A This articles sums up the landmark case of the first physician convicted of murder for over prescribing opiates. This Southern California doctor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for over-prescribing drugs that caused the fatal overdose of at least three patients in a murder case capped by the first conviction of… Read More
Must there always someone to blame for a bad outcome? In the a recent case a mother allegedly wanted her unborn child to be tested for cystic fibrosis. But she says she was never tested, and as it turns out, her daughter was, in fact, born with the disease. Evans is now suing her doctor for the… Read More
TThis sought to determine how quality of life and survival would be affected if a palliative care consultation was started in the emergency department rather then The report, published in JAMA Oncology February 2016, found that the ED consultation led to improved quality of life with no statistically significant effect on survival rates. For the study, a New… Read More
The administration said it would ask Congress for the money next year to help deal with a problem that has worsened during the president’s tenure. The majority of the money would go to treatment centers. Source: Obama Seeks More Than $1 Billion to Fight Opioid Abuse – The New York Times… Read More
Just how long medical residents should be allowed to work during a shift has been hotly debated by professional organizations and patient safety experts. But policies that restrict residents’ hours may cause more harm than good, according to a controversial new study. The Flexibility in Duty Hour Requirements for Surgical Trainees Trial, known as FIRST… Read More
Part of the reason why emergency departments visits are increasing is that the population is getting older and their medical conditions far more complicated. Far more complex then can be handled in a 15 minute visit to their primary care physician.Therefore it doesn’t surprise me that the more complicated patients are referred to the emergency… Read More
40% of physicians admitted that they had some type of bias with regard to patients.Within the top 10 of those who expressed some degree of bias were physicians who had the most direct contact with patients: emergency medicine physicians (62%), orthopedists (50%), and psychiatrists (48%), followed by family physicians and ob/gyns (47%). Two of the… Read More
Paul Kivela, M.D. Healthcare is changing and we have to adjust to remain competitive in the market place. Our community deserves it. Our patients deserve it. We need to demand it. It is time that we adjust our Quality Assurance, Peer Review, Performance Improvement and move to a system of “just culture.” Joint Commission and… Read More
There are significant concerns about the safety of Zohydro ER, a long acting opiate. This article explores potential issues regarding the approval of this medication. Source: Critics of Zohydro ER Approval Suspect Conflict of Interest with Pharmaceutical Industry – ACEP Now… Read More
