Do large doses of vitamins really help ward off health problems, including insomnia, fatigue, digestive disorders, and impaired immune system? A number of recent scientific studies challenge the long-held popular belief in the disease-preventing power of vitamin pills, which cost Americans $23 billion a year, Tara Parker-Pope reports in a New York Times article. A….
Continue ReadingGeneral
Beware of “Natural” Weight-Loss Supplements Tainted with Potent Drugs
In a recent initiative against contaminated weight-loss products, the FDA finds 69 drugs to be contaminated with prescription drugs and chemicals, and expects the list of brands to grow even longer in the next few weeks, reports Natasha Singer of the New York Times. A complete list of the tainted drugs found so far is….
Continue ReadingAnnual Inspection May Reduce Deaths from Oral Cancer
One of the less common forms of cancer, oral cancer was diagnosed in about 35,300 Americans last year and caused the death of 7,600 people. Although oral cancer is one of the easiest to detect and diagnose, the five-year survival rate is only 59%, and more than 60% of cases are diagnosed in the late,….
Continue ReadingMaking Surgery Safer by Using Checklists
An international research team has shown that death and complication rates from surgery can be dramatically improved by using simple checklists to make sure that safety measures are taken before, during and after each operation. The research project, involving nearly 8,000 patients at eight hospitals around the world, was done as part of the World….
Continue ReadingA Good Doctor is More than Well-Mannered
The convenience of the Internet allows consumers to evaluate and compare their experiences with anything from piercings and dog walking to a visit to their doctor’s office. Although the website ratings may be helpful in an initial survey of local doctors, patients should not look to them as their sole source of information when determining….
Continue ReadingAbnormalities in Scans Can Be Misleading
A torn meniscus that shows up on the MRI scan may not be the reason why your knee is hurting. For Cheryl Westein, who demanded an MRI and saw a torn cartilage on the scan, the culprit behind her painful knee was actually arthritis. Gina Kolata in a New York Times article reports recent scientific….
Continue ReadingSeroquel’s Manufacturer Knew Drug Could Cause Diabetes
Seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic drug used to treat mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But patients who take Seroquel are 70% more likely to become diabetic than those who don’t take this drug, a risk that the drug manufacturer AstraZeneca was aware of as early as 2000. Joe Schneider and Margaret C…..
Continue ReadingTired Resident Doctors Prone to Error
Despite reforms in medical training, many resident doctors are still sleep-deprived and therefore more likely to make mistakes than well-rested doctors in training, according to an Institute of Medicine study, as reported by Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times. In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education capped resident doctors’ working hours at….
Continue ReadingStatins in Every Medicine Cabinet? Patients Need to Read the Numbers
Millions of people with normal cholesterol levels in their blood could be started on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs based on a new research study, but if patients understood the numbers behind the study, they might not move so fast to put statins in their medicine cabinet. Every patient can benefit from a closer understanding of how….
Continue ReadingRules for Doctors and Patients
Tara Parker-Pope recently wrote two articles discussing fundamental rules for doctors and for patients. The rules for doctors can be boiled down to respect for the patient’s feelings and understanding that they did not come to the office in order to waste the doctor’s time for the sheer pleasure of it. Dr. Robert Lamberts, who….
Continue Reading