In a response to the state's medical malpractice insurance crisis, some New York City doctors are airing televised messages in their waiting rooms that warn patients of a looming physician shortage.
"Medical gift cards" are a trendy gift this holiday season. The gift cards can be used for doctors' visits or deductibles, prescription co-pays, contact lenses and even elective surgery.
Allergist/immunologist and Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Cole contends that while there are myriad factors involved in the rising costs of delivering quality care, the primary reason is the healthcare providers themselves.
The damage that the human body can survive these days is as awesome as it is horrible: crushing, burning, bombing, a burst blood vessel in the brain, a ruptured colon, a massive heart attack, rampaging infection. These conditions had once been uniformly fatal. Now survival is commonplace, and a large part of the credit goes to the irreplaceable component of medicine known as intensive care.
Philadelphia City Councilman Brian J. O'Neill said that Fox Chase Cancer Center's planned $800 million, 25-year expansion was not threatened by delays that have pushed final passage of needed legislation into 2008.