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Mistakes are Common in US Hospitals
submitted by: admin on 10/11/2013
About one in three people in the US will encounter some kind of medical mistake during a hospitalization. The number of mistakes has been seriously underestimated as new studies show that there are about 10 times more errors than previously believed. We cannot depend on health care practitioners to admit their errors unless there's no other option. A tool...
Music Benefits Surgical Patients
submitted by: admin on 10/11/2013
A study out of the University of Kentucky published in November of 2012 in the Southern Medical Journal showed that music therapy can benefit patients pre-operatively, intra-operatively, and post-operatively. They found that patients needed less sedative medication, recovered more quickly, had shorter ICU stays, felt better, and had lower hospital...
Obama's Selection for HHS
submitted by: admin on 11/23/2024
Whoever heads up HHS should be an experienced MD who knows about health care. Lifestyle needs to be promoted, not more disease care. Promoting wellness is critical to cut costs and turn to wellnes and prevention. There are no qualified candidates that are being considered.
Over-treatment in the ICU is Common
submitted by: admin on 10/12/2013
A JAMA survey of almost 2000 doctors and nurses in the ICU in January of 2012 revealed that they believed there is often too much care adminstered to patients. Only occasionally was there insufficient care. Advance directives need to be honored and treatment decisions often require input from multiple sources that include the family, physician, spiritual...
Overdiagnosing Hypothyroidism?
submitted by: admin on 11/23/2024
We cannot rely solely on blood tests to access thyroid function; they miss too many people with hypothyroidism. Measuring the basal metabolic test is the gold standard to diagnose hypothyroidism.
Potatoes are the Richest Veggie Source of Potassium
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
The potato has gotten a bad rap! It is good for lowering blood pressure and it is the richest and most economical veggie source of potassium. It has many other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients such as vitamin C and catalase. The cost of potassium rich white potatoes was half that of most other veggies. It is what we put on the potato that can get us into trouble....
Preventive Medicine Saves Money but Early Detection May Not
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Seventy five percent of health care spending is for preventable chronic diseases. If you can prevent these diseases from occurring, it stands to reason that it will cost far less to deal with them. However, there is massive confusion about what preventive medicine is. What it is not is early detection.
Preventive medicine requires living a healthy...
Radical Healthcare Reform and the Future of Medicine
submitted by: admin on 11/23/2024
Health care reform (HCR) is a necessity, but little true HCR is on the table for either Democrats or Republicans. Republicans want to privatize or abolish Medicare and Democrats want to increase taxes to fund skyrocketing health care costs. Neither approach represents HCR; they merely address how the present health care system might be sustained.
Dean...
Should MDs be Paid for Performance?
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Pay-for-performance schemes financially reward MDs for hitting special numerical targets such as hospital stay, readmissions, use of certain drugs, and cost controls. An article in the August issue of the British Medical Journal take the position that pay-for-performance will do more harm than good by changing the mindset of the physician. The Accountable Care...
Should Medical Research Forego Placebo Testing?
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
The results of a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial re-opened debate on whether it is ethical to conduct placebo-controlled studies because it puts those in the placebo group at the disadvantage of not being in the treatment arm. One could make the point that placebo is not really necessary because all that needs to be done is to see if patients...
Sigmoidoscopy an Option for Colon Cancer Screening
submitted by: admin on 06/18/2016
The May of 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that sigmoidoscopy rather than colonoscopy could be used to screen for colon cancer. A clinical trial of 150,000 people was done where half had sigmoidoscopy and the other have nothing. They were followed over 12 years and over that interval there were 89 fewer cancer deaths and 275 more colon...
Smoking
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Smoking is one of the most difficult addictions to break. It is also responsible for more than 400,000 deaths annually in the US and at a cost of $500 billion. The tobacco companies spend $20 billion per year to advertise their products. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke. The tobacco industry has added a number of chemicals that make it even...
Smoking Causes Unnecessary Deaths
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Smoking accounts for more than 400,000 deaths every year in the US. The causes are identified and the mechanism of action discussed. Stronger controls to prevent these unnecessary deaths are needed.
Smoking: An Indepth Review
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Dr. Len and Nurse Vicki review the dangers and health costs of smoking and second hand smoke. They review the varied increased risks for cancer, heart attacks, strokes, emphysema, and asthma. The callousness and greed of the tobacco industry is highlighted. This is a very indepth review of smoking and its effects on our health and our economy.
Solving the World's Biggest Problem
submitted by: admin on 12/11/2013
Health care in the world has become unaffordable and we can no longer sustain our present health care paradigm. Unless we take care of ourselves by living a healthy lifestyle we will not be able to survive financially. People are living much longer today than even a decade ago and the younger generation is unable to pay for the cost of the epidemic of chronic...
Statins Cost 400% More in the US than the UK
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
In the US the cost for statins for people under age 65 and who have insurance is about 400% higher than in the UK according to an article in the journal Pharmacotherapy. There are also about 1/3 more prescriptions sold in the US. The power of Big Pharma is mind-boggling. There is a desperate need to rein their power and create a system based on service rather...
Steroids Can Cause Osteoporosis in 3 Months
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
Glucocorticoids such as Prednisone and Prednisolone can cause osteoporosis within 3-6 months of use and lead to fractures, especially vertebral fractures. Nearly 5% of women in the US are on these drugs for a variety of conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, vasculitis, and a myriad of skin disorders. The risk...
Surprise: Bone Drug Boosts Survival in Young Breast Cancer Patients
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
Zometa, a bisphosphonate drug used to prevent bone metastases in women with breast cancer, was serendipitously found to reduce metastases and extend life by 37%. This translates to 4-5 out of 100 being alive 7 years later. An IV infusion was given every six months for 3 years. Cost is between $1500 and $2500 per injection. All patients were early-stage and had...
Talking Cancer with Burton Goldberg
submitted by: admin on 10/16/2013
Mainstream cancer treatments are not very effective for most cancers. There is a wealth of information about CAM approaches that are promising and Burton optimistically describes some of them.
Telemedicine
submitted by: admin on 11/23/2024
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could email your physician when you're too sick to go to his office! I do this regularly in my practice and don't even charge for emails. Patients love it and it saves time and builds excellent rapport with them; and that builds my practice. Email makes it possible to communicate when it is convenient to doctors and patients. Connection...
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