Last year we wrote about a report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Grand Rounds: Prescription Drug Overdoses – a U.S. Epidemic.” Powerful painkillers continue to be overprescribed, abused and mismanaged by doctors, as told in horrifying detail in an ongoing series by the Los Angeles Times. The FDA, in acknowledgment of….
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Smoking Still Kills and Tobacco Companies Still Fight the Truth
Although it has many supporters (also known as nicotine addicts), the tobacco industry has few friends. That’s not only because it markets a lethal product, but because of its inability to cop to its health-corroding properties and its history of lying. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tobacco use kills more….
Continue ReadingMaryland Medical Staffing Agency Placed Rogue Tech into Hospitals Where He Infected Patients with Hepatitis
A Maryland-based medical staffing agency is at the center of allegations that it placed a rogue radiological technician into a number of hospitals in Maryland and other states. The technician is believed to have infected dozens of people with hepatitis C. Maxim Staffing Solutions, a national firm with headquarters in Columbia, Maryland, placed technician David….
Continue ReadingDoctors Don’t Know Dangers of Narcotics, and the FDA Leaves Drug Makers in the Driver’s Seat
Early this year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report quantifying the epidemic of drug overdoses and adverse events from the use of opioids, otherwise known as narcotics. The report, “Grand Rounds: Prescription Drug Overdoses – a U.S. Epidemic,” pointed out that too many doctors prescribe powerful painkillers such as OxyContin without….
Continue ReadingNew Psychiatric Guidelines Tackle Substance Abuse
When psychiatrists, psychologists, researchers and insurers want to identify and classify a psychiatric disorder, they turn to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Compiled by the American Psychiatric Association, and widely known as the DSM, the reference guide spells out criteria for making a given diagnosis. As the body of science grows and….
Continue ReadingPill Doctor Busted for Murder
A report recently published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drew a scary picture of prescription drug problems in the U.S. “The epidemic of prescription drug overdoses in the United States has worsened over the last decade, and by 2008, drug overdose deaths (36,450) were approaching the number of deaths from motor….
Continue ReadingSmokers’ Desire to Quit Hits Roadblocks in State Budgets
We’re well into the new year, and by now many of your resolutions may have been consigned to the “next year” bin. But if you’re trying to quit smoking, no time is better than the present. Every year nearly half a million people die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses including lung cancer, heart disease and pulmonary….
Continue ReadingSuccess of Nicotine Replacement Products Called Into Question
Because the effects of nicotine are deadly, because cigarettes are so addictive (some research indicates it’s harder to kick nicotine than it is heroin), any and all efforts should be made to quit smoking. In trying to wean themselves off of “cancer sticks,” many people turn to nicotine replacement in the form of patches that….
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