Dean Ornish injects himself in the health reform debate

Health Policy
September 14, 2009

It looks like The Huffington Post’s honorary Medical Editor, Dr. Dean Ornish, walked into the same trap that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey did.

Mackey got a lot of flack when he wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on health care reform, one in which he emphasized the need for personal responsibility for our health.

Ornish, in an effort to inject himself into the current debate, blogged, Don’t Tread on …

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Dean Ornish injects himself in the health reform debate

What does Tiger Woods have to do with medical futility and end-of-life care?

Conditions and Diseases
September 14, 2009

by Michael Kirsch, MD

Consider this hypothetical vignette. Tiger Woods accepts my challenge to play 18 holes. Obviously, the gallery would be packed with golf enthusiasts who would cancel job interviews, vacations and even worship services in order to witness this historic competition. Spectators would be permitted to place bets at even money. Perhaps, my mother would bet on me, but no other sane person would. They would properly conclude that …

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What does Tiger Woods have to do with medical futility and end-of-life care?

How comfortable are compression stockings for post-surgical thromboprophylaxis?

Patient
September 14, 2009

by Crystal Phend, MedPage Today

“Every 10 years a doctor should be the patient,” said my doctor, squeezing me into pair of compression stockings that would make a sausage casing seem spacious by comparison.

medpage-today “Seems like a good idea,” I thought, as I lay there on the table feeling optimistic about the opportunity for first-hand experience.

It was my first minor …

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How comfortable are compression stockings for post-surgical thromboprophylaxis?

Violence in the emergency department and how to promote ER safety

Physician
September 12, 2009

by Patricia B. Allen, MBA, RN

What would you differently tomorrow if you had a violent episode in your emergency department today?

Violence in the ED is a growing and alarming phenomenon. A recent survey conducted by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) revealed that 25 percent of the RN respondents report experiencing physical violence more than 20 times in the past three years and 20 percent of the respondents revealed encountering …

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Violence in the emergency department and how to promote ER safety

Op-ed: Why the doctor won’t see you now

Health Policy
September 12, 2009

The following op-ed was published on August 20th, 2009 in CNN.com.

When President Obama recently cited the number of Americans without health insurance, he declared that, “We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women, and children.”

Uninsured patients often delay preventive care, waiting to seek medical attention only when their conditions worsen. This leads to more intensive treatment, often in the emergency department or hospital where …

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Op-ed: Why the doctor won’t see you now

Advice for President Obama’s health care reform plan

Health Policy
September 11, 2009

Prior to President Obama’s address to Congress on health reform, I asked myself, “What would I tell the President?”

First and foremost: go for it. All of it. Health care in America is too important, both economically and morally, to be left adrift in its current state. Its focus is wrong. It costs too much. And not everyone who needs it is able to have it.

Two rules that have served me …

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Advice for President Obama’s health care reform plan

Why health care savings accounts should play a larger role in reform

Health Policy
September 11, 2009

by Charles W. Patterson, MD

Health care reform has long been one of my main interests and currently, it seems to be everyone else’s. The President said he thought a single-payer system would be best, but submitted a proposal he thought could be passed. The outcome is in doubt.

Actually, the single-payer system is the second best possible solution. The government would hold the money but would remain vulnerable to political manipulation, …

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Why health care savings accounts should play a larger role in reform

An analysis of Barack Obama’s health care reform speech to Congress

Health Policy
September 11, 2009

by Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today

In Wednesday’s address to Congress and the nation, President Barack Obama made a number of statements about healthcare reform, some involving issues that would directly affect medical practice. MedPage Today examined five of Obama’s statements to add context to the sound bytes.

medpage-today The Statement:

“I don’t believe malpractice reform is a silver bullet, …

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An analysis of Barack Obama’s health care reform speech to Congress

AMA: How to prepare for seasonal and H1N1 influenza

Conditions and Diseases
September 10, 2009

The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American Medical Association.

by Nancy H. Nielsen, MD

This year’s flu season promises to be different than in years past. With the potential of both seasonal and H1N1 influenza circulating this year, it is more critical than ever that health care professionals proactively talk to their patients about influenza.

Many patients will be confused about who needs the H1N1 …

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AMA: How to prepare for seasonal and H1N1 influenza

A patient dies after doctors fail to communicate in the operating room

Physician
September 10, 2009

by Jerry I. Meyers, Esq.

Communication is essential between health care providers but sometimes communication fails because of the arrogance or carelessness of the persons involved in the needed medical communication.

Several years ago, a female client about to enjoy an important anniversary was admitted to a University affiliated hospital for the purpose of having a colostomy wound debrided.

This was to be a one-day inpatient hospital procedure and was associated with little …

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A patient dies after doctors fail to communicate in the operating room

A routine brain MRI can lead to incidental findings

Conditions and Diseases
September 10, 2009

by Nancy Walsh, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today

Almost 3% of healthy, asymptomatic people who underwent MRI brain scans showed incidental abnormalities in a recent study, leading researchers to express concern about psychological and medical fallout from these increasingly popular screenings.

medpage-todayIn meta-analysis of MRI brain scans, the prevalence of neoplastic incidental findings was 0.70% (95% CI 0.47 to 0.98), while the …

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A routine brain MRI can lead to incidental findings

Family caregivers are the unsung heroes of our health system

Patient
September 9, 2009

Long term care is a hot topic. When people talk about long term care, they are generally talking about nursing homes. Policy makers put a lot of attention on nursing homes because they cost so much money. About half of nursing home care is paid out of public dollars. In California, in the setting of our state budget fiasco, the high cost of nursing home care to the state has …

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Family caregivers are the unsung heroes of our health system

Does counseling kids to lose weight and increase exercise work?

Patient
September 9, 2009

by Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Overweight and obese children who received counseling from a family doctor did not lose more weight or get more exercise than youngsters who did not receive counseling, Melissa Wake, MD, of Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and colleagues reported online in the British Medical Journal.

medpage-today Because the screening and counseling are so expensive, …

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Does counseling kids to lose weight and increase exercise work?

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The value of a cancer diagnosis second opinion

Conditions and Diseases
September 8, 2009

Here are words any patient awaiting cancer surgery would be thrilled to hear: “We are canceling your upcoming operation! It turns out that the suspicious changes we saw on your recent biopsy are completely benign.”

This happy turn of events happened in my life recently, thanks to a second opinion from a type of physician few patients realize plays a critical role in their care: the pathologist.

Pathologists are medical doctors who …

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The value of a cancer diagnosis second opinion

Do resident work-hour restrictions increase surgical complications?

Medical Education
September 8, 2009

by Chris Emery, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today

Reductions in resident physician work-hours at teaching hospitals in 2003 were associated with an increase in complications related to surgery to repair hip fractures, a new study found.

medpage-today The rates of pneumonia, hematoma, renal complications, and blood transfusions associated with hip surgery rose disproportionally at teaching hospitals compared to other hospitals after resident …

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Do resident work-hour restrictions increase surgical complications?

Rising health care costs and the tax preference for employer-based health insurance

Health Policy
September 8, 2009

by Robert Berry, MD

In his column, David Brooks of The New York Times effectively compares our rapidly rising health care costs to “a stampede of big ugly rhinos.” What he ignores, however, is the huge elephant in the room that is largely responsible for this rhino stampede – the tax preference for employer-based health insurance.

This tax preference – enjoyed primarily by employees of large businesses and government at …

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Rising health care costs and the tax preference for employer-based health insurance

What Mozart can teach us about superbugs and antibiotic resistance

Conditions and Diseases
September 6, 2009

by Maya Sequeira

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s death in 1791 has long been a mystery, but a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that it was, of all things, a common strep infection that killed the maestro at the age of 35.

Researchers speculate that Mozart contracted the strep infection—easily treatable today—from a fellow musician who had been hospitalized at a crowded military hospital in Vienna. It’s not …

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What Mozart can teach us about superbugs and antibiotic resistance

The drama of using tPA in stroke within the three-hour window

Conditions and Diseases
September 6, 2009

Before telling this story, I’m going to have to lay some background for my non-medical readers.

The most obscene word in English, in my opinion, has three letters and is an acronym. It’s tPA (it stands for Tissue Plasminogen Activator).

This drug gets a lot of press as a “clotbuster.” It has the potential to break down clots and reverse a stroke. That potential, however, has a dark side. By breaking down …

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The drama of using tPA in stroke within the three-hour window

eRoentgen for the iPhone puts a radiologist by your side

Conditions and Diseases
September 5, 2009

The following is a sponsored guest post by Constantine Brocoum, a radiologist in Concord, NH. I have personally used eRoentgen, and recommend the product without reservation.

by Constantine Brocoum, MD

Like most inventions, eRoentgen was developed to respond to a need. As a practicing radiologist, I take frequent calls from primary care providers who need assistance in choosing the smartest way to diagnose their patients’ illnesses. They often need …

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eRoentgen for the iPhone puts a radiologist by your side

10 things your insured patients need to know about health care reform

Health Policy
September 4, 2009

by Paula Hartman Cohen

My husband and I live in Massachusetts, a state that already has health care reform.

On April 12, 2006, our state legislature enacted a law requiring all residents to have health insurance.

They could buy it themselves, they could buy it from their employer through a group plan or, if their income was below a certain level, they could buy it from the state at a reduced rate. This …

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10 things your insured patients need to know about health care reform

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