December 19th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Medical Art, News, Research
Tags: 3D Anatomy Viewer, Google Body Browser, Healthcare and Internet Technology, Human Anatomy, Human Body, Medgadget, Medical Art, Medicine and the Internet, Online Tools For Medical Professionals, WebGL-Enabled Browser
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Google has released an awesome in-browser anatomy viewer to demo the new 3D graphics capabilities of their Chrome development version. It lets you explore the human body in all its glory in a Google Earth-like fashion. Individual anatomic layers (skin, muscles, bones, etc.) can be selected or deselected for viewing, but can also be made semi-transparent on an individual level. Labels can be displayed, and all anatomy is fully searchable.
The catch is you will need a WebGL enabled browser to try it. WebGL is a technique that enables 3D graphics within the browser without the use of plugins. Chrome 9 Dev Channel, Chrome Canary Build and Firefox 4 beta have this enabled by default. In Chrome 8 (the current stable version), you can enable it by going to about:flags (type it in the address bar), and from there enable WebGL. Below are two videos, one demonstrating the body browser, and one of a presentation by the developers.
Link: Google Body Browser…
(Hat Tip: Google Operating System Blog)
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
December 18th, 2010 by John Di Saia, M.D. in News
Tags: Army Physical Fitness Test, Army Times, Camp Pendleton, Dr. John Di Saia, Duty Soldiers, Extreme Dieting, Fat, In The Service, Laxatives, Liposuction, Marine Administration, Military Healthcare, Military Weight Standards, Obesity, Orange County Register, Physical Fitness, Plastic Surgery, Soldier Health, Starvation, Staying Enlisted, Truth in Cosmetic Surgery, U.S. Military, Weight Control, Weight Loss, Weight Management, Weight Standards
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The Orange County Register blog posted on military plastic surgery and mentioned liposuction:
Army Times reports that soldiers are turning to liposuction to remove fat if extreme dieting, laxatives and other methods fail to get them under the Army’s weight limit for their height, age and gender.
“Liposuction saved my career. Laxatives and starvation before an [Army Physical Fitness Test] sustains my career,” a soldier told the periodical. “Soldiers are using liposuction, laxatives and starvation to meet height and weight standards. I did, do and still do.”
I am well aware of the military patient looking to stay within military parameters to stay in the service as my San Clemente office is quite close to Camp Pendleton, and I give military discounts. I have seen several of these patients in my decade in San Clemente. Surgery for wives still outnumbers surgery for soldiers, though.
As some of these clients have explained, the Marine administration requires active duty soldiers to have certain measurements at a certain weight. Those who do not fall within these expected norms are first warned and then penalized. Liposuction has worked at times to keep some of these soldiers in the service.
– John Di Saia, M.D.
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
December 17th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Dr. Kevin Pho, General Medicine, Healthcare Lawsuits, KevinMD, Mediation, Medical Errors, Medical Litigation, Medical Malpractice, Medicine and Legal Issues, Patient Compensation, Settlement, Wall Street Journal Health Blog, When Patients Sue Doctors, WSJ
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Mediation has been cited as a way to lower the cost of litigation and compensate injured patients without going through the ordeal of a trial. In a post from the WSJ Health Blog, the problem is that few doctors are participating.
That’s a problem. A study from a law journal looked at 31 cases that went to mediation and found that,
of those cases, 16 were settled at mediation, 5 settled afterward and 10 weren’t settled. While defense attorneys were less likely to agree to mediation than plaintiff attorneys, lawyers who did participate reported satisfaction with the process, as did “plaintiffs, hospital representatives and insurers,” the study finds.
The authors write that in no cases did physicians participate in the mediation.
Many times, patients resort to suing their physicians simply to find out what happened. In a recent post here, attorney Brian Nash provided perspective from the legal standpoint, and in the comments (now 150+ strong), you can see the dissonance between the malpractice viewpoints of the physician, attorney, and patient. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
December 17th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Health Policy, News
Tags: Cancer Treatment, Financial Incentives, Gary Schwitzer, Healthcare Revenue, HealthNewsReview.org, IMRT, Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy, Lucrative Healthcare, Medical Revenue, Medical Technology, Medicare, Physician Reimbursement, Radiation Oncology, Urology, Wall Street Journal
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I’ve been traveling in Europe, including giving a talk at the Salzburg Global Seminar on involving and informing patients in healthcare decisions. In that presentation, I talked about promotion of a newer form of cancer radiation therapy called intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).
So I want to point out that while I’ve been away the Wall Street Journal published an important piece on this very topic under the headline “A Device to Kill Cancer, Lift Revenue.” An excerpt:
Roughly one in three Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with prostate cancer today gets a sophisticated form of radiation therapy called IMRT. Eight years ago, virtually no patients received the treatment.
The story behind the sharp rise in the use of IMRT—which stands for intensity-modulated radiation therapy—is about more than just the rapid adoption of a new medical technology. It’s also about financial incentives.
Taking advantage of an exemption in a federal law governing patient referrals, groups of urologists across the country have teamed up with radiation oncologists to capture the lucrative reimbursements IMRT commands from Medicare.
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
December 16th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiology, Code, Defibrillators, Dr. Wes Fisher, ECRI Institute, Emergency Medicine, Health Technology Hazards, Medical Devices, Medical Technology, Patient Safety, Wall Street Journal Health Blog
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In a desperate attempt to reach an even number it seems, hospital defibrillators were added to ECRI.org’s “Top 10 Health Technology Hazards” list of devices that threaten to kill or maim patients:
The Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list is updated each year based upon the prevalence and severity of incidents reported to ECRI Institute by healthcare facilities nationwide; information found in the Institute’s medical device problem reporting databases; and the judgment, analysis, and expertise of the organization’s multidisciplinary staff. Many of the items on this year’s list are well-recognized hazards with numerous reported incidents over the years.
If one honestly looks at the number of lives saved versus the number of deaths from defibrillators, I wonder how many of this highly-esteemed group of “multidisciplinary staff” of the ECRI might reconsider. Clearly, most of them have never been in a code situation.
– WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
Hat tip: Wall Street Journal Health Blog
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
