The journal that published a high-profile paper linking chronic fatigue syndrome to a retrovirus is now investigating allegations that a figure in that report was manipulated. The appearance in Science of the 2009 paper caused an immediate sensation among patients who have yearned for an explanation for their condition. Its authors said they had found evidence of a retrovirus called XMRV in the blood of people with chronic fatigue syndrome more frequently than in the blood of their healthy peers. The report included a figure purporting to depict lab test results from seven blood samples, including two from chronic fatigue syndrome patients whose blood appears to show evidence of XMRV and five from healthy people whose blood does not. But the leader of the team that authored the 2009 paper, researcher Judy Mikovits, apparently presented the same figure -- carrying different labels and supporting a different point -- in a talk given at a conference on Sept. 23 in Ottawa. A copy of her PowerPoint presentation circulating among an email group also reveals an apparent third version of the image, with a third set of labels, when formatting is turned off.
Drug shortages mean a growing number of Americans aren't getting the medications they need. That's causing drug companies and doctors to ration available medications in some cases. "We're now at 213 shortages for this year," says Erin Fox of the University of Utah, who tracks national drug shortages. "That surpasses last year's total of 211. And it doesn't seem like there's an end in sight." The shortages involve a wide range of medications: cancer chemotherapy agents, anesthetics, antibiotics, electrolytes needed for nutrient solutions, and dozens more. One drug currently in short supply is used in critically ill patients to bring down soaring blood pressure. "We know this is a dire public health situation," Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Howard Koh told NPR, "and there have been delays in care." According to those who are tracking drug shortages, there have been more than delays. Some patients have died.
Rising concern about a string of painkiller thefts by medical staffers has prompted Minnesota hospitals to take the unusual step of joining with the Drug Enforcement Administration, local police and health regulators to improve their security measures. The new coalition hopes to recommend tougher controls early next year. Among the security weaknesses they have targeted are lax oversight on bedside drugs and careless disposal methods. State regulators say drug pilfering by doctors and nurses isn't new -- but the latest rash of cases has come with a disturbing wrinkle, leaving some patients writhing in pain as they're robbed of needed medications. In just the past year, seven nurses and aides have been caught stealing narcotics from hospitals and nursing homes across Minnesota to feed their own habits or to sell drugs on the street. The targets range from anti-anxiety pills like Xanax to powerful pain medicine like fentanyl.
People about to undergo a controversial stenting procedure in the neck might want to check their doctor's credentials first, researchers say. According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients whose doctors do lots of the procedures are nearly half as likely to die over the next month as those in less-experienced hands. During the treatment, called carotid stenting, doctors clean out cholesterol buildups in the carotid artery in the neck that sometimes cause strokes. Then they insert a small metal mesh tube, the stent, to prop the vessel open. But if they're unfortunate, part of the cholesterol deposit might break off during the procedure and be released into the blood stream, producing the dreaded stroke the patient hoped to avoid. Based on Medicare records of nearly 25,000 procedures, the new study found a 30-day death rate of 1.4% in patients whose doctors placed at least 24 stents a year. By contrast, that death figure was as high as 2.5% when the doctors did six or fewer procedures annually.
J. William Fullbright, 40, of Clive was suffering an inexplicable shortness of breath when his wife rushed him to Mercy Medical Center’s emergency room on a Sunday night in 2008. He and his wife both were deaf, but the hospital did not have a sign-language interpreter available to help them communicate with doctors and nurses, Polly Fullbright said. The staff kept saying they were trying to find an interpreter, but none arrived by the time William Fullbright died five hours after arriving at the hospital. The hospital agreed last week to settle a lawsuit brought by Fullbright and a similar one brought by the family of a second deaf patient.
Officials at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital said they're nearing completion of an in-house investigation into the death of a discharged patient whose body was found on the edge of its campus. Michael Torres, 49, was found dead near the southwestern corner of the hospital grounds about 8 a.m. last Tuesday, approximately 12 hours after he received care for undisclosed reasons. Todd Salnas, COO of St. Joseph Health System-Sonoma County, said the hospital is pushing hard to shed light on what occurred. "I would say the investigation should be completed in a matter of days," he said. Some members of Torres' family have expressed frustration with the limited information they've received from the hospital about events leading to Torres' death. They have retained an attorney seeking Torres' medical records and have passed out fliers looking for witnesses to his final hours.