July 23rd, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Opinion
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Many European countries have “presumed donor policies” where (unless otherwise stipulated) the untimely demise of one of its citizens results in potential organs for those on organ transplant waiting lists. In other words, the default assumption is that you want to be an organ donor should you die in an accident.
Britain is now undergoing internal debate over whether or not to institute a presumed donor policy. On the “no” side is Scotland and the Conservatives – suggesting that the government has no right to an individual’s remains. On the “yes” side are the Liberals and the British Medical Association – reminding the “no’s” that people are free to opt out, and that studies show that 70% of people have not formally registered to donate their organs even though they state that their wish would be to donate their organs in the event of sudden death.
Spain has been very successful with their presumed donor policy – doubling organ donations after enacting it into law. Austria quadrupled their organ donations after following suit.
I think that Europe’s presumed donor policy is a good idea and I would personally endorse a similar policy in the US, so long as next of kin had veto power. What do you think?This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 20th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Policy
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Dinah at Shrink Rap had all her Medicare billing sheets returned to her this week. She had neglected to use the new forms with “red dropout ink.” These forms are not provided by Medicare, but must be purchased by the psychiatrist from a government or commercial printer. Good luck figuring out which parts of the form you’ll need, Dinah – seems as if there are many different versions (snapouts, continuation sheets, single sheets, part 1 and part 2) and they’ll cost you more than a few psychotherapy sessions will be reimbursed (not to mention the time you spend re-filling them out).
I suppose that if you do the math, it might be easier to just pay your patients to go elsewhere? The red tape (in this case “red ink”) never ceases to amaze me. Anyone else struggling with this problem?This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 19th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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There was a very interesting case report in the New England Journal of Medicine this week. A 25 year old woman went bungee jumping and wound up with sudden decreased vision in one eye. As it turned out, the sudden yank of the bungee cord (while being upside down) caused an increase in pressure in her eye ball (kind of the way the Heimlich maneuver can), and broke one of the blood vessels in the back of her eye. Luckily she had surgery to remove the blood and recovered nearly normal vision in that eye a week later.
If I ever felt tempted to go bungee jumping, this case cured my curiosity. How about you?This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 18th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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ABC news created an online photo album of the actors from the movie The Princess Bride. They display headshots of the actors from 20 years ago (when the film was created) beside a current image. It was a real eye-opener for me, seeing how these people have changed in appearance over the years – though in all fairness, ABC didn’t choose the most flattering follow up pictures. Nicer ones are displayed in the link to the movie above.
Nonetheless, this raises the issue of aging – and what each of us will look like in 20 years. I think a lot of it depends on the little choices we make each day – what we eat, if we exercise, if we’re stressed, if we have loving relationships in our lives… these little things add up and imprint themselves on our faces and bodies for all to see. What will your body say about you in 20 years? Mine’s going to have a lot of laugh lines, and probably a good deal of cellulite… ahem. But I’m going to keep aiming towards the leafy green veggies and regular exercise. If you’d like to join me, you’ll find some helpful programs right here at Revolution Health.
Bonus Link: My friend Tony Via suggested this link to fake celebrity makeovers (someone took the time to create how they might look as “normal” overweight Americans – thank you, Photoshop). Quite entertaining – and more fuel for the “eat right and exercise” plan.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 17th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Uncategorized
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Just because a drug is new, doesn’t mean it’s more
effective. A recent
article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrated that older
diabetes medications may be equally effective as some of the newer, more
expensive drugs.
Now this comes as no surprise to physicians, who know very
well that some of our “old standby” meds work just as well as their newer, more
expensive versions.
For example:
For mild to moderate acne treatment, good old Clearasil may be all you need.
A study
published in the Lancet found that over-the-counter topical treatments (benzoyl
peroxide based) worked just as well as more expensive new oral antibiotics
(including minocycline).
For mild to moderately elevated cholesterol, there doesn’t appear to be much
advantage to taking a newer statin than on older one. The cost difference may be as much as ten
times more, for small gains (if any).
For example, mevacor (lovastatin) is as inexpensive as 0.24 cents/pill
while lipitor (atorvastatin) can run up to $2.54/pill.
Dr.
Charlie Smith, former president of the American Board of Family Practice,
recommends these very cost effective medications to his patients as needed:
Hydrochlorothiazide for hypertension (from 8 cents to 20 cents/pill)
Bactrim (trimethoprim/sulfamethoxisole) for urinary tract infections (15
cents/pill).
Ibuprofen for pain relief/arthritis (about 7 cents/pill).
So consumer beware – those medications that you see in all the TV ads may not actually provide substantial benefits over older, less expensive drugs. Be sure
to ask your doctor if a less expensive medication might be appropriate for you… or
better yet, healthy lifestyle changes can sometimes make the difference between needing
a medication and not needing it at all.
*Drug prices may vary.
This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
