Medical Issues (Injury & Error)

Antipsychotics Linked to Acute Kidney Injury and Death

Medscape Medical News > Psychiatry Deborah Brauser August 19, 2014 (Updated Aug. 20, 2014) Atypical antipsychotic medications are linked to acute kidney injury (AKI) in elderly patients, new research suggests, causing investigators to call for their use in this population to be reevaluated. A population-based study examining medical records for nearly 200,000 adults older than […]

Misdiagnosis: Can It Be Remedied?

MedPageToday.com Published: Aug 15, 2014 | Updated: Aug 17, 2014 By Joyce Frieden, News Editor, MedPage Today Story Source Action Points Be aware that misdiagnosis continues to be a relevant and concerning problem for physicians. Autopsy studies suggest that the rate of misdiagnosis has been falling over the decades, but remains surprisingly high. Misdiagnosis — […]

Why Are Dope-addicted, Disgraced Doctors Running Our Drug Trials?

By Peter Aldhous Story Source At around 7 p.m. on February 28, 2003, a 66-year-old woman showed up at the Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley, a small Californian town not far from the Mexican border. She was seen by one of the doctors on duty in the emergency room that night, a man named Michael […]

Risks Associated With Injection of Facial Fillers

PRACTICEUPDATE.com Niroshan Sivathasan BSc (Hons), MB, BS (Lond), DRCOG, GradDipAesthMed (UK), MRCS (Eng) Ashish C Bhatia MD, FAAD The use of fillers continues to increase around the world, with more applications and use by a wider cohort of practitioners with different experience levels and skill sets. With this increase, it is not surprising that the […]

Doctor Found Guilty of Manslaughter After Overdose Deaths

Robert Lowes July 24, 2014 Stan Xuhui Li, MD, of Hamilton, New Jersey, was a full-time anesthesiologist at a local hospital who had a sideline. On weekends, the 60-year-old Dr. Li saw patients in a pain-management clinic 80 miles away in the Queens borough of New York City. A jury in a New York state […]

Inhaled Steroids May Suppress Growth in Children With Asthma

Laurie Barclay, MD July 18, 2014 Inhaled corticosteroids may suppress growth in the first year of treatment in children with asthma, but lower doses may minimize the effects, according to findings of 2 systematic reviews published online July 17 in the Cochrane Library. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most effective drugs for asthma control, reducing asthma mortality, […]

The $3.5 Million Anesthesiologist

Anesthesiology News by John Dillon Story Source A New England anesthesiologist stands high above all others in Medicare’s recently released list of how much money it pays providers, and court records help explain why he posted Ruthian numbers in a league of mostly singles hitters. According to records the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services […]

Why Are Obstetricians Among the Top Billers for Group Psychotherapy in Illinois?

Illinois leads the country in group psychotherapy sessions in Medicare, and some top billers aren’t mental health specialists. The state’s Medicaid program has cracked down, but federal officials have not. by Charles Ornstein ProPublica, July 13, 2014, 10:59 p.m. This story was co-published with The Chicago Tribune. A few years ago, Illinois’ Medicaid program for […]

Emergency Department Visits by Adults for Psychiatric Medication Adverse Events

PracticeUpdate RESEARCH · July 09, 2014 TAKE-HOME MESSAGE This study used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance system to estimate the number of adverse drug events (ADEs) involving psychiatric medications among US adults resulting in emergency department (ED) visits. Annually from 2009 to 2011, there were nearly 90,000 ED […]

California doctors used fake hardware in spine surgeries, lawsuits say

The Center For Investigative Reporting Jul 03, 2014 Christina Jewett Health and Welfare Reporter Will Evans Government Oversight Reporter Story Source Doctors in Southern California have implanted counterfeit screws and rods, ginned up in a small machine shop, into the backs of thousands of injured workers, according to lawsuits filed throughout the state. Some doctors […]

Long-term use of beta blockers increases the risk for developing psoriasis.

Risk for Psoriasis Associated With Hypertension and Its Treatment RESEARCH · July 02, 2014 TAKE-HOME MESSAGE In this prospective cohort study using data from participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, the authors found a small, but significant, increased risk for psoriasis in individuals with hypertension for ≥6 years and in those on beta blockers for […]

Common Back and Leg Pain Treatment May Not Help Much, Study Says

The New York Times By PAM BELLUCK JULY 2, 2014 Story Source A widely used method of treating a common cause of back and leg pain — steroid injections for spinal stenosis — may provide little benefit for many patients, according to a new study that experts said should make doctors and patients think twice […]

Opioid, Heroin Deaths Continue to Climb

Published: Jul 1, 2014 By John Fauber, Reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/MedPage Today; Kristina Fiore , Staff Writer, MedPage Today Story Source   Overdose deaths from both prescription opioids and heroin continued to rise in 2011, the most recent year for which data were available, according to the CDC. While prescription opioid deaths followed a more […]

Childhood Vaccines: Serious Adverse Events Rare

Medscape Medical News Marcia Frellick July 01, 2014 The benefits of routine childhood vaccines outweigh the risks of rare adverse events, according to results of a new systematic review. Although some vaccines are associated with serious adverse events, these events are extremely rare, the authors write. The researchers conducted a literature review of the safety […]

Hopkins Settles Suit Over Secret Photos of Female Patients

Robert Lowes July 22, 2014 Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, has agreed to pay $190 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by up to 8000 patients of a Johns Hopkins obstetrician-gynecologist who took secret photos and videos during pelvic exams before committing suicide, according to a plaintiffs’ attorney in the case. The venerable medical institution reached […]

Deaths by medical mistakes hit records

Erin McCann, Managing Editor The way IT is designed remains part of the problem WASHINGTON | July 18, 2014 It’s a chilling reality – one often overlooked in annual mortality statistics: Preventable medical errors persist as the No. 3 killer in the U.S. – third only to heart disease and cancer – claiming the lives […]

Patient Sues Hospital After Forgotten Surgical Sponge Costs Her Portion Of Intestine

CBS Los Angeles June 17, 2014 11:45 PM Full Story SIMI VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — A woman is suing Simi Valley Hospital after she says she has lived a nightmare for four years due to a medical mistake. Carol Critchfield was 56 in 2007, when she went to Simi Valley Hospital for a standard hysterectomy and […]

Miami Beach’s ‘Rock Doc’ sentenced to six years for Medicare fraud

Miami Herald > News > Breaking News Posted on Friday, 06.13.14 A Miami Beach physician dubbed the ‘Rock Doc’ gets six years in prison for stealing millions from Medicare in fraudulent billing schemes. BY JAY WEAVER JWEAVER@MIAMIHERALD.COM The Miami Beach physician dubbed the “Rock Doc” didn’t do himself any favors Friday in Miami federal court. […]

Program Cuts Use of Antibiotics in Kids

Published: Jun 11, 2013 | Updated: Jun 12, 2013 By Todd Neale , Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today Action Points Note that this cluster-randomized trial demonstrated that outpatient pediatric practices receiving triannual feedback regarding broad-spectrum antibiotic overuse significantly decreased their rate of prescribing these medications. Be aware that this difference was driven largely by a […]

Statin Use Linked to Memory Decline in Elderly

Frontline Medical News, 2014 Jul 10, MA Otto Story Source CHICAGO (FRONTLINE MEDICAL NEWS) – More liberal lipid targets in elderly patients and lower statin doses might offset the risk of memory decline associated with statin use in these patients, Australian investigators suggested. Dr. Katherine Samaras and her associates did neuropsychometric testing on 377 subjects […]