Although Americans may have particular wishes as to how their lives might close out, they aren’t getting these optimal outcomes for themselves and their loved ones. Instead, the much-desired option of dying at home is proving to be stressful and draining to the extreme for families, and, when it comes to the dreaded loss of….
Continue ReadingArchives for February 2020
That $ —.99 sale isn’t a deal. ‘Left-digit bias’ isn’t great for health care, either.
Highly educated and rigorously trained doctors may be just as susceptible to a built-in bias that bargain-seeking consumers yield to when they hit stores seeking 99 cent goods, buy into TV hype for $19.99 wares, or fall for a salesman’s pitch for a used car priced at $17,999. Ivy League researchers call the cognitive flaw….
Continue ReadingFight against virus focuses on global clusters
U.S. public health officials have gotten off to a rocky launch with their plans for more routine testing in at least five cities for Covid-19, the respiratory virus that has sickened tens of thousands and killed thousands, mostly in central China around the city of Wuhan. The American screenings signal how authorities around the globe….
Continue ReadingUniversity of Michigan doctor accused of decades of sexual misconduct
The University of Michigan is investigating allegations that Robert E. Anderson, former head of the university health service and physician to UM football teams coached by Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr, sexually assaulted youthful patients across decades. Anderson worked for the university for more than 30 years and died in 2008. As the New York Times….
Continue ReadingSafety roundup: New cautions on headlights, off-road vehicles, and groceries and food recalls
Consumers need to stay informed and to protect their own interests, especially because big businesses — whether they’re car makers, grocers, or manufacturers of off-road vehicles — may put their own interests ahead of public safety. With car makers, a leading highway safety group has spotlighted how only a select few of these global enterprises….
Continue ReadingWill voters buy $1 trillion in U.S. health care cuts, as ’21 budget proposes?
President Trump’s 2021 budget proposal is thicker than an old-fashioned phone book. Lots of the document became little more than chaff the instant it was printed, due to the likelihood of big changes in the spending plan by congressional Democrats and lawmakers of the president’s own party. The fiscal wish list, unsurprising at its contents were, may….
Continue ReadingWhen organs get shipped as cargo, delays and losses become disastrous
For tens of thousands of patients anxiously awaiting lifesaving transplants, a new media investigation has provided what must be heart-breaking news on the laxity with which dozens of donated organs get transported, causing them to be lost or delayed “cargo” and rendered unusable. The nonprofit, independent Kaiser Health News Service and the Center for Investigative….
Continue ReadingBattle may be in new phase against the virus now named Covid19
The spreading virus that has sickened tens of thousands and killed thousands — mostly in central China in Hubei province and its big capital city, Wuhan — now has a name: Covid19. Public health officials hope that this moniker, along with new images of the virus, will make talking about this disease easier and reduce….
Continue ReadingFederal regulators stumble with vaping, social media, talc, and kids car seats
As snarky youngsters might say, “Well, OK, Boomer:” Federal watchdogs keep looking more than a little pitiful as they find they not only have fallen behind the times but keep racing to chase trends and technologies that have zoomed beyond their control. In the meantime, consumers suffer the consequences. Recent news reports show, for example,….
Continue ReadingA top U.S. health official can’t get his. Which is why we need records reforms.
Federal regulators may be on the brink of not only protecting but also advancing patients access and use of a key component of their care: their electronic health records. Or will bureaucrats fold up in the face of a muscle campaign by corporate interests and hospitals? To its credit, the giant Health and Human Services….
Continue Reading