Lawmakers could set age limitation today
Omaha World-Herald Nov 21, 08 10:09 AM CST
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Nebraska lawmakers today closed a loophole that allowed parents to abandon their unruly teenagers and leave them in state custody, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The original law was meant to allow unwanted infants to be left at hospitals without penalty, but it lacked an age restriction. Since September, 35 children, nearly all them 11 or older, have been dropped off.
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Thousands killed by drug-resistant pathogen
AFP Nov 18, 08 7:53 AM CST
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A deadly new superbug is stalking the world's hospitals, health experts warned today. The pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is a burgeoning threat and proving extremely difficult to control, with a third of outbreaks resistant to front-line antibiotics, according to a study in the Lancet . Of 24,000 US cases in a year, nearly 34% of infected hospital patients died. The figure rose to 43% among patients in intensive care, according to AFP.
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Doctors expect her to make 'full recovery'
after hip fracture
Reuters Oct 17, 08 8:37 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Nancy Reagan returned home today from a Los Angeles hospital after being treated for a broken pelvis, Reuters reports. For the 87-year-old widow of Ronald Reagan, who fell at her home last week, 2 days with doctors was enough: "I hope it won't hurt anyone's feelings if I don't return anytime soon," she told them. She is expected to make a "full recovery" in 6 to 8 weeks, her spokeswoman said.
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Nearly 1K babies may have been exposed to worker with active case
San Francisco Chronicle Aug 27, 08 3:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Nearly 1,000 babies born since March at a San Francisco hospital could have been exposed to tuberculosis, the Chronicle reports, by a maternity-ward worker with an active case. Kaiser Permanente says infection risk is very low, but testing and any treatment needed will be provided to 960 infants and their mothers, plus 115 staff members. The part-time staffer is no longer at the hospital.
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Stressed patients often make victims of healers on 'front lines'
New York Times Jul 8, 08 6:39 AM CDT
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People may be at their most human when in pain, but often turn their anguish on their would-be healers—and now nurses are calling on workplaces and lawmakers to be more vigilant against physical attacks, the New York Times reports. “Nurses are just starting to get to the place where they’re saying, ‘I don’t have to put up with this,’” said an expert.
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Struggle reveals rosy financial state of nonprofit hospitals
Wall Street Journal Jun 28, 08 12:36 PM CDT
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Jesse Martin shuns health insurance and government aid, although nine of his kids are seriously ill. Like other self-sufficient Pennsylvania Mennonites, and Amish too, Martin avails modern medicine for the fatal diseases that are ravaging their families—but is hard-up to pay the bills, which Martin claims are inflated. "I just want to pay bills that are reasonable and fair," he says.
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Deadly C. diff., aided by over-prescription of antibiotics, is on the rise
MSNBC May 2, 08 5:25 PM CDT
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A deadly new superbug—beefed up by the over-prescription of antibiotics and spread by dirty hospitals and nursing homes—is raising concern in the medical community, MSNBC reports. The so-called C. diff is a mutated form of a benign bug typically transmitted in unsanitary medical facilities, especially bathrooms. Cases are on the rise, and the threat now rivals that of the headline-grabbing MRSA superbug, MSNBC notes.
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Some of the non-docs who peeked at Britney's files were fired
Los Angeles Times Apr 12, 08 11:17 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The MDs who wrongly looked at Britney Spears’ medical records while she was being treated on two occasions at UCLA hospitals have gotten off easier than other staff, the Los Angeles Times reports. Of the at least 53 snoopers, 18 non-doctors retired, resigned, or were dismissed, but none of the 14 physicians with prying eyes quit or was fired.
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News of star's
recurring cancer was leaked to tabloid
Los Angeles Times Apr 3, 08 3:00 AM CDT
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A UCLA staffer sneaked peeks into actress Farrah Fawcett's confidential health records and apparently leaked information on her treatment for cancer to the media, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sensational headlines about Fawcett's illness subsequently turned up on the website of the National Enquirer before the star had a chance to tell her son that her cancer had returned.
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Health workers charged with
infecting children
BBC Mar 21, 08 7:51 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Fourteen medical professionals in Kyrgyzstan face malpractice and negligence charges after allegedly infecting 42 children with HIV. The group of doctors, nurses, and a top administrator could receive prison terms of up to 10 years for administering contaminated injections and blood transfusions. Such incidents may be common, one aide worker says, but the stigma of HIV here keeps families from speaking up.
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Docs must ask ER
patients if they use cocaine, AHA says
Associated Press Mar 17, 08 7:56 PM CDT
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Doctors should ask younger patients if their heart attack symptoms are really due to cocaine use, the American Heart Association said today. Coke can cause chest pain similar to a heart attack, it said, but heart medication can be fatal to cocaine users. "Not knowing what you are dealing with and giving the wrong therapies could mean death rather than benefit," said Columbia University Professor James Reiffel.
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Hospital moving to fire 13 after second wave of Spears snooping
Los Angeles Times Mar 14, 08 7:25 PM CDT
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A California hospital is trying to terminate some 13 employees, and has already disciplined others, for poking around in Britney Spears’ medical records, the Los Angeles Times reports. The firings come after bosses at UCLA Medical Center specifically warned employees about unnecessary perusal of patient files on the morning of Spears’ most recent hospitalization, in January, for psychiatric evaluation.
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Drug company alleged to have kept Medicaid in dark on lowest prices
Wall Street Journal Feb 7, 08 3:59 PM CST
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Drug company Merck will dish out $650 million to resolve lawsuits and probes into marketing schemes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Central to the investigations is the company’s “nominal pricing,” which slashed some drug prices by 90% for hospitals but hid the discounts from Medicaid, even though federal law demands that drug companies offer the government program their lowest prices.
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Average waits for heart attack patients rose from 8 to 20 minutes
Reuters Jan 16, 08 4:51 PM CST
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With emergency room visits and hospital overcrowding on the rise, waiting times have grown dangerously long—36% longer than they were in 1997. A new study in medical journal Health Affairs cites especially troubling waits for heart attack victims, with 25% waiting at least 50 minutes to s