As the epidemic of prescription drug abuse spreads nationwide, public health authorities are failing to protect patients from the criminal wrong-doing of opioid-addicted caregivers, the Denver Post has reported. The paper launched an investigation because of several prominent cases in the region, including a Colorado surgical technologist who infected hospital patients with hepatitis in 2008….
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Live long and prosper? It’s untrue for rural poor, especially white women
While the rich tend to live longer and generally prosper in their better health, the poor─and especially now less affluent whites and white women─ don’t fare nearly so well, new research says. And geography may be helpful to some of the poor in surprising ways. Major newspapers have been full of reports on death rates,….
Continue ReadingDoes racial bias by doctors hurt black patients’ ability to get adequate pain management?
The answer is “yes,” according to a new study which finds that medical students hold “fantastical” views about biological differences between blacks and whites, and this may result in blacks receiving less help in managing pain. Another new piece of research finds that doctors communicate with black patients worse than whites about important end-of-life decisions…..
Continue ReadingDoctor abuses show shortfalls in state licensing boards
California leads the nation in its number of practicing physicians─and some of those doctors are so awful they’re dangerous, Consumer Reports has found in its deep dive into state licensing boards and MD discipline. The magazine, in a cover story headlined “What you don’t know about your doctor could hurt you,” compiles some ghastly illustrations of….
Continue ReadingU.S. urges doctors to slash prescriptions for addictive painkillers
Uncle Sam has sent one of the sternest messages possible to doctors nationwide that they must slash their dispensing of powerful prescription pain-killers. These drugs, for which doctors wrote 249 million prescriptions in 2013, have been blamed in 165,000 fatal overdoses between 1999 and 2014, more than 420,000 emergency room visits in 2013, and the addiction….
Continue ReadingFor young, less educated whites, the disease of despair is hurting lifespan
For young white Americans, especially those with less education, drug overdoses and suicides are spiking death rates. The trend is nearly unprecedented and looks as grim to public health experts as if the nation were in the grips of a new, fatal infectious disease outbreak akin to the HIV-AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. That’s….
Continue ReadingPay attention to chest symptoms and save a life
No matter how hectic the new year becomes, here’s a quiet resolution that could save your life: Listen to your heart. It may be telling you something vital that you need to share with loved ones and caregivers. A new study has found that half of the patients who suffered sudden cardiac arrest, which kills….
Continue ReadingFor those suffering with back woes, a therapy option to manage pain
It’s the most common cause of job absences and disability for Americans younger than 45. It hits most of us at some point, and experts estimate that we spend more than $90 billion annually on its diagnosis and treatment. As I’ve written before, a bad back is one of the most painful and debilitating health….
Continue ReadingTapeworm talk? Maybe that’s one way to get health care attention
Just in time for Friday the 13th: Tired of the office jocks chin-wagging all day long about the Skins, Nats, Caps, and whatever? Weary of hearing other colleagues chatter about Kardashians, haute coture, or activities in trendy clubs with names that can’t be mentioned in family settings? Here’s a bizarre health-related topic that’s guaranteed to….
Continue ReadingProsecutors win rare murder conviction of M.D. in prescription drug deaths
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers but one voice among many that has declared that the United States is in the midst of a prescription drug abuse epidemic. As the CDC notes: “Since 1999, the amount of prescription painkillers prescribed and sold in the U.S. has nearly quadrupled, yet there has not been….
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