand name prescription testosterone products are now being marketed to the tune of $107 million per year in advertising aimed at anxious aging males and their doctors. That number comes from a New York….
Continue ReadingEating Nuts and Plotting Forests
This week’s New England Journal of Medicine has a fascinating study that followed 115,000 health professionals for upwards of 30 years to see if regularly eating nuts – walnuts, peanuts and others – was associated with fewer deaths. The answer is “yes,” and you can read details from the source here. Today’s blog uses this….
Continue ReadingTestosterone Therapy Might Carry Heart Risks
Among the subjects we’ve filed under “disease mongering” – “the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments,” as defined by the journal PLoS Medicine – are men who take hormones for testosterone deficiency when they don’t need them. Some people have legitimate….
Continue ReadingPrescription Privacy Is a Myth
In recent months, Los Angeles Times consumer columnist David Lazarus has disclosed the scummy practices of several national pharmacy chains, including misleading, if not outright lying, about charging customers for prescriptions they didn’t order, and telling them that their flu shots aren’t covered by their insurance plans when, in fact, they are. In a column….
Continue ReadingFaster Drug Approvals May Carry Additional Risks for Patients
The way new drugs are tested and approved for market is changing, and, according to a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine, if you’re a patient, the change is not necessarily for the better. As described on Reuters.com, “New drugs that receive expedited review by the Food and Drug Administration are being tested on fewer….
Continue ReadingHow Should a Doctor Handle Disclosure When Another Doctor Hurts a Patient?
A thoughtful analysis published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) grapples with the difficult position a physician is in when he or she believes a colleague has committed a mistake that hurt a patient. It’s an urgent question, and a common issue for those of us who represent patients in malpractice….
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