A disturbing story published last week in the New York Times raised anew questions about how profit sometimes is the primary consideration in performing medical procedures. Following a major hospital chain’s paper trail, The Times told a story of widespread overuse of cardiology resources with serious implications for patient safety. In 2010, Stephen Johnson, the….
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The Torturous Tale of Anemia Drugs: How Many People Did They Harm?
Three anemia drugs–Epogen, Procrit and Aranesp–have generated more than $8 billion in U.S. sales. Epogen became the single costliest medicine under Medicare, and taxpayers shell out as much as $3 billion a year for these drugs. A growing body of research has shown that the drugs’ benefits, including quality-of-life issues such as “happiness,” are seriously….
Continue ReadingOur Nation’s Hidden Elderly Deaths Scandal
Last week we reported about the shockingly deficient numbers of hospitals that do not conduct autopsies, and, as a result, miss important diagnostic and/or treatment lessons from the results. In a related and equally disturbing reality, when elderly people die under suspicious circumstances, the reasons often remain unknown because autopsies are seldom performed on people….
Continue ReadingWhy Are the Feds Willing to Pay the Cost of Fraud?
Kathleen Sharp tells a good, if scary, story. In “Blood Feud: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever,” she describes how two Big Pharma companies conspired to develop and market an anti-anemia drug despite evidence of devastating side effects. In a recent op-ed in the New York Times,….
Continue ReadingPhiladelphia physicians failed to report dangerous peer
Many women who went to Dr. Kermit Gosnell to end their pregnancies came away with life-threatening infections and punctured organs; some still had fetal parts inside them when they arrived at the ER of nearby hospitals. Though physicians at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which operates two hospitals within a mile of the West….
Continue ReadingOregon bill would extend whistleblower protection to non-nursing hospital staff
A bill before Oregon’s state Senate would give non-nursing hospital staff members workplace protection when reporting health care practices that endanger patient safety. Currently, Oregon nurses are legally protected against retaliation in hospitals when reporting practices that jeopardize patient health or safety. If it becomes law, Senate bill 237 would extend the same protections to….
Continue ReadingTexas Nurses Vindicated in Fight for Patient Safety — Almost
Two nurses who were fired from their hospital for alerting state authorities to a dangerous doctor have now been fully vindicated — except for one thing. The nurses won a $750,000 settlement of their lawsuit against the Winkler County (Texas) Memorial Hospital and the local authorities who criminally prosecuted them for their complaint to the….
Continue ReadingMaryland Court Upholds Legal Protection for Nurse Whistleblowers
Nurses are the front-line protectors of patient safety in hospitals, nursing homes and anywhere patients are treated. So to avoid patients being hurt by medical malpractice, it’s important to protect nurses from being fired if they speak up when they see dangerous care. The Maryland Court of Appeals has just recognized this important principle of….
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