November 17, 2010
The proportion of cancer patients who die in the hospital and who get hospice care varies widely from region to region and hospital to hospital across the country, according to a new report. (Washington Post)
November 17, 2010
Personalized medicine – often described as providing the right drug to the right patient at the right time – has long been considered an ideal. But it is also a threat to some pharmaceutical companies wedded to the idea of … Read More
November 17, 2010
After several high-profile scandals that damaged public confidence in the accuracy of medical tests in Canada, leading medical organizations have unveiled the first steps in a plan to fix the system and prevent more patients from being wrongly diagnosed. (The … Read More
November 17, 2010
In another era, bloodletting and purging were mainstays of medicine, but by performing these procedures doctors killed more patients than the diseases they were meant to cure. That is history. The tragedy we face today is that countless people continue … Read More
November 17, 2010
US scientists are significantly more likely to publish fake research than scientists from elsewhere, finds a trawl of officially withdrawn (retracted) studies, published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics. (PhysOrg)
November 17, 2010
More than 13 percent of patients covered by Medicare, the government health insurance for the elderly, or about 134,000 people monthly have some sort of so-called adverse event each month. These include mistakes such as surgical errors or sometimes unavoidable … Read More
November 17, 2010
Every afternoon at about four, a slight woman named Runi slips out of the cramped, airless room that she shares with her husband and their sixteen children. She skirts the drainage ditch in front of the building, then walks toward … Read More
November 16, 2010
Cell Stem Cell (Volume 7, Issue 5, November 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “The Steroid Hormone Ecdysone Functions with Intrinsic Chromatin Remodeling Factors to Control Female Germline Stem Cells in Drosophila” by E.T. Ables and D. … Read More
November 16, 2010
Nearly a decade ago when I was newly settled into private practice in Memphis, a drug representative for a new and powerful antibiotic stood in my office and asked whether I would like to attend a consultants’ meeting about the … Read More
November 16, 2010
Doctors in Glasgow have injected stem cells into the brain of a stroke patient in an effort to find a new treatment for the condition. (BBC News)
November 15, 2010
How would you like a clone of yourself stowed away somewhere in case you need a new heart or liver, like a spare tire in the trunk of a car? That, in a nutshell, was the plot of the 2005 … Read More
November 15, 2010
To celebrate 40 years of pioneering bioethics publication, the Hastings Center Report, the world’s first bioethics journal, looked to the future, asking young scholars to write about what the next generation of bioethicists should take up. Out of 195 compelling … Read More
November 15, 2010
WHAT happens in our brains when we watch a compelling TV commercial? (New York Times)
November 15, 2010
Need a tetanus shot? Take a number. But feel free to wait in the comfort of your own home. A new online service is aiming to take the “wait” out of emergency room visits — or at least change where … Read More
November 15, 2010
Physicians and hospitals adhere too strictly to a protocol that leaves such choices exclusively to family members, an article’s co-author says. (American Medical News)
November 15, 2010
On the eve of his major report on the British way of death, Charles Leadbeater recalls the contrasting ends of his parents and argues for a caring approach that gives us control of our last days. (The Observer)
November 15, 2010
It had to happen: a musical about euthanasia. Of course, nearly every film coming out of Bollywood is a musical, but director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has tried to make Guzaarish (The Request) a lush melodrama with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya … Read More
November 15, 2010
Comment is free’s series about the advent of new reproductive and contraceptive technologies is opening an old debate: how do these advances affect relationships between men and women? Do they threaten to make men less “relevant”? Does increasing women’s ability … Read More
November 12, 2010
Nature Medicine (Volume 16, Issue 11, November 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Stem Cell Support Cuts Across Party Lines,” 1173. “Breakup of Genetics Advisory Panel Seen as Premature” by Kelly Rae Chi, 1169.
November 12, 2010
A new Canadian initiative is seeking to promote the importance of science – and particularly publicly funded science – for the public good. (PHG Foundation)
November 12, 2010
The face of the modern fertility industry is not hard to characterize. Soothing phrases like “infertility cure,” “new hope,” and “altruistic donation of life” are illustrated by blissful parents coddling picture-perfect newborns. All of this is crafted to reassure us … Read More
November 12, 2010
Like dozens of other men in the dusty copra town of Lopez, Quezon, Rommel Villanueva, 30, has a long scar that slices diagonally across the side of his stomach. (GMANews.TV)
November 12, 2010
Would doctors help patients die if they asked? Would they have sex with a patient? Would they cover up a mistake that harmed a patient? (WebMD)
November 11, 2010
Research shows patients often have no clue about what they just signed and may end up totally uninformed about why a procedure is being recommended or how it might help or hurt them. (The Associated Press)
November 11, 2010
Federal health officials Wednesday unveiled plans to replace the warnings cigarette packs began carrying 25 years ago with new versions using images that could include emaciated cancer patients, diseased organs and corpses. (Washington Post)
