A potent substance used in spine-repair surgery to promote bone growth has been linked to life-threatening complications in dozens of patients. Many of the complications involving the product, Medtronic Inc.'s "Infuse Bone Graft," have occurred during off label uses. Medtronic representatives said it is taking the reports seriously and has been active in warning doctors of certain problems related to use of the bone graft. They added, however, that the rate of complications is low and that reports to the FDA of problems represent one-tenth of 1% of the units sold.
The operating room staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston failed to conduct a crucial verbal safety check prior to a June surgery in which doctors operated on the wrong part of a patient's body, according to a state investigation. The investigation also states that "the simple system of marking the location of an incision failed."
A new study has found that the usefulness of tools meant to promote transparency in healthcare are now being questioned. Research by the Center for Studying Health System Change cited various health plans that are now developing ways to help consumers compare the costs and quality of healthcare as being limited in its usefulness. Often, information is found to be lacking.
People die in Sacramento County emergency rooms at higher rates than in almost any other county in California, with county ERs losing 27 out of every 10,000 patients during the last three years. The statewide average is 17, and Sacramento County has a higher death rate than any California county except tiny Inyo County, according to an analysis of data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The analysis also shows that inland counties tend to lose more emergency patients than coastal counties, with higher death rates clustering in pockets of the Central Valley and interior Southern California.
Hospitals are turning to an antibiotic SWAT team to win the war against "superbugs." The efforts are known as antimicrobial stewardship programs, and team top pharmacists, infectious-disease specialists, and microbiologists. The groups monitor the use of a hospital's antibiotics and restrict prescriptions of specific drugs when they become less effective at fighting infections. The hospital programs come as legislation is pending in Congress to create a federal office of antimicrobial resistance and a public-health network to help detect emerging resistant strains of bacteria before they become a national threat.
Nine Georgia hospitals rated worse than national norms on death rates for pneumonia or heart failure, a higher number than all states but California. The Hospital Compare Web site run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows 80 U.S. hospitals listed as top performers in the mortality rates for patients admitted with heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia. No Georgia hospitals were among the best performers. Nationwide, 103 hospitals, including the nine Georgia hospitals, were rated worse than the national average for one or more conditions. Eight of the nine in Georgia were poor performers in pneumonia.