Category: Palliative Care
The Obama administration is moving forward with an ambitious agenda to improve the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and unlock a method to prevent it by 2025. The plan also sets up a wide-ranging effort to improve the care that Alzheimer’s patients receive and support families.
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.
Of the 103 who received prescriptions last year, 94 are known to have died. Seventy of these died after taking the medication. Nineteen died without taking the medication. In five deaths, it is not known whether or not they took the medication.
Higher U.S. spending for cancer care pays off in almost two years of additional life for American cancer patients on average compared to their European counterparts — a value that offsets our higher costs.
You can be healthy well beyond 60, but you’ll be different than you were when you were 20. You’ll have different posture, wrinkles and a lot of other changes that are less obvious but age appropriate. We have to be very, very careful about calling any difference from when we were younger an illness or a disease. And we have to be even more careful about telling people that we have things we can do to “fix” these differences, but this happens all the time. That’s the medicalization of aging.
The Seattle Times series on methadone deaths highlights the drawbacks of drug treatment for pain and the need to explore alternative approaches, writes Bill Scott.
Following an series of articles in the Seattle Times drawing attention to the high death rate among patients taking methadone. Washington state will issue a public health advisory that singles out the unique risks of methadone, a commonly prescribed pain medicine that’s linked to the most accidental overdose deaths.
How doctors die (Hint: Not like the rest of us). Can vaccines end cancer? Newt Gingrich’s health-care heresies. Should your doctor take money from drug companies? — This week’s top stories.
The Seattle Times has launched an investigative series on Washington state’s policy towards the use of the pain killer methadone for the treatment of chronic pain. The paper argues the drug is dangerously unpredictable and responsible for the deaths of hundreds, particularly among the poor.
96 percent responding that they believe enhancing the quality of life for seriously ill patients is more important than extending life as long as possible.
Acute pain can be harrowing — and receiving prompt and helpful treatment can make all the difference in the world.
Many of us are—or will become—a caregiver to a parent, spouse, child, or other loved one. Are there resources that can help us meet that challenge?
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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