The cost of medical care is high because the human body is complicated and doctors and patients hate ambiguity. The cost is high because a missed diagnosis can lead to death and a large lawsuit. The cost is high because we have many specialists who view the human body in their own tiny pieces and they want to feel 100 percent correct about their piece. Let me give you a real-life example. Read more »
Columbia’s Dr. Neil B. Kavey, M.D., discusses how sleep deprivation affects everyday activities and overall health, and Dr. Jon Lapook trys Yelo Spa’s power-nap treatment for the sleep deprived.
With the attention rightly focused on patient safety, what about healthcare workers? It’s somewhat of a hidden phenomenon, but attacks on doctors and nurses are on the rise.
Rahul Parikh writes about this in a recent Slate piece. He cites data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found “healthcare workers are twice as likely as those in other fields to experience an injury from a violent act at work, with nurses being the most common victims.”
In the article, Parikh goes on to detail an attack on a physician who initially refused to give his patient opioid pain medications. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
I have been asked by patients, readers, family members, and by fellow bloggers what I think about the healthcare bill passed by the House of Regurgitants Representatives. I resent this. I have tried hard to remain as neutral as possible, finding equal cause to point and sneer at both conservatives and liberals. It’s much more fun to watch the kids fight than it is to figure out which one is to blame.
But given the enormous pressure put on me by these people, as well as threatening phone calls from Oprah and Dr. Oz, I will give my “radical moderate” view of the healthcare bill.
My perspective is, of course, that of a primary care physician who will deal with the aftermath of this in a way very few talking heads on TV can understand. The business of healthcare is my business — literally. So, reluctantly, I take leave of the critic’s chair and take on the position where I will be a target for any rotten fruit thrown. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
An article in the New York Times this week looks at a raft of new public health initiatives passed by Congress that are aimed at boosting disease prevention. Examples include requiring restaurants with at least 20 locations to include nutrition information on their menus and mandating employers with at least 50 employees to allow new mothers to express breast milk at work. In addition, Medicaid will now cover smoking cessation counseling for pregnant women and Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible for an annual physical. The initiatives are expected to eventually save money by decreasing the country’s chronic disease burden. (New York Times)
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University recently did a study applying physicians’ ethical codes to the conduct of the fictional doctors on “Grey’s Anatomy” and “House, M.D.” Perhaps to no one’s surprise, TV doctors are behaving very badly. As the abstract of the study states, both shows feature “egregious deviations from the norms of professionalism and contain exemplary depictions of professionalism to a much lesser degree.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, Journal of Medical Ethics)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
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I have been asked by patients, readers, family members, and by fellow bloggers what I think about the healthcare bill passed by the House of Regurgitants Representatives. I resent this. I have tried hard to remain as neutral as possible, finding equal cause to point and sneer at both conservatives and liberals. It’s much more fun to watch the kids fight than it is to figure out which one is to blame.
