Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a longtime fixture on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending, died after complications from gallbladder surgery, according to his office. He was 77. The Democratic congressman recently underwent scheduled laparoscopic surgery at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to remove his gallbladder. The procedure was “routine minimally invasive surgery,” but doctors “hit his intestines,” a source close to the late congressman told CNN. — CNN.com OMG I HAD THAT SAME OPERATION I COULD HAVE DIED!!! On a lighter note, how ironic is it that the president loses a pro-ObamaCare vote due to medical error in a government-run hospital? Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Medicine
Twitter: 2010-01-05
Why Bogus Therapies Seem to Work: http://bit.ly/7wtEVf # Read more →
Suck it Up, Liver Cancer Patients!
When the government runs healthcare . . . Liver cancer sufferers are being condemned to an early death by being denied a new drug on the Health Service, campaigners warn. They criticised draft guidance that will effectively ban the drug sorafenib — which is routinely used in every other country where it is licensed. Trials show the drug, which costs £36,000 [$60,000] a year, can increase survival by around six months for patients who have run out of options. The Government’s rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the overall cost was “simply too high” to justify the “benefit to patients.” — Mail Online Read more →
A Consulting Axiom
I’ve been downgraded from an ear infection to a “full-blown” ear infection. Last week, the doctor at walk-in urgent care gave me an Amoxicillin prescription and told me to come back if the symptoms didn’t improve in four or five days. They didn’t, but I went to a different walk-in clinic this afternoon to work a second opinion into the process. The doctor gave me a prescription for Levaquin to replace the Amoxicillin. I know, nobody cares about this. I only mention it because it reminded me of something important. I was a consultant for many years and I’m going to share with you now one of the axioms of consulting: Whatever the client is doing, advise them to do something else. If whatever they’ve been doing was working, they wouldn’t need a consultant, right? Is Levaquin “better” than Amoxicillin for ear infections? No, but you see what I’m getting… Read more →
Once is Not Enough
According to a billboard I saw today, a child is diagnosed with autism every 20 minutes! That goes to show how little I know about it. I would have thought that once would be enough. Is he still autistic, doctor? I’m afraid so, but I’ll check him again in 20 minutes . . . Read more →
Setting Expectations
A family member had surgery recently and had to sign a consent form: I have been advised that all surgery involves general risks, including but not limited to bleeding, infection, nerve or tissue damage and rarely, cardiac arrest, death or other serious bodily injury. I acknowledge that no guarantees or assurances have been made as to the results that may be obtained. And so on . . . Don’t say you weren’t warned! Medical professionals are very good at setting realistic expectations with the customer, whereas in IT we take customers into projects with glib assurances and wishful thinking. I wonder if we could make a practice of saying to customers even something as simple as this: “This project — like all projects — has a number of possible outcomes, and not all of them are good. Let’s go over some of the more likely scenarios . . .” Thus… Read more →
Less Than Zero
More whittling away at logic and critical thinking . . . WASHINGTON (AP) — Patients on some popular antidepressants should be closely monitored for warning signs of suicide, the government warned Monday in asking the makers of 10 drugs to add the caution to their labels. — CNN.com, “FDA issues suicide caution for antidepressants” Read more →