June 24th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in News
Tags: Emergency Medicine, News, Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation
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I was reading about disease statistics today and came across some interesting information. See if you can guess the condition based on these factoids:
Time of injury:
Summer season (highest incidence in July)
Most common on the weekends (usually Saturday)
Most common at night
Average age at injury: 31.7 years old
Gender: 82% male
Number of new cases per year in the US: 10,000
So, have you guessed the condition?
Fireworks injuries perhaps? Binge drinking? Syphillis? Sasquatch attacks? Nope, guess again…
The answer is…
Spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injuries are most often caused by motor vehicle accidents (44%), followed by violence (24%), falls (22%), sports (most are diving) 8%, and other issues 2%. The most common level of injury is in the neck, resulting in paralysis of all four limbs.
Why should we be worried about Saturday nights in July? Because that’s when people are at the highest risk for spinal cord injuries. School’s out, drinking and partying commence, and young men (more commonly than women) may drive while intoxicated and crash their cars. Please be careful this summer everyone, no one thinks they’ll be in an accident, until it’s too late.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
June 12th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in News
Tags: Illicit Drugs, Infectious Disease, News, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Urology
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TRUE: New York City adults have more genital herpes than the national average (26% versus 19%). One commenter replied, “Well, that’s what you get from ‘Sex in the City.'”
FALSE: A practical joke sparks Internet health myth: cell phones can cook an egg or pop popcorn. People really will believe anything.
FALSE: Some folks in India swallow live fish to stimulate coughing and to “clean the esophagus” and cure asthma. Must be an interesting feeling to have a live fish swimming around one’s stomach! Of course this doesn’t work. h/t to Happy Hospitalist
TRUE: More and more Muslim women are having their hymens restored so that they will appear to be virgins on their wedding night. I wonder about those women who are born with small or nearly absent hymens? Will they be punished? And what about the men who made the women non-virgins? This NYT story is quite upsetting.
TRUE: The media misrepresents health information 2/3 of the time. Fewer and fewer people are willing to take the time to get a story straight. When perception is nine-tenths of reality, science and truth are in jeopardy.
TRUE: Marijuana smokers enjoy lax laws in Mendocino County, California. It’s legal to keep up to 2 pounds of marijuana and 25 live plants in one’s home. How much marijuana does one really need for medical purposes?
FALSE: Gummy bears do not have internal organs. However, this artist has a wonderful imagination.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
May 26th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in News, Opinion
Tags: Finance, International, Medical Malpractice, News
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American physicians are appropriately frustrated about the high cost of medical malpractice insurance, and the frequency with which false and/or exaggerated claims are filed against them. In the Philadelphia region, a spine surgeon must pay upwards of $300,000.00 a year in malpractice insurance. The law allows Obstetricians to be sued for mishandling the birthing process until the “child” is 20 years old. In many states, there is no cap on the amount of money awarded in a true case of negligence, and juries set the pay out – which can exceed 20 million dollars per verdict.
Interestingly, Texas instituted a new policy in which firm caps were placed on malpractice claims. The cost of medical malpractice insurance dropped precipitously, and over 7000 physicians flooded into the state.
I recently interviewed Canadian Senator Michael Kirby about the medical malpractice process in Canada, and he laughed at how litigious the American system is. He said that keeping the malpractice system from being abused is quite simple: fine plaintiffs who bring forth frivolous suits, set caps on pay outs, and allow awards to be set by judges, not juries. You can listen to our discussion here.
However, there is a flip side to this coin – when providers are permitted to practice without any real legal recourse. I was astonished to learn (from my blogging colleague across the pond, Dr. John Crippen), that in New Zealand midwives are permitted to practice without any form of malpractice insurance. In fact, a recent case demonstrated obvious negligence resulting in the death of a newborn baby. What recourse did the mother have? Apparently, her legal actions resulted in a payout of $2,000.00 and a promise of closer oversight of the practices of midwives.
Wow.
On the spectrum of “reasonableness” for medical malpractice policy, I believe the Canadians win, followed perhaps by Texans. What do you think?This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
May 12th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in News
Tags: Autism, News, Parenting, Research, Vaccines
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I’ve been following this story with interest and concern. A little birdie told me that Katie Couric has prepared a special report about the potential link between vaccines and autism for the CBS news tonight (May 12th). Sharyl Attkisson will be interviewing Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health, about her perspective. The CBS website has a 5 minute video clip now available on their site.
While I certainly agree with Dr. Healy that science must not be stifled, and that it’s fair game to research any environmental factor that could plausbily be related to autism, I am deeply concerned that the potential harm induced by vaccines (on kids with rare genetic disorders) will be generalized inappropriately and parents will refrain from vaccinating their children. We are already beginning to see Measles make a comeback (a disease with that can be fatal or cause irreversible brain damage) due to lower vaccination rates, and this trend may continue. Unvaccinated kids are not just a threat to themselves (because they’re at much higher risk for developing preventable diseases) but a threat to vaccinated kids as well, since vaccines are not 100% effective.
What do you think about the CBS segment? Watch it with me and we can discuss it here on my blog. Robin Morris, mother of a child with autism and a patient advocate at Revolution Health, will weigh in as well.
*Update: the full script is here*This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
April 29th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in News
Tags: Neurology, News, Relationships, Sleep Medicine
2 Comments »
We’ve been conducting a series of opinion polls at Revolution Health, some of which have turned up interesting and surprising findings. This one caught my attention (there were 392 respondents):
What one factor would most improve your health?
- 23% Less stress at work
- 4% More time to cook
- 18% Being in a happier relationship
- 31% Getting more sleep
- 22% More time to work out
I thought it was very interesting that SLEEP is perceived by our viewers as their number one most important health intervention, more important than exercise, relationships, or stress reduction.
Does this result surprise you?
I suspect that there was selection bias at play since the poll appeared in the sleep disorders section of our site – but it was also featured in non-sleep related areas of Revolution Health.
Anecdotal for sure, but interesting.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
