New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he still believes Pascack Valley Hospital should reopen, but a new legal appeal has been filed by two hospitals to kill the application for a full-service hospital in Westwood. "My position philosophically has not changed since the campaign," Christie told The Record editorial board earlier this month. "I think Pascack should be reopened." However, he added, "Governor Corzine and [former Health] Commissioner [Heather] Howard set up an exquisite set of handcuffs to try to prevent that from happening before they left office." Plans for reopening the facility as a 128-bed community hospital, in a joint venture involving Hackensack University Medical Center and LHP Hospital Group Inc. of Plano, Texas, are mired in court proceedings.
House lawmakers moving legislation to lure physicians to medically underserved areas are hoping the politics of tort reform don’t sink their proposal — again. The bill, passed Thursday by the House Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee, would offer free malpractice coverage to doctors volunteering at community health centers (CHCs) — private facilities receiving federal funds to treat patients where care is lacking. The proposal represents an expansion of the Federal Tort Claims Act, which currently covers malpractice costs for CHC employees, but not volunteers. Therein lies the issue.
Imagine you are a hospital doctor. Some patients die. But how many is too many before you or your hospital are labelled killers? We've devised a chance calculator to simulate this scenario. It is set up so that you are innocent of any failing. But bad luck might convict you all the same. In the real world all kinds of factors make a difference, like surgical skill. But in the calculator, every patient in every hospital has exactly the same chance of dying and every surgeon is equally good. This is to show what chance alone can do, even when the odds are the same all round.
Facing surgery? You could receive blood that's been stored for a week, or three weeks, or nearly six — and there's growing concern that people who get the older blood might not fare as well. It's a question with big implications for the nation's already tight blood supply. Blood is rotated almost like milk on the grocery shelf: The Food and Drug Administration allows red blood cells to be stored for 42 days, and hospitals almost always use the oldest in their refrigerators first to ensure none expires. How old the blood you receive is depends on how much the hospital has of your type that day. The average age of transfused blood is just over 16 days. This summer, hospitals around the country are launching major new research to try to settle if fresher blood really is better for at least some patients. And if so, they're hunting ways to turn back the clock for older blood and offset any deterioration.
It's nature's stealth killer. It's not always the medical examiner's prime suspect. And the deadly toll it exacts often becomes clear only well after it has left the scene. Stifling heat has already claimed 17 lives in Maryland this summer, as well as one in the District and nine in Virginia. Those numbers are likely to grow, experts said, because the hot weather's casualty figures are generally counted days and weeks after a heat wave ends. High temperatures claim more lives in the United States than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightning combined -- about 700 a year, according to official estimates. Almost all are preventable. Better understanding can help prevent more deaths, some officials say, by encouraging people to take measures such as drinking fluids and seeking relief in an air-conditioned building, even if for just a few hours a day.
In the midst of what could be the largest whooping cough outbreak in more than 50 years — and the death of six infants under 3 months of age — California health officials are recommending booster shots for nearly everyone in the state, especially health care workers, parents and anyone who may come in contact with babies. Nearly 1,500 Californians this year have been diagnosed with whooping cough — five times the normal level for this time of year, state health officials say. Doctors are investigating another 700 possible cases. Many more may have had the infection, which often goes undiagnosed or unreported.