In the...
Stay Up To Date on the latest healthcare stories and happenings in the news.
Hospital Employee Suing Over Alleged Nude Photos of a Patient
A patient-powered union, designed to defend individual patients — Of The Patient, By The Patient and For The Patient.
A secretary in Pennsylvania is suing the hospital she used to work at after nude photographs were allegedly taken and then shared while she was undergoing surgery.
Identified in the complaint only as Jane Doe, the plaintiff worked as a unit secretary in Washington Hospital’s operating room department. In September 2016, she became a patient.
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Surgeon Calls for A Powerful Patient Union With Actionable Liability Levers
A patient-powered union, designed to defend individual patients — Of The Patient, By The Patient and For The Patient.
For the past 4 years my family and I have been living in a crucible from hell — as a husband-turned-activist, father, surgeon and citizen.
As a surgeon, turned patient-activist, I’ve often thought that individual American patients need a professional watchdog force to defend them, in a personalized way, as they navigate the finely polished corporate healthcare maze.
Any one of us, healthy today, can be on the receiving end of harm at the hand of a healthcare provider tomorrow — and when this happens, there is no real force defending us!
State sets hearing to strip patient safety advocate of medical license
The South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners is holding a hearing on Oct. 27 to strip Dr. Lars Aanning of his medical license. The board contends that Aanning committed an act of “moral turpitude” when he admitted last year that he committed perjury in a medical malpractice lawsuit that occurred 20 years ago.
Aanning told jurors that he had confidence in his colleague’s skills, even though privately that was not the case. Last year, ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, profiled Aanning and his confession, calling it a “stunning admission for a medical professional.”
Aanning, who is retired as a surgeon but consults as an expert, said doctors are pressured not to turn on their own.
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Here’s how a loophole in a transparency law can distort medical practices
The system has succeeded in shining a light on financial ties that may unduly influence medical practice and research, a concern heightened by a series of pharma scandals involving illegal marketing, as well as studies showing such payments sway prescribing.In short, the company used the lack of transparency as a selling point, which only underscores that some companies are acutely aware doctors want to avoid showing up in the database.
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Replacing Faulty Heart Devices Costs Medicare $1.5 Billion in 10 Years
The report marks the first effort by anyone in government to assess the losses to taxpayers and patients 65 and older from medical gear that proves faulty.
The report said that medical device recalls nearly doubled from 2003 through 2012 and noted that they have probably cost Medicare billions of dollars. In the past five to six years, more than 200 cardiac devices have been recalled, according to the inspector general’s office. In most cases, manufacturers withdrew their products voluntarily after reports surfaced of injuries or malfunctions. Device makers are required to report problems they learn of, often from doctors and hospitals, to a database run by the Food and Drug Administration.
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50 studies have linked fluoride with reduced IQ in children.
Fluoride’s ability to damage the brain is one of the most active areas of fluoride research today. Over 300 studies have found that fluoride is a neurotoxin (a chemical that can damage the brain).
Based on this accumulating body of research, several prestigious reviews — including a report authored by the U.S. National Research Council, a meta-analysis published by a team of Harvard scientists, and a review published in The Lancet— have raised red flags about the potential for low levels of fluoride to harm brain development in some members of the population.
Biotech stocks drop after FDA makes it easier for public to search for drug side effects
Biotech stocks fell Friday, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made its database of side effects for medicines searchable.
Biotech stocks fell Friday, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made its database of side effects for medicines searchable. Sarepta Therapeutics, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Biogen and Acadia Pharmaceuticals all traded lower after investors found reports on their drugs on the FDA's Adverse Events Reporting System. It is not clear whether the adverse events were caused by the medicines themselves, or were incidental, an analyst said.
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Safety experts bet Bayer will soon end sale of Essure in the U.S.
Bayer will stop selling its sterilization device Essure outside the U.S., the company announced late Monday. Safety experts think Bayer's decision signals it will soon be gone from the U.S. as well.
The German-based company said the decision was made for commercial reasons and wasn't related to safety. The company claims "there is not as much patient interest in permanent birth control" in global markets.
Thousands of women have sued Bayer, claiming the device caused them severe health issues.
In May, sales of Essure were suspended in several countries including Canada after patients reported serious and sometimes debilitating complications such as allergic reactions, persistent pain, abnormal bleeding, perforation of the fallopian tubes and the need for surgery to remove the device.
Medical Device Safety Act
Aims To Restore Rights
To Patients Harmed
ASHES
Advocating Safety in Healthcare E-Sisters
The Medical Device Safety Act was introduced in the house on April 26, 2017 by Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. It is a bi-partisan bill currently co-sponsored by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. The bill would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to liability under State and local requirements respecting all Class III devices, including, but not limited to, the essure device, hip implants, pacemakers, surgical mesh, defibrillators, nerve stimulators, and breast implants.
We are asking patients, their loved ones, friends and family members, who have been negatively impacted by a Class III medical device, to help raise awareness and support the bill. We are also asking members of Congress to support this bill and consider becoming a co-sponsor. The purpose of this bill is to restore a patient’s rights should he/she be harmed. We all deserve the same rights as consumers.
Thank You DDS Supporter Suzan Addison for providing the story!
Why did five patients in the same hospital come down with a rare blood infection?
An ongoing problem
Signs that an employee is struggling with addiction or is siphoning medicines can be subtle; vigilance for erratic behavior or other signs of substance use is vital, experts say, but red flags aren’t always obvious.
“They are often your best employees,” Berge said. “They may show up for work when they are supposed to be on vacation.”
When employees report suspicions that a colleague is stealing drugs, by law hospitals must relay these suspicions to the Drug Enforcement Agency within 24 hours. They may be reluctant to do so, fearing bad press and the financial and reputational losses that may follow. But Berge emphasized that it’s a crime to hide suspected diversion.
Medical Hernia Mesh - A Health Disaster
Kugel Mesh Patch
That hernia patch was a horrific product that was made of a plastic chemical polymer and had a ring around the patch that would break and dislodge in a patient’s skin, abdomen, or intestines. America’s Lawyer Mike Papantonio talks about medical device companies that continue to produce experimental medical devices.
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Heartburn Medicine Linked to Chronic Kidney Disease Risk, Study Shows | NBC Nightly News
A new study from Johns Hopkins shows that the acid reducing drugs are associated with kidney issues, fractures and infections.
A type of heartburn medication called proton pump inhibitors may be linked to long-term kidney damage, a new study suggests.
Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid belong to this class of drugs, which treat heartburn and acid reflux by lowering the amount of acid produced by the stomach.
People who use proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have a 20 percent to 50 percent higher risk of chronic kidney disease compared with nonusers, said lead author Dr. Morgan Grams, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The study was published Jan. 11 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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World treaty to ban and reduce mercury poison comes into force
It is rated as one of the top 10 chemical poisons endangering human health and the natural world.
In terms of the Minamata Convention, a United Nations treaty which came into force on Wednesday, the treaty provides for a complete ban on any new mercury mines, the gradual phase-out of mercury in several household and industrial products and tougher measures to store or get rid of mercury wastes.
One of the most immediate results will be the phasing out of old-fashioned thermometers and other mercury-containing medical devices in hospitals before 2020.
Tiny drops of this poison can be found in human teeth, in fresh fish, in light bulbs, paints, batteries and even cosmetics. And it is in the air, water and soil everywhere, in varying amounts. The clock starts ticking for world governments, industry and other groups to ban or gradually phase out products and processes that rely on mercury.
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Oral surgeon, 50, dead of a suspected overdose months after she was suspended from practicing following complaints she'd pulled the wrong teeth and four years after she crashed a car on meth
An oral surgeon was found dead of a suspected overdose, a few months after she was suspended from practicing following complaints that she was pulling the wrong teeth.
Dr. Mansureh Iravani, 50, was rushed to a local hospital after a witness found her unresponsive inside her home in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Monday night.
She was pronounced dead and had Fentanyl, which is a man-made opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, inside her residence, according to police.
Iravani had her license temporarily suspended in March due to claims that she was pulling the wrong teeth, starting operations without enough sedation and painfully ripping stitches out of patients' mouths.
The dentist and doctor was previously suspended from practicing in 2013, after she crashed her car with meth in her system. with meth in her system.
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It’s time to break down the wall between dentistry and medicine
Ever since the first dental school was founded in the United States in 1840, dentistry and medicine have been taught as — and viewed as — two separate professions. That artificial division is bad for the public’s health. It’s time to bring the mouth back into the body.
Just as dental and medical education are currently separate, so too are the ways care is delivered and how care is — or isn’t — covered by insurance. That poses problems for access to care.
Today, 130 million Americans, most of them adults, have no dental coverage. Medicare has no dental benefits, and Medicaid has few benefits for adults. The high cost of dental care affects even those with coverage.
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Dentist accused of trying to work on patients while drunk
MARS, Pa. - A Butler County dentist is facing charges for allegedly being intoxicated while working at his Adams Township office.
The report showed, he was scheduled to see 14 patients that day and did treat eight of them his co-workers realized something was wrong and stepped in.
Bellotti was charged at the end of July, because police said his own staff members were so concerned on March 23 that they called 911 to report his "altered level of consciousness."
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Ben & Jerry's — 20 Years of Greenwashing
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Over the last two decades, Ben & Jerry’s has been directly confronted about their failure to live up to their stated missions, yet they have consistently refused to address the concerns brought against them
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Independent testing reveals traces of glyphosate in 10 out of 11 Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors — evidence they’re using cheap, factory farmed milk from cows raised on GMO feed and tainted, non-organic flavor ingredients
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By refusing to use organic milk and organic ingredients that cost more and cut into profits, Ben & Jerry’s mission goals have been neglected for 20 years and remain unfulfilled to this day. Join us in encouraging Ben & Jerry’s to live up to their promises and deliver the real goods
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Lack of Public Scientific Evidence on the Safety and Effectiveness of Implanted Medical Devices
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves about 400 implanted medical devices each year through an abbreviated process called the 510(k) process, which only rarely requires clinical trials (studies of patients). These implants include potentially high-risk devices such as heart valves, spinal implants, and hip and knee joint replacements. In contrast, fewer than 20 implants each year are approved by FDA through the more rigorous Premarket Approval (PMA) process that requires that the impact on the patients’ health be studied in clinical trials The law requires that all medical implants sold in the U.S. provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness based on scientific evidence, even if the company doesn’t provide data from studies of patients. The scientific evidence could include bioengineering studies, for example, to determine if the new implant is expected to be similar to older implants on the market.
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Are distracted doctors risking patients' safety?
As much as people would like to wholly trust their doctors, medical errors do occur more often than is comfortable. The numbers indicate that these errors may account for thousands of deaths each year. While we know that doctors’ work proves difficult, are there preventable distractions putting patients’ safety at risk?
According to lead researcher Martin Makary, a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, medical errors are rampant in the US. Makary’s data shows the number at 2—3 times higher than previously thought, a whopping 250,000 a year.
Thank You DDS Supporter Suzan Addison for providing the story!
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In Medicine, Cheaters DO Prosper.
Insider stories about a leading surgeon who manipulated the system to make his surgical record appear better.
Sometimes even top physicians, responsible for training young doctors, find ways to cheat the system. Never before told stories that will shock the listener.
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Three Questions to Ask Your Dentist Since the EPA Has Ruled Dental Mercury Amalgam Fillings are Unsafe for the Environment
"Dental amalgam waste is a significant contributor of mercury discharges to municipal wastewater treatment facilities,"
VENTURA, Calif., July 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Health and environmental professionals can agree that mercury is a well-known neurotoxin and should be kept out of our waste water systems. However, most dentists in the US currently do not use an amalgam separator - a device that captures mercury before water is released into public water treatment works and sewers. To educate consumers in making healthy and environmentally responsible decisions, TALKInternational.com has released a list of questions for consumers to ask their own dentist about how mercury is being handled in their dental office.
Thank You DDS Supporter Peter Aleff for providing the story!
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The battle over Essure
Some people see a breakthrough in female contraception. Others see a dangerous medical device now has a 'Black Box' warning.
Fourteen months after the hearing, the FDA announced the black box warning, which alerts patients to reported device migration, perforation, persistent pain and “suspected allergic or hypersensitivity reactions.” The warning and a patient-doctor discussion checklist appear in the 27-page patient information booklet that all women considering Essure are supposed to receive, to be signed by both doctor and patient. (The checklist includes statements such as, “I understand that should my doctor and I decide that Essure should be removed after placement, an additional surgical procedure may be required. In complicated cases, my doctor may recommend a hysterectomy.”) The FDA also ordered Bayer to conduct another clinical trial, this time with a control group: 1,400 women will get Essure, 1,400 will have a surgical tubal ligation, and they’ll be followed for three years. The results are due in 2023.
Thank You DDS Supporter Peter Aleff for providing the story!
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California Bans Unvaccinated Children from Attending Public Schools
Kids without mandatory vaccines removed from state schools
Following California's new immunization law, it is now illegal for children to attend public schools unless they have been vaccinated. The new law criminalizes children who haven't received mandatory vaccines and bans them from receiving a state-funded education until they've been immunized.
However, one prestigious California pediatrician is being threatened with losing his license to practice for issuing a medical exemption to vaccines to one of his patients. Could this be the State’s method of shutting down doctors who dare to write vaccine exemptions, so that soon not even medical exemptions will be readily available to those who need them? Other such state bills mandating vaccines and removing exemptions were easily defeated across the U.S. in 2015, due to public outcry. Yet even though the public outcry was probably the loudest in California in opposition to SB 277, it somehow still passed.
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Dentist PAC donated $4M to political campaigns
Dentists are fixing more than teeth — they’ve also become a powerful political force in Albany.
The political-action arm of the New York State Dental Association — Empire State Dental PAC — has spread $4 million in donations to candidates’ campaigns since 2010, a Post review of Board of Elections records reveals.
And the mint from the dentist’s chair has paid off — the trade group has blocked legislation in the statehouse that could spur competition and hurt business.
On its Web site, the Dental Association boasts of “legislative victories” for members that include defeating proposals to permit dental hygienists — who provide basic dental care such as teeth cleaning — from practicing “without the supervision of a dentist.”
Thank You Dental Supporter Dana Herbert for providing the story!
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Assemblyman Jim Wood, California dental lobby opposed changes after boy’s surgery death
'Six-year-old Caleb Sears died under anesthesia in an Albany dentist’s chair in 2015 when the dentist, who was pulling one of the boy’s teeth, acted as both surgeon and anesthesiology monitor.'
'Politics, dentistry, money and an East Bay family’s tragedy intersected this year when a bill aimed at changing the standards for dentists administrating anesthesia to children ran into opposition from the dental lobby and was shelved by its author.'
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F.D.A. Deal Would Relax Rules on Reporting Medical Device Problems
Makers of cardiac defibrillators, insulin pumps, breast implants and other medical devices might be able to delay reporting dangerous malfunctions to the Food and Drug Administration under an agreement heading for a vote in Congress.
The current draft compels the F.D.A. to speed medical devices onto the market — and into patients — faster than ever. But, at a time when the F.D.A. acknowledges that medical device mishaps are vastly underreported, a provision in the bill says the agency should permit companies to report malfunctions every three months, rather than the current practice of submitting reports within 30 days of a problem.
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Fresh warning over toxic metal hip replacements... now doctors claim they could cause Alzheimer's
Up to 56,000 patients in the UK have had the controversial metal replacements which have been linked to muscle and bone damage as well as problems with the nervous system.
The new guidelines urged doctors to offer patients x-rays, ultrasounds or MRI scans even if they had been fitted with the implants several years ago and hadn't had any adverse symptoms.
The devices were hailed as revolutionary when they first appeared on the market in the early 1990s.
But last year lawyers announced that a total of 500 patients were suing one of the leading manufacturers DePuy after suffering severe complications.
Complications are thought to arise when tiny particles of cobalt and chromium within the metal break off and leach into the blood.
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Governor signs 'Finley's Law' to make dental sedation for kids safer
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -
Gov. David Ige signed “Finley’s Law” on Monday aimed at making it safer for kids who get sedation during dental procedures.
The law is named after a 3-year-old Finley Boyle, who died in a dental tragedy in 2014.
The law puts regulations on dentists to verify sedation training and make information public about a dentist’s ability to give anesthesia to children.
Ige said the dentist in Finley’s case lacked any formal training in administering anesthesia to children.“If standards had been in place, the tragic death of 3-year-old Finley Boyle may have been prevented,” Ige said.
Thank You Dana Herbert for sharing this story!
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RI Ranked One of the Worst States for Doctors in U.S.
Rhode Island is one of the worst states in the country for doctors.
According to a recent study completed by WalletHub, Rhode Island is ranked as the 5th worst state in the country for doctors, ranking 47th out of 51.
Rhode Island ranks behind Connecticut and Massachusetts at 45th and 46th respectively. Rhode Island ranks ahead of Maryland and New Jersey who rank 48th and 49th respectively.
Iowa ranks as the best state for doctors while New York is ranked as the worst state for doctors.
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Desperate Families Driven to Black Market Insulin
Soaring insulin prices and inflexible insurance policies have forced this working-class mom to take desperate measures outside the system to keep her child alive.
Gabriella is allergic to the kind of insulin her insurer covers at a $25 out-of-pocket cost. She can only take Apidra, but her insurance only covers 25 percent of the price, leaving the family to pay hundreds of dollars a month they can't afford.
So her mom has turned to the black market, trading for the medication with other families with diabetes she meets online, a tactic that regulators and health experts warn is a health risk. And she cut a back-end deal with a sympathetic drug rep: If she bought one vial he would give her 10 vials from his sample kit, nearly a one year's supply. Gabriella's grandmother covered the cost.
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NSAID Pain Killers Linked to Irregular Heartbeat
NSAIDs Carry Potentially Serious Health Risks
The poster child of deadly NSAIDs is Vioxx, which was released in 2000. A year before Vioxx was approved, I warned my readers about the cardiovascular risks associated with the drug. It took four years and 60,000 deaths (due to heart-related side effects) before warnings were heeded and Vioxx was removed from the market.
In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also cautioned that NSAIDs, including COX-2 inhibitors like Bextra (which was removed from the market in 2005) and Celebrex, along with other over-the-counter varieties like Aleve, ibuprofen, and aspirin, are all associated with potentially serious side effects, including:
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Cardiovascular problems
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GI bleeding4
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Ulcers
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Kidney problems
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Increased blood pressure
In February this year, the FDA took another look at the heart risks associated with various NSAIDs. Some research had indicated that naproxen might be less risky than other NSAIDs, but the panel ultimately voted 16-9 against changing the warning label on naproxen to suggest it's safer for your heart other drugs in this class.5
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Oregon Lawmaker Fails to Disclose His Relationship With Stryker Medical
Stryker Medical, manufacturer of the defective LFIT hip replacement product, is what can best be described as a “repeat offender.” Over two years ago, the company agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement over the Rejuvenate ABG II Modular-Neck hip replacement, a product of its Howmedica subsidiary. A year before that, Stryker paid a $13.4 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after allegedly bribing overseas physicians to the tune of $2.2 million. This month, an Oregon state lawmaker was called to account after it was revealed that had a financial relationship with Stryker, dating back to the year 2000.
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Consumer Healthcare Reviews on Yelp Help
Finding reliable, understandable information about healthcare quality and prices is very challenging for most consumers. Are healthcare reviews on social networks statistically valid? An analysis of consumer ratings for New York State hospitals on Yelp, the social network, were positively correlated to objective scores of hospital quality, according to the research published in Yelp for Health: Using the Wisdom of Crowds to Find High-Quality Hospitals, from the Manhattan Institute.
Yelp scores are “good composite measures,” the researchers conclude; while other metrics could explain more details about the “why” in variation of hospital quality, Yelp ratings are understandable to most people.
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21 California doctors charged in $40M fraud scheme
A total of 26 people, including the doctors, a physician assistant, two pharmacists and husband-and-wife business owners are charged in the scheme, which affected 13,000 patients and at least 27 insurers in a statewide workers’ compensation fraud, according to the California Department of Insurance.
The charges were announced by Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. They have charged a Beverly Hills couple, Tanya Moreland King, 37, and her husband Christopher King, 38, with masterminding a complex insurance fraud scheme in which they recruited doctors and pharmacists to prescribe unnecessary treatment for workers' compensation insurance patients.
Thank You Medical Error Transparency Plan page (FB) for the story
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Another Cancer Curing Doctor Found Shot Dead Directly After SWAT Raid on Clinic
The suppression of medical science is a history backdating over decades. Coupled with the oddity of several medical researchers who were on the cusp of medical breakthroughs, meeting with unexpected and sometimes violent deaths, one’s curiosity is piqued, to say the least.
One such medical researcher was the pioneering Dr. Bradsheet, found floating in a river recently, with a gunshot wound to the chest. Dr. Bradsheet was working on a molecule called GcMAF, a little known but potentially groundbreaking cure for cancer, and treatment for HIV and autism.
Thank You Medical Error Transparency Plan page (FB) for the story
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How hospitals, nursing homes keep lethal ‘superbug’ outbreaks secret
Across the U.S., vague rules give healthcare providers lots of leeway in deciding when, or even whether, to report unusual clusters of infections. And when they do alert officials, that information is usually kept from the public.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are sickened and tens of thousands die from infections by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and C. difficile, a pathogen linked to long-term antibiotic use. Timely reporting of outbreaks of these infections is essential to stopping the spread of disease and saving lives, public health experts and patient advocates say.
Yet the United States lacks a unified nationwide system for reporting and tracking outbreaks. Instead, a patchwork of state laws and guidelines, inconsistently applied, tracks clusters of the deadly infections that the federal government 15 years ago labeled a grave threat to public health.
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Death by Prescription
Americans are taking more medications than ever before.
Nearly 60 to 70 percent of us take at least one prescribed drug, depending upon the estimate; for many it amounts to a fistful, potpourri of pills per day. Meanwhile, new drug approvals have reached a 19-year high. It’s a mark cheered notably for the swift minting of medications to tackle so-called “orphan diseases,” rare conditions for which few or no treatment options exist. But critics say an expedited drug approval process is opening the door for riskier drugs – including many not proven to provide unique benefits over drugs already on the market.
Thank You ProPublica Patient Safety Community page (FB) for the story
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How Hospitals Make Enormous Profits from Botched Surgeries
A study published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association said that botched surgeries bring in more money for hospitals than successful surgeries.
The study found that hospitals bill insurance companies for more money to cover surgical complications, reports the Washington Post.
Patients who have private insurance and experience a bad surgery can bring hospitals 330 percent more money than the same private insurance patients whose surgery is successful.
This cash cow isn't limited to private insurance.
Thank You Medical Error Transparency Plan page (FB) for the story
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Secret Hospital Inspections May Become Public at Last
The federal government has proposed requiring that accreditors release reports on the problems they find during hospital inspections. Right now, the reports are secret. The public could soon get a look at confidential reports about errors, mishaps and mix-ups in the nation’s hospitals that put patients’ health and safety at risk, under a groundbreaking proposal from federal health officials.
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Popular “Diet” Ingredient Now Linked to Leukemia and Lymphoma in New Landmark Study on Humans
The most thorough study yet on aspartame – Over two million person-years
As few as one diet soda daily may increase the risk for leukemia in men and women, and for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in men, according to new results from the longest-ever running study on aspartame as a carcinogen in humans. Importantly, this is the most comprehensive, long-term study ever completed on this topic, so it holds more weight than other past studies which appeared to show no risk. And disturbingly, it may also open the door for further similar findings on other cancers in future studies.
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100,000 Americans Die Each Year from Prescription Drugs, While Pharma Companies Get Rich
How many people do you know who regularly use a prescription medication? If your social group is like most Americans', the answer is most. Sixty-five percent of the country takes a prescription drug these days. In 2005 alone, we spent $250 billion on them.
Melody Petersen: The study estimating that 100,000 Americans die each year from their prescriptions looked only at deaths from known side effects. That is, those deaths didn’t happen because the doctor made a mistake and prescribed the wrong drug, or the pharmacist made a mistake in filling the prescription, or the patient accidentally took too much. Unfortunately, thousands of patients die from such mistakes too, but this study looked only at deaths where our present medical system wouldn’t fault anyone. Tens of thousands of people are dying every year from drugs they took just as the doctor directed. This shows you how dangerous medications are.
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Hospitals, doctors must come clean when patients are harmed
The practice of not reporting adverse events has been excused by many because it is caused by physicians’ fears of having their reputations damaged and suffering economic damages. But any public disclosure will risk reputation damage, regardless of legal ramifications, and the brunt of economic awards is almost always borne by an insurance company.
All of us enter a hospital with the expectations of receiving safe effective care and leaving in better shape than when we came in. For the vast majority this is the case. But for some, mistakes are made and sometimes death results.
There is currently a debate as to how often this occurs. At least three studies have found that preventable patient deaths in U.S. hospitals approximate 200,000 a year. They occur so often that some researchers now estimate that they are the third-leading cause of death in the United States.
Dr. Kevin Kavanagh
Not everyone agrees. Some point to flawed data and come up with estimates which show much better results.
However, the data tend to err on underestimating by not capturing all events and not even measuring deaths due to diagnostic errors. And some have even used data from Great Britain’s National Health Service to argue that the care in the United States is relatively safe, but this makes little sense.
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Nurse Educator Shares Personal Story of Medical Error, No Disclosure
Today, I am turning the floor over to Linda Snell, DNS, RN. Linda is a Sorry Works! Board member and Associate Professor, Department of Nursing at the College of Brockport (NY). Linda is passionate about Sorry Works! and disclosure because of her own experiences with medical errors. In my travels, I have seen --- sadly --- that some of the worst cases of cover up involve clinicians (or their family members) who received bad care. Not only does the medical system refused to communicate with their injured colleagues, they sometimes professionally ostracize these folks, further injuring these poor souls. I always tell doctors and nurses who experienced cover ups that they are our “aces in the hole.” They can speak with credibility to their fellow physicians and nurses and say, “I know how it feels to not receive the truth after something goes wrong…it happened to me. Here’s my story….we should never cover up an error from one of our patients.”
Linda Snell truly is an “ace in the hole” and has a powerful story for physicians, nurses, and future clinicians.
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A mother speaks for her daughter: Doctors, listen to your patients
As the mother of a daughter who died needlessly, I have earned, in the worst way possible, the right to demand that patients be heard.
My daughter, Talia Goldenberg, met life’s challenges head-on. No conversation was too big for her. But Talia was betrayed by her medical providers, and the job at hand — making hospitals safe for patients — needs much work. I hear Talia in my head, urging me to push this conversation forward so that nobody else dies the way she did. I am determined to be her voice.
The Seattle Times special report, Quantity of Care, has shaken Seattle’s medical community to its core. I have been shocked to learn about the degree of willful negligence in the system, the ugliness of an administration and group of physicians who allowed an environment of fear, abuse and compromised patient safety to go unchecked for years.
But the recent resignation of two people — a neurosurgeon and a CEO — alone does not fix the system. We want to believe that cleaning house will mean patients are safe again. Everyone just wants to get back to business as usual.
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MISDIAGNOSED: What a Vernon woman learned from five-year fight for justice
When you get injured in a car accident, you can file a claim with ICBC. If you get hurt on the job, there’s WorkSafe B.C. But, as Kooijman and other patients have learned, the only way you can seek compensation in B.C. for an injury of medical malpractice is by going to court. And when you do that, not only do you have to meet a very high burden of proof, you’re up against the Canadian Medical Protective Association — a massively endowed, partially taxpayer-subsidized defence for doctors that is awfully hard to beat.
Most people would be relieved to hear they had a false positive test result for cancer. Not Allison Kooijman.
She didn’t find out until after she’d already had a major surgery that removed 16 perfectly healthy lymph nodes removed from the left side of her neck. Her spinal accessory nerve was damaged in the process, leaving her feeling as if “someone is hanging off my shoulder blade all the time.”
Interior Health acknowledges it was an error, and a B.C. Supreme Court Judge found two of the pathologists breached the standard of care, but Kooijman, who is now on disability, won’t see any compensation. Instead, it cost her dearly in expenses, time and anxiety, a career as a nurse and current and future earnings.
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Does dental profession need something like a nurse practitioner?
Advocates for hygienists say that poor and disabled people, often minority children, struggle to find good dental care because of a shortage of dentists willing to serve them. The group is pushing for a new class of advanced hygienists, sort of nurse practitioners for the mouth, who could offer the kind of help that they say these patients aren’t getting.
Traditional dentists, though, said such a role would endanger rather than help the poor by putting them in the hands of people who lack proper training and skills.
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Thank You DDS Supporter Dana Herbert for bringing us the story. Great Work!
Thank You DDS Supporter Dana Herbert for bringing us the story. Great Work!
President Donald Trump has never had the flu shot… and never got the flu, either – coincidence?
Natural News) President Donald Trump says, “I don’t like the idea of injecting bad stuff into your body, which is basically what they do.” If you don’t know it by now, most people who get the flu are those injected with the flu vaccine, year after year after year.
The influenza vaccine insert tells you in plain writing that you should not get more than one vaccine in a lifetime, but who reads the vaccine insert and who cares about the warnings and side effects, right? You only read the ingredients on food and personal care products, and rely on medical doctors to inform you that the flu jab contains high levels of mercury, listed as thimerosal, plus formaldehyde (for embalming dead folks) and aluminum (the leading cause of Alzheimer’s).
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Science paper attempts to claim all flu shots work, even if it’s the wrong strain… but actually admits vaccine-induced immunization is a farce
(Natural News) A credible-looking, journal-published study currently making the rounds in defense of seasonal influenza vaccines claims that these aggressively-pushed jabs are very effective and that people should keep on getting them every year no matter what — even when the viral strain being immunized for is not actually the viral strain that a person has, or that is predominantly circulating throughout the public.
According to the paper, getting the flu shot is still a good idea, regardless of whether or not the influenza strain is a direct match, because, by golly, we said so! Well, there is a touch more science to it than that, but the premise to the new study is basically this: no matter what influenza strain is being targeted by a particular flu vaccine, that vaccine will still somehow offer protective benefits.
If this all sounds like a bunch of illogical craziness, it is because that is exactly what it is. But St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, where the study originated, sure does not think so. Dr. Andrea Tricco, the study’s lead author and a physician at this respected facility, is insistent that flu shots work most of the time, and that people should never forego getting them for really any reason at all.
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India tosses out Gates Foundation due to conflicts of interest with Big Pharma
“The Centre has shut the gate on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on a critical national health mission, and possible conflict of interest issues arising from the foundation’s ‘ties’ with pharmaceutical companies is one of the reasons,” reports the Economic Times of India.
“All financial ties of the country’s apex immunization advisory body, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), with the Gates Foundation have been cut off.”
Because India’s national health program has not been completely infiltrated by vaccine-pushing, drug-hawking eugenicists like Bill and Melinda Gates, various arms of its sub-agencies were able to support this decision and make it a reality. It took five years of battling with India’s Supreme Court, but ultimately it was all worth it because, for once, the globalists have lost a major avenue for pushing their agenda of death and destruction.
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How the government hiring freeze dishonors veterans
For those who are not avid followers of President Trump or his decisions, often his decisions have far-reaching consequences that affect lives and people. As a health care provider, I understand quick decision making, but also the importance of risk versus benefit and consequences of your decisions. I would like to tell you my story and how his actions have affected my life, the lives of my patients and their loved ones, and more importantly the men and women President Trump claims to care for the most: military members and veterans.
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Why This Doctor Fears Being a Patient
Dr. Don Berwick says: 'What chills my bones is indignity'
Berwick, a former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and now a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, gave this talk at a conference several years ago. He says the solution is “patient-centered “ care, which many practitioners now call “person-centered” care to further level the relationship between the person getting care and the person giving it.
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Pharma company raised the price of Opioid overdose “antidote” six-fold to profit from epidemic
(Natural News) It is no secret that corruption is an industry-wide problem when it comes to pharmaceuticals. But now, it seems that corruption has taken an even more sinister twist. As the number of Americans overdosing on Big Pharma’s golden ticket — the opioid painkiller — continues to increase, it seems that one pharma company has taken it upon themselves to increase the cost of the antidote by more than six-fold.
In other words, the industry is raising the cost of a drug that is used to treat a problem that the industry itself created. How cunning.
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State of Massachusetts caught using falsified lab tests in convictions; thousands exonerated after fake science exposed
Since the shocking revelations in 2012, roughly 1,500 of the ‘Dookhan’ convictions were overturned. But over 24,000 people affected by the fake science lab results remained on parole or in prison, and many more were denied jobs and housing due to their criminal records.
“Innocent persons were incarcerated, guilty persons have been released to further endanger the public, millions and millions of public dollars are being expended to deal with the chaos Ms. Dookhan created, and the integrity of the criminal justice system has been shaken to the core,” Judge Carol S. Ball stated at sentencing.
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2% of Physicians Involved in Half of Malpractice Settlements
But few doctors are sanctioned
Neither a policy tome nor an investigative report, it is the view of someone "with a doctor's heart" and a "lawyer's awareness that great harm is sometimes done by physicians to patients through narcissism, carelessness, and ineptitude," he writes.
Schlachter contends that the malpractice system is heavily weighted in favor of doctors and insurance companies. The data bank study shows that little is being done to address the subset of errant doctors, he said.
He believes, however, that hospitals are "in a tough situation" when state medical boards fail to investigate and restrict doctors who pay multiple malpractice claims.
As a lawyer, he has not seen any malpractice cases that have been settled by formal "communication and resolution programs."
The AHRQ and others are studying that approach, where providers reveal errors and offer out-of-court settlements when appropriate. Schlachter said he is more likely to see hospitals taking the deny-and-defend approach.
Increasingly, however, he is being called upon to oversee cases that go into arbitration. Often the approach offers a quick, fair alternative to a trial, he said.
But it does not require the hospitals to admit to a shortfall in patient care.
"There has to be a cultural change ... the hospital serves the community and the human beings that come into the hospitals are shareholders in their own healthcare," he said. "They have to be able to trust the hospital to be patient centered and take care of patients' needs first."
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Greater profit margins for hospitals when patients have complications
New Harvard research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that when a privately insured surgery patient has complications, the hospital makes about three and a third times more than when a patient doesn't have complications.
The profit margin was $39,000 more on average per patient. For Medicare patients, the margin was not as great, but still almost twice as much.
Researchers say until now, it hasn't been fully recognized how much more money hospitals make when harm is done. Researchers say reducing harm and improving quality are perversely penalized in the current health care system.
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Sentence for accused 'greedy butcher' surgeon 'truly up for grabs'
DETROIT - Sentencing day is looming for Dr. Aria Sabit, whom prosecutors have called a greedy butcher, in reference to his willingness to perform unnecessary spinal surgeries in order to line his pockets with millions of dollars in cash.
“There is no other explanation to what he did and what he admitted to, other than greed,” said Neil Rockind, a Local 4 legal expert who examined the legal filings.
Sabit came to the United States from Afghanistan, where his father is a former attorney general and his uncle was speaker of the house. Sabit went on to study medicine in the U.S., in pursuit of the American dream.
He eventually became a neurosurgeon and practiced in California, until he lost his license to do so. He then moved to Metro Detroit to run the Michigan Brain and Spine Physician’s Group.
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Top Republicans say there’s a medical malpractice crisis. Experts say there isn’t.
“It’s a wonderful time for doctors looking for coverage, and it’s never been better for insurers,” said Michael Matray, editor of Medical Liability Monitor, a trade publication.
Doctors are paying less for malpractice insurance than they did in 2001 — even without adjusting for inflation, according to the Doctors Company, one of the nation’s largest malpractice insurers. And the rate of claims has dropped by half since 2003.
“It’s a time of relative calm, and this hasn’t been a front-burner issue or crisis,” said Nicholas Pace, a researcher who studies the civil justice system at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit policy think tank. “But now Republicans see an opportunity to make changes they have wanted for a long time as they replace Obamacare.”
Their proposals would make it easier for doctors to defend themselves in malpractice cases and raise the burden of proof on patients claiming to have been injured. Many Republicans also back sharp limits on damage awards, often citing California’s landmark law capping noneconomic damages at $250,000 as a national model.
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Mercury from fillings in your teeth can’t go down public sewers anymore, EPA rules
WASHINGTON
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has adopted a rule to require dentists, whose treatment of tooth decay with mercury compounds has sent the toxic substance into public sewers for decades, to contain their discharges by early 2020.
The actions to shield the public from dentists’ use of mercury moved governments on both sides of the Atlantic toward aligning with the goals of a 2013 treaty signed by 128 countries – the Minamata Convention. The treaty, ratified by the United States and 34 other nations, calls for phasing out products that emit mercury vapor and disposing of the toxin more safely.
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Congress needs to turn its attention to medical device safety
For all the good that medical devices do, they can also cause harm. I know this because my health was almost irreparably harmed by the mercury-based dental amalgam used over my lifetime to fill cavities — it turns out that genetic susceptibility is a factor. I have friends, relatives, and colleagues who have endured cancers and autoimmune diseases, allergies, rashes, pain, memory loss, and incredible emotional strain from problems caused by various medical devices.
Take a look at the numbers below for Class III devices, collected by Device Events, a company that helps businesses and organizations extract and understand reports on the millions of adverse event reports for medical devices submitted to the FDA. The numbers below are for the past 20 years.
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No Doctor Should Work 30 Straight Hours Without Sleep
The American medical system requires dangerous feats of sleep deprivation. It doesn’t have to.
Getting five or six hours of sleep—substantial by many physicians’ self-standards—can leave drivers impaired to a degree that’s similar to drunkenness. That’s according to findings of a study released this month from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety: Drivers who sleep only five or six hours in a 24-hour period are twice as likely to crash as those who got seven or more.
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Could your cavity-filled tooth repair itself with stem cells in the future?
Since the 1700s, when modern dentistry began to evolve, people have assumed that the parts of teeth damaged by cavities were gone for good and that there was nothing to be done except drilling out the decay and filling the remaining tooth with some kind of enamel or metal. That entire paradigm is changing.
Vining and Celiz have just won a prize at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s emerging technology competition for creating a synthetic biomaterial that stimulates stem cells native to your teeth to repair them. That’s right — the substance appears to somehow make that area regenerate pulp tissue and the critical bony material of your tooth known as dentin.
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What Percentage of Doctors at Your Hospital Take Drug, Device Payments?
Where a hospital is located makes a big difference in how many of its doctors take payments from drug and medical device companies. See how your state compares and look up your hospital below.
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State lets doctors accused of sexual abuse on patients keep practicing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a multi-part series starting today found a deep and troubling pattern of physicians sexually assaulting patients across the nation. The Palm Beach Post, Atlanta’s sister paper, used the AJC’s never-before-assembled data to explore cases in Florida. To read Atlanta’s findings in every state, go to http://doctors.AJC.com
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How to report sex abuse by your doctor
If you have been sexually abused by your doctor, here's what you should know
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SHOCK: Scientists Stunning Truth About Cholesterol… Look Who Lied
“Our findings provide a contradiction to the cholesterol hypothesis,” Diamond said. “That hypothesis predicts that cardiovascular disease starts in middle age as a result of high LDL-C cholesterol, worsens with aging, and eventually leads to death from cardiovascular disease. We did not find that trend.
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A "HIGH FIVE" to DDS supporter Harold M. for bringing this story to my attention. Great job!!
Doctor Blows The Whistle On Chemotherapy
Dr. Peter Glidden talks about the incredibly low success rate for chemotherapy as a cancer treatment. Be sure to talk to your doctor about all of your options before deciding on a cancer treatment path.
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A "HIGH FIVE" to DDS supporter Roxanne S. for bringing this story to my attention. Great job!!
AARP States:
Medical Errors No. 3 Cause of Death in U.S.
Bungled care costs 250,000 lives a year, behind heart disease and cancer. Safety lapses and unintended bungling killed 70 percent more Americans than chronic respiratory disease, currently listed as the third-leading cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Annual deaths from stroke, Alzheimer’s or diabetes don’t even come close to those from medical errors.
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Mother-of-three died in agony from Crohn’s disease after doctors said she was ‘imagining most of her pain’
A woman who visited hospital 50 times in the lead up to her death was told by medics the chronic pain she suffered was all in her head, her husband claims.
Michelle Ashby, 43, spent three years in and out of hospital suffering from inflammatory bowel disease Crohn’s.
The mother-of-three from Gillingham, Kent, died on January 18 last year.
The cause of death was first given as pneumonia, caused by Crohn’s disease.
But a post mortem examination revealed she actually died from multiple organ failure stemming from a perforation to her bowel.
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NBC Nightly News
This story aired in 2014.
NEW NUMBERS OUT THIS EVENING TELLING A TROUBLING STORY THAT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE GETTING THE WRONG DIAGNOSIS EVERY YEAR WITH MANY FACING LIFE THREATENING CONDITIONS.
* 1 in 20 patients misdiagnosed every year
* 12 MILLION Every Year
* Half Potentially Harmful
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Kentucky Nurse Is Caught On Camera FALLING ASLEEP While She's Trying To Care For a PATIENT
Is it lack of sleep from being over worked in an under staffed envirnonment or something else? Either way, this nurses concerning condition is a potential contributor to our countries #3 leading causes of death, Medicial Malpractice.
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Report Suggests that Doctors are a Leading Cause of Death
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What You Don't Know About You
DOCTOR COULD HURT YOU!
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Must See Documentary: Pharmaceutical & Medical Industry Kill More than All Wars; Please Circulate
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RNs Provide Bedside Reality Check at CHS Shareholder Meeting Yesterday in New York City
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Bad Doctor Database
While this is not, breaking news, it is valuable information.
A collection of news stories and other public information, detailing acts of negligence and crimes by doctors.
EVERYONE IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.
The page is broken down into "California" and "Non-California," and other sub-categories.
This is just a compilation of readily available information from the internet.
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