Patient Safety Blog

DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog

• Big Medicine can’t hide patient inequities by calling them ‘disparities’ in care April 17, 2018
  Big Medicine can paper over its troubles with basic fairness by slapping fancy terms on them: take “health and gender disparities,” for instance. But doctors, hospitals, and the rest of us can’t make medical care more equitable, accessible, safe, and affordable without looking at inequities, square on. That’s why the New York Times, Washington Post, […]
• Will opioid crisis raise red flags for long-term antidepressant use? April 15, 2018
  Even as the nation enters an even scarier phase in its battle against the raging opioid abuse epidemic, new and sterner warnings are flying about antidepressants. The costs of these powerful drugs add up, as does the toll of depression and its care. Users say antidepressants are a nightmare to get off of. And medical […]
• Are we back to this? Kids targeted by nicotine and sugary cereal peddlers April 13, 2018
  Big Tobacco, Big Sugar, and technology may be targeting the well-being of young people faster than regulators can prevent them from heading back to the future in a bad way:  Teens getting hooked on nicotine, while tots take in excess calories with super sweet breakfast cereals. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times […]
• Lack of money can make you sick April 11, 2018
  Although the United States remains the world’s most affluent nation, it also is a country where money plays a driving, negative role in its people’s well-being. Sudden financial losses  may shorten some Americans’ lives, while dismal finances may keep many others from seeking medical care. So why are politicians still pushing to slash the nation’s […]
• Hospitals give patients and taxpayers too many causes for high anxiety April 10, 2018
  Hospitals may be providing us all with too many causes for high anxiety, with reports on increasing findings of “nightmare” bacteria stalking more health care facilities than had been known, more disclosures about how taxpayers may foot an even bigger bill to deal with a beleaguered public hospital in Washington, D.C.,  and a respected reform […]