Patients with advanced cancer often don't know how long they have to live or how chemotherapy will affect their lives, according to a study. In many cases doctors don't give patients such information, and other times patients misunderstand their doctors and perhaps hear what they want to hear, the study found. As a result, patients may ask for aggressive, painful therapies that have no hope of helping them.
As criminals capitalize on the growing use of the Internet by consumers searching for inexpensive drugs, counterfeit medicines are on the rise worldwide. Seizures of bogus prescription medicines jumped 24% in 2007, and illicit versions of 403 different prescription drugs were confiscated in 99 countries, according to the Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
Hospitals that receive high marks for coronary-bypass outcomes still may not be doing all they can to avoid preventable deaths from the procedure, according to a study. Researchers reviewed 347 deaths from coronary-bypass surgery at nine Ontario hospitals and found that 32% of them likely resulted from lapses in established procedures and other preventable shortcomings. The findings indicate that relying solely on hospital report cards misses a critical opportunity to improve quality of care.
William Bobbitt Paschall's death at Louisburg, NC-based Franklin Regional Medical Center led to three federal investigations at Franklin Regional. Beyond Paschall's case, investigators found that the hospital violated dozens of federal standards designed to keep patients safe. Nurses and doctors failed to record critical medical information, and the hospital allowed nurse anesthetists to work without required supervision, according to two federal investigations. The third investigation has found problems with the hospital's pharmaceutical and respiratory services, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Atlanta.
When it comes to kids' access to healthcare in Florida, the state ranks dead last, according to a recent study by the Commonwealth Fund. The 55-page report found that Florida's care for kids also ranked 37th for quality, 34th for costs, 43rd for equity and 38th for "potential to lead healthy lives."
Beginning in October, New York hospitals won't be able to bill Medicaid for "never events" such as mistakes during surgery, medication errors and other deadly complications caused by preventable hospital blunders. The goal is to shift the burden to hospitals, practices and doctors if they make a dangerous mistake, and the state health department expects to save $6 million from the change. New York's Medicaid program is among the most expensive in the nation, costing taxpayers $47 billion annually.