A few years ago, we wrote about a device on certain table saws that prevents amputations and other injuries from the collision of human anatomy and spinning saw blades. At the time, only one manufacturer, SawStop, used the safety measure because its competitors claimed that it would boost the cost of table saws above what….
Continue ReadingArchives for March 2014
Why Doctors Overprescribe Antibiotics and What to Do About It
According to a report released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of all hospitalized patients receive antibiotics. In some hospitals, doctors prescribe three times as many antibiotics as in others. According to the report, (and as we’ve often blogged), “Antibiotics save lives, but poor prescribing practices are….
Continue ReadingRate of Early Deliveries Drops
Last week we blogged about the growing awareness of the wisdom of letting pregnant women take their time in labor, instead of rushing them into a cesarean section. This week, there’s more good news on the child delivery front: Hospitals are cutting down on early deliveries. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, pressure from….
Continue ReadingBoy’s Death from Misdiagnosis Points Up CDC’s Inadequate Sepsis Information
More than a year ago, we wrote about Rory Staunton, a boy in New York who fell into septic shock because a hospital misdiagnosed his problem as a stomach bug. Septic shock is a deadly result of sepsis, an overwhelming immune response to infection that triggers a host of responses that, left unchecked, lead to….
Continue ReadingHow to Find Out If Your Doctor Has Been in Trouble
A man with back pain was advised to have a spinal fusion by a well-regarded surgeon to whom he had been referred by another doctor. The procedure, which fuses individual vertebrae together in the hope of alleviating pain, is serious, as all surgery is. The patient wanted to make sure this surgeon was a good….
Continue ReadingFear Mongering and Thyroid Cancer
The always-perceptive Gary Schwitzer at HealthNewsReview.org shines his truth-telling light on what appears to be an epidemic of thyroid cancer, but turns out to be an epidemic of diagnosis. As always, his interest is in careful analysis and context, not attention-getting statistics. Schwitzer refers to a recent study in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck….
Continue ReadingCarbon Monoxide Poisoning — Are You at Risk?
Cold weather invites more danger than just frostbite and a bad back from shoveling snow. And the danger is invisible, and deadly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 430 people are killed each year from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas that can….
Continue ReadingObstetricians Call for Fewer Cesarean Sections
You know when a professional association recommends doing fewer procedures for which its members get paid, there’s probably a good reason. That’s the case with delivering a child by cesarean section. The American Congress of Obstetricians and gynecologists (ACOG) recently called on its members and all medical practitioners to stop doing so many C-sections. As….
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