Belly pain is the emergency room doctor’s booby prize. Invariably, care involves dealing with bodily fluids, internal exams and a dizzying array of diagnostic tests and therapies. Diagnosis is not easy. As Dr. Zachary F. Meisel …
Policy & Industry
Gender Gap in Doctors’ Starting Salaries: $17,000!
A review of starting salaries for new physicians leaving residency programs in New York State in 2008 found that men made $16,819 more per year than women. In 1999, that salary difference was only $3,600. In other words, the …
The Seroquel Scandal: A Minnesota Psychiatrist’s Ethical Lapses Are Suspected
In 2003, Dan Markingson, 26, was enrolled in a clinical trial at the University of Minnesota aimed at comparing several drugs to treat schizophrenia. Despite the explicit demands of his mother, Mary Weiss, to pull him out of the …
Report: Medical Students Perform Intrusive Exams on Unconscious Patients
According to a disturbing report in Australia’s Madison magazine, medical students are performing breast, rectal and genital exams on unconscious patients without their consent.
The Medical Insider: Are We Too Impatient to Wait for Care?
Spend time in a busy emergency room and you’ll hear a recurrent theme among the harried staff: patients in the U.S. want their health care like they want their food — served up speedily and made “your way.” It’s a phenomenon …
Money Isn’t Everything, Even to Doctors
Many health policy experts, including those who wrote the Affordable Care Act, believe there’s only one thing that can get doctors to change their behavior — money. A new study may blow a giant hole in that belief, just in …
World’s Second Larynx Recipient Speaks: ‘The Doctors Found My Voice’
Brenda Charett Jensen, 52, the second-ever recipient of a voice-box transplant, uttered her first words two weeks after surgery — and 11 years after losing her voice when a breathing tube damaged her airway during surgery. They …
The Medical Insider: Helping Patients Google Symptoms
We’ve all done it. We’ve typed symptoms like “tingling, left arm” into Google, WebMD or any one of the myriad encyclopedic medical resources available on the Internet, before going to the doctor for an actual diagnosis. (Is it a …
Are Electronic Health Systems Cost Effective? Not So Much
If you’ve visited the doctor or a hospital recently, you can’t help but notice how much of your care depends on some form of electronic information exchange. From the prescription your doctor writes to the chart she consults, …
Study: What Does Race Have to Do With Obesity Counseling?
Nobody has to be convinced that obesity is a problem — doctors have made it clear that excess weight leads to a host of health risks, and even raises the chance of early death compared to normal-weighted individuals.
The Medical Insider: Why More Data Doesn’t Mean Better Care
The Medical Insider is a weekly column from Dr. Zachary F. Meisel, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and an emergency physician at the University of Pennsylvania. He will cover the medical industry, patient …
5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Health Reform
Still not clear on the ins and outs of the Affordable Care Act? Here’s an easy tipsheet to help you get the most benefit out of health reform in 2011.
Healthland’s Top 10 Stories of 2010
Sex, drugs and surgery. You loved these stories so much the first time, we’re betting you’ll want to read them again. Here are Healthland’s top 10 most-read stories of 2010. Enjoy!