Cardiac stress testing can be a useful tool to assess heart function, but since it became trendy for companies to subject their executives to treadmill stress tests as part of their annual checkups, the technology has grown too big for its britches. That’s paraphrasing the results of a study published recently in the Annals of….
Continue ReadingArchives for November 2014
Electronic Medical Records Can Frustrate Doctors and Threaten Patients
When it comes to medical malpractice, doctors are concerned about something the rest of us haven’t thought much about -the use of electronic medical records. Writing on Medscape.com, Neil Chesanow, senior editor of the site geared toward health care practitioners, explains how a doctor can be sued if his or her medical records compromise patient….
Continue ReadingDoctor Demonstrates How Malpractice ‘Reform’ Won’t Cut Health-Care Costs
Like abortion, gun control and Obamacare, medical malpractice is a hot-button issue that makes people claim crazy things to make a point. People who want the truth about the effect of malpractice “reform” on the cost of health care should listen to Dr. Aaron E. Carroll. Writing last week in the New York Times, Carroll,….
Continue ReadingAn Epidemic of Overtreatment
We all know about epidemics of infectious disease — that’s how the science of epidemiology got its name in the 19th century when the cause of cholera was first traced by statistics to a contaminated water well in London. But here’s what a modern epidemic looks like — this one not an epidemic of disease….
Continue ReadingWhat to Ask Before Renewing Your Health Insurance Coverage
As the Affordable Care Act’s insurance program gears up for its second enrollment period this month, many observers believe the process to be much improved. But that doesn’t excuse people who sign up on a public insurance exchange from doing their homework. Open enrollment starts Nov. 15. According to the New York Times, Obama administration….
Continue ReadingAsk Before You Mix Meds and Supplements
A lot of people believe that dietary supplements they buy over the counter are merely nutritional insurance, but many of these can have unexpected side effects when taken with other medicine. Guidelines recently issued by the FDA warn consumers about the risks of mixing popular dietary supplements with medications. As explained on AboutLawsuits.com, people risk….
Continue ReadingLawmakers Prefer to Protect Off-Road Vehicle Industry Instead of Consumers
Off-road vehicles are fun, and dangerous, but certain members of Congress are more interested, it seems, in supporting vehicle manufacturers than in beefing up safety measures to protect consumers who ride them. As reported on the investigative news site FairWarning.org, a dozen U.S. senators have written to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) seeking to….
Continue ReadingThe Costs of Overdosing on Prescription Painkillers
A couple of years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quantified the severity of American’s problem with opioid overdoses, and a newspaper investigative report showed how prescribing doctors enabled the problem with these narcotic painkillers. Now, a new story quantifies the actual cost of prescription drug overdoses based on emergency room patients…..
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