More than 50 million Americans struggle with arthritis: Three in 10 of them find that stooping, bending, or kneeling can be “very difficult.” One in five can’t or find it tough to walk three blocks, or to push or pull large objects. Grown-ups with arthritis are more than twice as likely to report fall injuries. ….
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Low back pain? Try exercise before drugs, doctors say
Back pain is one of Americans’ leading debilitating complaints, prompting us to spend billions of dollars annually for relief and costing more than $100 billion, especially in lost work and wages. But an influential physicians’ group, joining a growing number of other experts, now recommends that we buck up, exercise, keep moving—and stay away from a….
Continue ReadingMore disturbing data on over-prescription of powerful pills to seniors
Some diligent, grown-up sons and daughters may want to check in on mom, dad, and grandma, grandpa, all the aunties and uncles, too. That’s because there’s yet another warning that too many doctors are whipping out their prescription pads all too readily and writing scripts for retirement-age Americans, who now take on average three psychiatric drugs….
Continue ReadingBig Pharma found to exploit ‘orphan’ drug law to jack up product prices
Big Pharma has ruthlessly exploited a well-intentioned measure that sought to provide medications to treat patients with rare diseases that might otherwise have been ignored. Drug companies, instead, have manipulated the 1983 Orphan Drug Act to create legally protected monopolies so they can gouge desperate patients with astronomically priced products that already were taken by….
Continue ReadingNegative spotlight stays on Big Pharma, its hefty prices and risky products
Big Pharma stayed in an unpleasant spotlight last week, with developments including: How OxyContin reformulation may have hiked heroin-related deaths A new study has helped to explain the nationwide surge in heroin-related deaths, and how these likely are the unintended consequence of reformulations of OxyContin, a powerful, addictive painkiller. The study by the University of….
Continue ReadingBaby boomers’ big demand for knee replacements challenges Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam is struggling to figure how best to ensure the safety, quality, and accessibility of a major surgery for a sharply rising number of seniors who need it and want the government, through Medicare, to pay for it. Baby boomers, after decades of running, dancing, aerobics, football, basketball, zoomba, and all manner of joint-stressing….
Continue ReadingNew cautions issued on babies and anesthesia, newborn screenings
Some new cautions have been issued on some key aspects of children’s health care. The federal government is increasing its warnings on anesthetic use for children and expectant moms, while a newspaper investigation is raising issues with common newborn screenings and their inconsistency and inaccuracy. Meantime, a health news site is adding to questions about….
Continue ReadingAmericans’ life expectancy declines and opioid drug deaths rise
Important indicators about Americans’ health and well-being are trending the wrong way: For the first time in almost a quarter century, the nation’s life expectancy has declined. Meantime, fatal overdoses by Americans taking opioid drugs continued to surge and exceeded 30,000 in 2015. And abuse of heroin has exceeded that of traditional prescription painkillers, with deaths….
Continue Reading$1 billion verdict in lawsuit against maker of metal-on-metal hip replacements
The pain and suffering that a flawed medical device can cause can last a long time. A Dallas jury provided a timely reminder of that, deciding six California plaintiffs should be paid more than $1 billion for the harm they suffered because of metal-on-metal hip replacement hardware made by Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopedics unit…..
Continue ReadingFor Kentucky’s sick and poor, health policy controversies are harsh realities
Although the partisan wrangling over what’s next with American health care seems to ignore the maddening realities confronting patient-consumers, a new look at the plight of poor Kentuckians provides a harsh look at the collision of many major health policy controversies including soaring drug prices, the Affordable Care Act, and the prescription drug abuse crisis…..
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