Medical Debt Collectors Added to Wrongful Billing Lawsuit
Two medical debt collection agencies have been added to a Washington state lawsuit against 14 associated hospitals over alleged violations of consumer protection laws related to financial assistance practices, the state’s attorney general announced. The lawsuit, initially filed in February, mainly targets the Providence healthcare system, which operates dozens of hospitals in Washington and other […]
Opinion | We’re Reacting to Medical Errors the Wrong Way
Medical mistakes are as old as the practice of medicine itself, but it wasn’t until 1999 that the United States started paying more attention to them. Over 20 years later, we may be reducing medical errors — a recent study published in JAMA found significant decreases in mistakes in cases of pneumonia, acute myocardial infarction, […]
B vitamins can potentially be used to treat advanced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have uncovered a mechanism that leads to an advanced form of fatty liver disease — and it turns out that vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements could reverse this process. These findings could help people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, an umbrella term for a range of liver […]
‘I Wish Everyone Would Just Pay’: When Med Students Flock to Pirated Study Tools
During one particularly grueling year of medical school, cartoons marked the start of every day for Anna Moshkovich. But she wasn’t watching “Tom and Jerry” or “Scooby-Doo.” Instead, she was watching animated videos about medicine on the subscription-based test-prep website Sketchy. At least tens of thousands of other medical students learn the same way, thanks […]
Opinion | ‘Medicine Is Not a Stable Thing’: What We Heard This Week
“You’ve got to remember that medicine is not a stable thing.” — Dev GnanaDev, MD, former president of the Medical Board of California, discussing a bill that would grant the state’s licensing agencies specific authority to take disciplinary action against disinformation doctors. “This is the American Medical Association, not the American Hunting Association or the […]
Nurses’ Station Epicenter of One Hospital’s COVID Outbreak
Nosocomial spread of COVID-19 throughout a medical unit likely occurred through aerosol transmission from a symptomatic nurse, researchers said. An outbreak in a Boston hospital among 103 healthcare professionals and patients arose on a non-COVID ward after a nurse became symptomatic 4 days after receiving a COVID vaccine in late December 2020, reported Eric Garshick, […]
Opioid Use Disorder Training in Med School Improves Awareness of Patient Needs
NEW ORLEANS — Adding opioid use disorder (OUD) training to the third-year medical school curriculum improved students’ understanding on how to manage these patients, according to a study presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting. Third-year students’ knowledge of OUD treatments significantly increased from a pre-training assessment (mean score 18.34/23) to a post-training assessment […]
Good Vibrations: The Transition from Sex Toy to Medical Device
NEW ORLEANS — Formal medical studies of vibrators have revealed positive effects on multiple sexual and urinary outcomes in women, a review of published literature showed. Though limited in number, the studies induced favorable changes in blood flow and muscle tone of genital tissues, improved multiple aspects of sexual arousal and satisfaction, increased orgasmic response, […]
From cavefish to humans: Evolution of metabolism in cavefish may provide insight into treatments for a host of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
New research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research examines how cavefish, surface-dwelling river fish that flooded into underground cave systems over 100,000 years ago, developed unique metabolic adaptations to survive in nutrient-scarce environments. The study, published online in Nature Genetics on May 12, 2022, led by Jaya Krishnan, PhD, a senior research associate in […]
Hundreds of injured singers profiled: Analysis identifies most common conditions and treatments
An analysis of more than 400 singers who sought treatment at UT Southwestern Medical Center for vocal injuries provides a wealth of data on a topic that’s often considered taboo to discuss in the singing community. The findings, published in The Laryngoscope, show that only 1 in 7 subsequently needed surgery for injuries that weren’t […]