November 12th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Assault, Cambodia, Charity, Donate, Donut, Finance, Hospital Bill, Nursing, Orphan, Refugee
No Comments »
Sam Nouv runs a little donut shop about a mile from my house.
When John was in the hospital, that’s where I bought the donuts for the nurses.
After immigrating to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1987, Sam started working at the shop and by 1990 he owned it (Update via Steve in comments: When he was 13, his parents were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. He spent several years in a displacement camp in Vietnam before finally being sent to the States as part of an entire plane load of orphans).
With the exception of a few holidays, Sam is in the store every morning at 3:30 am and works until 6:00 pm.
Seven days a week.
His wife, Lori, works with him, but she wasn’t there on that Wednesday morning in October.
Thank God. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
November 12th, 2009 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Bariatric Surgery, Bypass, Gastric, General Surgery, Small Bowel, Surgery, Surgery Residency
No Comments »
I thought of not telling this story at all. Recently when it was in the news here it seemed wise to rather bury it altogether. But it is something I experienced and, after all, this blog is about my experiences, so…
Six years in a department gives you enough time to do a few things that can be legendary (like this story). This was one that most at the time thought was one. However, at the time it impacted me on a different level.
The surgery department had a fairly intensive academic session every Tuesday. The highlight was a discussion delivered by one of the registrars on some or other topic. He was required to reference the absolutely newest literature and the standard was very high. It was a big deal. Most guys spent a few months putting their talks together. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
November 12th, 2009 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, News
Tags: bite, Bleeding, Factor VII, Platelets, Rattlesnake, Treatment, wilderness medicine
No Comments »
In a recent issue of Wilderness & Environmental Medicine (Volume 20, Number 2, 2009), Anne-Michelle Ruha and Steven Curry have written an article entitled “Recombinant Factor VIIa for Treatment of Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage Following Rattlesnake Envenomation.” This is a “case report,” meaning that this is a description of a particular medical event, rather than a study.
To open the piece, the authors observe that North American rattlesnakes possess venom with properties that can cause severe physiological effects, such as low platelet count and, on occasion. bleeding. In this report, we learn about a 44 year old man who was bitten on the index finger by an unidentified (unknown for this case) species of rattlesnake. The victim developed massive gastrointestinal bleeding that was treated eventually with a product known as recombinant factor VIIa. His initial clinical presentation included an altered level of consciousness, profoundly low blood pressure (shock), sweating, and vomiting of bright red blood. Read more »
This post, Man Dies Of Internal Bleeding After Rattlesnake Bites His Finger, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
November 11th, 2009 by Richard Cooper, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Costs, Finance, Healthcare reform, Inequality, IOM, Poverty, Public Health
No Comments »
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has addressed seven key health care reform questions and offered answers that capture today’s consensus. No surprises, but good clear analyses. But what if the underlying conceptual framework is not an excessive use of services by wrongly incentivized providers but the tragic over-use of services by the poor? Here are seven “what ifs” plus an eighth question.
1. Is health care too expensive?
What if health care is the economy, the major source of jobs and the basis for America’s worker productivity? And what if the problem is an unfair insurance system and inequitable distribution of fiscal responsibility?
2. How much too expensive is it?
What if regional variation is not a manifestation of excessive spending but of income inequality and the intersection of wealth and poverty? And what if differences in price and economic development, rather than waste and inefficiency, differentiate costs among countries? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*
November 11th, 2009 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, Book Reviews, Quackery Exposed
Tags: Alternative Medicine, CAM, Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Family Medicine, Pharmaceuticals
1 Comment »
That’s the title of a new book by Melvin H. Kirschner, M.D. When I first saw the title, I expected a polemic against conventional medicine. The first line of the Preface reassured me: “Everything we do has a risk-benefit ratio.” Dr. Kirschner took the title from his first pharmacology lecture in medical school. The professor said “I am here to teach you how to poison people.” After a pause, he added, “without killing them, of course.”
He meant that any medicine that has effects has side effects, that the poison is in the dose, and that we must weigh the benefits of any treatment against the risks. Dr. Kirschner has no beef with scientific medicine. He does have a lot of other beefs, mainly with the health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and alternative medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
