The group received 90 percent of its $5 million in funding in 2010 from the drug and medical-device industry, and its guides for patients, journalists and policymakers had played down the risks associated with opioid painkillers while exaggerating the benefits.
Each prescription drug you take has a unique code that the government can use to track problems. But artificial hips and pacemakers? They are implanted without identification. In fact, the FDA doesn’t know how many devices are implanted into patients each year – it simply doesn’t track that data.
A review of records at 29 Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals found that only half the nurses had documented proper skills to care for patients.
Why does U.S. health care costs so much? How do insurance companies decide to refuse you coverage? How do Medicare scams work? ProPublica rounds up the best articles looking for answers to these and other questions.
Right now, if you want to read the published results of the biomedical research that your own tax dollars paid for, you can get free online. But a new bill in Congress wants to make you pay.
The annual death toll from overdoses of painkillers has reached almost 15,000, prompting the head of the CDC to term it an “epidemic.” But the American Pain Foundation continues to claim the risks are overblown. The advocacy group’s biggest supporter? The drug industry.
For almost eight years, Linda Carswell has been trying to find out how her husband died. Her quest has led to a fraud judgment against a hospital as well as autopsy reform in Texas. But she’s still seeking answers — and the return of his heart.
Hospital autopsies have become a rarity. As a result, experts say, diagnostic errors are missed, opportunities to improve medical treatment are lost, and health-care statistics are skewed.
The European Union has prohibited the use of X-ray body scanners in European airports, parting ways with the U.S., which has deployed hundreds of the scanners as a way to screen airline passengers for explosives hidden under clothing.
The Transportation Security Administration will conduct a new study of X-ray body scanners after in response to concerns about the technology’s safety.
Drug and device companies have paid $6.5 billion since 2008 to settle accusations of illegal marketing practices, but none of the more than 75 doctors named as participants have been sanctioned,
Film star and pin-up icon Farrah Fawcett set up a sting operation to prove to UCLA that one of its employees was leaking information about her cancer to the National Enquirer. Other celebrities who had information leaked included pop star Britney Spears and former California First Lady Maria Shriver.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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