Medical: February 2010 Archives

An investigation by Consumer Reports paints an unflattering picture of U.S. hospitals when it comes to their rate of patient infection and public accountability.  In its March issue, the magazine reports 30,000 patients die each year because of blood infections they contract while connected to central line IVs in hospital intensive care units.  

While hospital infections will never be eliminated, greater accountability will ensure they are kept to a minimum and it is recommended patients get more proactive and investigate hospital reporting data.  Also, patients should familiarize themselves with how hospital procedures are done and speak up when they fear a mistake has been made.   

Registered nurse Joann Paul, who runs the quality control program at Wesley Medical Center, Wichita, KS, says the key to infection prevention at Wesley is communication and attention to detail.  It's about nurses not being afraid to tell doctors that they've skipped a step.

For more, see For more, see kwch.com.

An investigation by Consumer Reports paints an unflattering picture of U.S. hospitals when it comes to their rate of patient infection and public accountability. In its March issue, the magazine reports 30,000 patients die each year because of blood infections they contract while connected to central line IVs in hospital intensive care units.     

"Many studies suggest that up to 50% of ICU patients who get these infections may not survive their hospitalization," said Dr. John Santa, a medical expert for Consumer Reports.

For years, doctors held the belief that these infections were inevitable and they became an accepted risk of hospital care.  Now, research has shown the vast majority of these infections are preventable, if hospital nurses and doctors adhere to strict safety measures, the magazine reported.

For more, see kwch.com.

An expert witness from Maryland's medical examiner's office delivered graphic testimony Tuesday to jurors in a Prince George's County courtroom of how eight victims in the February 2008 street-racing crash perished along a stretch of Indian Head Highway/Route 210 in Accokeek.  The testimony by Carol Allen, an assistant medical examiner whose office performed autopsy reports on the victims, also called into question whether all eight people died during the actual crash or whether some were instead killed by other vehicles leaving the scene in the ensuing pandemonium.

Tuesday marked one of the last days of court proceedings before the prosecution rests its case in the vehicular manslaughter trial against Tavon J. Taylor, 20, of Waldorf, who allegedly was involved in an illegal street race connected to the Feb. 16, 2008, crash.

For more, see Gazette.net.

Psychiatry expert Dr Fred Ovsiew, professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago’s Northwestern University, says the idea that head injury may cause hysteria is gaining credence in modern medicine. Delivering the 30th TS Srinivasan Endowment Oration on ‘Hysteria! The Road Less Travelled Between The Brain And Mind,’ Dr Ovsiew quoted a report in The New York Times about how an autopsy done on a retired ice hockey player showed brain damage.

He said, “The report quotes the subject’s son as saying that his father exhibited symptoms of hysteria after retiring from the game. The report of the physician said his was not a psychiatric disorder or a post-career adjustment issue, and that he had been struggling with a disease that had been short-circuiting his nerve connections inside the brain.” Dr. Ovsiew said this could be considered a link between the brain and the mind.

For more, see thetimesofindia.

Angel Hernandez lives in West Palm Beach, FL, but Monday he was in a St. Lucie County courtroom fighting a drug charge.  Ten years ago Hernandez was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  In 2003 he began using marijuana and in 2005 stopped his other medications, relying solely on marijuana to alleviate his MS symptoms.  In court Hernandez claimed, "There is no prescribed medication that would not make my MS worse."

Hernandez' attorneys were in court arguing a medical necessity defense for the marijuana and asking for a new trial. Defense attorneys countered that 14 other states have enacted laws protecting patient access to marijuana.  In the end, Judge Phillip Yacucci denied a defense request to allow a medical expert to testify and sentenced Hernandez to a year’s probation.

For more, see wptv.com. 

Actress Brittany Murphy died from pneumonia, but anemia and prescription drugs also played a role, Los Angeles County coroner's officials said Thursday. The primary cause of death was community-acquired pneumonia, with contributing factors of iron deficiency anemia and "multiple drug intoxication," according to the coroner's office. The death was ruled accidental.

Murphy's widower, Simon Monjack, previously told US magazine that his wife took the painkiller Vicoprofen and Fluoxetine, an antidepressant to treat menstrual cramps, as well as over-the-counter Robitussin for her last illness. Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner in New York City, said the coroner's determination indicated drugs probably played a key role in Murphy's death. "It sounds more like it's a drug-related than a natural pulmonary pneumonia," said Baden, who did not work on the Murphy case but has served as an expert witness in numerous high-profile deaths. "One doesn't die of pneumonia, usually, that quickly."

For more, see mercurynews.com.

Defendant Peter Flanagan, who is facing rape charges, testified Tuesday in Luzerne County, PA, that he and a then-38-year-old mentally challenged woman had a five- to six-year relationship before she became pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl.  Psychiatry expert witness Richard Fischbein testified for the prosecution that he interviewed the woman and found that she functions at the level of an 8- or 9-year-old, and that she can accomplish only basic daily living functions,  “No way, no how does she have the capacity to consent to sex.”

Flanagan originally denied having sexual relations with the woman, but DNA testing later proved Flanagan was the father of the woman’s 24-week-old stillborn child.  Police began their investigation when the woman gave birth at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Hospital officials became suspicious because the woman said she did not know she was pregnant.

For more, see timesleader.com. 

A newly released Mercy For Animals investigation has revealed the hidden cruelty common in the dairy industry at the largest dairy factory farm in New York State - Willet Dairy in Locke.  In a joint statement, internationally renowned experts, including Dr. Bernard Rollin, an expert witness on animal welfare issues in the U.S. and abroad, and Dr. Temple Grandin, a world-renowned cattle welfare expert and advisor to the USDA, compared the conditions documented at Willet to the infamous Hallmark slaughterhouse, where undercover video exposing abuse of downed cows resulted in the largest beef recall in US history. They state, "This dairy presents at least as bad a picture of the industry as does Hallmark."

New York veterinarian, Dr. Holly Cheever, bluntly stated, "(I)t is my professional opinion that the environment that this dairy provides as well as its cattle-handling techniques are improper, unhygienic, dangerous, and inhumane."

For more, see opednews.com.