From a financial standpoint, the pandemic years have been good for managed care companies. Hospitals faced unprecedented labor shortages in recent years as nurses and doctors quit their jobs, forcing many patients to defer costly care, a boon to insurers.
Inspectors found that an anesthesiologist at a Brooklyn hospital made numerous errors in administering epidurals. Some were life-threatening. One was fatal.
Many doctors worry that the drugs' current popularity, fueled in part by social media, has resulted in people taking them without sufficient medical supervision.
