Vitamin D benefits and metabolism may depend on body weight: People with higher body mass index had a blunted response to vitamin D supplementation, explaining observed differences in outcomes such as cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disease
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have found new evidence that vitamin D may be metabolized differently in people with an elevated body mass index (BMI). The study, appearing in JAMA Network Open, is a new analysis of data from the VITAL trial, a large […]
Patient Accused of HIPAA Violation, Threatened With Jail for TikTok Posts
A confrontation between hospital staff and a patient over wait times and patient rights was documented in a series of viral TikTok videos, according to a local news report. Denise Bradley, a patient at Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, was confronted by hospital security and a nurse after she was found to be recording an […]
Cape Cod Cardiologist Sues Hospital, Alleging Retaliation for Whistleblowing
A long-time Cape Cod interventional cardiologist is suing his former hospital, alleging that he was retaliated against and defamed, and that the terms of his employment contract were breached, all as the result of sounding the alarm on profits being placed before patient care. Richard Zelman, MD, filed a complaint against Cape Cod Hospital and […]
Can Virtual Nursing Save the Workforce?
After a grueling few years responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, turnover, burnout, and hospital vacancy rates have all increased among nurses. With hospitals drowning under a sea of patients due in part to an earlier than usual surge in respiratory illnesses, a problem compounded by staffing challenges, some experts argue a change is needed. Can […]
Carnitine intake is associated with better postnatal growth and larger brain size in very preterm infants
A recent study by the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital shows that carnitine intake in the first postnatal weeks promotes better growth and larger brain size at term equivalent age in very preterm infants. Carnitine intake from breast milk in particular seems to be associated with better growth. The findings were published […]
What Killed the First Gender-Affirming Surgery Clinic in the U.S.?
When the Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital closed in 1979, there were still about 20 university-based clinics in the U.S. that provided gender-affirming surgery. By the mid-1990s, only two or three remained. Despite the hospital attributing the closure of GIC to a 1979 study suggesting unsatisfactory long-term outcomes among 50 applicants […]
APA Unveils Tool for Addressing Psych Bed Crisis
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) released a comprehensive report to address the shortage of hospital beds for inpatient psychiatric care during a press conference Tuesday. The report described a predictive modeling tool developed to help hospital groups and other community-based groups determine how many inpatient hospital beds might be needed at any given time. It […]
Parents of 4-Year-Old Sue Urologist for ‘Unintentional Vasectomy’
The parents of a 4-year-old are suing Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston for giving their son an “unintentional vasectomy” during surgery for an inguinal hernia. The boy had scrotal swelling that would increase in the evening, and his doctor, Susan Jarosz, DO, found that he had a hydrocele or hernia on the right side. Jarosz […]
Why the Atypical Symptoms in the Latest Monkeypox Cases?
In mid-May, a young man appeared at a hospital in Montreal with a single lesion on his genitals. About a week earlier he had sexual contact with someone who tested positive for monkeypox. Over the next several days, his lesion grew in size and more lesions appeared, but they weren’t painful. He had no fever […]
No Boost in Shock-Free Days with Steroid Combo in Patients With Sepsis
A steroid combo to beat back septic shock, delirium in COVID-19 patients, and hospital adherence to ventilator standards during the pandemic were examined in studies at the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) virtual Critical Care Congress. No One-Two Punch for Septic Shock A single-center study found that adding fludrocortisone to hydrocortisone did not increase […]