If the number of emergency rooms go down and the number of medical emergencies rise, it stands to reason that the average waiting time in emergency rooms would get longer, resulting in more problems and even deaths. That is exactly what is happening right now in the U.S, as a new study from Harvard Medical….
Continue ReadingU.S.A. Has the Most Preventable Deaths
Out of nineteen industrialized nations, the U.S. has the most deaths that could have been prevented by access to timely, effective medical care. Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine performed the study, looking at deaths before the age of seventy-five caused by numerous diseases and complications. They….
Continue ReadingWhere are the Illinois Hospital Safety Reports?
By January 1st of this year, Illinois was to have established a system for reporting and reviewing egregious hospital errors–e.g. sponges left inside patients after surgery. But it has not done so. Illinois has also failed to fulfill other elements of the hospital safety legislation the state passed four years ago. For instance, the Illinois….
Continue ReadingHospitals Dangerously Slow in Treating Heart Attacks
It is safer to have a heart attack in an airport or casino than in a hospital. Why? One reason is that many hospitals still rely on old-fashioned defibrillators rather than the newer ones found in public places. The new ones are fully automated, faster and easy to use. Chances of surviving a heart attack….
Continue ReadingStudy Finds Anti-Psychotics Do Not Curb Aggression
Anti-psychotic drugs such as Haldol and Risperdal were developed to treat schizophrenia, but have recently been used for much broader purposes. They have been used to treat aggression in people suffering from everything from attention-deficit disorder to depression to the intellectually handicapped. A new study finds, however, that these drugs are no more effective than….
Continue ReadingThe Pain of Medical Error: Not Just Physical
Guilt, fear, and further isolation plague families of victims of medical error, says the New England Journal of Medicine. Why guilt? Because families feel like they should have kept a closer watch on their loved one, and regret the trust they placed in the health care institution or its workers. This guilt persists even if….
Continue ReadingReducing Medical Error Through Talking
Critical thinking, communication and honest working relationships between doctors and nurses leads to better patient care. This sounds like common sense, but it is also the result of an analysis done by Dr. Barbara Loeb and RNs Mary Sue Dailey and Cheryl Peterman. In brief, the three main areas that need improvement and hold potential….
Continue ReadingHigher Risk of Leukemia Linked to Anemia Drugs
A thirty-year analysis shows that anemia drugs produced by Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson raise the risk of leukemia incidence. The following drugs are implicated in this study: Aranesp and Epogen (by Amgen Inc.), and Procrit (by Johnson & Johnson). In addition, the steroid danazol was linked to higher risk of leukemia.
Continue ReadingShould Hospitals Pay for Their Mistakes?
What happens when a hospital makes a mistake in medical care, and the harm to the patient results in the need for another medical treatment? It used to be that the patient was charged for this subsequent treatment, which would have been unnecessary but for the hospital’s error. An article in the Journal of the….
Continue ReadingElder Abuse: Nursing Homes Often Use Anti-Psychotics to “Maintain Order”
Shockingly, nursing homes having been giving elderly residents anti-psychotic drugs–not to combat actual psychosis, but rather to quiet symptoms of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia and make the patients more docile and controllable. This overuse of anti-psychotics is so rampant that it accounts for why Medicaid has recently spent more money on anti-psychotics than….
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