The nation’s rising suicide crisis torments seniors, too, with just under one out of five such deaths in 2017 occurring with individuals 65 and older. Men 65-plus, experts say, face the highest suicide risk, while seniors 85 and older, men and women, rank No. 2 in groups most likely to die by taking their own….
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For patients facing high-risk operations, an alarm on hospital surgical volumes
Would a major league baseball team start a pitcher who played only once in the season for the deciding game of the World Series? Would passengers want to be aboard a jet whose pilot flew just once a year? Would any high-end sports car owner let a mechanic under the vehicle’s hood if she fixed….
Continue Reading‘Grass-roots’ vaccination foes funded by wealthy few
With children in tow and emotions cranked to the max, parents from coast to coast have protested officials’ efforts to protect the public’s health by requiring children to be immunized against contagious and infectious diseases that can cause great harm. A cornerstone of the vaccination resistance has been its proponents push to portray themselves as….
Continue ReadingConcerns rise over costly emergency intervention — a ‘bridge to nowhere?’
Medical ethicists and patient advocates are raising concerns about a big, costly, and often unsuccessful procedure that “pumps blood out of the body, oxygenates it, and returns it to the body, keeping a person alive for days, weeks or months, even when their heart or lungs don’t work,” the Kaiser Health News Service reported. Extracorporeal….
Continue ReadingIs this any way to learn you’re dying — hearing MDs chat outside exam room?
Ron Naito already had been rebuffed by one specialist about the severity of his illness. He was awaiting in a doctor’s examining room for his lab test results and a consultation with a second expert about his already advanced cancer. What happened next stunned the Portland, Ore., resident. But now he’s doing something to help….
Continue ReadingWith seniors, special focus can be beneficial — in tough surgeries and more
Recognizing that seniors face different health challenges than younger folks could help doctors and hospitals better safeguard older patients who undergo complex and demanding surgery. Paying heightened attention to age’s changes also can be beneficial to older adults in protecting themselves from damaging falls and getting retirees to keep moving to stay fitter — without….
Continue ReadingAfter thousands of lawsuits, FDA bans mesh used in pelvic prolapse procedures
After years of patient complaints about injuries and tens of thousands of lawsuits, the federal Food and Drug Administration yanked from the market a surgical mesh widely used to repair pelvic conditions in women. The agency has been slow to act on transvaginal mesh, which has been in use since the 1970s, with surgeons increasing….
Continue ReadingWith costly medical over-testing, causes can be blurry, solutions complex
Although experts estimate medical over-testing adds more than $200 billion in wasted spending in the U.S. health care system, reducing it can be hard, as we can see from one example in eye surgery. Let’s zoom in on cataract surgery, a procedure in which eye surgeons (ophthalmologists) aim to relieve the visual clouding that many….
Continue ReadingDoctors retreat on low-dose aspirin advice, underscoring that one size seldom fits all
After persuading as many as 7 in 10 American adults to take a daily low dose of a common painkiller to protect against heart disease and cancer, experts now say it is time for more nuanced advice on who should and who shouldn’t take the daily baby aspirin regimen. Recent studies have shown that the….
Continue ReadingOK, you’re sick and hurting. Can’t we still hit you up about donating to our hospital?
Already-admitted patients shouldn’t be flummoxed if they’re moved into a bigger, quieter, and nicer room. There, a fluffy complimentary robe may await them. They may receive a warm welcome from well-attired executives — those senior enough so their pictures may even hang in pictures on the hall walls. And, yes, make no mistake, their nurses….
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