Last week, an extremely disturbing story of hospital negligence was brought to light. A patient being treated for an infection at San Francisco General Hospital, that city’s main public hospital, went missing on Sept. 21. Despite a search of the grounds by both hospital personnel and sheriff’s deputies, her disappearance was a mystery until Oct. 8, when her body...
Read MoreA health writer for Yahoo recently put together a list of the top 8 mistakes hospitals commonly make in treating patients. The list ranged from unhealthy hospital food to breaching the confidentiality of medical records, but some types of hospital negligence can be dangerous or deadly. Here are some things to watch out for: Excessive wait times at the...
Read MoreA study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that some 40 percent of people who experience delirium in hospital intensive-care units may still be affected by cognitive problems similar to those from traumatic brain injuries three months later. Another 26 percent may still be experiencing issues similar to those of mild Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers...
Read MoreAs we discussed on this blog in March, there has been some controversy over whether too many American moms are choosing to have cesarean-sections mainly for convenience instead of medical reasons. While many mothers may be doing so, a study by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists had mixed results. The group found some evidence that the overall...
Read MoreProPublica, the public-interest investigative journalism nonprofit, recently reported on an alarming new report by a NASA toxicologist who runs an independent advocacy group Patient Safety America. The report, published in the current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety, concluded that the number of people who die in U.S. hospitals due to preventable medical errors has been substantially underestimated....
Read MoreThis week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a 114-page report that finally quantifies how many Americans are sickened or killed by antibiotic-resistant infections such as MRSA and CRE (a drug-resistant bacterium related to E. coli). Tragically, while the agency intentionally reported the most conservative number, it found that at least two million people fall ill from...
Read MoreWhen it comes to our nation’s veterans, nothing but the best medical care will do. Unfortunately, we don’t always live up to our values. According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Veterans Affairs paid out $91.7 million in medical malpractice claims last year — a frightening, substantial jump. While claims naturally vary from...
Read MoreWith college football season in full swing, there are many fans across Missouri who will be heading out to games and tuning in to watch them on TV. Football fans want to see big plays and hard hits, but it is important to keep in mind that these players can get seriously injured on the field. Keeping them safe...
Read MoreA participant in a National Institutes of Health-funded study at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics was hoping she could obtain some relief from a bowel condition while helping the advancement of science, but she ended up with a brain injury that left most of her face paralyzed. When she sought treatment for the paralysis the day after...
Read MoreA new study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics this week found a substantial association between women having their labor induced or sped up and the incidence of autism. While researchers stress they did not find a cause-and-effect connection, the study strongly reaffirmed medical consensus that autism is developed during pregnancy or during birth, not later in life. Could...
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