With so many older Americans entering their later years in better shape than earlier generations and wanting to stay active, knee and hip replacements have become some of the most common surgeries performed in pre-pandemic times. The cost of this work, however, varies greatly. And surgeons may be promoting procedural variants to not only build….
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Virginia gynecologist’s fraud trial surfaces hundreds of mistreatment claims
A Virginia criminal case, while focusing on claims of fraud against the federal government, also has exposed a long-running and nightmarish pattern of what prosecutors assert has been a Chesapeake gynecologist’s rampant mistreatment of his patients, many of them women of color and poor. Dr. Javaid Perwaiz is on trial because authorities say he “manipulated….
Continue ReadingSurgeons prosper anew as primary care doctors and pediatricians struggle
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to slam the practice of medicine, with patients’ infection fears and treatment delays putting at serious financial risk the providers of crucial medical services like primary care doctors and pediatricians. At the same time, as is too often the case in U.S. medicine, the rich may be getting richer, as resuming….
Continue Reading13 million and one reasons why simultaneous operations should be barred
A big Boston hospital has offered 13 million and one ways to try to make good with a former orthopedic surgeon who assailed the respected institution and colleagues for performing simultaneous operations in which doctors went from suite to suite, working for hours on multiple patients at once. Massachusetts General Hospital insisted this practice was….
Continue ReadingFor patients, a glimpse into data on the quality and safety of surgery centers
They may be more appealing and convenient because they’re located in the neighborhood with better hours and more parking. They also may be less costly because they lack the high overheard of big hospitals. But those booming same-day surgery centers have patient safety issues of their own. Their doctors and nurses may not be as….
Continue ReadingDefense bill may offer active service personnel a way to win back key rights
Although members of Congress have fled the nation’s capital for their annual August recess, there’s guarded optimism that lawmakers may be open to reversing a seven-decades-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars active duty military personnel from their constitutional right to pursue in the civil justice system claims that they have suffered harms while seeking….
Continue ReadingFor patients facing high-risk operations, an alarm on hospital surgical volumes
Would a major league baseball team start a pitcher who played only once in the season for the deciding game of the World Series? Would passengers want to be aboard a jet whose pilot flew just once a year? Would any high-end sports car owner let a mechanic under the vehicle’s hood if she fixed….
Continue ReadingOpioid crisis? ‘Not my fault,’ say surgeons and drug maker’s heir
As the nation’s opioid and drug overdose crisis deepens, it can be hard to watch as the “Not My Fault” crowd clucks about its blamelessness in pushing potent painkillers that have played a part in killing more Americans in 2016 and 2017 alone than lost their lives in the Vietnam War. The latest NMF protagonists….
Continue ReadingAs doctors warned UNC about heart surgery program, kids kept dying
Although big hospitals may love to pat themselves on the back and boost their profits and professional standings by claiming to offer “comprehensive” services, children may suffer and die due to the reality versus the hubris of institutions’ excessive initiatives with specialized care. Officials at the University of North Carolina blew past anguished warnings from….
Continue ReadingFDA battles sketchy stem cell claims, while big hospitals jump into unproven treatments too
When doctors and regulators crack down on the burgeoning and risky use of purported stem cell therapies, some well-known and respected big hospitals and health systems may have their own practices to explain, too. As Liz Szabo reported for the nonpartisan Kaiser Health News Service: Swedish Medical Center, the largest nonprofit health provider in the Seattle….
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