Canadian researchers have come up with at least 2,500 reasons why elite surgeons should reconsider their own wishes and practices to protect patients undergoing hip surgeries from significant post-operative complications. They could do so by curbing even more their dual surgeries, in which they dash between two operating rooms. A new study has found a….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2017
Big, rich hospitals can do much more to battle asthma, opioid drug abuse
Even as they rake in big bucks and ride a tsunami of mergers and consolidations sweeping the U.S. health care system, big hospitals and academic medical centers must step up on patients’ behalf, doing much more, for example, to battle America’s growing asthma woes and the opioid drug abuse epidemic. Kaiser Health News, the Capital….
Continue ReadingIt’s clear to see: Cataract surgery can extend and improve women’s lives (and men’s too)
Cataract operations, performed on more than 3 million Americans each year, not only may be the most common surgeries in the nation—they also may be life prolonging, especially for older women. A 20-year study—published in JAMA Ophthalmology— of more than 74,000 women who were 65 and older and who had the all too common clouding….
Continue ReadingFor holidays, consider helping others and yourself with gifts of life and health
Looking for a gift with more meaning for a holiday season of higher purpose and lasting impact? Here are some ideas: Protect yourself and your loved ones. Pronto. If you qualify for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, sign up, immediately. Go to healthcare.gov to learn more and to launch the process. The….
Continue ReadingExperts wave red flags about health harms tied to road warriors’ hard travels
Tens of thousands of Americans will hit the skies in the next few days, struggling to squeeze in that last bit of business before the holidays shut down 2017 opportunities. Are these business travelers harming their own health? The New York Times has put up an interesting report on the ubiquity and stress of business-required travel,….
Continue ReadingA Kansas reminder: Nursing homes over-reliant still on antipsychotic drugs
When families and friends visit Kansas nursing homes, they may be startled to see how listless and lethargic their elderly loved ones may be, especially if the facility residents suffer from dementia. There’s a sad, simple, and likely reason—the seniors may be drugged up with potent anti-psychotics. The Kansas City Star deserves credit for providing….
Continue ReadingDoes modern medicine give patients with major brain trauma really fair care?
Nick Tullier once was a handsome, strapping sheriff’s deputy in Baton Rouge, La. Then, in a blink, he and five others were gunned down by a former Marine and black separatist who had come from Missouri to Louisiana to kill cops. Tullier was one of three deputies who survived the attack. What happened next to….
Continue ReadingTax bill will have big health care effects, none of them good
It may take days, weeks, years, or even a decade to fully determine what the Republicans in Washington have done to the nation’s health care with the U.S. Senate’s middle-of-the-night approval of more than $1 trillion in changes to the U.S. tax code. But it will at least be big, and maybe huge. The House….
Continue ReadingAre smart phones & e-devices putting teen-aged girls in harm’s way?
Teen-aged girls are turning up in increased numbers for emergency treatment at hospitals because they have cut, burned, poisoned, or otherwise tried to harm themselves. This disturbing trend may be linked to the obsession by the young, especially girls ages 10 to 14, with smart phones and their aggressive online, but weak real world, social….
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