Medical Oops

Readers of this blog have a sense that my dad (75 years old) has Stage 4 cancer (colon to liver) and suffered complications from chemotherapy. In fact, in August 2008, Duke hospitalist Veshana Ramiah, MD ignored an infection on dad's left foot. That's a foot that underwent a standard ankle fusion in February 2008. Ramiah did not get the basic concept that an infection could have moved to the metal in the man's foot. Now more than one year later, dad has an external fixator. And the bone is not healing well. The surgeon recommended a "bone stimulator." Not a cheap gadget. But perhaps ... Read Full Story

Today I received an email from the Joint Commission. The organization that accredits hospitals concluded that Duke University Hospital acted properly in September 2007 when they discharged my dad the same day he had a fall. DUH acted properly despite the fact that dad was admitted with subdural hematoma and no one at DUH checked the status of the hematoma after the subsequent fall. DUH also apparently acted properly when they refused to provide my dad or any family member with discharge instructions. That conclusion is frightening . We still have a few hospitalists at Duke that have not been held to account. The ... Read Full Story

A New Mexico news channel reports that a Santa Fe group is demanding the City remove Wi-Fi from public buildings.  They claim that they are sensitive to the wireless signals that are emitted from wireless and cell phone signals.  They also claim that these signals cause medical problems, and they are being discriminated against as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. One of the whiners is quoted below: Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. "I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said. Firstenberg and dozens of ... Read Full Story

The candidates all are talking about making the health care system available to everyone. I wonder if any of them have considered that a lot of tax dollars are already being handed over to crooks scamming the current system providing free healthcare to the general public? Some estimate that this costs the taxpayers up to $60 billion a year. $60 billion would go a long way to helping people, who need medical attention and can't afford it. Carrie Johnson of the Washington Post writes: All it took to bilk the federal government out of $105 million was a laptop computer. From her Mediterranean-style townhouse, ... Read Full Story

Duke Hospital would save a lot of time if they would just use a semi-automatic gun and kill my 75 year old father . All obvious sarcasm aside, my dad spent nearly three weeks in Duke University Hospital (North) in Durham, North Carolina because the Duke hospitalists failed to culture or even obtain an orthopedic consult on a foot wound. The only way that I could keep dad calm during the last Duke hospitalization was to assure him that the Duke Clinic surgeon (an incredible human being and surgeon) was in charge. My dad was discharged to home and Duke Home Health Care. Wow. ... Read Full Story