November 26th, 2009 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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I was supplied these photos by someone who found my blog and then corresponded with me regarding their injury. He had injured his fingers in a motorcycle accident six weeks previous to our “meeting.” He understood that I could not be his treating physician and keep his questions respectful of that. I am grateful to him for the use of his photos as they show how healing occurs.
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*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
November 26th, 2009 by admin in Better Health Network, Quackery Exposed, Research
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By Dr. Amy Tuteur
Waterbirth has been touted as an alternative form of pain relief in childbirth. Indeed, it is often recommended as the method of choice for pain relief in “natural” childbirth. It’s hardly natural, though. In fact, it is completely unnatural. No primates give birth in water, because primates initiate breathing almost immediately after birth and the entire notion of waterbirth was made up only 200 years ago. Not surprisingly, waterbirth appears to increase the risk of neonatal death. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
November 25th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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I was part of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism’s “Health and the Blogosphere” conference/brainstorming session last week. Bloggers and other health writers were invited to give input on a new professional training program, and I was honored to be a part of that group.
I took away so much more than I contributed. An unexpected focus (for me) was the idea of taking the blogosphere dialog about our own health (”my health”) and expanding that into a discussion about the health of our communities (”our health”).
But haven’t we’ve been doing that for the last year, health care reform having been debated ad nauseam?
Well, no. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
November 25th, 2009 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion
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Read Seth Godin’s most recent post, The Amateur Scientist. In a way that only Seth can do he tells how our culture has turned us all into authorities. Important stuff.
I couldn’t help but think how this applies to the Internet and our health. Unrestrained access to information has got us all thinking we know more than we do. Godin wasn’t writing about the amateur physician but he might as well have been.
Missing from the black bag of the amateur physician is a tool called clinical judgment – the pivotal substrate necessary to tie together objective clinical information. Clinical judgment is the foundation of good medical decision-making. But you won’t find it on the Internet. It can’t be found in the cloud or the hive. It isn’t free and it’s tough to get. Read more »
November 25th, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Health Policy, Opinion
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How widespread is Medicare fraud? The government is now reporting Medicare fraud rates almost three times higher than previously accounted for, at 47 billion dollars this year. How could Medicare Fraud triple in a year? The answer is simple.
In an effort to be more honest with data collecting, Obama ordered the new accounting into effect. All part of the hope and change we always hear about.
It’s not clear whether Medicare fraud is actually worsening. Much of the increase in the last year is attributed to a change in the Health and Human Services Department’s methodology that imposes stricter documentation requirements and includes more improper payments — part of a data-collection effort being ordered government-wide by President Barack Obama next week to promote “honest budgeting” and accurate statistics.
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*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*