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 ReadingSurgery
Patients Benefit from Getting Second Opinions
When a doctor knows that his patient would receive better care elsewhere, should he inform the patient and send him to another provider? While this question is yet to be settled among bioethicists and physicians themselves, authors of an article published recently in the journal, Public Library of Science Medicine, think doctors have an ethical….
Continue ReadingSenator Kennedy’s Health Care and Yours
It is instructive and interesting to read about Senator Edward Kennedy’s treatment for his brain tumor. The linked article describes the change in direction between May 20th of this year, when Kennedy’s brain cancer was first disclosed and surgery was not discussed as a possible treatment, and two weeks later, when neurosurgeons performed a “successful”….
Continue ReadingMedicare Won’t Pay for Injuries Caused by Hospital Neglect
Starting October 1, 2008, Medicare will no longer pay for eight hospital-acquired conditions that could be prevented if hospitals followed the proper guidelines. Those eight conditions are bed sores, objects left inside the patient during surgery, falls that occur when the patient is in the hospital, blood incompatibility, air embolism, mediastinitis (infection of the area….
Continue ReadingLasik’s Painful Side-Effects
Lasik is a popular laser surgery done on the eyes to correct vision. However, last week Lasik patients went to Washington D.C. to speak to the Food and Drug Administration on harmful side-effects that they experienced as a result of the surgery, including the following: (1) Severe eye pain (2) Dry eye (3) Blurred vision….
Continue ReadingStudy Supports Reduction of Older Blood Use in Transfusions
A new study shows that heart surgery patients are more likely to die or suffer other problems if they get blood that has been sitting on the shelf for more than two weeks. The study, entitled Duration of Red-Cell Storage and Complications After Cardiac Surgery, was published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine…..
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 ReadingHospital Commits 3rd Brain Surgery on the Wrong Side of the Head
Rhode Island Hospital has, for the third time this year, done a brain surgery on the wrong side of the patient’s head. The hospital has been fined $50,000 and has received a reprimand from the state Department of Health. In this most recent instance, the patient was 82 years old. Fortunately, the patient was unhurt….
Continue ReadingPlastic Surgery: Still Safe, but Know the Risks
The risks of plastic surgery have been in the news lately thanks to the death of Donda West, mother of Kanye West. West died following a “tummy tuck,” a common plastic surgery operation. At this time, the cause of her death is unclear. In the wake of her death, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons….
Continue Reading