Many of the 12 million Americans who have beaten cancer get routine care from primary care doctors, but a new survey suggests the vast majority of these physicians have very little knowledge about the long-term side effects these patients face. The survey of more than 1,000 primary care doctors—internists, family practitioners and gynecologists—found that few were aware of the key side effects such as heart problems, nerve damage and early menopause caused by four standard chemotherapy drugs used to treat breast and colorectal cancers. The findings, released on Wednesday ahead of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting next month, underscore the need for better communication between cancer specialists and primary care doctors.
Robert Foley, 55, was convicted of killing six people in eastern Kentucky in 1989 and 1991, making him the most prolific killer on the state's death row. His status as an extremely dangerous prisoner was a key factor in the state's difficulty finding a surgeon and hospital, according to documents obtained through a public records request and a lawsuit filed by Foley. Frankfort Regional Medical Center initially agreed, then declined. Foley still hasn't had the surgery.
A day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut in half the threshold for determining lead exposure in the nation's children, pediatricians faced the task of identifying new cases from thousands of their old files. The recommendation from the CDC recognizes what doctors have long believed: that any amount of lead can be harmful. And they expressed satisfaction that the level was lowered. But the new guidance will likely pose new logistical and financial challenges for doctors and public health officials. He said lead is a concern for children through age 5, so doctors will need to consider looking at records for all in that age range.
Michael Nusbaum is a bariatric surgeon at New Jersey's Morristown Medical Center, and he wanted patients to be able to reach him easily by phone or text. But then he found out that sending text messages to patients violates federal privacy laws. He teamed up with his wife, who is a neuroradiologist at New York University, and founded Giffen Solutions in 2010 with the intent to create a secure smartphone app that doctors could use to talk to patients without violating privacy regulations. If a doctor is subscribed to the product, MedXCom, after-hours calls get forwarded to his cell phone instead of an answering service. "Before I speak to you, it will push your entire health profile to my cell phone," Nusbaum says.
A New York man was indicted on Thursday for allegedly using elemental mercury as a chemical weapon against an Albany hospital, apparently as a result of a billing dispute with administrators. On four occasions, the man spread at least six pounds of liquid mercury in various locations in the Albany Medical Center, including in the cafeteria salad bar, in a toaster, in an ice-cream freezer, and on warm chicken tenders, according to court documents. A hospital employee who consumed tainted chicken tenders was treated in the emergency room. "Whether others also ate or inhaled mercury is presently unknown," court documents say. Martin Kimber of Ruby, N.Y., was charged with two counts of stockpiling, possessing, and using a toxic chemical weapon.
Nearly one-tenth of the insurance industry's total revenue through 2020 is at stake in the Supreme Court's decision on healthcare reform, a new study by Bloomberg Government says. That figure equals about $1 trillion, or about one-half percent of the projected U.S. gross domestic product over eight years, the report said. The $1 trillion in new revenue would come from the law's expansion of Medicaid and from subsidies to individuals purchasing insurance. Though most of the money would eventually flow to healthcare providers, insurers would keep an average of $22 billion per year for profit and administrative costs, the study said.