The push to develop a vaccine against the Ebola virus is on, and vaccination is going to be an important part of controlling this contagious disease. Phase 1 trials are slated to begin soon in the United States. Even if adequate safety and immunogenicity are...
Too Many Women Avoid Cervical Cancer Screening
More than 12,000 women a year get cervical cancer, yet up to 93% of these cancers are preventable. The Centers for Disease Control reports that up to 8 million American women have not been screened for cervical cancer in the last 5 years, which is approximately 10% of...
Malpractice Crisis Cost of Proving the Claim
William Sage, MD, JD recently wrote an editorial in JAMA that malpractice claims are not currently causing disruption of the healthcare system, and the number of claims and average payout for claims is lower today than 10 years ago. Paid claims declined from 18.6 to...
Outpatient Medication Errors Occur Every 8 Minutes in Children
Parents need to guard against medication errors when treating their children at home with prescription medications. According to an article in Pediatrics, about 70,000 medication errors occur annually in children under 6 years of age, with more than 17,000 occurring...
Breast Cancer Screening Reduces Deaths
The controversy about whether breast cancer screening with mammography increases survival or only causes anxiety and healthcare costs for women continues. A recently published Norwegian study on mammography screening and breast cancer mortality looked at all Norwegian...
Physical Examination Undervalued, Underused & Unappreciated
Physical examination is becoming a lost art and used less and less as technology driven medicine replaces clinical assessment. A recent article in the Washington Post highlighted the waning ability of doctors to use physical examination to make an accurate diagnosis....
CT Lung Cancer Screening Saves Lives With Costs
CT Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines could detect 54,900 more lung cancer cases during a 5 year period if covered by Medicare. Most cancers would be diagnosed at an earlier more treatable stage. In fact, the number of early stage cancer diagnoses would double from 15%...