Just when you think you’ve seen everything, along comes the AspireAssist. This device, not yet FDA-approved, consists of a tube implanted in the stomach, which leads to a port that is exposed on the surface of the abdomen. Now,...
Read MoreThe New York Times reports that law schools in the U.S., already smarting from the collapse of the market for lawyers, are establishing law firms so they can hire their graduates and give them something to do. Regarding such a...
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You often see a football player on the sidelines breathing oxygen after running a long distance or...
Read MoreA recent Washington Post/Kaiser Health News story about anger management led with an anecdote about a surgeon who broke a scrub tech’s finger by slamming down an improperly loaded instrument. The surgeon was suspended for...
Read MoreAnother paper on the subject of unnecessary preoperative laboratory testing appeared not long ago. A group from the University of Texas Medical Branch looked at more than 73,000 elective hernia repairs in the National Surgical...
Read MoreIf you’ve read my reviews of the new medical TV show “Monday Mornings” (here, here and here), you’ll know I’ve been critical of many things about it. I was particularly disappointed with the way the show handled one of its...
Read MoreA patient wrote to me and asked when he should speak up and how to ask his doctor questions. I’m not sure I have all the answers. I hope some of my physician colleagues will comment. There is a fine and very fuzzy line between...
Read MoreFirst of all, this post was not lifted from The Onion. Do you think the economy is bad? Do we spend too much on healthcare for people? Let me introduce you to “Neuticles,” which are, no kidding, testicular prostheses for...
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Some researchers from Milan, Italy [it had to be from Italy] say that women with the most severe...
Read MoreOn my personal blog, I wrote about an incredibly bad medical television show called “Do No Harm” that premiered on NBC last week. I won’t reiterate here but if you want to know just how bad it was, here is the link to my blog....
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Read MoreNot long ago, I was called for jury duty. Although I was busy, I consider jury duty to be part of my civic responsibility and I did not try to avoid it. Well, another reason is that in my state, it is just about impossible to...
Read MoreNew York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), which runs 11 hospitals in four of the five boroughs of New York, is negotiating a new deal with the union representing some 3,300 salaried physicians. The corporation...
Read MorePatient satisfaction surveys are theoretically good things. After all, hospitals and doctors should know what their patients think about them. If a service is not performing well, the results of a patient satisfaction survey...
Read MoreThe number of people applying to law schools is in steep decline. So says a recent post on a website called “The National Jurist.” The post cited some remarkable data from the American Bar Association. In 2012, law school...
Read MorePatient satisfaction surveys are flawed in many ways. Here are just a few: 1. Sampling is a huge problem. A description of why sampling is an issue can be found here. It’s a bit complex. To summarize, the validity of a survey is...
Read MoreThere are many interesting unintended consequences of electronic medical records (EMRs). I was reminded of this by a recent blog I wrote about what interns really do when they are on call. According to a study from a VA hospital...
Read MoreOver the last few years, medical specialty boards have begun to compel physicians to maintain board certification by a number of means. This is an extension of recertification requirements that have been in existence since the...
Read MoreA recent survey published in Health Affairs found that 20% of nearly 2,000 physician respondents said that “they had not fully disclosed mistakes to patients for fear of being sued” in the past year. When I first heard about...
Read MoreNot long ago, I blogged about a plastic surgeon who aggressively pursues patients who refuse to pay her bills. The state is suing her to make her stop and also considering lifting her medical license. You may want to take a look...
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