Patient Safety

A Sea of Broken Hearts – Dad Posts About the Loss of Alex

I’ve added another guest post this morning — one that will break your heart, too. John T. James, PhD, a dad — and now a fixer — posted about his son Alex, a seemingly healthy 19-year-old college runner who one day collapsed, was hospitalized, and died a few weeks later. The problem is, of course, […]

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Patient Safety Day, “Independence” Takes on a New Meaning

Sometimes the best way to accomplish the most is to get good heads together for conversation, brainstorming and more.  Some of those names we hear over and over again in the patient safety world were able to join forces at a picnic in Aiken, South Carolina, on July 4th. Organized by Dianne Parker, the group

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CNN’s Heroes of Patient Empowerment. A Humble Thank You.

There aren’t many times that I am left speechless, but this is one of them. If you are a regular reader of CNN’s Empowered Patient, offered each week by Elizabeth Cohen, then you know there have been any number of outstanding advocates featured. People who work tirelessly to improve our safety, access and navigation through

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Heather, SPTCL, Another Misdiagnosis and Doctors Who Should Not Practice Medicine

Here’s the good news:  Heather does not have SPTCL. Here’s the bad news:  Heather does have another type of T-cell lymphoma called CGD-TCL, cutaneous gamma-delta t-cell lymphoma.  Also written with Greek letters:  cutaneous ?/? T-cell lymphoma To say that both Heather and I were shocked is an understatement.  If you read my post a few

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The Blue Beast, and Your Chance to Make a Difference

I spent a few hours yesterday with a delightful team of people who YOU should get to know, too. Meg, Pauline and Blake are traversing the country this summer in a big blue bus (they call it the blue beast!) in the Cover America Tour. Sponsored by Consumers Union (the Consumer Reports folks) it is

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An ER Nightmare: Hit to the Psyche and the Wallet

Star Lawrence is a fellow health and medical blogger, commenting almost daily on the state of American healthcare, and her experiences. She’s often funny, and she’s always to the point. One of those “I have to laugh so I won’t cry” types of commentary. Star sent me a post to share with you, and it

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FDA Tells Merck “NO” — Twice Burned, Twice Shy?

A few weeks ago, the FDA refused Merck Pharmaceuticals permission to sell a newly developed drug called MK-0524A  that combines niacin and a cholesterol drug . Today we learn that Merck has now stopped trials of the drug. As you know if you read this blog or my other blogs regularly, Merck has been caught

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Update: Carmelo Rodriguez’ Ignored and Missed Diagnosis

I first told you about Carmelo Rodriguez last January. He joined the Marines in 1997 and during his induction physical, the doctor found a spot of melanoma, recorded it in Rodriguez’ medical record, but never told him about it. Over the years, that spot grew, became inflamed, and filled with pus. While in Iraq, the

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Trisha Torrey
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