My colleague Betsy McCaughey, chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, publishes in July’s Best Hospitals 2007 of US News and World Report that hospitals must begin to take responsibility for their infection rates, and begin to take the necessary steps to clean themselves up. She cites a study that shows that “65 percent […]
MRSA Report Cites Irresponsibility Everywhere Read More »
Yesterday brought two excellent and interesting conversations, both of which could directly affect your medical care. First, my news alerts sent me to the website of a family practice physician turned patient advocate, Dr. Delia Chiaramonte. I wonder if the people in Baltimore, MD realize what a gem they have to help them? Dr. Chiaramonte
The P and M Words: Easier Said than Done Read More »
The term “patient empowerment” triggered a link to the following from Kim’s Emergiblog: (we’re sorry – this link has been removed for malware) Kim is an emergency room nurse who blogs for other emergency room nurses. This particular post was of interest because it focuses on patient advocacy and respect, at least once you get
From the Twilight Zone to Empowerment Read More »
The Today Show this morning featured a vignette about what to do if you are denied a treatment or therapy by your health insurance company — the steps you can take to, perhaps, change their mind. Yeah, right. Like that might happen. The story featured a woman who is dying of a rare form of
Health Insurance Companies Play God Read More »
I’m only adding this post because I think you might be as interested as I am at the searches people do when they somehow find my blog. WordPress gives us this information in our behind-the-scenes statistics. Of course there are hundreds of searches that will find my various postings. Most would be what you would
Interesting Searches Read More »
Ilene Corina of PULSE has been speaking and teaching patients about their role in patient safety for more than ten years. She issues a bi-monthly report which contains interesting tidbits and sometimes something remarkable. The following excerpt comes from her most recent newsletter which can be viewed in at least two ways: a testament to
Errors Acknowledgement Creates a Hero Read More »
I’ve been away from life-as-usual for awhile. It’s been a roller coaster: from the lowest of lows losing my mother-in-law to ovarian cancer (you can read more about the problems with treatment here) to the highest of highs — having our four kids and their families visit from all over the country. I’m ready to
Patient Advocates: We Need You! Read More »
Some final points about the health insurance industry — a few steps beyond Michael Moore…. Private — even not-for-profit — health insurance companies exist in this country for only one reason — to make a profit and to line the pockets of their employees. Hear me out… They are businesses FIRST, many with investors to
Why Sicko is Only the Tip of the Iceberg Read More »
