A recent study showed that the number of breast cancers detected by mammography doubled between 1990 and 2008 in women ages 40-49. Moreover, the study, Malmberg JA, et al "Impact of mammography detection on the course of breast cancer in women aged 40 to 49 years" Radiology 2012; 262: 797-806., showed that mammography-detected breast cancer in this [...]
Recent medical studies show that spinal cord monitoring during spinal surgery and aorta repair surgery can prevent some avoidable spinal cord injuries from those surgeries, such as paraplegia and quadriplegia. Monitoring is done using equipment, similar to an EEG, that monitors changes in sensory and electrical impulses that herald spinal cord compromise. Once alerted to impending problems, physicians can take [...]
The American Cancer Society has long recognized that colonoscopy is an important tool for screening patients for colorectal cancer and also a treatment tool when precancerous polyps are detected. A recent study confirms the effectiveness of colonoscopy for treatment: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1100370. This study shows that polypectomy (removal of precancerous polyps using a colonoscope) prevents polyps from progressing [...]
The use of dirty surgical tools -- scalpels, trocars and other instruments contaminated with bodily fluids or tissues -- is an obvious source of hospital infection. A new study suggests that this problem is more widespread than previously thought. Read more here: http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10471434-today-investigates-dirty-surgical-instruments-a-problem-in-the-or. Worse yet, surgeons and hospitals are essentially unregulated when it comes to these foul [...]
A recent study published by the American Heart Association shows that mortality rates are higher for women in Ohio who have a heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI). The reason for this is that women are less likely than men to present with classic findings of chest pain. We have long known that physician bias [...]
A decrease in oxygen to an infant during labor and delivery can lead to catastrophic as well as fatal results. Oxygen deprivation (often described by the medical terms "anoxia" and "hypoxia") is caused when the supply of oxygen to an infant's brain is reduced. It can happen in all stages of pregnancy, labor and delivery. [...]
Cleveland expectant mothers should be aware of the dangers of epidurals during childbirth. It appears that there are frequent side effects concerning the epidural analgesia provided while a mother is in labor. These epidurals at times lead to a spike in a woman's body temperature and can lead to birth injury for the child. Fevers following [...]
As part of receiving Medicare payments from the federal government, hospitals are required to maintain records of all medical errors in order to improve care offered to patients. A new study by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Daniel Levinson, reports that few preventable injuries or infections are actually [...]
We have long known that inadequate nursing staffing leads to nursing negligence. The bottom line is that when hospitals cut nursing staffing to save a buck, patient safety suffers. In such a setting, errors, from inadequate monitoring to medication errors, propagate. However, the powerful hospital lobby has successfully prevented legislation that sets safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in [...]
Today was another sad day for Ohioans injured by drunk drivers, nursing home abuse and sexual deviants. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld legislation that requires a trial court to split cases into an initial phase involving compensatory damages and a second phase involving punitive damages. The legislation was a gift to well-heeled insurance companies. Here's how [...]