Here are the top posts from this past week, based on the number of times they were viewed.

1. $11,000 hospital bill from the emergency department. “What am I going to do now Doc?” asked Mike, a down on his luck, 29 year–old recently unemployed truck driver, as he handed me his hospital bill.

2. 10 most expensive errors in healthcare settings. In the US, avoidable medical errors added $19.5 billion to the nation’s healthcare bill in 2008.

3. Choose your primary care physician with particular care. I told a friend what I did recently to get in to see a dermatologist and she was shocked.

4. Should nurses become doctors to save primary care?. Do nurses want to be doctors? Of course many do.

5. Open dialogue on medical malpractice and patient safety. A public airing of some of the key issues relating to the malpractice system (which is flawed in a number of respects) and the health care system (which is not free of its own flaws) would lead to improvement in patient safety and the betterment of both systems.