A Bloomberg review of reports for operations with Intuitive’s robotic system found dozens of injuries that went unreported for years. Meanwhile, details of other patient problems involving use of the company’s product, cited in legal papers or in interviews with patients, were missing entirely. "The adverse event reporting system is a disaster," said David Challoner, vice president emeritus for health affairs at the University of Florida, who co-authored an Institute of Medicine report urging an overhaul of the FDA's system for regulating and monitoring devices. "Every link in the chain has a reason not to report."
U.S. health official Michelle Snyder, who oversaw the building of the troubled Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, is retiring from her job as chief operating officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).CMS chief Marilyn Tavenner announced Snyder's departure to senior staff last week in a statement viewed by Reuters on Monday. The statement said Snyder had originally planned to retire at the end of 2012, but stayed on at Tavenner's request to, "help me with the challenges facing CMS in 2013."
A 13-year-old girl lies motionless in a California hospital bed, hooked up to machines that doctors say are the only thing keeping her heart beating. A deadline loomed Monday as a judge had said the hospital could disconnect the machines after 5 p.m. (8 p.m. ET). But shortly before she could have been cut off, that same judge extended his order to 5 p.m. (8 p.m. ET) on January 7. "This child was sitting on death row," said family attorney Christopher Dolan. "This was a facility that was hell bent on ending this child's life today, and a court stepped in."
More than half of U.S. minority patients are cared for by doctors who are also minorities, according to a new analysis. Using data from a 2010 U.S. survey, researchers found that about 54 percent of minority patients report their doctors are not white. That number was even greater - about 70 percent - among non-English speaking patients. "Among patients who fell into one of our disadvantage categories . . . These individuals were more likely than other patients to be served by a minority physician," Dr. Lyndonna Marrast said.
For newly trained physicians Kristin and Brian Gillenwater, mornings are a rush. They grab a bite of breakfast. They get Henry, their 1-year-old, ready for day care, then drive off in different directions for a busy day seeing patients.The Gillenwaters don't head to their own practices. An independent practice doesn't hold the same attraction for them as it did for earlier generations of physicians. Independent practice means managing a business and working long, unpredictable hours for what's become an increasingly less certain income.
"I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October," wrote Reddit user zcypher, identifying himself as "a 20 year old guy." His total charges came to $55,029.31, and even though insurance covered most of that, he was still sacked with $11,119.53 to come up with on his own. While there's no way to verify the experience of a random Redditor, his experience of major sticker shock after a trip to the hospital is not unique.