From the monthly archives:

November 2004

"I eat a lot of ice"

November 30, 2004

A reader writes:
This was the chief complaint of a 45-year old female. She’s been doing this for several months, but worse over the past several days. She would go into the freezer and nibble on ice cubes and ice chips constantly throughout the day. No other complaints, and does not have any other abnormal food [...]

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November 30, 2004

Grand Rounds 10
Come get your weekly best of the medical blogosphere.

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November 29, 2004

Why Good Friends Don’t Always Make Good Doctors
“Even when someone is quite ill, the doctor can’t worry about hurting the person or the person’s feelings. Sorry, but the next biopsy or the next surgery or the next awful test must be done. Trying to soften the blow in the name of friendship invites disaster. Stated [...]

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November 29, 2004

Backing off of VBAC
I was going to blog on this story from the NY Times today, but Bard-Parker writes an excellent commentary regarding this.

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November 29, 2004

A nation of hypochondriacs?
“The ads routinely urge consumers to consult their doctors. But they also encourage them to ask for specific drugs. Doctors are trained as medical experts, but they are also trained to empathize with patients. When a patient demands a specific drug, doctors can experience significant conflict if they refuse to prescribe it. [...]

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November 29, 2004

Should we allow direct to consumer advertising of prescription medications?
“Even though I have been an advocate of free markets in the business of health care, I have not thought that direct to consumer advertising (DTC) is such a good idea. In my opinion, DTC of prescription medical products is inherently problematic. It is way too [...]

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November 29, 2004

MRI backlash: Crackdown on costs of imaging
“Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, based in Wellesley, Mass., started a preauthorization program in July. Practices are required to submit information to National Imaging Associates, a radiology utilization management firm based in New Jersey, before ordering a test. About 10% of the time, doctors end up having to discuss [...]

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November 28, 2004

Rising costs force hospitals to end use of midwives
Another casualty of rising malpractice costs.

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November 28, 2004

Doctor: Illinois Would Do Well To Follow Wisconsin’s Example
“Wisconsin has drawn six obstetrician-gynecologists (Ob-Gyns) from LGH. These doctors have reportedly fled Illinois to practice medicine under cheaper insurance premiums. In Wisconsin, Ob-Gyns pay $23,677 in yearly medical liability premiums, while the same doctor in Cook County pays $230,428 annually. . .
Because Illinois has eliminated punitive [...]

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November 28, 2004

What’s the problem with medicine from Canada?
“If you listen to drug companies such as Pfizer or Merck, or to Bush administration health policy officials such as Tommy Thompson or Mark McClellan, or to congressional leaders such as Bill Frist, you will hear that it is absolutely necessary to ban drug imports from Canada to protect [...]

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November 28, 2004

Q&A: Doctor examines drug companies’ role in care
An interview with Dr. Jerome Kassirer, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, talking about the relationship between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry.

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November 26, 2004

CSI Medblogs: A Death in Error . . . What happened to Mary McClinton?
Another excellent installment by CodeBlueBlog, this time discussing a recent case where a patient was mistakenly injected with chlorhexidine.

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November 26, 2004

Florida Passes Three-Strikes Malpractice Law
“. . . the lawyers ‘trumped the doctors’ with the three-strikes amendment, because lawyers will rush to sue in the hope that doctors will settle to avoid a ’strike.’”

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November 26, 2004

Many See Hope in Parkinson’s Drug Pulled From Testing
“If a company stops developing a drug for safety or efficacy reasons, is it obligated to continue supplying it to patients from its clinical trials?”

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Grand rounds: Call for articles

November 26, 2004

DoctorMental has given out his contact information to submit Grand Rounds articles for the upcoming week. Deadline is this Monday, November 29th, 9pm. Prior weeks are archived here.

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