From the monthly archives:

January 2005

January 31, 2005

The stress of returning to work on a Monday morning can trigger a dangerous increase in blood pressure“It may explain why deaths from heart attacks and strokes tend to peak on a Monday morning.
There are 20% more heart attacks on Mondays than on any other day.”

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January 31, 2005

NEJM with a medical mystery“A male infant was born at 38 weeks and 1 day of gestation with a weight of 3430 g. When the child was five months old, his mother noticed an unusual weight gain and a rash. He was referred for medical treatment at seven months of age. His weight was 8450 [...]

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January 31, 2005

Russian medical school is no walk in the park

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January 31, 2005

There really shouldn’t be any circumstance where chaperones aren’t used during intimate examinations

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January 31, 2005

Nonphysicians eager to prescribe medication
“‘A person who is not a physician ought to be able to practice within their training,’ Dr. Nelson said. ‘If they want to increase their scope, they should do it through education, not legislation.’”
Agreed. If you want to prescribe medication, go to medical school. Or get a DO, NP, [...]

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January 30, 2005

North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard M. Burr favors reforms in the legal system to rein in medical malpractice lawsuits, which he blames for the inflation in medical costs
I much prefer his stance than that of the man he replaced, John Edwards.

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January 30, 2005

Some hospitals are picking up the tab for malpractice premiums

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January 30, 2005

Proof that tort reform works
“Because of tort reform, malpractice lawsuits no longer can be counted on to police the profession.
In Harris County, the numbers of medical malpractice lawsuits have dropped precipitously since October 2003, when limits on non-economic damages (awards for “pain and suffering”) went into effect.
For the previous eight years, the number of malpractice [...]

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January 30, 2005

Kaiser bans painkiller Bextra
“It is the first time the nation’s largest HMO has refused to dispense a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration.”
I wonder when Celebrex will be next.

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January 30, 2005

Chris Rangel opines on how marketing worsened the Vioxx debacle
However, because of the heavy direct to consumer advertising by Pfizer and Merck a huge number of patients came to their doctors asking for these drugs even if they needed only short term treatment for aches and pains and had no history of and no increased [...]

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January 30, 2005

Blogborygmi talks about the computer glitch that caused the urology match to be re-run
Urology happens to be one of the harder specialties to match in. I wonder how many dreams were shattered by this.

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January 30, 2005

CodeBlueBlog calls Canadian health care consumers morons
“. . . when people are not responsible for their health care they become health care morons. You see, if someone else pays the bills then one doesn’t comparison shop, and one doesn’t compare results. One doesn’t get educated. You stay stupid.”

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January 30, 2005

Bill Frist writes about a utopian future of medicine in ten years
“I would like you to meet a patient from the year 2015. He lives in a world in which years ago America’s leaders made tough but wise decisions. They built on the best aspects of American health care and unleashed the creative power of [...]

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Away

January 28, 2005

I’ll be away from blogging for a few days. Have a nice weekend everyone!

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January 27, 2005

The New Yorker writes about Merck and Vioxx
“While that kind of weighing of risk and benefit may be medically rational, in the legal arena itÂ’s poison.” (via PointofLaw.com)

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January 27, 2005

Day 4 of the Susanna Martens trial brings out an expert witness for the plaintiff
This case was initially discussed here. Some highlights from today’s proceedings:

An expert witness testified today that Susanna Martens and her baby would have survived if Martens were given antibiotics at her initial doctor visit on March 14, 2000.
Martens and her [...]

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