The United States has spent billions of dollars to try to slash medical errors, the third highest cause of death in the nation. But computerized systems that allow physicians to enter their drug orders−a key tool in the fight against one of the most common cause of medical errors−aren’t yet stopping as many problem prescriptions as….
Continue ReadingArchives for April 2016
Does racial bias by doctors hurt black patients’ ability to get adequate pain management?
The answer is “yes,” according to a new study which finds that medical students hold “fantastical” views about biological differences between blacks and whites, and this may result in blacks receiving less help in managing pain. Another new piece of research finds that doctors communicate with black patients worse than whites about important end-of-life decisions…..
Continue ReadingFast takes on diabetes, sepsis, hyperparathyroidism, mental illness, Big Pharma hype
Here are some fast takes on some good reads─on diabetes, sepsis, schizophrenia, Big Pharma’s hype campaigns, and, yes, why some Terps are health information twerps. DIABETES: Uncle Sam says 29 million Americans have this condition of high blood sugar levels. It can “cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations” and….
Continue ReadingSilly chocolate milk ‘study’ leaves Terps looking like health information twerps
The University of Maryland has taken a hit to its credibility as a major research institution─and for one of the silliest reasons possible: The Terps, officials have conceded, showed almost no internal rigor nor basic research processes in promoting a product endorsement. Let’s give kudos to HealthNewsReview.org, a nonprofit health information watchdog, and local media….
Continue ReadingDoctor abuses show shortfalls in state licensing boards
California leads the nation in its number of practicing physicians─and some of those doctors are so awful they’re dangerous, Consumer Reports has found in its deep dive into state licensing boards and MD discipline. The magazine, in a cover story headlined “What you don’t know about your doctor could hurt you,” compiles some ghastly illustrations of….
Continue ReadingHospitals besieged by ransomware attacks, hacker assaults on patients’ records
Hackers are wreaking havoc on hospitals across the country with “ransomware” that locks up institutions’ computer systems until they pay off the miscreants. These high-profile incidents are just part of broader hacker attacks aimed at getting valuable patient information, experts say. The latest incident targeted 10 hospitals serving hundreds of thousands of patients in the….
Continue ReadingHigh-flying drug firms, CEOs take a fall — will price profiteering falter, too?
Although they may have been high-flyers just a few months ago, some big players in Big Pharma have gotten a brutal kind of karmic comeuppance for their craven business strategy of jacking up drug prices to maximize profits, the sick be damned. Financial journalists have had a field day chronicling the recent, spectacular fall of….
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