From the category archives:
Kevin Pho M.D. has written that a screening test incidentaloma can make healthy people ill. This is a theme that appears too frequently in the medical literature. When I previously addressed this issue in a prior article it did not then occur to me that the argument might be used to impair patients receiving recommended screening. [...]
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ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS in a recent New York Times article describes outrageous behavior by the clinical director and medical director of Harlem medical center. Under the direction of these former hospital officers (they have since been fired and demoted, respectively) the cardiology department of the Medical Center permitted 4,000 echocardiograms performed on patients suffering from suspected [...]
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Doctors knowingly fail to cooperate to make medicine safe because they would then be required to practice safe medicine, and be held accountable if they fail. In the recent issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology,[1] Drs. Strunk and Queenan in their advocacy for an administrative compensation plan to replace the tort system in providing compensation for [...]
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The March 8th New York Times publishes a remarkably insightful opinion piece by Atul Gawande. Gawande reminds us of a lesson learned long ago in a completely different professional context. In 1935 the U.S. Army Air Corps held a flight competition for airplane manufacturers competing for the privilege of building the next generation long-range bomber. [...]
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Natasha Singer, in her recent New York’s Times opinion piece suggests that saying you’re sorry is difficult in the health care industry. Indeed, her article addresses the pharmaceutical industry as well. It is interesting that this issue requires any discussion. We all learned as children the importance of apology in making right a harm resulting [...]
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In 1998 the United States Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the healthcare industry adopted a Patient Bill of Rights. The same year Pennsylvania enacted a Patient Bill of Rights allegedly for the purpose of providing quality healthcare accountability and protection under Act 68 of 1998. It is interesting that the legislature of [...]
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Kevin Pho, M.D in his medical blog, Kevinmd.com, invites a discussion concerning whether elderly patients should choose premature death at home rather than being subjected to the complications that are associated with geriatric admissions. He concludes that elderly patients admitted to emergency departments should be given the opportunity to choose going home rather than being [...]
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News-Medical.net also reports on the trial confirming the neuro protective effect of magnesium sulfate I earlier discussed in “If Mother Only Knew.” This report misses the point that many physicians still think the standard of practice still does not require that magnesium sulfate be administered to mothers threatening preterm delivery prior to 32 weeks. Rouse [...]
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The mother heard speaking in the above ad was present when a teenage driver recklessly careened down a quiet street striking her young son. The teen pulled into the nearby driveway of his home not even having realized he had hit and dragged the child. Miraculously, the child had only suffered severe scrapes and bruises. [...]
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I believe the public at large has for decades laboured under the impression that here we enjoy the best medical care available (Untrue. By most measures both Germany and France do better). Perhaps this is the reason that despite the real problems Americans have faced because of the increasing cost of health care the [...]
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