Earlier this week, we wrote about a Senate subcommittee hearing on patient safety, and how one major form of harm comes from adverse reactions to drugs. A new program within the FDA hopes to reduce those problems by finding drug-related problems by searching medical record databases. As explained on NPR.org, the effort is supposed to….
Continue ReadingArchives for July 2014
Hospital Settles Case of Doctor Who Photographed His Patients
There’s no doubt that Dr. Nikita A. Levy was a creep of the highest order, a gynecologist who secretly recorded his patients’ intimate body parts during routine exams. Last week, the hospital where practiced agreed to pay $190 million to more than 7,000 women. Although Levy killed himself last year during the investigation of his….
Continue ReadingExplaining the Mixed Legal Decision on Health Insurance Subsidies
Two U.S. courts of appeal last week issued conflicting rulings about the government subsidies many people need to enable them to buy coverage under the health-care law. The mixed messages heaped confusion – and fear – onto the government-sponsored health-insurance market. Survey after survey shows that Americans support the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”),….
Continue ReadingSenate Hears Testimony About Woeful Record of Patient Safety
Medical experts told a Senate subcommittee earlier this month that the health-care community’s efforts to monitor and prevent patient harm are insufficient. They implored Congress to do more to prevent deaths and injuries in hospitals and other health-care settings. “Our collective action in patient safety pales in comparison to the magnitude of the problem,” Dr…..
Continue ReadingDo We Have a Winner in the Overtesting Games?
We’ve seldom seen a more shocking example of overtesting than the one identified by Harriet Hall on ScienceBasedMedicine.org. In an article called “An Egregious Example of Ordering Unnecessary Tests,” Hall describes the adventures in primary care experienced by a friend’s healthy 21-year-old son who sought a routine physical. He had no complaints, no past history….
Continue ReadingTexas Might Decide Radiologic Techs Don’t Need a License
Texas has about 28,000 licensed X-ray technicians, but if the state follows the recommendation of an advisory commission, the piece of paper that certifies that they’re qualified to dose you with radiation won’t be necessary. The state, according to the Texas Tribune, might decide that radiologic technologists, as well as several other categories of health….
Continue ReadingCounterfeit Equipment for Spine Surgery Spurs Lawsuits
Some sleazy California surgeons and their enablers, it seems, have pulled a General Motors: They used substandard equipment that caused, if not fatalities, at least several thousand injuries to patients undergoing spinal operations. The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) discovered that the doctors implanted counterfeit screws and rods manufactured in a small machine shop, into….
Continue ReadingTestosterone-Suppressing Drugs Are a Bad Idea for Many Prostate Cancer Patients
For many men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, drugs commonly are prescribed to suppress their production of testosterone. Despite its frequent use, these drugs have not been shown to extend patients’ lives, and they have devastating side effects of what is colloquially termed “chemical castration.” As reported last week in the New York Times, “androgen….
Continue ReadingLegal Remedies for Patients Harmed by Unsafe Injection Practices
“Law as a Tool to Promote Healthcare Safety,” an article recently published in Clinical Governance: An International Journal, discusses how the legal system can punish health-care providers who engage in unsafe injection practices, and deter them, and others, from putting future patients at risk. As we wrote in our blog “Safe Injection Practices Are not….
Continue ReadingHow to Shop Smartly for a Plastic Surgeon
When a celebrity “has work done” and the job goes wrong, it’s splashed all over the tabloids. When it happens to you, it doesn’t make the news, but the results are equally devastating. Dr. Patrick Hsu, a plastic surgeon, recently wrote on KevinMD.com that the number of people having plastic surgery is increasing, and that….
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