May 2007

All Stories

TB and Andrew Speaker

in Uncategorized | 3 responses

ABC News with what he is likely to go through:

Thursday, doctors at National Jewish planned to try two more antibiotics against the extensively drug-resistant disease -- one oral, the other an intravenous injection.

Dr. Henry Boom, director of the tuberculosis research unit at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said such a "cocktail" is a common strategy for a resistant case like Speaker's.

Gupta on the TB scare

in Uncategorized | one response

CNN's Sanjay Gupta says it should be a wake-up call:

More than anything, I think this one case reflects deeper failings in our public health system. What if there were ten cases, instead of just the one? What if it were smallpox or a bioterrorism attack? Are we ready?

Why health care is expensive

in Uncategorized | 4 responses

Panda Bear minces no words:

1. Patients are not encouraged or expected to take personal responsibility for their own health . . .

2. As every insurance scheme insulates the patient from the true cost of health care, there is no incentive for patients to make good economic decisions . . .

3. The legal environment makes it impossible for anyone in authority to exercise common sense . ...

Gawande on health reform: "It is not single-payer"

in Uncategorized | 3 responses

His most recent op-ed talks about the health reform possibilities:

This is what that road looks like. It is not single-payer. It instead follows the lead of European countries ranging from the Netherlands to Switzerland to Germany that provide universal coverage (and more doctors, hospitals and access to primary care) through multiple private insurers while spending less money than we do. The proposals all define basic benefits that insurers ...

Brain surgery canceled six times

in Uncategorized | no responses

Due to "capacity" issues in Canada:

In March 2006, Mary Lou Frye had a seizure and drove off the Fraser Highway into a ditch.

A CAT scan revealed a golf ball-sized tumour behind her left eye. She had surgery in May 2006, but bleeding cut the operation short, leaving part of the tumour.

She now has two tumours in her brain, but since January Frye has had ...

The demise of Flea, who live-blogged his medical malpractice trial

in Uncategorized | 59 responses

Stunning news. The Boston Globe on Flea, his trial and how his blogging ultimately led from a possible victory to settlement:

As Ivy League-educated pediatrician Robert P. Lindeman sat on the stand in Suffolk Superior Court this month, defending himself in a malpractice suit involving the death of a 12-year-old patient, the opposing counsel startled him with a question.

Was Lindeman Flea?

Flea, jurors in the case ...

Is the pressure getting to Steven Nissen?

in Uncategorized | 2 responses

An anonymous blog posting has got him riled up:

Arbesfeld included in his e-mail a comment on a blog posting, originally published in the Wall Street Journal, that accuses Nissen of primarily criticizing manufacturers that do not support drug trials at the Cleveland Clinic: "Wake up, pharmaceutical companies "¦ if you don't hire the Cleveland Clinic for your big trials then you face the firing squad from Nissen and ...

Hypnosis show volunteer sues over psychological damage

in Uncategorized | 2 responses

There is no precedent for a case like this:

Johnson, then a senior at Hercules High School, volunteered with several other students to be hypnotized by Cady. But he and his mother allege in a negligence suit filed earlier this month that toward the end of the performance, "while still in a hypnotic trance, [he] proceeded to run out of the building, jump two flights of stairs and continued ...

Nurses as the latest drug reps

in Uncategorized | one response

Big Pharma is employing nurses to review charts, a precursor to pushing brand name medications:

One recent 18-month program sponsored by Pfizer and the National Health Service added nurses to hospitals to discuss management of chronic health conditions with patients. Sanofi-Aventis is paying nurses to train doctors' office staffs how to identify patients at risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Last fall, the British drug trade group temporarily suspended ...

Ritalin to boost exam scores

in Uncategorized | 14 responses

Just confirming what has always been suspected:

Parents are giving their children internet-bought "smart drugs" to boost their performance in the exam room, a psychologist has claimed.

Anti-hyperactivity medicines like Ritalin are being used as a "study aid", says Leicester University's director of education Paul Cooper.

Quarantine of a TB patient

in Uncategorized | 15 responses

He has drug-resistant TB and willfully disobeyed advice not to travel:

Federal and international officials are tracking down passengers and crew members on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month who may have been exposed to a man infected with an exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis.

The male passenger flew to Paris from his home in Atlanta on May 12 on Air France 385 and arrived in Paris on ...

Page 1 of 2012345678

Kevin Pho, MD

See all in: Pho

Physician

See all in: Physician

Patient

See all in: Patient

Policy

See all in: Policy

Tech

See all in: Tech

Social Media

See all in: Social media