From the monthly archives:

December 2006

Medical Bankruptcy: Myth vs Fact

December 30, 2006

Recently, medical bloggers like NHS Doctor have referenced Himmelstein’s classic study which claims 54.5% of all bankruptcies filed in 2001 were medically related. However, as happens all to often, people fail to critically analyze published articles that support a particular preconceived viewpoint. Researchers David Dranove and Michael Millenson have published an [...]

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Documentary: The Man with the 7 Second Memory

December 30, 2006

Clive Wearing has the most severe case of amnesia ever and this clip from his documentary is both amazing and bizarre . . .

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On April 1st, Canadaian Pharmcists will be Allowed to Prescribe

December 30, 2006

I love and respect pharmacists, but they are not diagnosticians and their desire to be able to “prescribe medications independently” puts the patient at a significant risk. Even more alarming is that the new law will allow pharmacists to fill “emergency supplies” of narcotics which is a disaster waiting to happen when drug-seekers skip [...]

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What Makes a Good Doctor?

December 30, 2006

DB is asking patients and doctors to submit what they feel are the three most important traits for a great physician to have . . .

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Classic WOO: Teachers Produce ‘Pharmaceuticals’

December 30, 2006

Respectful Insolence has a classic post on the pseudoscience that is Airborne. I can’t help but think that if teachers are so good at curing the common cold, why don’t they try their hand at cancer?

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Consultant Check-ups After Surgery to be Scrapped to Cut Costs

December 30, 2006

The NHS would prefer patients to see their GP for post-operative care rather than waste the “precious time and expertise” of the surgeons.

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Doctoring The Truth About The Uninsured

December 29, 2006

This article from the Pacific Research Institute is a few years old now, but since we continue to talk about the ‘46 million uninsured,’ I’d like to share some statistics . . .
. . . a fourth of the 35 million uninsured adults are under 24, and half are under 35.
And the uninsured aren’t the [...]

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Three-year-old blogger’s inspiring chemotherapy diary

December 29, 2006

Samantha Hughes has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma and her blog documents her struggle.
The youngster’s diary - called simply “Samantha’s Story” - is written in the style her parents think she would use if she could pen it herself.

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Health Care is a Right, unless . . .

December 29, 2006

You’re obese, or smoke, or drink . . .Then the NHS will deny you ‘priority treatment.’

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The Impact of Killing & How to Prepare the Soldier

December 29, 2006

PBS has a series of excellent interviews with mental health professionals and soldiers about the psychological consequences of war.
I think it is a very important thing to understand that when your friends are wounded or dead, it’s a real loss. It’s a loss of your friend that you trusted and you loved in a very [...]

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Want to get out of hospital fast? Then don’t go in on a Thursday

December 29, 2006

Wait, we spent money studying this? Could this have anything to do with the fact that most doctors don’t work over the weekend . . .

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New York Dialysis Care Named ‘Worst’

December 29, 2006

This is a result of New York state’s ban on national dialysis chain centers even though they have been shown to provide superior care when compared to independent providers.

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Most Americans Want Public Policies to Prevent Obesity

December 29, 2006

Lets start with government mandated exercise . . .

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The Worst Comic Book Medicine of 2006

December 29, 2006

Scott over at Polite Dissent as compiled a list of the worst medical mistakes in the comics this year. My favorite was “the worst OR scene” from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3, complete with an “arterial bleed of the ‘vena cava.’

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Pseduo-Journalism: Health Care Olympics

December 28, 2006

Its as sad as it is scary if this is accepted as ‘legitimate journalism’ . . .

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