In January, I told you about three heinous infection situations — three people who contracted MRSA from negligence and bad medical protocol. At the time, I took some major hits from providers — in effect, chastising ME for the plight of these people, and taking offense to the fact that I blamed the professionals who […]
Another MRSA Death, More Heartbreak Read More »
What do you think of those prescription ads you see on TV, in magazines, newspapers and other places? Do you think they are helpful? Do you get frustrated because you know you can’t purchase those drugs directly anyway? Did you go to your doctor to ask about one of them? Do you think they are
Prescription Drug Ads – Your Help Needed Read More »
Last week was National Patient Safety Awareness Week. Seems like the press just caught up this week. From MSN and NBC, to Reuters, and hundreds of news outlets that are more regional or local in nature…. this week patient safety is the bulk of what I see in the headlines. Most of us patients don’t
Hospitals, Never Events and Your Bill Read More »
One of my About.com colleagues forwarded a link to an article in this week’s Newsweek called “Revenge of the Experts.” The article analyzes Web 2.0 — a term synonymous with “social media” — like blogging, wikis, facebook, myspace, you-tube or all the link-to-link programs like Stumble Upon or del.icio.us (I never know where to put
What Makes an Expert? The Journey to Web 3.0 Read More »
The sad news came of Patrick Swayze’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It’s a deadly cancer, with no way to detect it early, and little chance of survival past a few weeks or months. Several people have asked me if pancreatic cancer is the same cancer that afflicts Randy Pausch. You may remember Dr. Pausch as
Patrick Swayze, Randy Pausch, Pancreatic Cancer Read More »
You may know that I host a weekly health and medical radio talk show called HealthLink on Air. During the past eight weeks, I have provided a series of tips on how we patients can manage our own expectations. Those tips range from asking questions like, “What happens next?” to finding the right person in
Managing Our Own Expectations as Patients Read More »
Forbes Magazine this month includes an exhaustive and question-inducing series of articles about hospitals and their ability to best take care of the patients who trust them. And the picture isn’t pretty. Even the titles make us pay attention: Bad Medicine Dirty Tricks Hospitals’ Nightmare And the subtitle under Bad Medicine is — The heart
Forbes: Patients Lose Thru Lack of Hospital Competition Read More »
Put yourself in Patsy Bates’ shoes. She is a hairdresser who had health insurance coverage with Health Net, a large insurer in California. In 2004, Patsy was diagnosed with breast cancer, and part way through her chemotherapy treatments, Health Net decided to cancel her insurance. At the point where she owed almost $130 thousand for
Health Net Pays $9 Million for Canceling Patient’s Policy Read More »
