Medical Errors: Deadlier Than COPD?
Although the world of medicine revolves to improve the health of people, it turns out that medical errors trail the first two leading causes of death in the United States. Recent studies published in The British Medical Journal seem to indicate that preventable deaths resulting from medical mistakes cause an estimate of 250,000 deaths a year. Considering that the number of deaths as a result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...
Trauma Informed Health
It’s a fairly well accepted notion that childhood traumatic experiences can affect a person’s psychology and mental health. The ACE test, or Adverse Childhood Experience test takes that notion a step further, and has found a strong correlation between high ACE scores (more childhood trauma) and physical health conditions during adult life (from COPD to Cancer). What is the ACE Test? A test the patient can fill out that scores...
‘Brave New World’ For CRISPR Technology
In Aldous Huxley’s famous “Brave New World,” he describes a world where human freedom is nonexistent, and government-run infant hatcheries produce society’s children. This was a story written in 1932 depicting our world in 2540… however similar technologies are emerging in healthcare as of recently. In another post, we covered the possibility of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, or CRISPR technology...
Protecting the People: Why DOJ Blocks Mergers
On July 21, U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced that the Department of Justice would take action to block the mergers of Aetna’s purchase of Humana, and Anthem’s purchase of Cigna. And most of us will say they made the right call. The four heath insurers involved in the acquisitions are 4 of the top 5 national health insurers. If they merge, the “Big 5” becomes the “Big 3”, which is likely to have costly consequences for...
Hillary or Trump?: Candidate’s Healthcare Ideas
What do the 2016 Candidates have in mind for Health Care? President Obama and his “Obamacare” achievements have shown just how big an effect the white house can have on patients and physicians. It is always difficult sorting out the effective platform from the pipe dream. This list is a fairly general look at 2016’s candidate’s platforms and tendencies that could have a significant effect on medical professionals. Using 10+ varied...