May

www.physiciansweekly.com Now I’m really worried about surgical education. Here’s why: A friend told me that a new attending on his staff was having some problems. Although the young surgeon was a graduate of 5 years of general surgery plus 2 years of fellowship, he was unable to do an inguinal …

www.post-gazette.com A troubling case before the state Supreme Court asks if parents can sue their doctor for not telling them about a fetus’ birth defects. An auxiliary issue is whether doctors have an obligation to disclose to patients the negative outcome of an examination or test. Presumably, ethics would demand …

TARA HAELLE www.npr.org Sometimes a story takes odd turns as you report it. Every once in while it goes off the rails. That’s what happened as I reported on a new study purporting to explain how a childhood vaccine helps prevent leukemia. The experience reaffirmed the lessons I’ve learned in …

By Philip Zazove www.cnn.com When I was 4 years old, my mother and father received devastating news — I was deaf. It was the 1950s, a time when people with disabilities received few accommodations or support. A time long before any legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act was conceived, …

By Melanie Tucker www.thedailytimes.com How long is 45 minutes? If you’re stuck standing in line at the bank or waiting for your meal at a restaurant, 45 minutes can seem like forever, each moment drawing out like an eternity. But, in the grand scheme of life, 45 minutes is almost …

CHRISTINA FARR www.npr.org How can you tell ­the difference between a good surgeon and an exceptional one? You could start by looking for the one who has the rare ability to visualize a human organ in three dimensions from little more than a scan. “The handful of the top surgeons …

APRIL DEMBOSKY www.npr.org Physician-assisted suicide is illegal in most states in the U.S. But there are gray areas where doctors can help suffering patients hasten their death. The problem is nobody can talk about it directly. This can lead to bizarre, veiled conversations between medical professionals and overwhelmed families. Doctors …

Salynn Boyles www.healthleadersmedia.com In-hospital outcomes among patients undergoing CAS in the US varied fourfold after adjusting for differences in patient risk factors in an analysis of data from a large, nationwide stenting registry. From MedPage Today. In-hospital outcomes among patients undergoing carotid artery stenting (CAS) in the U.S. varied fourfold after …

By ROBERT PEAR www.nytimes.com WASHINGTON — The federal government opened the door to a new era of genetic medicine on Thursday by introducing a standard way to ensure the accuracy of DNA tests used to tailor treatments for individual patients. Scientists have identified hundreds of genetic mutations that appear to increase …

JAY HANCOCK NPR In the late 1990s you could have taken what hospitals charged to administer inpatient chemotherapy and bought a Ford Escort econobox. Today, average charges for chemo, not even counting the price of the anti-cancer drugs, are enough to pay for a Lexus GX sport-utility vehicle. Hospital prices …

Alexandra Wilson Pecci http://healthleadersmedia.com Researchers find a “very strong relationship between [physician] satisfaction and burnout and the leadership behaviors of physician supervisors” in large healthcare organizations. Physician burnout is prevalent throughout the U.S. healthcare system—experienced by nearly half (46%) of physicians, according to data published in JAMA last year. But effective leadership …

Richard Harris www.npr.org If you ran down the list of ailments that most commonly kill Americans, chances are you wouldn’t think to name sepsis. But this condition, sometimes called blood poisoning, is in fact one of the most common causes of death in the hospital, killing more people than breast …

www.cbsnews.com Virtual reality headsets are already revolutionizing the way people experience video games: put on a pair of goggles and you can travel anywhere from outerspace to the battlefield. But gamers aren’t the only ones this technology can transport to new worlds, reports CBS News’ Kara Finnstrom, only on “CBS …

By RONI CARYN RABIN www.nytimes.com When a new contraceptive implant came on the market over a decade ago, it was considered a breakthrough for women who did not want to have more children, a sterilization procedure that could be done in a doctor’s office in just 10 minutes. Now, 13 years …

Scott Mace www.healthleadersmedia.com Virtual care is not a new idea. Videoconferencing dates back several decades. Remote monitoring in ICUs began more than a decade ago. Telestroke and remote behavioral health programs have been on the radar in many settings for years. But two major factors have given virtual care a …

www.foxnews.com Doctors in Nebraska prolonged the life of a brain dead woman for 54 days so she could deliver a baby boy named Angel. Karla Perez, 22, died two days after the delivery, the Washington Post reported late Friday. Angel weighed just 2 pounds, 12.6 ounces at birth. The last time a …