News
New Alternative For Pancreatic Biopsy
January 18, 2010 6:57 am | CommentsIt is reasonable to obtain a histological diagnosis before treating patients who have pancreatic masses and are unsuitable or unwilling to undergo surgery. As the pancreas is a deep-seated organ surrounded by other vital structures, it is a challenge for the physician to obtain an adequate specimen for histological examination.
Artificial Muscles Restore Facial Movement
January 18, 2010 6:51 am | CommentsSurgeons from UC Davis Medical Center have demonstrated that artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis to blink, a development that could benefit the thousands of people each year who no longer are able to close their eyelids due to combat-related injuries, stroke, nerve injury or facial surgery.
Texted Donations For Haiti Pass $5 Million
January 15, 2010 5:22 am | CommentsBarbara Ortutay, AP U.S. cell phone users have contributed more than $5 million in $10 increments to the Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief, by far the largest outpouring of support via mobile devices in history. The response to the devastating earthquake produced the highest amount of mobile donations that we have ever seen, said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of mGive Foundation, the nonprofit group that is working with the Red Cross and wireless carriers to channel the donations.
Study Casts Doubt On Surgical Recovery Technique
January 15, 2010 5:09 am | CommentsNew research casts doubt on increasingly popular blood-based injections reportedly used by Tiger Woods and other athletes to speed recovery after orthopedic surgery. In a small study at a hospital in The Netherlands, the treatment worked no better than salt water injections in patients with Achilles tendon injuries.
Obesity Rate Still High, But Steady
January 15, 2010 5:00 am | CommentsLindsey Tanner, AP The nation's obesity rate appears to have stalled, but the latest numbers still show that more than two-thirds of adults and almost one-third of kids are overweight, with no sign of improvement. According to government data from the years 2007-08 published this week, the obesity rate has held steady for about five years.
Armed With A New Windpipe
January 15, 2010 4:46 am | CommentsMaria Cheng, AP For more than a quarter of a century, Linda De Croock lived with constant pain from a car accident that smashed her windpipe. Today, she has a new one after surgeons implanted the windpipe from a dead man into her arm, where it grew new tissue before being transplanted into her throat.
Law Will Require Hospitals To List "Avoidable Mistakes" On Web
January 15, 2010 4:30 am | CommentsA new law is taking effect that will require New Hampshire hospitals to report avoidable mistakes to the public. It’s something the family of Carol Scaison, a 57-year-old mother from Danville, NH who spent the last days of her life as a paraplegic and blind, belief is over due. The family's attorney alleges her condition resulted from a mistake at a local hospital.
Adverse Event Report Shows Good & Bad
January 15, 2010 3:57 am | CommentsThe sixth annual report of adverse health events released by the Minnesota Department of Health saw a patient given the wrong medicine, resulting in serious disability, a woman inseminated with the wrong sperm, serious falls and a patient-against-patient sexual assault. In a knee replacement, surgery on the wrong leg was caught in time, but not before the wrong leg was given regional anesthesia.
Hospital Goes Live With Surgery And Critical Care Integration
January 13, 2010 6:33 am | Picis | CommentsHigh-acuity care automation solutions are set to help the facility promote patient safety and boost efficiency. January 13, 2010 Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey, England has successfully implemented Picis integrated surgical, anesthesia, recovery room and critical care software solutions.
Current System Cares Well For Fraudsters
January 13, 2010 6:01 am | CommentsCurrent System Cares Well For Fraudsters Parija Kavilanz, CNN Money There's a group of people who really love the U.S. health care system – the fraudsters, scammers and organized criminal gangs who are bilking the system of as much as $100 billion a year. Health care identity theft dominated all other crimes in the sector last year, according to Louis Saccoccio, executive director of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA), an advocacy group whose members include insurers, law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
Biomedical Research Funding Declines
January 13, 2010 5:47 am | CommentsThe rate of increase for funding of biomedical research in the U.S. has slowed since 2005, and the level of funding from the National Institutes of Health and industry appears to have decreased by two percent in 2008, after adjustment for inflation, according to an article in the January 13 issue of JAMA .
Prize Those Thighs
January 13, 2010 5:32 am | CommentsReuters People with fat in their thighs and backsides may live longer because the fat traps harmful fatty particles and actively secretes helpful compounds, according to a report published on Tuesday. Many studies have shown that people who accumulate fat around the abdomen and stomach are more likely to die of heart disease and other causes than bottom-heavy people, but the reasons are not clear.
FDA Site Offers Public Insight
January 13, 2010 5:21 am | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration is launching a new website explaining its operations to consumers as part of a broader effort to re-brand itself as a more accessible agency. Dubbed “FDA Basics”, it features short videos about the agency as well as conversations with FDA leaders. The FDA has long operated under strict confidentiality rules because its scientists handle reams of proprietary information from food, drug and device companies.
Bullet Removal Not Subject To Malpractice
January 13, 2010 5:12 am | CommentsA physician attempting to remove a bullet from a patient's head without his consent is not a medical malpractice issue, a plaintiff will argue before an appeals court in Beaumont, TX later this month. Joshua Bush has filed a lawsuit against Christus Health Southeast Texas and Dr. David Parkus after the doctor tried to remove a bullet from his skull against his will.
Katrina Lawsuits Could "Open Pandora's Box"
January 12, 2010 6:31 am | CommentsOnce the power blinked out, Althea LaCoste's lungs were on their own. She struggled to breathe without the help of a respirator, and even a team of nurses hand-bagging air into her ailing lungs couldn't save her, according to court documents. LaCoste, 73, died before she could be evacuated from Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.
