Not sure what it looks like where you live, but it’s cold outside where I live in Upstate NY, and we’ve got plenty of the white stuff on the ground. Whereas some friends might curl up with a good book, I tend to gravitate to puzzles and thought provokers when I’m indoors and have some […]
Some January Healthcare Thought-Provokers Read More »
De-cancered — a good word, isn’t it? Look at these two faces — they look quite healthy, don’t you think? Well — they most certainly are — quite healthy, despite the chemo both faced prior to proving neither one had the cancer she was diagnosed with. What this photo doesn’t show, is the emotion behind
Two Healthy De-Cancered Patients Read More »
No commentary needed here. See what my friend Susan shared with me about her recent experience: I had a routine colonoscopy, then 5 days later, I began to hemorrhage and passed out on the street corner. Some passerbys helped me and called an ambulance, but I ended up in the St XXX’s ER, one of
What Can We Learn from Susan’s Horrendous Hospital Stay? Read More »
When I received my cancer diagnosis in 2004, and proved I didn’t really have cancer at all, it was the first time I had ever heard or known about that form of misdiagnosis. It’s backwards from those we hear about more frequently. Most of the time we hear about a “missed diagnosis” — meaning someone
Have You Been Diagnosed with Cancer? Are You Sure the Diagnosis is Correct? Read More »
I don’t usually write about local or state news because my work is really more broad than that — however — an article in my local newspaper about a local hospital and wrong-site surgery just begged for some additional information! Wrong site surgery — a “never event” that takes place an estimated 100 – 200
Wrong Site Surgery — What Happens Next? Read More »
Beginning October 1, 2008, Medicare, and many health insurance companies, will no longer pay hospitals for the additional services needed for patients who suffer from “never events.” Never Events, as defined by the National Quality Forum, are those events which should never happen to a patient. There are 28 errors on the list ranging from
Never Events — Shooting the Messenger Read More »
I had lunch today with a long-time friend, Mindy. (No, of course that’s not her real name…) It’s been at least a year since we saw each other, and probably two since we had a long conversation. My heart broke as I learned that her daughter, Lindsay (not her real name either) has, for lack
Ulterior Motives for Eating Disorders, Too Read More »
Last January I posted three stories I had been told, all within a few days of each other, about patients who had acquired MRSA in the hospital and had been revictimized by the system that would not treat them, listen to them, or help them get well. Over the next several days, I was condemned,
MRSA: Patients Ignored, Left to Die – Redux Read More »
