November 9th, 2009 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Death, Emergency Medicine, Form Letter, Homicide, Mistake, Scott Hawkins, UC Davis, UC Davis Medical Center
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Wow. Just wow:
Hospital bill stuns slain student’s parents
By Sam Stanton
“It was just devastating and insulting,” Gerald Hawkins said Monday. “It’s just hard to grasp for words. My wife and I were near collapse.”
On Saturday, 10 days after Scott Hawkins was beaten to death inside his dormitory at California State University, Sacramento, his parents got a letter in the mail.
It contained a bill from the UC Davis Medical Center for $29,186.50 along with a form letter addressed “Dear Patient” that implied they were indigent and stated that the hospital no longer could provide them services.
“UC Davis can no longer provide follow-up care or any other non-emergency care to you,” it read. “Please go to a County clinic for all non-emergency care or to get a referral to another doctor.”
For Gerald and Elizabeth Hawkins, it was just too much to bear.
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*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
November 8th, 2009 by Richard Cooper, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Atlas, Dartmouth, Healthcare reform, Outcomes, Poverty, Practice Variation, Quality, Regional Variation
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Is poverty the major factor underlying geographic variation in health care? It assuredly is. There is abundant evidence that poverty is strongly associated with poor health status, greater per capita health care spending, more hospital readmissions and poorer outcomes. It is the single strongest factor in variation in health care and the single greatest contributor to “excess” health care spending. It should be the focus of health care reform but, sadly, many provisions in the current bills will worsen the problem.
Much of this is discussed elsewhere on this blog and in our recent “Report to The President and The Congress.” In this posting, I would simply like to tap into your common sense. We all know that poverty is geographic. There are wealthy neighborhoods and impoverished ones, rich states and poor ones, developed countries and developing ones. Sometimes poverty is regional, as in Mississippi, but sometimes it’s confined to “poverty ghettos,” as in the South Bronx. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*
November 8th, 2009 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Quackery Exposed
Tags: Cialis, Erectile Dysfunction, FDA, PDE5, Stiff Nights, Supplements, Urology, Viagra
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I should probably create a new blogpost category just for erectile dysfunction dietary supplements adulterated with authentic or synthetic analogs of prescription phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors (e.g., Viagra, Cialis).
However, FDA has already created a page for this earlier this year after dozens of companies have been identified as putting real drugs into their erectile dysfunction products.
Do the brains behind these companies not realize that FDA is now monitoring every erectile dysfunction supplement for all manner of PDE5 inhibitors?
Apparently not: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata - PostRank (PostRank: All)*
November 8th, 2009 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Gastroenterology, Interview Skills, Moms, Parenting, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Pediatrics, Questions
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I can spend 20 minutes interviewing a parent about their child and still not really understand them. During a consult, my interview centers on the objective elements in a child’s history. When evaluating a child for abdominal pain, for example, I have a panel of questions that cover what I need to know to generate a starting hypothesis.
But none of it helps me understand Mom.
Understanding where the parents are at is critical to both understanding a child’s problem as well as pitching a plan of care. Whether it’s revealed to me or not, parents often come to me with an agenda. If my plan doesn’t meet with their view of the situation, it’s going to be much harder for me to help that child get what she needs.
So at the end of my interview (usually when washing my hands) I launch one or all of the following questions:
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*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
