hospitals

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Iraqi Hospitals Crumble as Drugs Vanish

(Newser) - Filthy, bug-infested Iraqi hospitals still lack basic equipment and supplies that could save thousands of lives, McClatchy reports. With sectarian violence down, doctors and aid groups are blaming government corruption for the nation's health woes. "The government has money," said a fourth-year resident at a Baghdad hospital....

Octuplet Hospital Fined in Privacy Breach

(Newser) - The California hospital where Nadya Suleman's octuplets were born has been fined $250,000 for failing to stop employees from snooping into medical files on the famous case. "It's the hospital's job to prevent these breaches from occurring," said a state official shortly after imposing the fine against...

Docs Foresee Trouble With Digitizing Records

For electronic records, money is there but technology isn't

(Newser) - The administration's push to digitize health records is raising red flags with an important constituency: doctors. "We have a long way to go," said the lead author of a report out today that shows only 9% of hospitals have computerized records. His article is part of a...

Obama Pitches Bold Plan for Health Records

President-elect wants them all digital, but hurdles remain

(Newser) - Barack Obama is hoping an ambitious health care modernization plan will help deliver on two of his promises: increasing jobs and decreasing health care costs, CNNMoney reports. Obama has said he wants all US health records computerized within five years—a huge undertaking.

ICUs Try to Get Patients Out of Bed

Mobile, lightly sedated patients fare better, study finds

(Newser) - Doctors are finding that ICU patients who are woken every day and even get up and walk around do better than those who remain heavily sedated, the New York Times reports. A recent study showed that just 5 days on a ventilator left some patients barely able to move. Problems...

Scottish Docs Give Up Their White Coats

Dress code forbids iconic garment in effort to cut down infection

(Newser) - In a move intended to combat the spread of infections, Scotland will forbid doctors to wear the long white coats that have been a symbol of the medical profession for more than a century, the Guardian reports. The country will institute a dress code next year that bans not only...

Nebraska Closes Loophole on Abandoning Unruly Kids

Lawmakers could set age limitation today

(Newser) - Nebraska lawmakers today closed a loophole that allowed parents to abandon their unruly teenagers and leave them in state custody, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The original law was meant to allow unwanted infants to be left at hospitals without penalty, but it lacked an age restriction. Since September, 35 children,...

New Superbug Stalks Hospitals
 New Superbug Stalks Hospitals 
Nov 18, 2008 7:53 AM CST

New Superbug Stalks Hospitals

Thousands killed by drug-resistant pathogen

(Newser) - A deadly new superbug is stalking the world's hospitals, health experts warned today. The pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is a burgeoning threat and proving extremely difficult to control, with a third of outbreaks resistant to front-line antibiotics, according to a study in the Lancet. Of 24,000 US cases in a...

Nancy Reagan Released From LA Hospital

Doctors expect her to make 'full recovery' after hip fracture

(Newser) - Nancy Reagan returned home today from a Los Angeles hospital after being treated for a broken pelvis, Reuters reports. For the 87-year-old widow of Ronald Reagan, who fell at her home last week, 2 days with doctors was enough: "I hope it won't hurt anyone's feelings if I don't...

TB Scare Unsettles Calif. Maternity Ward

Nearly 1K babies may have been exposed to worker with active case

(Newser) - Nearly 1,000 babies born since March at a San Francisco hospital could have been exposed to tuberculosis, the Chronicle reports, by a maternity-ward worker with an active case. Kaiser Permanente says infection risk is very low, but testing and any treatment needed will be provided to 960 infants and...

Nurses Raise Alarm Against Attacks at Work

Stressed patients often make victims of healers on 'front lines'

(Newser) - People may be at their most human when in pain, but often turn their anguish on their would-be healers—and now nurses are calling on workplaces and lawmakers to be more vigilant against physical attacks, the New York Times reports. “Nurses are just starting to get to the place...

Mennonites, Amish Battle Hospitals Over 'Inflated' Bills

Struggle reveals rosy financial state of nonprofit hospitals

(Newser) - Jesse Martin shuns health insurance and government aid, although nine of his kids are seriously ill. Like other self-sufficient Pennsylvania Mennonites, and Amish too, Martin avails modern medicine for the fatal diseases that are ravaging their families—but is hard-up to pay the bills, which Martin claims are inflated. "...

New Superbug Highlights Poor Hospital Hygiene

Deadly C. diff., aided by over-prescription of antibiotics, is on the rise

(Newser) - A deadly new superbug—beefed up by the over-prescription of antibiotics and spread by dirty hospitals and nursing homes—is raising concern in the medical community, MSNBC reports. The so-called C. diff is a mutated form of a benign bug typically transmitted in unsanitary medical facilities, especially bathrooms. Cases are...

Nosy UCLA MDs Got Off Easier Than Other Staff

Some of the non-docs who peeked at Britney's files were fired

(Newser) - The MDs who wrongly looked at Britney Spears’ medical records while she was being treated on two occasions at UCLA hospitals have gotten off easier than other staff, the Los Angeles Times reports. Of the at least 53 snoopers, 18 non-doctors retired, resigned, or were dismissed, but none of the...

UCLA Worker Snooped in Farrah's Files

News of star's recurring cancer was leaked to tabloid

(Newser) - A UCLA staffer sneaked peeks into actress Farrah Fawcett's confidential health records and apparently leaked information on her treatment for cancer to the media, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sensational headlines about Fawcett's illness subsequently turned up on the website of the National Enquirer before the star had a chance...

HIV Scandal Spreads in Kyrgyzstan
HIV Scandal Spreads in Kyrgyzstan
Mar 21, 2008 7:51 AM CDT

HIV Scandal Spreads in Kyrgyzstan

Health workers charged with infecting children

(Newser) - Fourteen medical professionals in Kyrgyzstan face malpractice and negligence charges after allegedly infecting 42 children with HIV. The group of doctors, nurses, and a top administrator could receive prison terms of up to 10 years for administering contaminated injections and blood transfusions. Such incidents may be common, one aide worker...

Coke Can Mimic Heart Attack Symptoms

Docs must ask ER patients if they use cocaine, AHA says

(Newser) - Doctors should ask younger patients if their heart attack symptoms are really due to cocaine use, the American Heart Association said today. Coke can cause chest pain similar to a heart attack, it said, but heart medication can be fatal to cocaine users. "Not knowing what you are dealing...

UCLA Staff Peeked Into Brit's Records

Hospital moving to fire 13 after second wave of Spears snooping

(Newser) - A California hospital is trying to terminate some 13 employees, and has already disciplined others, for poking around in Britney Spears’ medical records, the Los Angeles Times reports. The firings come after bosses at UCLA Medical Center specifically warned employees about unnecessary perusal of patient files on the morning of...

Merck Will Pay $650M to End Discount Probes

Drug company alleged to have kept Medicaid in dark on lowest prices

(Newser) - Drug company Merck will dish out $650 million to resolve lawsuits and probes into marketing schemes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Central to the investigations is the company’s “nominal pricing,” which slashed some drug prices by 90% for hospitals but hid the discounts from Medicaid, even though...

ER Waiting Times Tripled Since 1997
ER Waiting Times Tripled Since 1997
Jan 16, 2008 4:51 PM CST

ER Waiting Times Tripled Since 1997

Average waits for heart attack patients rose from 8 to 20 minutes

(Newser) - With emergency room visits and hospital overcrowding on the rise, waiting times have grown dangerously long—36% longer than they were in 1997. A new study in medical journal Health Affairs cites especially troubling waits for heart attack victims, with 25% waiting at least 50 minutes to see a doctor...

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