A lot of people have colds and flu this time of year, and a lot them buy over-the-counter medicine to help them feel better. But the sheer number of remedies is overwhelming, as is the variety of symptoms they supposedly treat. What’s a consumer to do? A recent article in The Atlantic offered useful information….
Continue ReadingArchives for February 2015
Experts Advise How to Prepare for Surgery
Anyone who’s ever had surgery or helped a loved go through it knows it’s scary, even when the outcome is terrific. To help patients wrap their minds around a possible date in the OR, Dr. Edward H. Livingston offered advice in a recent issue of JAMA, “What to Ask Your Surgeon Before an Operation.” Following….
Continue ReadingNursing Homes Use Guardianship to Hold Patient Families Hostage in Fee Disputes
After Dino Palermo disputed the bills from the nursing home where his wife had lived for four years and that had doubled his copays, after he had raised concerns about its inexperienced employees, he received a guardianship petition filed by the nursing home. It sought full legal power over Mrs. Palermo, 90, and complete control….
Continue ReadingFor Hospitals, Medicare Giveth and Taketh
Part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“Obamacare”) was greater accountability in hospital care, and Medicare payments were structured according to how well hospitals performed. After crunching the feds’ data for those standards last month, a mixed picture emerged. As reported by KaiserHealthNews.org (KHN), most hospitals Medicare graded on overall quality are getting bonuses…..
Continue ReadingJoan Rivers’ Death Prompts Malpractice Lawsuit
Last year, the sudden death of comedian and commentator Joan Rivers from what was supposed to be a routine procedure spurred an investigation by federal investigators, and now, a lawsuit for malpractice by her daughter, Melissa. In August, Rivers went to Yorkville Endoscopy, an outpatient clinic in New York, for treatment of throat problems. Something….
Continue ReadingTop Reasons Internists Are Sued
More than half of all malpractice lawsuits filed against internists were due to two kinds of errors, according to a study published last year that sought to figure out why internal medicine practitioners were sued, and how successful the plaintiffs were. The research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, disclosed that improper diagnoses and medical equipment….
Continue ReadingWhy the CDC and the FDA Offer Different Advice About Flu Drugs
According to the best data scientists can get their hands on, antiviral drugs like Tamiflu can shorten your bout with the flu by maybe a day; maybe by only a few hours. So why does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend people with flu symptoms get a prescription for these expensive drugs?….
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