November 12th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Backed By Science, Boob Job Cream, Consumer Safety, Cosmetic Products, Cosmetic Surgery, Daily Mail, Doctors Who Voice Their Concerns, Dr. Dalia Nield, Dr. Ramona Bates, Fear Of Retaliation, Increasing A Woman's Breast Size, Libel, Medical Product Claims, Non-Evidence-Based, Patient Safety, Plastic Surgery, Product Safety, Rodial Limited, Scientific Proof, Scientific Testing, Sense About Science, Suture For A Living, The London Clinic, Treatment Dangers, Women's Health
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Shouldn’t it be possible to voice a concern about a medical treatment, procedure, or claim without the fear of retaliation? If the claims are backed by science, then simply addressing my concerns would be enough.
Fear of retaliation silences discussion. Fear of retaliation makes it difficult to do the “right thing” when the public or an individual patient is at risk.
This incidence involves a British plastic surgeon threatened with libel action by the ‘Boob Job’ cream’s manufacturer after she voiced concerns/doubts of its effectiveness. Sense About Science has a great summary of the entire affair: “Plastic surgeon threatened for comment on ‘Boob Job’ cream.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
November 12th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: AF, Atrial Fibrillation, Brand Name Drugs, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiovascular Drugs, CV Drugs, Dabigatran, Dofetilide, Dr. John Mandrola, Drug Prescribing By Doctors, Generic Drugs, Lovenox, Overprescribing, Pharmaceutical Reps, Physician Drug Prescribing Habits, Pradaxa, RE-LY Trial, Warfarin
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I loved my old status. Perhaps, reveled in it would be a better description. I was a crotchety, generic medicine-only doctor.** Sadly, my status changed today. Dabigatran (brand name Pradaxa) was the culprit.
It was a little nerve racking. I wrote the order, looked at it, thought it out again, talking to myself: “John, are you sure you don’t want to do it the old way? [pause to think] No, I am embracing the new.” And then, I closed the chart and handed it to the nurse.
“What’s that? Pradaxa?” asked the nurse. “Stop the Lovenox? You sure?” My face must have told the story.
Eight days had passed since dabigatran’s approval. “That’s plenty of time to mourn warfarin’s demise,” I thought. Enough studies, enough blogs — it was time for the rubber to hit the road. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
November 12th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: 33 Charts, Compromising Patient Care, Cutting Corners on Healthcare, Doctor Performance, Doctor's Job, Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Farewell, General Medicine, Giving Good Care, Improving Patient Care, Less Than 100 Percent, Mediocre Medical Care, Pediatrics, Quality Improvement, Two-Biscotti Physician
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[Recently] I ate at one of my favorite Italian restaurants. I had eaten there many times before, but the experience this time was different. After ordering, I received a vacuous bread basket with precisely two pieces of bread. At the end of my meal I was offered two biscotti — and no more. Only the manager could offer an explanation: As a means of containing costs, the decision had been made to capitate bread and biscotti distribution.
I was disappointed. I had been eating here for years. When Colic Solved was released, my publication party was held here. After all those anniversaries, New Year’s celebrations, and birthdays, I’m shortchanged on cookies? It’s remarkable how a great experience can be shadowed by something so small.
Then I got to thinking: Perhaps I’m a two-biscotti physician. Like this restaurant, there are times when I don’t finish well. I may do a phenomenal job with assessment and diagnosis, only to delay a callback on biopsies or X-ray results. Perhaps I get it all right, but fail to get the detail right on the home health orders. Are there small pieces missing in my encounter that represent everything a parent remembers? I know that there are, and I know there are things I have to work on.
There’s a lot we can learn from a restaurant. I don’t want to be a two-biscotti physician.
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
November 11th, 2010 by Kimball Atwood IV, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: AANP, Alternative Medicine, American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, Anti-Vaccine, Autism, Chiropractic, Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Dr. Josephine Briggs, Dr. Kimball Atwood, H1N1, Health Fraud, Homeopathy, Jenny McCarthy, Legal, Medical Ethics, MMR, Naturopathy, NCCAM, Pseudoscience, Public Health, Science And The Media, Science Based Medicine, Senator Tom Harkin, Thimerosal, Vaccines
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If you go to the website of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), you’ll find that one of its self-identified roles is to “provide information about CAM.” NCCAM Director Josephine Briggs is proud to assert that the website fulfills this expectation. As many readers will recall, three of your bloggers visited the NCCAM last April, after having received an invitation from Dr. Briggs. We differed from her in our opinion of the website: One of our suggestions was that the NCCAM could do a better job providing American citizens with useful and accurate information about “CAM.”
We cited, among several examples, the website offering little response to the dangerous problem of widespread misinformation about childhood immunizations. As Dr. Novella subsequently reported, it seemed that we’d scored a point on that one:
…Dr. Briggs did agree that anti-vaccine sentiments are common in the world of CAM and that the NCCAM can do more to combat this. Information countering anti-vaccine propaganda would be a welcome addition to the NCCAM site.
In anticipation of SBM’s Vaccine Awareness Week, I decided to find out whether such a welcome addition has come to fruition. The short answer: Nope. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
November 10th, 2010 by Richard Cooper, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: CHSI, Colorado, Community Health Status Indicators, Dr. Richard Cooper, Ethnic Minorities, Family Practice, General Medicine, Grand Junction, Health Affairs, Health Outcomes, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Politics, Healthcare reform, Hospital Rankings, Mesa County, Model Medical Community, Poverty, Primary Care, Rankings in Healthcare, St. Mary's Hospital, The Poor, U.S. Healthcare System
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In a high-profile paper in the September issue of Health Affairs, Thorson and coworkers showed that the care at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, CO was superior to that of 20 other unnamed hospitals. Grand Junction is, of course the smal town in SW Colorado that became famous when President Obama visited there during the health care reform debates during the summer of 2009, and here’s what he said:
“Hello, Grand Junction! It’s great to be back in Southwest Colorado. Here in Grand Junction, you know that lowering costs is possible if you put in place smarter incentives; if you think about how to treat people, not just illnesses. That’s what the medical community in this city did; now you are getting better results while wasting less money.”
So, Grand Junction, a town of 58,000 people located in SE Colorado, where there are virtually no blacks and fewer Native Americans but where family practice rules, is supposed to be the model for the nation. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*
