Dr. Arthur Porter, the CEO of Detroit Medical Center from 1999 through 2003, was arrested in Panama this week and awaits extradition to Canada to face multiple criminal charges in connection with an alleged scandal involving a hospital project in Montreal. Porter and his wife, Pamela Porter, were arrested Monday and the extradition process remains under way, said Anne Frederick Laurence, a spokeswoman for Quebec's anti-corruption unit UPAC. Canadian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Porter in February on charges of fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust, taking secret commissions and money laundering. He and his wife were also charged Monday with laundering the proceeds of a crime.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Southwest General Hospital has received its largest gift ever -- a $3 million donation -- from one of its own doctors. Dr. Vasu Pandrangi and his wife, Lisa, gave the $3 million toward the Middleburg Heights hospital's capital campaign for an expansion project. Pandrangi, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, has been on the hospital's staff since 1981. "I built my career at Southwest," he said. "It has been a great environment in which to develop professionally and personally."
Opponents of President Barack Obama's health-care law are gearing up for a new round of attacks, this time targeting the legislation's insurance exchanges that would expand coverage to millions of Americans. Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation, and the Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks will push Congress to cut off funding for the exchanges in the debate later this year over raising the debt ceiling, the Washington-based groups said. The chairman of the advocacy group Restore America's Voice, Ken Hoagland, said he plans to warn people through advertising about the "dysfunctional" exchanges.
While politicians in Washington argue over the Affordable Care Act, its ultimate fate is being decided far from Capitol Hill. Amid the periodic repeal votes in Congress and activist campaigns on both sides of the debate, states from New York to California are striving to meet an Oct. 1 deadline to implement the heart of the health-care law, the online insurance "exchanges" meant to enroll millions of Americans. The law has already had a major impact on U.S. health care since its passage in 2010. Millions of young adults up to age 26 have received coverage under their parents' policies, seniors are receiving expanded drug coverage and hospitals are experimenting with incentive programs designed to improve care and cut costs.
Many patients like having a say in their medical care. But according to a new survey, the people who say they want to take a relatively aggressive, hands-on approach may also wind up with longer hospital stays and higher bills than their peers who leave the decision making up to their doctors. A team of researchers from the University of Chicago School of Medicine reported on the survey's findings Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. In the background section of their report, the team noted that shared decision making has been widely endorsed as a model for making complex medical decisions and may have many advantages, including improved patient satisfaction and health outcomes.
(Reuters) - Americans accustomed to immediate access to the newest technology may be shocked to find that is not the case when it comes to devices that treat ailing hearts. U.S. approval requirements for cardiac devices are much more stringent than in Europe, where there is no centralized decision-making body. But a growing number of U.S. heart doctors feel the regulations are so demanding that patients are being denied access to beneficial therapies. From 2006 to 2011, European regulators approved mid-to-high-risk medical devices, including heart devices, an average of four years ahead of the more conservative U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a report last year by Boston Consulting Group.