Linking the USPSTF mammogram guidelines to their virtual colonoscopy recommendations

Conditions and Diseases
January 7, 2010

by Mark E. Klein, MD

“I think anytime you use science to kind of fundamentally change what people are used to, I think it’s a difficult thing to grapple with.” So spoke Ned Calonge, chair of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in explaining the reaction to that group’s recommendation to radically alter their previous guidelines for breast cancer screening. Regrettably the incorrect application of science, as in …

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Linking the USPSTF mammogram guidelines to their virtual colonoscopy recommendations

Doctors owe their patients some fiduciary responsibility

Physician
January 7, 2010

Originally published in HCPLive.com

by Jeff Brown, MD

Fiduciary responsibility is the obligation for people entrusted with financial affairs to act in their client’s best interest, theoretically being both transparent in their dealings and accountable for them. Typically, this applies to CPAs, lawyers, financial advisers and the like. Would that it were also true for our legislators, but that’s a story for another day. To the point, physicians do not usually think …

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Doctors owe their patients some fiduciary responsibility

How effective is CA 125 and other biomarkers to screen for ovarian cancer?

Conditions and Diseases
January 7, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American Correspondent

Rising blood levels of several biomarkers show the presence of ovarian cancer — just not early enough.

That’s the conclusion of a retrospective longitudinal case-control study of levels of half a dozen proteins linked to the disease, according to Garnet Anderson, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in …

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How effective is CA 125 and other biomarkers to screen for ovarian cancer?

The story behind a whistleblower doctor license reinstatement hearing

Physician
January 6, 2010

After the LA County + USC Medical Center closed my Pain and Palliative Care Service because of budget cuts in 1995, I spoke out publicly about the dysfunctional financial reimbursement system funding charity care in LA County.

For example, when my consultation service controlled the pain and distressing symptoms of over 400 terminally ill cancer and AIDS patients per year and discharged them to home hospice programs, the hospital lost about …

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The story behind a whistleblower doctor license reinstatement hearing

Despite no cure, progress in the treatment of HIV/AIDS

Conditions and Diseases
January 6, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American Correspondent

It’s 1984. A 20-year-old homosexual man walks into the clinic complaining of swollen glands.

It could well be a death sentence.

It is only three years since the first handful of cases of what would come to be known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) were described. Little is known about …

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Despite no cure, progress in the treatment of HIV/AIDS

Public hospitals are the unsung jewels of our healthcare system

Physician
January 5, 2010

Public hospitals have a bad rap. They’re viewed by many as hospitals of last resort, and most patients with private insurance do anything to avoid them.

As a long-time physician in a public hospital, I’m sensitive to this reputation. I wouldn’t work in my hospital if I didn’t feel that it delivered excellent health care. I’m certainly aware that private hospitals have amenities that public hospitals can’t afford, but many of …

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Public hospitals are the unsung jewels of our healthcare system

Will physician and hospital penalties improve patient care?

Health Policy
January 5, 2010

Originally published in HCPLive.com

by Alan Berkenwald, MD

In 1904, the Scottish author Sir James Matthew Barrie sent Peter Pan off to Never-Never Land to escape growing up and to enjoy many-many adventures. As children, we all hoped it really existed. In truth, many of us fantasized, one day, to make the trip ourselves.

Well, good news for physicians – that day has arrived!

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Will physician and hospital penalties improve patient care?

How patients are dying from H1N1 infection

Conditions and Diseases
January 5, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Michael Smith, MedPage Today North American Correspondent

Brazilian researchers have found three distinct patterns of lung damage in patients who died of the H1N1 pandemic flu.

They also found evidence of a so-called “cytokine storm,” a runaway immune response associated with the lung damage, according to Thais Mauad, MD, PhD, of Sao Paulo University Medical School, …

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How patients are dying from H1N1 infection

How can medical guidelines be immune from politics?

Conditions and Diseases
January 4, 2010

The recent uproar over the new screening mammography recommendations got me thinking about a lot of stuff. One of the lessons cited by some journalists and pundits is on how potentially volatile information should be presented to the public. The USPSTF was excoriated by critics not only for what it said, but how it said it. While the objections over the former can be dismissed as ravings of loud and …

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How can medical guidelines be immune from politics?

What’s the most popular way to diagnose a pulmonary embolism?

Conditions and Diseases
January 4, 2010

Originally published in MedPage Today

by Chris Emery, MedPage Today Contributing Writer

Emergency physicians and radiologists overwhelmingly choose computed tomography (CT) imaging to diagnose pulmonary embolism, a potentially deadly blockage of lung arteries, a new study found.

Ninety percent of radiologists and 96% of emergency physicians use CT as their first-line choice for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, according to a report …

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What’s the most popular way to diagnose a pulmonary embolism?

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