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708,928 | theguardianuk--2019-08-30--Ebola kills girl 9 in Uganda as outbreak approaches 3000 cases | 2019-08-30T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Ebola kills girl, 9, in Uganda as outbreak approaches 3,000 cases | A nine-year-old Congolese girl who tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Uganda has died of the disease, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the current outbreak was approaching the grim milestone of 3,000 cases and 2,000 deaths. Her death makes her the fourth case to cross into Uganda amid the continuing struggle to contain the deadly outbreak. “She passed on at around eight o’clock this morning,” said Yusuf Baseka, health director in Kasese, a district in southwestern Uganda along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The child was diagnosed after exhibiting symptoms at a border crossing in Kasese on Wednesday. Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi, said the girl’s body would be repatriated for burial. “We are finalising the administrative formalities so that the body is repatriated and buried here in Congo, her native country,” said Kasenda. “We are collaborating with the health services of neighbouring Uganda and we will strengthen the sanitary measures here in Kasindi.” Although cases of cross-border contamination have been rare, this case highlights the risk of Ebola spreading across borders into neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. Borders in the region are often porous, and many people travelling at night use bush paths to cross over. More than 25% of fatalities from the disease have been children in an epidemic with a higher than usual death rate. “This has been a particularly deadly outbreak, with a mortality rate of 67%, far higher than the 55% average case fatality rate for Ebola,” Heather Kerr, Save the Children’s country director in DRC, said in a statement warning that the epidemic was still “not under control”. “The youngest are the hardest hit – well over 500 children have died, many more have lost at least one of their parents or can no longer go to school because schools are closed or they have to work to make ends meet.” Joyce Moriku Kaducu, state minister for primary health, said on Thursday: “The ministry of health, with support from partners, have dispatched a rapid response team to Kasese to support the district teams to continue with various activities including case management, community engagement, contact tracing, psychological support and vaccination, among others.” “The ministry of health re-echoes its call to the general public to cooperate with the health workers, immigration and security officials to ensure effective screening at all points of entry to prevent the spread of Ebola to other parts of the country. The ministry of health reassures all Ugandans … the disease will be contained.” An average of 80 people per week are sickened by the virus, with the Congo’s North Kivu province being the hardest hit. Insecurity has been one factor in a region where rebel groups have fought for control of mineral-rich lands for decades. Ebola also has spread because of mistrust by communities who have also staged attacks against health workers. Many people in eastern Congo don’t trust doctors and other medics. “Many people are afraid to seek treatment for illnesses, worried they will be sent to an Ebola treatment centre where they fear they could contract the disease. As an actor within the response, we must assume our own responsibility,” said Bob Kitchen, vice-president of emergencies at the International Rescue Committee. “One year into the response, the lack of community acceptance remains the single greatest obstacle to containing the outbreak. Building trust with the community doesn’t just mean dialogue with the affected population. It means working with the community to adapt the response and address the overall needs they are facing inside and outside of the Ebola outbreak.” In June, a family of Congolese with some sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path. Two of them later died of Ebola, and the others were transferred back to Congo. Uganda has had multiple outbreaks of Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers since 2000. The WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will travel this weekend to Congo with UN secretary-general António Guterres and senior officials, including Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. On Friday he called on partners to increase their presence in the field. “Our commitment to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is that we will work alongside them to stop the Ebola outbreak,” said Tedros. “Our commitment also means strengthening the health systems to give them all the other things they need. Building strong systems is what will protect people, communities and the world.” | Peter Beaumont and Samuel Okiror in Kampala | https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/aug/30/ebola-kills-girl-9-in-uganda-as-outbreak-approaches-3000-cases-drc | 2019-08-30 14:16:55+00:00 | 1,567,189,015 | 1,569,416,968 | health | diseases and conditions |
717,767 | theguardianuk--2019-12-13--Spike in Ebola cases alarms health officials in DRC | 2019-12-13T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Spike in Ebola cases alarms health officials in DRC | Health officials are investigating an alarming spike in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with many blamed on a single individual who appears to have contracted the disease for a second time this year. Amid the struggle to bring the 16-month outbreak under control, the World Health Organization noted an almost 300% increase in cases in the last three weeks, with 17 of 27 linked to a single chain of transmission. According to officials, it appears to be the second time the person has been documented as suffering from Ebola in six months. An investigation is being held to understand the circumstances around the case. Ten cases were notified on Wednesday in Mabalako, North Kivu province, where the individual is believed to be from, after another six on Tuesday, according to officials who noted that three out of the six were practitioners of traditional medicine. The spike – and the worrying circumstances behind it – appears to buck a trend towards a declining number of cases, although security issues in the key zones of Beni, Biakato and Mangina had recently paralysed the response after violent attacks on health workers. Among the possibilities being examined are reinfection with the disease – which would ring the most serious alarm bells as no case of reinfection has ever been recorded before – or a relapse. While rare cases of relapse have been documented, in which a person who has recovered from Ebola gets its symptoms again, reinfection would mean a person who has recovered has been infected anew with the virus by another person, a circumstance so far undocumented. Experts have long been anxious about the risk of recurrence because the virus can persist for months in areas of the body that are immunologically protected, including semen, vaginal fluids, sweat, aqueous humour, urine, breast milk and even spinal fluid after initial onset and recovery. That has led researchers to speculate about the continued risk of transmission in individuals not showing any symptoms, including through sexual activity, leading to reactivation of the illness. Reinfection, relapse and recurrence are all sources of acute concern in controlling the outbreak, as Ebola survivors are employed widely in treatment centres in DRC on the assumption they cannot usually recontract or transmit the disease. In July another patient died from what was also presumed to be a relapse or reinfection, calling into question the assumption that Ebola survivors have lifelong immunity from the virus. According to figures from the African Union as of 8 December, the Ebola outbreak in DRC has claimed 2,209 lives since it broke out, with 3,327 recorded cases. | Peter Beaumont | https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/13/spike-ebola-cases-alarms-health-officials-drc | Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:01:45 GMT | 1,576,267,305 | 1,576,283,094 | health | diseases and conditions |
738,736 | theindependent--2019-01-04--New Ebola case reported in Sweden with patient isolated in Uppsala hospital | 2019-01-04T00:00:00 | theindependent | New Ebola case reported in Sweden with patient isolated in Uppsala hospital | A man suspected of suffering from the deadly Ebola virus is being treated in isolation in a Swedish hospital. The patient is in Uppsala University hospital, in the city north of Stockholm, after vomiting blood, and had reportedly returned from a three week trip to Burundi in East Africa. In a statement, the Uppsala authorities said it was so far “only a matter of suspicion”, adding: “Other diseases are quite possible.” The hospital in the town of Enkoping where the patient was first admitted had its emergency room shut down and staff who treated the patient were “cared for”, AP reports. The patient was later transferred to the infection clinic in Uppsala. Test results are expected later today. “The patient came in Friday morning and reportedly was vomiting blood which may be a symptom of Ebola infection,” hospital spokesman Mikael Kohler told local newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning. There is no known Ebola outbreak in Burundi, but it borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been fighting an outbreak for almost six months. The disease has killed 356 of the 585 people known to have been infected. The epidemic in a volatile part of Congo is the second worst ever, according to the World Health Organisation. The largest outbreak was in 2013-2016 in West Africa, where more than 28,000 cases were confirmed and over 11,000 died by the time the WHO declared the epidemic over. The haemorrhagic fever's virus is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. Symptoms can appear similar to those of flu, before the onset of vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and internal and external bleeding. It is often fatal. All major outbreaks have been in Africa, though isolated cases have been reported outside the continent. In August 2014, British volunteer nurse William Pooley became the first Briton to contract Ebola after working in Sierra Leone. He was flown back to the UK for emergency treatment and went on to make a full recovery. The same year, Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was also contracted the virus after returning from Sierra Leone and fell severely ill, spending several weeks in London’s Royal Free Hospital. | Harry Cockburn | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-ebola-alert-hospital-uppsala-burundi-patient-isolated-a8711301.html | 2019-01-04 13:34:00+00:00 | 1,546,626,840 | 1,567,553,925 | health | diseases and conditions |
762,823 | theindependent--2019-06-20--Ebola is killing people but rumours about Ebola are killing even more | 2019-06-20T00:00:00 | theindependent | Ebola is killing people but rumours about Ebola are killing even more | This is a tale of two epidemics. Only one of them is real. The real one is Ebola. Ebola is a virus that kills people. This is a fact. But we fear facts as much as we fear disease. We prefer reassuring falsehoods to facts. And it’s so easy, you can deny practically anything. All you have to do is add the little word “not”. We’ve had Holocaust denial and climate change denial. Now we have Ebola denial. The virus, named after the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo near where it first appeared in 1976, has an approximately 80 per cent mortality rate. ie not good odds: you have a one-in-five chance of surviving if you get it. The disease is not just hard to eradicate, it has a habit of triggering a second parallel virus, of the virtual kind, but just as insidious and potentially lethal, a rumour cloud around Ebola, made up of myth, moonshine, conspiracy theories, and paranoia. So the Red Cross finds itself fighting on two fronts, against the real thing and, at the same time, an outbreak of fake news. Butembo, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, is at the epicentre of the 10th outbreak of Ebola, currently counting 2071 cases. The Red Cross – working alongside the World Health Organisation and Médecins Sans Frontières – has sent in volunteers to help tackle the disease. But, as is common in these situations, they have run into a wall of misunderstanding, misinformation, and resistance. The resistance, usually no worse than verbal abuse or a refusal to take advice, can sometimes take the form of violence. One senior epidemiologist has been killed in 2019 and clinics have been attacked. Ironically, the very people trying to treat the illness are perceived as causing it. So pervasive is this second epidemic, the virus of suspicion and scepticism, that radiates out from the first, that the Red Cross has tried to draw up “rumour maps” to keep track of it, because one of the facts in this swirling fog of misinformation is that the second one makes the first one worse. The spread of rumour only serves to increase the spread of the disease. Modern medicine is not all about doctors and nurses and pills and potions, it’s also about information management, which boils down to two things: disseminating scientifically backed facts, and trying to contain the transmission of false beliefs. Ebola is probably caused by fruit bats (and eating other infected animals) and certainly spread by physical contact with the body fluids of victims. The other epidemic is definitely generated by humans. The word itself, epidemic (from the Greek, epi- “upon” or “against” or “around”, and demos, the people) suggests that we are complicit in the process. “It’s mainly spread by word of mouth,” says Thuong Nguyen, who is French-Vietnamese and the information management coordinator for the Red Cross. “But there is an extensive phone network in DRC, and people use Whatsapp. There are whole groups dedicated to talking about Ebola.” False information radiates outwards, relatively unchecked. “If you’re the fifth person in the chain, or the 50th, it’s not easy to check your sources.” The denser the population, the faster the rumours spread. Nguyen initiated the rumour mapping project in August 2018. She says the whole point was to get a cool and quantitative take on rumour. “We didn’t want to start a rumour about the rumours. There are so many rumours already, we didn’t want to be part of that. We had to be specific.” There is a perfectly practical reason for gathering and collating the information: Red Cross medics need it “in order to be able to carry out their operation”: to know what people are thinking as well as how they are feeling. Nguyen emphasises that “the majority of people” believe that Ebola is real. But she and her team of 880 “community engagement volunteers” have detected 33,016 separate rumours, observations and beliefs across 17 health zones in DRC. Only 8 per cent of them consist of flat-out denial: the wishful idea that Ebola does not exist. But there are a lot of more complicated, more conspiratorial versions of denial. Seven per cent of the rumours invoke supernatural theories to do with witchcraft and demons. A much larger proportion of the rumours tend to point the finger of blame at health professionals rather than witches. Another 21 per cent maintain that Ebola is being used to exploit communities for influence or money; 13 per cent express a lack of confidence in medical services, with a suspicion of doctors harming people; and a hardcore of 4 per cent explicitly hold that Ebola is engineered by foreigners with some murderous or malevolent intent. “The Ebola outbreak won’t be over until the population rises up against the response team.” This is a real quote (translated from Swahili) coming from someone in the DRC recorded by the Red Cross engagement team. There is a constellation of fanciful ideas: “Doctors are killing people”; “Ebola is a business”; “the virus is made to eliminate the Congolese”; “there are fake tablets that kill”. But probably the dominant theme is how to fight back against the spread of Ebola, mainly by attacking the health professionals. Doctors in the field have to worry not only how to protect themselves from the virus but also from the relatives of people who have been victims. One informant said: “We are in the process of determining how to catch some of the doctors and nurses from the response team to inject them with the blood of a vaccinated person and see how their body responds.” Another: “Everyone who works in the response team will be tracked down.” Ombretta Baggio, 46, the coordinator of community engagement and accountability for the International Red Cross Ebola response, spoke to The Independent from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the DRC. She reckons that “rumour mapping” should really be called “community feedback”. “The media tends to over-dramatise. You have to remember, it’s not all ‘fake news’. Rumour is only part of the data. Alongside the rumours there are a lot of reasonable questions to which we try to provide answers.” But she agrees that there is “an epidemic of fear, which is motivating people to do things that are not healthy and that fuel the Ebola epidemic”. Baggio points out that the DRC is “volatile environment” with “a complex political dynamic”. After a two-decades-long conflict, elections have recently taken place in the region. People fear not just foreigners but anyone from outside their province. They tend to trust their neighbours, and are proportionately suspicious of outsiders. Baggio says that the great advantage of the rumour mapping project is that “we have a very clear picture of what the main concerns are”. The principal object of most people’s fear and loathing is the ETC, the Ebola Treatment Centre, dedicated to trying to halt Ebola and often staffed by foreigners or people perceived as foreigners. The fact that the frontline health professionals have to wear full body suits to protect them against the virus probably doesn’t help. They look like aliens who have just landed. It is at one of these treatment centres that a doctor was killed in May by armed militia. “The treatment centre is seen as a place where you go to die,” Baggio says. “Where you are isolated and injected on purpose with a virus.” Inevitably, it makes the patient and the family and relatives fearful. In terms of treating the illness itself, there is a limited amount of vaccination available in the DRC. “We are using an experimental vaccine,” says Ombretta. “With a high level of success.” It’s not mass vaccination. The Ministry of Health and WHO work to create a “ring” around the individual case. As soon as anyone is identified as having contracted the disease, an emergency response team goes in to vaccinate all the immediate contacts of the victim and then the contacts of those contacts. But not everyone understands or appreciates what they are doing. Some think that they are being injected with the disease, others want to know why only some are being vaccinated and not others. Thuong Nguyen’s priority is what they call Safe and Dignified Burial. “Our role is to ensure that when a loved one dies the family and the community doesn’t get infected.” Local funeral customs here prescribe a process of washing the dead before burial. All of which is normal and reasonable, except in the case of Ebola, since even a corpse can be infectious. Contact with bodily fluids can be fatal. Nguyen says that a “safe team” is required to manage the process without incurring further dead bodies. One of the recent developments has been the use of transparent body bags to counteract rumours that body bags were being filled with rocks or dirt while the actual bodies were being spirited away to have their body parts harvested for sale. One of the problems with such an infectious disease as Ebola is that victims can spread the disease inside hospitals. Working with the Ministry of Health and Unicef, the Red Cross helped to set up a system of “triage points” in front of hospitals, a form of medical customs control to check if you’re carrying the disease. Instead of just walking in the front door of the hospital you have to pass through this antichamber to be checked and assessed first. If you show any symptoms you’re taken to a different room for further analysis. Similarly, there are things that can be done to prevent the spread of rumour, the meta-epidemic accompanying Ebola. They call the measures deployed to fight back against viral thinking “sensitisation”. The Red Cross is, in effect, trying to inoculate the population against rumour, using methods as simple as knocking on doors and explaining or giving seminars in schools. Radio shows, mobile cinemas, and plays performed in rural communities dramatise the problem and its solution. Ombretta Baggio adds that the Red Cross has to “find compromises that go beyond the bio-medical response”. She suggests that the existing Ebola Treatment Centres need to be streamlined and integrated into the existing health network to overcome “the fear of the unfamiliar and the unknown.” “After so much conflict in the country, the Congolese people are used to looking after themselves. They want to own the treatment.” With strict measures of isolation and body disposal in place, Ebola can be contained. But what about the other epidemic? Can that be contained? “At the moment we are holding it at bay,” says Nguyen. They’re not winning, but they’re not losing either. The “alerts” about cases coming from the Congolese themselves have quadrupled from 20 to 80 per cent. Baggio makes the point that “it’s easy to blame the community for spreading lies”. In other words, at its crudest, we believe or imply that the Congolese people themselves are responsible for Ebola, or at least for making it worse. But it’s important not to scapegoat some people for the crime of scapegoating other people. For one thing, there is a rationale for the irrational. There are conspiracy theories, but there are also actual conspiracies. The subtle Nestlé scheme for replacing breast milk in Africa with its products, at the expense of child deaths and illness, is only one among many similarly exploitative plots and plans. Neo-imperialism harks back to actual empires. The DRC, for example, was once the colonial “possession” of Belgium. King Leopold, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, robbed the country blind in search of rubber and other commodities. People really were being killed and mutilated on a regular basis for commercial gain. Rumour is not a war against truth. It thrives and metastasises and proliferates in the cracks and crevices of solid, hardcore information. “This is why we have community engagement,” says Nguyen, “to fill in the gaps, to inform the community of the things that we do know. Facts rather than beliefs.” Shakespeare described rumour as “the many-headed monster”, so it’s nothing new. Post-truth has always been with us, but the greater the population and the most extensive the communications networks, the greater the opportunity for rumour to flourish. The “meme” was originally conceptualised by Richard Dawkins not as a “viral” image on social media but rather as an idea or behaviour that multiplies and spreads just as genes, or cells do, independently of individual intentions. And, again, there is a good reason why some ideas spread more than others: they simply have a better narrative. They become, in effect, bestsellers. The story from science, involving – possibly – bats, is less engaging or compelling than a story involving cold-hearted ruthless bad guys from abroad trying to do down the locals. Sound familiar? It seems like every country around the world is blaming some other country (or some other ethnicity) for their problems. It’s always foreigners who are to blame. In the US, it’s Mexicans and Muslims; in Brexit-infected Britain, it’s Europe. In India, it’s Pakistan; in Pakistan, it’s India. We’re all looking for scapegoats. In the DRC, doctors are blamed for injecting people with Ebola; in the US and Europe we have anti-vaxxers, who claim the MMR causes autism and fear the needle more than they fear measles and mumps. Perhaps there is a biological or cellular basis for the spread of rumour. If we could compare the map of Ebola with the map of the rumour epidemic that is parasitic upon it, we would find them surprisingly similar. Rumour is essentially a public health issue. The fundamental reality of information is that it generates misinformation and disinformation (the more deliberate version we also call fake news). Information doesn’t care about truth, it doesn’t mind if it is prefixed by mis- or dis-, it only cares about multiplying and propagating. Exactly like a virus. Information is contamination. Andy Martin teaches at the University of Cambridge and is the author of ‘Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me’ | Andy Martin | https://www.independent.co.uk/independentminds/long-reads/fake-news-ebola-outbreak-drc-red-cross-a8956816.html | 2019-06-20 14:18:55+00:00 | 1,561,054,735 | 1,567,538,552 | health | diseases and conditions |
55,743 | birminghammail--2019-01-31--Boy becomes first NHS patient to receive revolutionary new cancer drug | 2019-01-31T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Boy becomes first NHS patient to receive revolutionary new cancer drug | An 11-year-old boy has become the first NHS patient to receive a pioneering new cancer therapy that uses the body's own immune system to fight the disease. Yuvan Thakkar, from Watford, received the drug Kymriah, a type of immunotherapy called CAR-T cell therapy, at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London last week. Yuvan has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), which can be cured in around 90% of children who undergo conventional chemotherapy. However, Yuvan's cancer has failed to respond to two rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, meaning he has few options left. Now, experts at GOSH have given him Kymriah (also known as (tisagenlecleucel), which was approved for use on the NHS after a deal was struck between NHS England and the drugs firm Novartis to offer it at a reduced price. Previously, CAR-T cell therapy was only available to patients as part of research trials. The treatment involves taking the patient's own T cells (a type of immune cell) from their blood and genetically engineering them in the laboratory so they recognise and fight cancer cells. Millions of these genetically engineered CAR-T cells are grown in the laboratory and then given back to the patient via an infusion into their bloodstream. Each dose of Kymriah is a customised treatment created using these own T-cells. In Yuvan's case, his T cells were first extracted in November last year, and shipped to laboratories in Rotterdam and Texas, where they underwent the complex editing procedure. Research has shown that CAR-T can lead to a cure or extended survival for a high number of patients, although not everyone benefits. In clinical trials in the US, around 50% to 62% of patients survive without leukaemia for 12 months or more. Yuvan, a keen cricket fan, was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2014. Despite treatment and a bone marrow transplant last year, he was still found to still have leukaemia. Yuvan's parents, his mother Sapna, and father Vinay, said in a statement: "When Yuvan was diagnosed it was the most heartbreaking news we had ever received. "We tried to stay hopeful as they say leukaemia in children has 90% cure rate, but sadly, his illness relapsed. "This new therapy is our last hope. It means a rebirth to us if this treatment works and we hope it really does. "We are so glad that we at least have this new option now. "If he had relapsed a year ago it would have been a different story." Yuvan said, "I really hope I get better soon so I can visit Lego House in Denmark. I love Lego and am building a big model Bugatti while I'm in hospital." Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "It's fantastic news that children and young people like Yuvan can receive CAR-T cell therapy on the NHS, giving another option when their cancer returns. "This is an incredibly complex treatment to give, Yuvan's cells were processed in both Europe and the US, and needed collaboration across borders to get the T-cell infusion back to London so he could be treated. "The UK was one of the first countries in the world to approve CAR-T cell therapy, showing that the NHS remains at the forefront of innovation when it comes to new cancer treatments. "More research is underway so that we can identify who's most likely to benefit from CAR-T cell therapy, as well as how to further refine the technique, so as many as possible can benefit." Side-effects from CAR-T can occur and patients need to be kept in isolation following treatment. CAR-T can cost around £280,000 per patient, although NHS England has brought down this price during negotiations. As well as GOSH, the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will offer the treatment to young people with leukaemia. Another type of CAR-T cell therapy, called Yescarta, has been approved on the NHS for adults with aggressive types of lymphoma. Dr Sara Ghorashian, consultant in paediatric haematology at GOSH and Yuvan's doctor, said: "We are so pleased to be able to offer patients like Yuvan another chance to be cured. "While it will be a while before the outcome of this powerful new therapy is known, the treatment has shown very promising results in clinical trials and we are hopeful that it will help." | birminghammail | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/boy-becomes-first-nhs-patient-15759798 | 2019-01-31 16:50:13+00:00 | 1,548,971,413 | 1,567,550,058 | health | diseases and conditions |
64,645 | birminghammail--2019-07-07--Baby diagnosed with cancer after going to the doctor over a cold | 2019-07-07T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Baby diagnosed with cancer after going to the doctor over a cold | The devastated parents of a baby girl battling leukaemia have told how she was first diagnosed after 'a simple cough and cold'. At only seven months old, little Phoebe Ashfield had already undergone lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirations and a high dose of chemotherapy. Parents' Emma, 26, and Jordan, 26, had their hopes raised when Phoebe responded well to treatment. But now the couple have told of their heartbreak after they discovered their tot had relapsed - just four months into treatment. They are desperately urging everyone to sign a stem cell register - in a bid to save the youngster's life. "If you don’t save my daughters life then you can save someone else’s life so me and her dad are begging you please sign up," said mum Emma Wyke. "Phoebe was diagnosed on January 18 with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. "She was only seven months old. She has undergone lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirated and high dose of chemotherapy. "Before she was diagnosed she just had a simple cold and chest infection. On January 14, I took her to Sandwell hospital and at first they thought it was anemia until they looked at her bloods. "We were told she had cancer on the morning of January 15, 2019 and on that afternoon we were transferred to Birmingham children’s hospital. "Which is where she has undergone her treatment. Phoebe turned One at the end of May and was responding well to her treatment, when her parents were delivered another devastating blow: "On June 5, she had a routine lumbar puncture, which is where they take a sample of spinal fluid and then inject her with chemotherapy. "It was there when they looked at the spinal fluid when they saw the leukaemia blast cells once again meaning she had relapsed just four months into her treatment. "We were devastated and we were told that she would need a transplant. "If you don’t save my daughters life then you can save someone else’s life so me and her dad are begging you please sign up. "It takes five minutes and they can send you a pack out in the post to swab your mouth. And the all you do is send it back, it’s as simple as that." On July 13, there will be a registration day at Tipton Sports Academy, on Wednesbury Oak Road and also at Dudley Tesco Extra on Town Gate Retail Park, Birmingham Road. Alternatively you can apply online to receive your swabs in the post - https://www.dkms.org.uk/en/register-now | [email protected] (Charlotte Paxton, Charlotte Regen) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/baby-diagnosed-cancer-after-going-16520687 | 2019-07-07 04:30:00+00:00 | 1,562,488,200 | 1,567,536,542 | health | diseases and conditions |
205,703 | fortune--2019-08-28--The Diseases That Are Increasingly Killing Americans Brainstorm Health | 2019-08-28T00:00:00 | fortune | The Diseases That Are Increasingly Killing Americans: Brainstorm Health | A new study in the journal JAMA helps break out exactly what is, and isn't, killing Americans. Heart disease is far and away the number one killer in this country (some 1 in 4 deaths are associated with it). But cancer, lung diseases, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes aren't far behind. Here is the good news-bad news situation, according to the report: "While cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates declined by approximately 36% from 2000 to 2014, CVD remains the leading cause of mortality among US adults. Annual declines in CVD mortality slowed between 2011 and 2014 (0.7% fewer CVD deaths per year), and it appears unlikely that strategic goals from the American Heart Association (20% reduction by 2020) will be achieved." Put into simpler terms, diabetes and high blood pressure are still killing millions of people. And communities of color continue to be disproportionately affected by this reality. Read on for the day's news. Peloton goes from confidential IPO to actual IPO. The digitally-connected exercise firm Peloton (the one with the fancy, in-home bikes and treadmills that connect you online with coaches) is going public (again… sort of). Peloton had already filed for a confidential IPO earlier this year. But now it’s going the whole hog and filing for a Nasdaq public offering. The year of the digital health IPO continues! (Fortune) Investors seem pretty OK with the J&J opioid ruling. Shareholders don’t appear to be sweating the $500 million-plus judgment levied against Johnson & Johnson for its alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. J&J shares are up nearly 2% since the landmark ruling announced Monday, which has been seen as a milestone in dozens of cases levied against drug makers and distributors for aggressively selling pain products. Why? The decision (contested by J&J) could have involved significantly more money. (Fortune) Why 20,000 AT&T Workers Went on Strike, by Aaron Pressman Hello, This Is Artificial Intelligence. How Can I Help You? by Jonathan Vanian An Unwanted Side Effect for Tech Companies Going Public, by Rey Mashayekhi | Sy Mukherjee | https://fortune.com/2019/08/27/heart-disease-diabetes-deaths/ | 2019-08-28 00:03:26+00:00 | 1,566,965,006 | 1,567,543,623 | health | diseases and conditions |
235,870 | hitandrun--2019-08-23--That Vaping-Linked Lung Disease Might Not Really Be Linked to Vaping | 2019-08-23T00:00:00 | hitandrun | That 'Vaping-Linked Lung Disease' Might Not Really Be Linked to Vaping | There's a bit of panic brewing in the press over lung problems that could be linked to vape products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "reports more than 150 cases of possible vaping-linked lung disease," says The Hill. Others make even bolder claims. "More than 100 vapers have contracted a severe lung disease," The Verge reports. "Vaping lung disease: CDC reports 153 cases," says USA Today. Ars Technica warns that "vaping-linked lung disease cases" have jumped "from 94 to 153 in 5 days." But read closely, and it becomes apparent that nobody actually knows if vaping is causing this mystery disease or not. Nobody even knows if there is a disease, or how many people actually have it. That's what the CDC is at the beginning of investigating. For now, all officials know is that states keep reporting people with cases of mysterious lung and chest problems. "Many states have alerted CDC to possible (not confirmed) cases and investigations into these cases are ongoing," says the CDC. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing—all common issues that can stem from a range of causes and ailments. "The CDC and impacted states haven't identified a cause," notes The Verge. Nor has it actually verified suspected cases. Those reporting the problems all say they have used vape products—albeit not what sort. Which leaves us with another possibility: that some particular faulty product or line of products is indeed causing trouble, but that this is not an issue with vaping at large. We know that some patients in potential cases used THC-containing vape products, not nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. The Vapor Technology Association told The Hill that no nicotine e-cigarettes have been linked to the lung issues: In actuality, we don't know at all what folks with many of the suspected cases were smoking, nor what other habits they may have shared, such as any history of regular cigarette or marijuana smoking. We don't—and this is pretty damn crucial—even know if all of these patients suffer from the same affliction at all. The fact that cases have spiked dramatically in the brief time since news of this "vaping lung disease" started spreading suggests we may have a different sort of contagion on our hands. Perhaps people who vape have been starting to freak out upon hearing the "lung disease" news and either suddenly noticed new symptoms (which also sound a lot like symptoms of a panic attack) or began interpreting ongoing symptoms in a new way. Or maybe vaping is going to kill us! That's certainly possible. The point is that right now, anything is possible. And until we know more, it's irresponsible for folks to spread panic about products that have been helping many people leave more dangerous habits behind. Ken "Popehat" White tries to dispel some of the most common delusions about the First Amendment. "If you've read op-eds about free speech in America, or listened to talking heads on the news, you've almost certainly encountered empty, misleading, or simply false tropes about the First Amendment," writes White at The Atlantic. "Those tired tropes are barriers to serious discussions about free speech. Any useful discussion of what the law should be must be informed by an accurate view of what the law is." White tackles popular tropes like "you can't shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theater" (wrong!), "hate speech is not free speech" (wrong!), and more. "Many free-speech issues that are controversial politically and culturally, by contrast, are utterly banal legally, and the Court has offered no signs of change," he points out. "It's a credit card, not a 'virtual interface.' There is nothing novel about a credit card." At Forbes, writer Frances Coppola throws some water on tech-media hype about the new Apple Card and its purported potential to "disrupt" traditional banking: A credit card is, as its name suggests, simply a line of credit which is drawn upon when using a card to make purchases. Apple's card may be fancy (and fragile), but behind it is a bog standard credit facility, just like every other credit card in the world. So the question is, who is issuing that facility? Credit card facilities are provided by banks. Cards may be branded by a retailer, but the actual issuer is always a bank…. Apple Card's strapline "Created by Apple, not a bank" implies that the credit line is provided by Apple itself. If that were the case, then Apple Pay would be groundbreaking. It would mark Apple's transformation into a bank—and a bank of such a size and reach would indeed eat the lunch of existing banks. Sadly, the strapline is misleading to the point of dishonesty….The card that is "created by Apple, not a bank" is actually issued by—a bank." That's right, Goldman Sachs is behind the "no bank" Apple Card. | Elizabeth Nolan Brown ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/1xBc3nXQrLc/ | 2019-08-23 13:42:31+00:00 | 1,566,582,151 | 1,567,533,593 | health | diseases and conditions |
335,511 | naturalnews--2019-04-10--Study links intestinal fungus to alcoholic liver disease | 2019-04-10T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Study links intestinal fungus to alcoholic liver disease | (Natural News) You might want to think twice before gulping down another bottle of beer because a new study has found that heavy alcohol drinking can hike the levels of intestinal fungi and worsen alcoholic liver disease. Findings of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation linked intestinal fungi to an increased risk of death for patients with alcohol-related liver disease. The results also suggested that there’s another culprit in liver damage aside from alcohol: fungi that commonly live in your gut. The study showed that antifungal treatment can significantly worsen the detrimental effects on the liver. “Not only is this the first study to associate fungi and liver disease, we might be able to slow the progression of alcoholic liver disease by manipulating the balance of fungal species living in a patient’s intestine,” said senior author Bernd Schnabl, MD, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Liver cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of death due to disease in the U.S. One of the causes of cirrhosis is chronic alcohol abuse. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, drinking more than three alcoholic drinks (like beer and wine) a day for years can increase the risk of cirrhosis in men while drinking more than two alcoholic drinks every day for many years puts women at risk for the disease. Going beyond these over the course of 10 years can lead to cirrhosis. To conduct the study, researchers gave mice alcohol every day for eight weeks and observed an overgrowth of certain fungi types in the intestines. However, researchers were able to protect the mice from alcohol-induced liver disease by treating them orally with an antifungal compound called amphotericin B. Oral amphotericin B isn’t absorbed in the bloodstream, which means it only acts inside the intestine and doesn’t cause systemic side effects. Mice with alcohol-related liver disease who received the antifungal compound showed lower levels of fat accumulation and liver damage. Plasma levels of the liver enzyme called alanine aminotransferase were reduced by about 55 percent while liver triglycerides levels went down by approximately 21 percent. The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site. “This work demonstrates that alcoholic liver disease is exacerbated not only by bacteria, but also by fungi. Therefore, therapeutic strategies that target both need to be translated into clinical practice,” said co-author Derrick Fouts, PhD, Professor of Genomic Medicine at J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). What all these mean is that drinking alcohol can trigger intestinal fungi and potentially lead to liver damage. Fungi produce a sugar called beta-glucan which travels to the surrounding organs, like the liver, and trigger an inflammatory response that kills the cells. This leads to alcoholic liver disease. Excessive drinking can spike gut fungi and beta-glucan and contributes to further liver damage. Another experiment found that people who are dependent on alcohol have a significant overgrowth of a certain type of fungus called candida. This was concluded after researchers collected and observed the stool of eight healthy people and 20 alcohol abusers and have various stages of liver disease. Researchers also analyzed blood samples from a different group of patients with alcoholic liver disease and found that those who have high levels of antibodies that recognize fungus were more likely to die in the next five years. Of the 27 patients, 14 were found to have high fungi levels while 13 were classified as low. Thirty-seven percent of the high-fungi group died after five years while 77 percent of the low-fungi group survived. Fungi naturally thrive in the intestines, so there’s nothing we can do about that. However, we can always limit our alcohol intake if we want to save our liver and prevent diseases. Take care of your body by drinking moderately. | Tim Wesley | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-04-10-study-links-intestinal-fungus-to-alcoholic-liver-disease.html | 2019-04-10 17:30:28+00:00 | 1,554,931,828 | 1,567,543,314 | health | diseases and conditions |
336,047 | naturalnews--2019-05-30--Studies reveals conventional cancer treatments can be as dangerous as the disease itself | 2019-05-30T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Studies reveals conventional cancer treatments can be as dangerous as the disease itself | (Natural News) Chemotherapy has been the go-to treatment for cancer since the late 1940s. Nearly eight decades ago, researchers examining the therapeutic effects of mustard gas on lymphoma declared that this toxic chemical could significantly reduce the size of tumors for a few weeks after treatment. To this day, doctors continue to insist that chemotherapy represents the cancer patient’s best chance at survival. Rather than focusing on encouraging people to maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, quit smoking, drink in moderation and make other necessary lifestyle changes – the only proven way to prevent cancer – the medical establishment pushes the narrative that early detection and conventional treatments like chemotherapy are the best way to lower cancer death rates. But do the facts support their contention? Not at all. As reported by BBC News, cancer is on the increase around the world, and so is the number of people it kills each year. Between 2012 and 2018, the number of patients diagnosed with cancer annually rose from 14.1 million to 18.1 million, while the number of fatalities increased from 8.2 million to 9.6 million. So, why the increase? A large contributing factor is likely the fact that far from being the miracle cure it’s touted to be, chemotherapy kills many of the very people it is supposed to cure. As recently as 2015, cancer drugs represented a $100 billion a year industry, and that figure is set to double to $200 billion in the next few years. Livestrong reports that an eight-week course of chemotherapy can cost a patient as much as $300,000. The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site. Chemotherapy is a massive cash cow for investors; perhaps that is the reason researchers keep coming up with new “treatments” rather than actively searching for a cure? Nonetheless, no matter how hard medical practitioners push these chemicals as the best treatment plan for cancer patients, the reality is that all chemotherapy is dangerous – so dangerous in fact that studies have found that these treatments are as lethal as the disease they are supposed to treat. Back in 2006, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that 61 percent of women who were treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer were hospitalized in the year following treatment for a variety of reasons. The researchers found that in the year following the women’s initial diagnosis, the women on chemotherapy were much more likely to be hospitalized or go to the emergency room for any cause. Only 42 percent of the women not being treated with chemo went to the ER or were hospitalized, compared to 61 percent of the chemo patients. Most hospitalizations were for fever and infections, or for low blood cell counts and dehydration. Even worse, a more recent study, conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, found that chemotherapy often increases the aggressiveness of cancer cells, causing tumors to spread throughout the body. Many are given chemotherapy before surgery, but the new research suggests that, although it shrinks tumours in the short term, it could trigger the spread of cancer cells around the body. It is thought the toxic medication switches on a repair mechanism in the body which ultimately allows tumours to grow back stronger. It also increases the number of ‘doorways’ on blood vessels which allow cancer to spread throughout the body. Another study, conducted by Public Health England and Cancer Research UK, which examined the number of people who died in the 30 days immediately after undergoing chemotherapy, found “an alarming mortality rate that was directly associated with the chemotherapy treatment.” Clearly, chemotherapy is far from the “miracle treatment” it’s claimed to be. Ultimately, the best way to treat cancer is to prevent getting it in the first place by making the best possible lifestyle choices every day. Learn more at Cancer.news or Chemo.news. | Tracey Watson | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-05-30-chemotherapy-as-dangerous-as-cancer-itself.html | 2019-05-30 22:30:15+00:00 | 1,559,269,815 | 1,567,539,706 | health | diseases and conditions |
336,085 | naturalnews--2019-06-02--Ohio hospital spreading deadly infectious disease through its water systems | 2019-06-02T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Ohio hospital spreading deadly infectious disease through its water systems | (Natural News) In April of this year, Natural News reported how U.S. hospitals were releasing deadly superbugs into the open air, infecting both patients and individuals in the local community with a deadly fungal strain known as candida auris. As I wrote then: It’s happening right now. And this pandemic has been silently spreading over the last four years, with virtually zero media reports, very little information from the CDC, and a coordinated cover-up by the hospitals of the western world to keep patients in the dark while they’re being infected and killed by a deadly pathogen. Now, patients in an Ohio hospital have been infected with Legionnaires’ disease after the hospital was found to be circulating a potentially deadly bacterial strain through its water supply. Local media is reporting the details of the outbreak, and Dr. Amy Acton, who heads up the Ohio Dept. of Health, is reportedly leading the investigation into what happened. InfoWars has covered the full story and reports the following (source): SEVEN DIAGNOSED WITH LEGIONNAIRES’ AT NEW OHIO HOSPITAL Seven patients have been diagnosed with the deadly Legionnaires’ disease at an Ohio hospital that’s been open just over a month, according to reports. Health officials have begun to disinfect the building’s water lines to stop the spread and are scrambling to identify the source of the bacteria, according to a Friday statement from Dr. Amy Acton, director of Ohio’s Department of Health. “To protect patients, employees, and visitors, we have acted swiftly today after my team discovered a connection between three confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in former patients at Mount Carmel Grove City,” said Dr. Acton. “Working in collaboration with Franklin County Public Health, I issued an adjudication order to immediately reduce the risk of further infection.” Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here. “It is our understanding that hospital officials have begun implementing the steps outlined in the order, tonight.” Specific maneuvers outlined in the statement include but aren’t limited to the following, according to local media: – Flush all hot and cold water lines and fixtures throughout the entire seven-floor, 200-bed facility. – Implement immediate remediation practices to disinfect hot and cold water lines and fixtures. – Ensure the two on-sight cooling towers are cleaned and serviced. Legionnaires’ disease is described as a severe form of pneumonia and is contracted by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacteria, which is why authorities are targeting the hospital’s water supply. Similarly, this brings to mind a recent superbug fungal outbreak that spread rapidly throughout U.S. hospitals, mainly New York and New Jersey. During this outbreak in 2017, there were at least 61 reported cases of the deadly fungus that touts a 60% mortality rate and has the potential to become widespread due to conventional antibiotics being ineffective in treating it. At the time, reported cases of the fungal superbug, called Candida auris, skyrocketed a staggering 800% from several months prior. “It’s acting like a superbug,” said Paige Armstrong of the CDC. “Without appropriate infection control and really a rigorous response, [it] could lead to even more cases in the United States.” Watch the full candida auris mini-documentary here, via Brighteon.com, and stay informed about the threat of deadly superbugs at Superbugs.news. A shorter podcast explanation is available here: | Mike Adams | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-06-02-ohio-hospital-spreading-deadly-infectious-disease-through-its-water-systems.html | 2019-06-02 13:11:22+00:00 | 1,559,495,482 | 1,567,539,346 | health | diseases and conditions |
360,888 | newsweek--2019-01-23--Dementia and Gum Disease Alzheimers Linked to Gingivitis | 2019-01-23T00:00:00 | newsweek | Dementia and Gum Disease: Alzheimer's Linked to Gingivitis | A bacteria that causes gum disease has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease in a study scientists believe could pave the way for new treatments targeting the debilitating condition. An enzyme called gingipains, which the Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) bacteria gives off, is the “main cause of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Steve Dominy, study author and associate professor at University of California, told Newsweek. However, other experts in the field responded cautiously to the findings published in the journal Science Advances. Read more: Common herpes virus could cause 50 percent of Alzheimer's disease cases, expert says Researchers first compared the brain tissue of patients with and without Alzheimer’s disease. They found 96 percent of 53 patients with the condition had RgpB, or a form of the gingipains enzyme known as arginine-gingipain. And 91 percent of 54 patients tested positive for Kgp, or lysine-gingipain. These were detected at levels significantly higher than the control samples, the authors said. DNA tests on three brains with Alzheimer’s disease and six healthy brains also had the gene associated with P. gingivalis in their tissue. The team also examined the cerebrospinal fluid and saliva of 10 patients believed to have Alzheimer’s disease, and found the P. gingivalis gene hmuY in seven, and P. gingivalis itself in all of them. And in an experiment on mice, those dosed with gingipains had higher levels of the hallmark Alzheimer’s protein, amyloid beta, and greater damage to their neurons than those who didn’t. What’s more, when mice were treated with a drug blocking the enzymes, the neurodegeneration stopped. Around half of adults have periodontitis. Some 10 percent experience a severe version of the disease, which erodes the gums and the bones that keep our teeth in place, the authors said. If the findings are shown to be correct, this could offer one reason for why 5.7 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease: a figure set to rise to 14 million by 2050. The researchers hope a drug that inhibits the spread of P. gingivalis in the brain could slow the symptoms of the neurodegenerative disorder. Referring to tau, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease, Dominy told Newsweek: “Studies reported in our paper indicate that P. gingivalis and gingipains can directly kill neurons, damage tau, elevate levels of beta amyloid, and increase markers of neuroinflammation.” “In addition, our finding of DNA from P. gingivalis in the cerebrospinal fluid of living AD patients provides further evidence that P. gingivalis infects the central nervous system. Based on these findings, we believe that P. gingivalis is the main cause of Alzheimer’s disease, and the gingipains are the main drivers of Alzheimer’s disease pathology. “These findings provide a new strategy for Alzheimer’s treatment by specifically targeting P. gingivalis and gingipains instead of amyloid beta,” he said. However, he said the study was limited because the team has not yet determined if different strains of P. gingivalis are more virulent than others in causing brain infection. “This remains an area of active investigation,” he said. Those concerned that poor dental health could increase their risk of Alzheimer’s disease are advised to practice good oral hygiene to preclude the prevalence of P. gingivalis in the mouth, said Dominy. But he stressed this won't prevent the brain from becoming infected by P. gingivalis. "That is why we have created highly potent, brain penetrant, anti-gingipain small molecules to target P. gingivalis and gingipians in the brain," he said. Dr. David Reynolds, a chief scientific officer at the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK who did not work on the paper, commented: “The presence of a single type of bacteria is extremely unlikely to be the only cause of the condition.” Describing the study as “well-conducted,” he explained: “Previously the P. gingivalis bacteria associated with gum disease has been found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s but it remains unclear what role, if any, it plays in the development of the disease.” “We know diseases like Alzheimer’s are complex and have several different causes, but strong genetic evidence indicates that factors other than bacterial infections are central to the development of Alzheimer’s, so these new findings need to be taken in the context of this existing research,” he argued. However, he welcomed the avenue of inquiry as no new drugs targeting Alzheimer’s have been released for over 15 years. “It’s important we carefully assess all new potential treatments, and this drug is currently in an early phase clinical trial to establish if it is safe for people. We will have to see the outcome of this ongoing trial before we know more about its potential as a treatment for Alzheimer’s," he said. Studies in the past have also associated the little-understood disease to the virus which cases herpes. Ruth Itzhaki, author of one such study published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience and a professor in the Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology at the University of Manchester, U.K., said last year: "HSV1 could account for 50 percent or more of Alzheimer's disease cases. "Despite the involvement of a virus, the [Alzheimer's] disease is apparently not contagious," she told Newsweek. | null | https://www.newsweek.com/dementia-gum-disease-alzheimers-linked-gingivitis-1301552?utm_source=Public&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Distribution | 2019-01-23 19:00:03+00:00 | 1,548,288,003 | 1,567,551,144 | health | diseases and conditions |
361,623 | newsweek--2019-02-01--2019 Could Be Worst Year for Measles in US for 30 Years Were Losing Ground to a Disease That On | 2019-02-01T00:00:00 | newsweek | 2019 Could Be Worst Year for Measles in U.S. for 30 Years: 'We're Losing Ground to a Disease That Once Killed Millions' | Almost 20 years after measles was eliminated from the U.S., 2019 could see the highest rates of the dangerous disease in three decades, an expert has warned. A combination of the efforts of the small but extremely vocal anti-vaccine movement and barriers to accessing shots in some communities has sparked outbreaks of the potentially deadly—but entirely preventable—disease across the country. In the decade prior to the deployment of the first measles vaccine in 1963, an estimated three to four million people in the U.S. were infected with the disease. It killed between 400 to 500 people each year. An outbreak in school-aged children in 1989 prompted immunologists and pediatricians to push for a country-wide immunization program. The campaign was a success: By 2000, the disease was eliminated, defined as reduced to zero incidences for more than 12 months, short of eradication where this effect is seen worldwide. However, efforts to prevent measles have unraveled, and 2019 could be the “worst year for measles” since 1989, Professor William Moss, a specialist in epidemiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Newsweek. "[This forecast] points to the fact that we are losing ground to this disease that once killed millions of children each year,” said Moss. While a spokesperson for the CDC tempered Moss’s prediction, and told Newsweek it is too early to predict how many cases there will be in 2019, the figures from 2018 lay bare the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in pockets of the country. Some 349 cases of measles were identified across 26 states and the District of Columbia last year: The second highest levels in the U.S. since an outbreak in 2014 sickened 667 people. Last year’s bouts included the worst in New York since the 1990s, mostly affecting members of Orthodox Jewish communities and unvaccinated travelers returning from Israel. And the issue has bled into 2019. In Clark County, Washington, a total of 38 people—including 27 children under the age of 10—have so far been affected by a measles outbreak which led its governor to declare a state of emergency to channel public funds to tackling the problem. Three unvaccinated members of the same family have been diagnosed with the disease in Atlanta, Georgia. Meanwhile, outbreaks in New York State, New York City, and New Jersey, are ongoing. The anti-vaccine movement has played an important role in the reemergence of measles, Moss explained. The swell of distrust towards the MMR vaccine—which safely protects against measles, mumps and rubella—partly stems from the false claims made by disgraced former doctor Andrew Wakefield. In 2010, he was struck from the medical register for publishing a 1998 study in The Lancet journal wrongly linking the MMR vaccine to autism. The work has since been shown to be false and with no scientific basis. Regardless of this, his claims have been spread online by anti-vaccine campaigners on both sides of the political spectrum. Anti-vaccine sentiment has even been peddled by President Donald Trump, who invited Wakefield to his inaugural ball. Last year, a study published in the journal PLOS suggested the number of children not being vaccinated due to their parents' non-medical, philosophical beliefs had risen in the 12 of the 18 states which allow this: Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. Metropolitan areas including Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Phoenix, Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; Houston, Texas; as well as smaller counties in Idaho, Wisconsin, and Utah were identified as “hotspots” for anti-vaccine attitudes which leaves populations vulnerable to preventable diseases, the researchers concluded. Indeed, an outbreak of measles among a Somali community in 2017 was a direct result of a targeted campaign by such groups, Professor Helen Bedford, an epidemiology expert at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, U.K., told Newsweek. The rise of vaccine hesitancy has become such a concern that the World Health Organization named it as one of the biggest health threats of 2019 earlier this month. But while the movement “must be taken seriously,” pinning the blame solely on anti-vaxxers risks giving the movement more credit than it deserves, she said. After all, only around 2 percent of the U.S. population opposes vaccines, Bedford said. Importations, where an individual brings the disease from a country where vaccine rates are low, are another “major issue,” said Bedford, pointing to the cases in New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities linked to Israel. "Research has shown that these communities are not necessarily opposed to the vaccine but often have difficulties with access, often having large families which can make it difficult to attend for vaccination,” Bedford explained. Irrespective of the motivations for an individual being unvaccinated, the worrying outcomes are the same. Vaccines are able to eliminate conditions because of what is known as herd immunity. This is where a population is protected from an infectious disease because the vast majority of people have been vaccinated against it. That not only means an individual won’t fall ill themselves, but is less likely to pass it to the most vulnerable who can’t receive shots because their immune systems are too weak. Newborn babies and children with cancer fall into this category. For herd immunity to work, at least 90 to 95 percent of the population must have up-to-date vaccines. Getting shots is therefore sometimes regarded as a public duty. Tellingly, between 2017 and 2018 only 77.6 percent of children from kindergarten to 12th grade in Clark County received all their shots. The graphic below was provided by Statista. Often underscoring vaccine hesitancy is the false belief that measles is not particularly dangerous, while the measles vaccine is. But once herd immunity is compromised, individuals risk contracting a disease which can kill or severely disable sufferers, said Moss. "The measles vaccine is very safe" and measles is "completely preventable," he stated. The disease poses the greatest risk to children younger than five, and adults above the age of 20, as well pregnant women, and those with weak immune systems. Alyssa Hernandez, whose 2-year-old son is not healthy enough to be vaccinated after receiving a liver transplant, lives in California where some counties have vaccine rates lower than 90 percent. She recently told NBC News: "I’m scared to take him out. I’m scared to have him go to school, because you don’t know what’s around." First, measles can cause a high fever, cough, and runny nose, followed by a rash that spreads from the head to the rest of the body. An infectious person can spread the disease four days before and after the rash appears. It can trigger complications such as pneumonia—the biggest cause of death in young children with measles—as well as encephalitis, which causes the brain to swell and can trigger convulsions, deafness and intellectual disabilities. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, told Newsweek outbreaks of measles such as that in Clark County should act as “a reminder to parents that many diseases rarely seen in the United States can affect their unvaccinated children. “There’s no way to tell if a child’s case will be mild or serious. It is best to protect our children rather than treat them,” she said. Moss advised parents who are confused by vaccinations "to speak to someone who is informed and who they can trust, such as their child’s pediatrician or nurse practitioner." "Parents need to be very wary of information they find on the internet as many sites present false or misleading information about vaccines," he argued. "Websites to be trusted include those of the CDC or World Health Organizations. These are organizations with the goal of protecting children from disease." To combat the wider issue of vaccine hesitancy, Bedford argues those on the right side of the debate should use tools like social media and celebrity endorsements—which have been harnessed by anti-vaxxers to devastating effect—to inform parents that the MMR shot is safe, and measles can be deadly. “We need to have key community advocates talk about the danger of measles and the benefits and safety of measles vaccines, including physicians, lawmakers, celebrities, sports figures and parents whose children have suffered or died from measles," said Bedford. "We need smart laws that promote public health while recognizing individual rights, and that are designed to reduce the risk of measles outbreaks,” she said, pointing to recent legislative changes in California following an outbreak in Disney as an example. Bedford added: “There is no reason—other than medical contraindications, for example children with cancer—that a child in the U.S. should not be protected against measles." | null | https://www.newsweek.com/2019-could-be-worst-year-measles-us-30-years-were-losing-ground-disease-once-1309603?utm_source=Public&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Distribution | 2019-02-01 05:00:03+00:00 | 1,549,015,203 | 1,567,549,915 | health | diseases and conditions |
3,780 | activistpost--2019-01-17--Axon Partners With a Public Hospital to Re-brand Stun Guns as Lifesaving Devices | 2019-01-17T00:00:00 | activistpost | Axon Partners With a Public Hospital to Re-brand Stun Guns as Lifesaving Devices | Last month, an article in the Star Tribune revealed a disturbing partnership between Axon Enterprise Inc. (Taser) and a public hospital. For 14 years Axon has been paying the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) more than $1.1 million to help convince juries and the public that Tasers are lifesaving devices. Axon has been paying two doctors between $20,000- $36,000 a year to write hundreds of Axon-funded stories and serve as Axon medical advisors. Two researchers in leadership positions at HCMC have served as medical advisers for Axon, and the hospital’s research arm conducted 22 Axon-funded studies, hospital records show. For at least eight years, Axon paid the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. William Heegaard, $20,000 annually to serve on the company’s medical advisory board until he resigned this year. Heegaard has disclosed in studies that he also has owned Axon stock. Dr. Jeffrey Ho, medical director for EMS at HCMC, doubles as Axon’s contract medical director for at least 32 hours per month. Every three months, the hospital bills Axon $34,344 to cover Ho’s shifts while he’s working for the company, records show. Ho bills the company directly for outside work, which amounted to $36,000 last year, according to Hennepin Healthcare spokesman Tom Hayes. The Hennepin hospital also signed an additional contract with Axon “to make its security personnel available for conferences and other appearances promoting its use of Tasers to protect patients, staff and guests.” Taser has been re-branded; they are now calling themselves “Axon/Protect Life.” Axon claims their shock devices save lives; “we create technologies and services that enable you to capture truth and protect life.” I wish everyone would read Axon’s incredulous public safety mission… Do You Want to Learn How to Become Financially Independent, Make a Living Without a Traditional Job & Finally Live Free? Your mission every day is to protect life. So is ours. We are Axon, a team committed to pushing the boundaries of technology to help you feel more confident in the field, at the station, and in court. From Smart Weapons, like our TASER devices… Axon’s “smart weapon” Tasers automatically reload and measure how much electric shock is being applied to a suspect. If the Taser thinks the suspect needs more of a shock it increases the voltage. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/01/axon-partners-with-a-public-hospital-to-re-brand-stun-guns-as-lifesaving-devices.html | 2019-01-17 16:28:02+00:00 | 1,547,760,482 | 1,567,551,970 | health | health facility |
5,826 | activistpost--2019-10-09--U.S. Hospitals Turning Away Patients and Canceling Surgeries Due to Ransomware Attacks | 2019-10-09T00:00:00 | activistpost | U.S. Hospitals Turning Away Patients and Canceling Surgeries Due to Ransomware Attacks | Being targeted by cybercriminals is no laughing matter – especially for health care facilities. Non-payment of ransomware puts lives at immediate risk. Thanks to Threatpost for providing details about recently targeted hospitals, as well as plans being discussed to reduce risks: Ransomware overall continues to be a concern for governments worldwide: The U.S. Senate this week in fact approved new legislation aimed at helping government agencies and private-sector companies combat ransomware attacks. The legislation comes as local governments and schools continue to be hit by sophisticated – and in some cases coordinated – ransomware attacks. The proposed law, the “DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act,” authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to invest in and develop “incident response teams” to help organizations battle ransomware attacks. Part of that means that the DHS would create teams to protect state and local entities from cyber threats and restore infrastructure that has been affected by ransomware attacks. For many years, security experts have been warning about the vulnerability of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoT already has a 74% failure rate. This hasn’t stopped the U.S. and other countries from forcing its installation (see 1, 2). Cybercriminals must be pleased as punch. Activist Post reports regularly about unsafe technology. For more information, visit our archives. Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Follow us on Minds, Twitter, Steemit, and SoMee. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month. Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/10/u-s-hospitals-turning-away-patients-and-canceling-surgeries-due-to-ransomware-attacks.html | Wed, 09 Oct 2019 00:52:23 +0000 | 1,570,596,743 | 1,570,623,087 | health | health facility |
55,912 | birminghammail--2019-02-02--Hospitals could be set to offer FREE sanitary products | 2019-02-02T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Hospitals could be set to offer FREE sanitary products | Doctors' leaders have written to the head of the NHS demanding that hospitals provide inpatients with free sanitary towels and tampons. The British Medical Association (BMA) argued that it was inconsistent for some hospitals to give out razors and shaving foam but not offer women sanitary products. The union said towels and tampons are a basic human need - like food - and should be made freely available at all hospitals in the UK. Some patients cannot afford to buy their own products, while others unexpectedly find themselves in hospital with nobody to rely on, it said. The BMA sent Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts and health boards in the UK and received responses from 187. The research found that 42% either did not supply sanitary products at all, will only supply small amounts, or will supply them only in the case of an emergency. For those that did have a supply, tampons and towels were often only available on gynaecology or maternity wards. Only 22% of hospitals said they could easily be bought on site by the patient. Some trusts and health boards said they spent nothing on sanitary products for inpatients. For those that did, the average spend was 71p per bed per year. A rough estimate from the BMA suggests UK hospitals could supply the products for around £120,000 per year. In a letter to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens, the BMA's board of science chairwoman, Professor Dame Parveen Kumar, said: "Action must be taken to ensure that patient experience of care is not jeopardised by the non-availability of these essential items. "Patients must not be deterred from undergoing necessary treatment, or hindered in their recovery, because they are unable to access, or embarrassed to request, sanitary products. "With patient experience and quality of care being such a clear priority for the NHS, sanitary products, which are relatively inexpensive, should be provided for free and readily available to all inpatients at hospital." BMA medical students committee member Eleanor Wilson, who has championed the issue, said: "When patients are under our care in the NHS, we need to make sure that we make them feel as welcome and as looked-after as possible. "By not providing them with something so key to their health and well-being, it has a big impact on their sense of self-worth - we are effectively withholding that dignity from them. "While some hospitals have good provision, in others, patients have had to face embarrassment and hope that relatives can bring them in, which for some is not an option, and it can often become more challenging for young and teenage paediatric patients. "Like razors, shaving foam, toilet paper or food, it should be part of a basic package that is available to patients when they come under our care in hospital." | James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/hospitals-could-set-offer-free-15772552 | 2019-02-02 20:15:19+00:00 | 1,549,156,519 | 1,567,549,811 | health | health facility |
57,345 | birminghammail--2019-02-22--Windrush pensioner refused treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital until U-turn | 2019-02-22T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Windrush pensioner 'refused treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital' until U-turn | THE family of a sick Windrush Generation pensioner are furious his hospital treatment was delayed after he was refused NHS treatment. They were stunned when told Boysie Folkes, who suffers from amyloidosis - a rare, serious condition caused by a build-up of abnormal protein in organs - would have to go private. The ensuing wrangle over the 81-year-old’s right to be dealt with as a UK citizen has, says daughter Jennifer, led to a deterioration in his condition.` The great-grandfather has been told his condition is incurable, says 50-year-old Jennifer. On Friday morning Boysie, from Kings Heath, WAS admitted to Edgbaston’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital after the Sunday Mercury contacted the QE about his plight 24 hours earlier. That move has done nothing to pacify Boysie’s eight-children who expected their dad to be admitted weeks earlier. Jennifer said: “The QE has failed my father - and if anything happens to him I’ll never forgive them.” The controversy surrounds the issue of citizenship. Boysie, who holds a UK passport, arrived in Britain as part of the Windrush generation in the early 1950s. He worked as a sprayer at British Leyland for 35 years. However, 12 years ago he returned to Jamaica with wife Valda, 76. The couple intended to spend their twilight years in a property they purchased in picturesque St Catherine Old Harbour. Those dreams were dashed during a visit to see family in Britain last September. Boysie suffered crippling stomach pain and dramatic weight loss. Blood and bone marrow tests in London in January revealed he was suffering from amyloidosis. His family say the disease has invaded his heart. The stand-off between the NHS and the Folkes came to a head just last week when his condition worsened, said Jennifer. Boysie was admitted to a ward, but told long-term treatment would come at a price - and that price could run into thousands, she claimed. “The condition is serious, very serious,” Jennifer said. “He now needs support when walking. He is very weak. “We have been told new rules mean people who leave this country for a certain number of years have to pay, but I haven’t been able to find that new law. “My mother even worked for the QE as a cleaner and my dad is still a UK taxpayer. “Yes, he’s now in hospital, but I’m furious over the way he’s been treated. During the delay, he has deteriorated dramatically. As a UK citizen, he has been treated shoddily. I can’t sleep or eat - it’s taken its toll on me." The family have been supported throughout by Birmingham community activist Desmond Jaddoo who has written to the hospital for an explanation. He said: “This man worked hard in our city for British Leyland, yet was treated as though he had no right to be here. “A Birmingham Council taxpayer and homeowner was asked to pay for vital treatment despite his income tax and national insurance contributions. “It is a complete farce. I have written to the hospital demanding that they treat him as they have a clear legal duty to do so. In this case Mr Folkes did have his citizenship and also his British Passport. What else do they need to treat him?” A spokesperson for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital said: “NHS staff have a legal responsibility to check the eligibility of patients for non-emergency NHS treatment. "We recognise this can be distressing for both the family and patient. In this case the Trust has treated and will continue to treat the patient with no charge.” | Mike Lockley | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/windrush-pensioner-refused-treatment-queen-15871411 | 2019-02-22 12:49:16+00:00 | 1,550,857,756 | 1,567,547,621 | health | health facility |
57,551 | birminghammail--2019-02-26--Bullied stressed and dissatisfied - how Birmingham hospital staff are feeling the strain | 2019-02-26T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Bullied, stressed and dissatisfied - how Birmingham hospital staff are feeling the strain | Stressed, dissatisfied, bullied and keen to find a new job - staff at Birmingham’s hospitals are increasingly feeling the strain. The latest results from the NHS Staff Survey suggest people working in the area’s hospital trusts are increasingly unhappy with working conditions. And a high proportion say they are unwell from stress and being bullied by managers and colleagues. Bodies representing NHS staff have said the latest survey shows staff working in a system under extreme pressure, with urgent action needed. At Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals, the proportion of staff that said they were satisfied with the quality of care they gave to patients dropped to its lowest level since the question was introduced in 2015. Only 77.9% said they were satisfied, down from 85.2% in 2017. Just 72.4% of staff at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust said they were satisfied with the care they provided, one of the lowest proportions in England, and down from 77.9% in 2017. In the past 12 months, 43.5% of staff at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS trust said they had felt unwell with work-related stress, one of the highest proportions in England, as did 42% of staff at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals, and 39.2% at University Hospitals Birmingham. One in seven members of staff at University Hospitals Birmingham (14.2%) said they had experienced at least one incidence of violence from patients, relatives, and other members of the public. The figure was one in eight at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals (12.9%) - the highest level in five years. At Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS trust, one in five (21.7%) staff said they experienced bullying or harassment from colleagues at least once last year, while one in seven (14.8%) said they were bullied or harassed by managers. At University Hospitals Birmingham, 13.6% of staff had been bullied and harassed by managers and 19.7% by colleagues. The figures were 13.5% and 15.5% respectively at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals. Staff at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS trust were the keenest in England to find another job, with a quarter (25.3%) saying they would leave as soon as they could find another job. Some 41.5% said they often thought about leaving. At University Hospitals Birmingham, 18% wanted to leave as soon as they found another job, while it was 15.4% at Sandwell and West Birmingham. A BMA spokesperson said: “The findings of the 2018 NHS Staff Survey shows that doctors and other health care professionals across England are working in a system under extreme pressure due to chronic underfunding, workforce shortages and rising patient demand and are struggling daily to sustain high standards of patient care. “Work related issues such as bullying, harassment and burnout caused by impossible workloads are damaging the physical and mental health of doctors. This then directly affects the quality of care they can give patients. “Government and employers not only have a clear duty of care to the medical workforce but to patients as well and so must act urgently and decisively to tackle these issues by addressing their root causes.” Across England, the proportion of staff who said they were satisfied with the care they have fell for a second year in a row to 80.7%. The proportion of staff who said they had been ill with work-related stress hit a five year high in 2018, at 39.8%, while the proportion experiencing musculoskeletal problems as a result of work activities also rose to 27.6%. Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “It’s alarming that increasing numbers of staff report feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress and this should be a wake-up call. “Urgent action is needed to protect the wellbeing of staff and to help them do the best job they can for their patients, safely and effectively. If we do not protect our staff and allow the pressures upon them to increase then we also put at risk our ability to attract healthcare workers in the future.” More than a quarter (27.8%) of staff reported seeing an error, near miss, or incident that could have hurt patients or service users in the previous month. That was the highest figure in the last five years, and up from 25% in 2017. The proportion saying they had seen incidents that could have endangered staff also increased for the second year in a row to 17.8%. Just under one in five staff reported having experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from other colleagues, an increase from 18% to 19.1%. The proportion being bullied and harassed by patients and managers also rose. However, fewer NHS staff reported experiencing physical violence from patients, relatives or members of the public, with the percentage dropping from 15.4% to 14.5%. The proportion that agreed there were enough staff in their organisation for them to do their job properly was the highest in the last five years, at 32% - although that is still fewer than one in three. The proportion satisfied with pay was also up. Three in ten members of staff (29.9%) said they often thought of leaving their organisation, with 15.7% saying they planned on leaving as soon as they got a new job. Dame Donna Kinnair, Acting Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said while some good work is being done on the shop floor to make staff feel happier, when close to a third of staff are thinking of going, the Government and NHS England must listen and redouble efforts to keep staff in post as well finding thousands of new recruits. She said: "Half of all staff have raised low staffing levels as an issue, more are saying they are working unpaid overtime to keep the service running and increasing numbers report seeing errors that could harm patients. "These are all indicative of a health service with a cavernous gap between the number of staff it has, and what it actually needs to meet demand.” The survey was carried out between September and December 2018 across 304 NHS organisations. There were 497,000 staff responses, an increase of 10,000 compared to 2017. Neil Churchill, Director of Patient experience at NHS England, said: “NHS staff regularly go the extra mile for their patients and colleagues to deliver the best possible care, but it is equally important that local NHS trusts and foundation trusts are doing all they can to support our fantastic staff. “Whilst there are a number of positives in this year’s survey, it is also clear that local employers can do more to improve and we would expect all trusts to listen to the results from their staff survey and take appropriate action.” | Claire Miller, James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/bullied-stressed-dissatisfied-how-birmingham-15890940 | 2019-02-26 16:51:40+00:00 | 1,551,217,900 | 1,567,547,216 | health | health facility |
59,869 | birminghammail--2019-04-04--Family fighting City Hospital for refusing to give back dead dads belongings | 2019-04-04T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Family fighting City Hospital for refusing to give back dead dad's belongings | A grieving family is locked in a tug of war with a Birmingham hospital which has refused to give back their dead dad’s belongings. Pensioner Ray Amphlett was taken to City Hospital by ambulance on November 8 suffering shortness of breath, and was diagnosed with acute vascular failure. The 74-year-old from Great Barr was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where five days later, daughter Leah Ellison had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support. As Leah and her brother Mark prepared to make funeral arrangements, they contacted City Hospital to ask for Ray’s belongings, including his flat keys, car keys, wallet and watch. Leah, also from Great Barr, later visited the hospital, taking along the death certificate, to collect them. But, despite being Ray’s next of kin, Leah was told that she would need a copy of his will to pick up the items. Four months, on the hospital says it now needs a grant of probate, where legal authority is given to the executor of the will. “I spoke to a solicitor and he’s never heard anything like it before,” said mum-of-two Leah. “When I first went into the hospital, they said they couldn’t give me his things because he could ‘have kids anywhere’. “My dad had just died, so I got pretty upset. The woman called for her manager and said there ‘was an irate woman downstairs’. “I just don’t understand their reasoning, and by what authority they can withhold his personal things.” Probate is only usually necessary if a person’s estate is worth more than £15,000. As Ray did not own his flat, and only had a small amount of savings, the family did not need it to deal with his will. “He didn’t have a lot of money,” said Leah. “He left money for the funeral and that was about it, so we didn’t need a probate. “I’m his next of kin so I was the one who had to decide whether to turn his machine off. I’ve also closed his bank accounts. “But I can’t get his watch, wallet and keys back from the hospital. It is ridiculous.” Leah says that the family has been left unable to move forward in their grief with the situation hanging over them. “There’s no closure,” she added. “It makes us wonder whether they’ve lost his things. “My mum said maybe we should just forget it, but I can’t now on principle. It makes me think about the people who don’t have anybody to help, and would have to go through this on their own. “If my Dad was here, he would be fuming. He wouldn’t want any of us to have to go through this. He loved to help out his friends and neighbours, and I think he would be pretty angry. “They’ve shown us no compassion at all.” After being contacted by the BirminghamLive, the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust insisted that asking for probate was standard policy. Chief Nurse Paula Gardner said: “We offer our deepest sympathies to Raymond’s family and friends at this very difficult time. “Our standard policy in this situation is to release personal effects to the person with the grant of probate, which identifies them as responsible for safekeeping the property.” | Alison Stacey | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/family-fighting-city-hospital-refusing-16077562 | 2019-04-04 14:16:04+00:00 | 1,554,401,764 | 1,567,543,981 | health | health facility |
61,273 | birminghammail--2019-04-23--Norovirus outbreak forces ward closure at Walsall Manor Hospital | 2019-04-23T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Norovirus outbreak forces ward closure at Walsall Manor Hospital | A norovirus outbreak has forced health bosses to close a ward at Walsall Manor Hospital. The highly contagious stomach bug has led to visitors being turned away from Ward 14 today (Tuesday, April 23) to keep patients safe and prevent further spread of the virus. Visitors who have experienced sickness and diarrhoea in the last 48 hours have also been urged to stay away. A spokesman for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said: "Ward 14 at Walsall Manor Hospital is closed due to the highly contagious norovirus infection. "A temporary visitor restriction is necessary on this ward to protect patients, their families and carers and trust staff. "All other ward areas, including the emergency department, are open as usual however please do not visit our hospital if you have had sickness and diarrhoea in the last 48 hours as stomach bugs spread quickly and we want to protect our vulnerable patients." Relatives and friends of patients who are critically ill or receiving end of life care have been asked to contact the nurse in charge on 01922 721172, using extension 6731, so arrangements can be made for visiting at this time. | Kelly Ashmore | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/norovirus-outbreak-forces-ward-closure-16170154 | 2019-04-23 16:43:59+00:00 | 1,556,052,239 | 1,567,541,983 | health | health facility |
63,534 | birminghammail--2019-06-25--Demolition begins on fire-ravaged hospital unit | 2019-06-25T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Demolition begins on fire-ravaged hospital unit | Demolition is due to begin this week on the fire-ravaged west wing of the George Bryan Centre in Tamworth - with the future of the entire building hanging in the balance. The blaze, which broke out in February this year, completely gutted the west wing, which was a 20 bed ward providing 24-hour inpatient assessment, care and treatment for people suffering from acute mental illness. When the fire broke out, the building was evacuated in under four minutes, but it was severely damaged. At a confidential meeting of the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust later that month it was decided that it was unsafe for both staff and patients to remain in the east wing at the isolated site and it was consequently closed, with its 12 vulnerable inpatients moved to Stafford. The board decided that adults over 65 not requiring admission would be supported and cared for in their usual place of residence by specialists, whilst older adults requiring acute mental health admission were cared for at St George’s Hospital in Stafford. All George Bryan Centre staff have been temporarily redeployed within the Trust. The closure of the building has led to enhanced crisis home treatments being provided, enabling older adults to remain at their usual place of residence. The new structure has provided skilled experienced older adult specialists; the addition of a nursing/therapy lead; a new clinical psychologist to focus on older adults and a training plan for the team to ensure best quality care and then interventions prioritised according to evidence of outcomes for service users. The focus of the team is on prevention and avoiding the necessity for hospital admission. Where a person needs a hospital stay, they will be admitted to Bromley Ward at St George’s Hospital, Stafford. The future of the George Bryan site is now under review and a group has been set up to plan an engagement exercise to discuss what happens next. The engagement group includes a service user and staff representative, a member of the League of Friends of Tamworth Hospitals and staff from Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. At least four meetings will be held, with two planned for Tamworth later this summer. The events will be open to all, but the target audience is people who have used the George Bryan Centre in the last two years and their families and carers, plus those who have been admitted to St George’s in the last two years. Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) is currently undertaking listening events relating to a number of different areas of health that need to be transformed. This includes mental health. The George Bryan Centre engagement is a piece of targeted engagement being led by Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and will be received by the STP as part of their broader engagement. | [email protected] (Helen Machin) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/demolition-begins-fire-ravaged-hospital-16482840 | 2019-06-25 12:07:52+00:00 | 1,561,478,872 | 1,567,538,124 | health | health facility |
65,430 | birminghammail--2019-08-05--Heartlands Hospital - what new 971million medical centre will look like | 2019-08-05T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Heartlands Hospital - what new £97.1million medical centre will look like | Plans have been unveiled for a new £97.1million centre at Heartlands Hospital. The Ambulatory Care and Diagnostic centre (ACAD) - which will be approximately half the size of Wembley’s football pitch- will house outpatients, endoscopy, day case surgery and imaging services – and treat 1,500 patients a day or nearly half a million each year. Funding for the project was finally given the rubber stamp today (August 5) and once constructed, the four storey building is set to open in late 2020. Jonathan Brotherton, Chief Operating Officer at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) which runs Heartlands Hospital, said: “This investment is an exciting step forward for the services we are able to provide to the people of Birmingham and Solihull. “Receiving the positive confirmation of funding today is fantastic news for local people and is the result of three years of hard work and careful planning. “The Ambulatory Care and Diagnostic centre (ACAD) will boost the Trust’s capacity to meet the growing and changing healthcare requirements of local people, with state-of-the-art facilities providing services including day case surgery, endoscopy, interventional radiology, outpatient appointments and imaging on the Heartlands Hospital site, seeing up to 1,500 patients per day. “ACAD will also deliver new ways of working to streamline patient pathways - maximising efficiency - all whilst delivering the best possible care and high-quality specialist services for half-a-million patients every year. The new building, which is expected to generate jobs in the area, will be located next to the main entrance and will be use solar panels to reduce its carbon footprint. Planning permission for the centre was granted in September 2017. UHB is one of the largest teaching hospital trusts in England and includes Heartlands Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital , Solihull Hospital, Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham Chest Clinic. | [email protected] ( birminghammail.co.uk) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/heartlands-hospital-what-new-971million-16704143 | 2019-08-05 16:41:18+00:00 | 1,565,037,678 | 1,567,534,790 | health | health facility |
65,583 | birminghammail--2019-08-12--MP calls for ministers to get a move on over unfinished hospital in Sandwell | 2019-08-12T00:00:00 | birminghammail | MP calls for ministers to ‘get a move on’ over unfinished hospital in Sandwell | A Black Country MP has said the government has missed an opportunity to get the Metropolitan Hospital back on track after it wasn’t included in 20 new NHS projects announced. John Spellar, member of parliament for Warley, was speaking after the announcement of an additional £850 million to pay for capital projects across the country. The news came as Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Hospital Trust waits for the Treasury to sign off on £358 million to allow work to restart on the Metropolitan, which has been at a standstill since January 2018 when the main contractor went bust. Toby Lewis, the trust’s chief executive, recently warned a meeting of Birmingham and Sandwell councillors that if the deal wasn’t ratified soon, the hospital could miss its completion date of 2022 and end up costing more. He said: “If we have not signed the contract by October, then it would not be possible to open by the time of the Commonwealth Games, moreover it won’t be possible to open the hospital for £358 million.” Mr Spellar has said he is lobbying the Department of Health and the Treasury to ‘get a move on’ and approve the funding. He is now writing to the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, and the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, expressing his concerns. He said: “I think they should have taken this opportunity to include this in the package, which would have been very welcome but I chasing them to say they need to get this site signed off.” He added while the Metropolitan remained unfinished costs of maintaining the existing Sandwell General and City Hospital were increasing. “All these delays means they have been putting off some maintenance work but clearly they will need to do it to keep the sites running. “They need it. They need the extra bed space. Their plans for the West Midlands require those extra beds.” | [email protected] (George Makin) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/mp-calls-ministers-get-move-16707011 | 2019-08-12 15:51:03+00:00 | 1,565,639,463 | 1,567,534,322 | health | health facility |
66,623 | birminghammail--2019-09-22--Mum spending thousands on Birmingham hospital parking as daughter 4 battles cancer pleads for help | 2019-09-22T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Mum spending thousands on Birmingham hospital parking as daughter, 4, battles cancer pleads for help | The family of a four-year-old girl with cancer forced to spend thousands of pounds on petrol and parking to attend appointments in Birmingham have called on the government to help. When the young giel was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2016, paying for parking and petrol to get to her hospital appointments was far from her parents' minds. Naomi Thomas, from the Midlands, has shelled out thousands since the harrowing diagnosis after the 45-year-old woman's four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer three-and-a-half years ago. Phoebe was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma when she was just six months old and now Naomi, from Leicester, in Leicestershire, in the East Midlands. They never imagined that over the next three-and-a-half-years they would have to spend several thousands of pounds on those two charges, with much more to come. Phoebe's mum, Naomi Thomas, told LeicestershireLive that the cost of parking at hospitals for appointments, as well as travelling to and from them, currently stood at £3,500. She spoke out after cancer charity CLIC Sargent called on the government to create a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund to help relieve the pressure on families in the same situation. Recalling her daughter's diagnosis, Naomi said: "Everything else just falls by the wayside. All you can think about is your child's health. "You just want them to get better. You'd spend every penny and travel every mile. Those things just don't matter at that point in time. "But eventually you do have to give it some thought." She added: "All of the parking we've paid for was subsidised too. I can't imagine how much more it would have been otherwise." Phoebe, who has recently started school part-time, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2016 at just nine months old. It came after her mum and dad, Naomi and Russ, took her to the doctor after a small lump appeared on her chest. Naomi said: "It was November, and she had a cough and a lump appeared on her chest. We assumed it was a virus and took her to the doctor's. "We were told to go to A&E, where the registrar said they were pretty sure it was developmental cysts but some tests were booked and an ultrasound. "The appointment came through for January, and when we went along for the results we were told the news. "We could think about nothing else. All we wanted was for her to get the treatment she needed. "You go into what I call a cancer bubble. It's all you can think about and concentrate on." A treatment plan was drawn up for the youngster, who lives in Wigston with her parents and sister Amelie, eight. Naomi said: "For the first year she was treated at the Royal Infirmary. "When the cancer wasn't responding, we were accepted onto a trial at Birmingham Children's Hospital. "We were there for three-and-a-half months for one stint, and have travelled there and back countless times." Since then, the family have made 25 trips to Birmingham Children's Hospital, travelling a total of 2,200 miles at a cost of £325 in fuel alone. The family had to travel every three weeks for five days, going back and forth every day, for 12 cycles. They estimate that the six month period cost around £1,000 in fuel and parking expenses alone. Naomi said: "We get to the hospital, park up and come to leave and stick it on the credit card. If I can pay it I pay it, if not I worry about that later. "There's nothing you won't do. You'd never dream of not being there. You do all you can to get your child better." She added: "I can't imagine the money that has been spent on her treatment. It must have cost the NHS so much, and we are so grateful for that." The mum-of-two, who works part time in PR, has had to cut back on her working hours to support Phoebe. About the call for the travel fund, she said: "At a time when the emotional stress is just so high, the added burden of financial pressures for things like parking and fuel are just another thing to worry about, something you haven't got the energy to deal with or control. "It is what it is. You have to get there so you have to pay for fuel. You have to park somewhere so you have to pay for parking. You have to eat, so you buy food; I haven't even totted up what we must have spent picking up things to eat when Phoebe has been getting treatment. "It is a stress you really don't need." Phoebe is due to complete her latest round of treatment in October. All being well, she will then have scans every three months to monitor her condition. | [email protected] (Amy Orton, James Rodger) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/mum-spending-thousands-birmingham-hospital-16963449 | 2019-09-22 21:15:41+00:00 | 1,569,201,341 | 1,570,222,468 | health | health facility |
67,197 | birminghammail--2019-10-14--MP John Spellar welcomes £350m to allow Midlands Metropolitan Hospital to go ahead | 2019-10-14T00:00:00 | birminghammail | MP John Spellar welcomes £350m to allow Midlands Metropolitan Hospital to go ahead | MP John Spellar has welcomed the announcement that the Government has given a green light to restarting construction of the Midlands Metropolitan Hospital in the Black Country. It comes after the MP raised a series of questions in the House of Commons urging the Government to ensure work on the hospital could go ahead. Mr Spellar, Labour MP for Smethwick, said: "This announcement is great news for Smethwick, the local Health Service and the wider West Midlands.” “Ever since the collapse of Carillion, I’ve been badgering the Government to get construction restarted as soon as possible. I’m glad this campaigning has paid off.” “I look forward to the opening of this much-needed new hospital, which I hope can start a new revival of the area.” Construction of the Midland Metropolitan Hospital is to resume after Chancellor Sajid Javid announced the Government is to provide £350m to rescue the troubled project. Work on the 669-bed hospital in Smethwick stopped in January 2018 following the collapse of developers Carillion. The unfinished hospital was left exposed to the elements while the Government and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust negotiated a financial package to allow construction to resume. An interim contract to repair damage to the unfinished hospital was awarded to Balfour Beatty last year - but there has been a long wait for funding to ensure the project can actually be completed. However, funding announced last week by the Government will allow work to be completed by April 2022. It will replace many services currently provided by City Hospital in Birmingham and Sandwell Hospital. It marks the formal sign off by Government of a business case produced by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. The Trust is finalising commercial terms with its preferred bidder, Balfour Beatty, and expects to sign a contract for the construction work in the next few week Toby Lewis, Chief Executive of the NHS Trust, said: "Today’s announcement by the Treasury is hugely welcome news. We are working round the clock to conclude the commercial close, and the agreement of the Final Business Case and appointment of a Preferred Bidder is the last national approval hurdle overcome.” "The promise from Government in February 2018 was that no local NHS funds would need to be diverted to remedy the national collapse of Carillion. That promise has been honoured in full, which has the overt support of all local stakeholders from across political divides. " | [email protected] (Jonathan Walker) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/mp-john-spellar-welcomes-350m-17081957 | Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:23:20 +0000 | 1,571,070,200 | 1,571,058,110 | health | health facility |
69,332 | birminghammail--2019-12-18--Hospital first in UK to bring in disposable sterile hijabs for Muslim doctors | 2019-12-18T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Hospital first in UK to bring in disposable sterile hijabs for Muslim doctors | A hospital trust is the first in the UK to give female Muslim doctors and medical staff disposal HIJABS to wear to avoid germs being passed to patients. Junior doctor Farah Roslan had the idea while undergoing her training at the Royal Derby Hospital. After gruelling hours on the wards, where she had been wearing a traditional hijab, she became concerned with the risk of infection to patients. Ms Roslan, who is originally from Malaysia, looked to her home country for ideas of how to implement her plan for a disposable sterile headscarf. She created a design and used fabrics that maintained a balance between showing respect to her faith and being able to perform in her work. She said: “I’d been using the same headscarf all day which obviously wasn’t clean and ideal. “I didn’t feel comfortable taking it off and I was pulled out of the theatre, respectfully, due to infection control. “A middle ground had to be found between dress code due to faith and the passion of being in the operating theatre. "I am so happy my vision has become a reality and that these headscarves are now available for all of the staff. "I'm really happy and looking forward to seeing if we can endorse this nationally.” Consultant surgeon Gill Tierney, who mentored Ms Roslan, said the trust was the first to introduce the headscarves in the UK. She said: "We know it's a quiet, silent, issue around theatres around the country and I don't think it has been formally addressed. "It hasn't cost much and hopefully the effect will be enormous." Commenting on Twitter, Andy Ibbs said: “Nice one - but on reflection, I wonder why it hasn’t been done years ago!” Another user, Victoria Parker said: “This is inspired!” The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust said the new headscarves have been available since early December. | [email protected] (James Rodger) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/hospital-first-uk-bring-disposable-17439185 | Wed, 18 Dec 2019 11:07:46 +0000 | 1,576,685,266 | 1,576,672,273 | health | health facility |
70,578 | breaking911--2019-11-05--First Lady To Visit Cuddling Program At Boston Hospital Wednesday | 2019-11-05T00:00:00 | breaking911 | First Lady To Visit Cuddling Program At Boston Hospital Wednesday | Wednesday, November 6th the First Lady will visit Boston, Massachusetts to highlight a treatment program for babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), as part of her Be Best initiative. The program comforts infants who were exposed to opioids in the womb. Mrs. Trump will visit Boston Medical Center to learn about their Cuddling Assists in Lowering Maternal and Infant Stress (CALM) Program developed to treat babies born with NAS. In addition to CALM, Boston Medical Center developed several other programs aimed to assist pregnant women with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and newborn babies suffering from the impact of SUD. Mrs. Trump will receive a briefing from the Boston Medical Center Staff on the status of these programs. Following the briefing, Mrs. Trump will tour Boston Medical Center’s Pediatric Unit to see first-hand how these programs are implemented and meet with the children and families who have been successfully treated. | ---- | https://breaking911.com/first-lady-to-visit-cuddling-program-at-boston-hospital-wednesday/ | Tue, 05 Nov 2019 22:14:22 +0000 | 1,573,010,062 | 1,573,062,003 | health | health facility |
72,652 | breitbart--2019-09-03--Study 52 Rural Iowa Hospitals Could Close Under Bidens Public Option | 2019-09-03T00:00:00 | breitbart | Study: 52 Rural Iowa Hospitals Could Close Under Biden's Public Option | The Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote an analysis, citing a study commissioned by the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future and conducted by Navigant Consulting, which found that “adding a government-run insurance plan could decimate rural hospitals.” The Iowa paper wrote that 52 rural Iowa hospitals could close under Biden’s public option plan and “rural hospitals could experience a loss of more than $476 million dollars under a public health insurance proposal.” Former Vice President Joe Biden’s healthcare plan would create a “public option,” allowing a government health insurance option to compete with private health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. The study could serve as a dire warning for Biden in the upcoming Iowa caucus, even though he leads in recent state primary polling. The Navigant Consulting study found that after having millions of Americans switch from their private insurance plan to the public option plan, the public option would pay hospitals at Medicare rates, which is typically lower than private insurance, and would cut rural hospitals’ revenues between $4.2 billion and $25.6 billion. “They’re in trouble,” Kirk Norris, the president and CEO of the Iowa Hosptial Association, said. “Our community hospitals are in the worst financial shape they’ve been in over 30 years.” To make matters worse for public option supporters, the study suggested that to prevent hospitals from closing under the public option system, Medicare would have to increase payments to hospitals between 40 to 60 percent above Medicare rates, which could cost between $4 and 25 billion annually depending on how many employers move employees onto the public option. Jeff Leibach, the director of Navigant Consulting and one of the authors of the study, said, “rural hospitals are essential to the health and economic well-being of communities across the U.S., and often represent these communities’ largest employer.” | Sean Moran | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/Y8r9KANAUmU/ | 2019-09-03 19:05:04+00:00 | 1,567,551,904 | 1,569,331,544 | health | health facility |
73,342 | breitbart--2019-09-19--Cartel Gunmen Storm Mexican Hospital to Finish-Off Rival | 2019-09-19T00:00:00 | breitbart | Cartel Gunmen Storm Mexican Hospital to Finish-Off Rival | The incident occurred Thursday in Morelia, Michoacán, at Hospital Acueducto. According to witnesses who spoke to local reporters, at least two gunmen entered the building at 7am and found the victim on the third floor. A gunman pulled a firearm from his waistband and shot the patient execution-style in the presence of doctors and support personnel. They then fled without further violence. Jesús Cancino, 45, survived gunshot wounds during an earlier attack in Querétaro. Police believe the gunmen belong to a rival gang. Local media initially reported the victim was Jesús Cancino Téllez aka “El Apá Michoacano” or “El Chuy Cancino,” a high-ranking member of La Familia Michoacána. Representatives of the state attorney general’s office later disputed the claim and said the similar names were coincidental. Jesús Cancino Téllez survived an ambush on September 4 in Querétaro while traveling in a white pickup truck with a driver who died during the attack, according to local reports at the time. Cancino Téllez was supposedly targeted by assassins of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Cancino Téllez was reportedly transported to a local hospital in Querétaro under heavy guard. La Familia Michoacána are involved in a bitter turf war with the CJNG. Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce completed work assignments in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year tour in Monterrey, Mexico, for the U.S. Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program. As the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico in charge of the Mexican states of, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas) You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at [email protected]. | Robert Arce | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/oOooV60LVcc/ | 2019-09-19 19:00:37+00:00 | 1,568,934,037 | 1,569,329,805 | health | health facility |
86,160 | cbsnews--2019-10-15--Dems debate which proposal is best to tackle rural hospital crisis | 2019-10-15T00:00:00 | cbsnews | Dems debate which proposal is best to tackle rural hospital crisis | Asked in September about her support for "Medicare for All," Elizabeth Warren insisted at the third presidential debate that all Americans—even those in rural communities—could still seek treatment at their local hospitals under the universal healthcare plan. "So let's be clear about this. People will have access to all of their doctors, all of their nurses, their community hospitals, their rural hospitals," the Massachusetts Democrat vowed. A Pew Research Study published last year, showed that "getting to a hospital is a longer trip—both in distance and time—for people in rural areas." The University of North Carolina has tracked some 160 rural hospital closures nationwide since 2005, including in Nevada, South Carolina, and Ohio, the host of Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate. Across the country, in fact, at least 99 rural hospitals have shut down since 2010. After the Nye County Regional Medical Center was shuttered without warning in 2015, Nevadans in towns like Tonopah were left hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital. "They shut the doors and that was it," Elaine Minges, a Tonopah resident, recalled earlier this year. Minges' husband, Curt, suffered from a serious complication from diabetes some time later. The situation required prompt medical attention, but with the local hospital closed, none was to be found. "That particular night, the helicopter was 45 minutes out before they could get to the airport, and in that time, he went into cardiac arrest," Elaine Minges said. When Fairfield Memorial Hospital in South Carolina closed last year, residents in parts of Fairfield County were left with a 45-minute drive from their nearest hospital. "It doesn't matter what kind of health condition you have, whether it's a stroke, or a heart attack, or a car accident," community health organizer Anton Gunn told CBS News. "It's hard for any community, particularly in a rural community like that to survive." Gunn, who also worked for the Department of Health and Human Services and helped implement the Affordable Care Act, says that prevention is the pertinent to any substantive public health conversation. "I've known plenty of people who've had coverage for years and still have died sicker and quicker than they should have because we haven't focused on a prevention framework," said Gunn. "It's not just looking at providing people insurance coverage but how do we help people to live healthy in their homes [and] in their communities." In the final years of Nye County's hospital, an investigation by The Dallas Morning News found records of mismanagement and regulatory neglect. Behind rural hospital closures in South Carolina, local experts cite failing industry, diminishing populations, and poverty as some of the key factors. But experts and candidates diverge on whether universal healthcare proposals—from Bernie Sanders' proposed Medicare for All, which would eliminate most private insurance in favor of a government-run system, to more modest efforts like giving Americans the option of choosing publicly-funded insurance — could drive America's remaining rural hospitals into the red. "Until there's more details on these Medicare for All proposals, it's hard to say how that would impact," says Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). Though the NRHA has not joined other industry groups in lobbying against Medicare for All, Morgan is skeptical of the current single-payer proposals. "If they pushed it forward just as it currently is, no I can't imagine how that would work and I can't imagine you wouldn't see more rural hospitals closing," says Morgan, adding that "the key" for rural hospitals is determining Medicare's reimbursement rates. One study, funded by industry critics of Medicare for All, warned in August that a public option risked shuttering 55 percent of rural hospitals even if only a portion of patients fled "higher-paying commercial plans." This possible risk to rural hospitals has been highlighted by candidates like John Delaney and Joe Biden. "Under the Biden Plan, which preserves individuals' ability to choose private insurance, these hospitals won't be threatened by having to get by on low Medicare reimbursement rates for all," the former vice president's campaign argues. But several candidates, from Medicare for All proponents like Elizabeth Warren to public option boosters like Pete Buttigieg, have also explicitly vowed to increase reimbursement rates for rural hospitals. They have also rallied behind creating new designations for rural hospitals with enhanced Medicare reimbursement. "Rural emergency medical centers" or "community outpatient hospitals," could allow for rural healthcare facilities to transition into more advanced "urgent care" facilities, while stopping short of full-fledged hospitals. In a House hearing earlier this year, a Congressional Budget Office researcher estimated rural hospitals could benefit from a single-payer system. "Many rural hospitals are in, they're called critical access hospitals, and they receive higher payments than would be otherwise provided under Medicare," Jessica Banthin testified in May. "They often treat a lot of public pay patients, as well as patients who are uninsured. It is possible under a single-payer that some of those rural hospitals would be better off." Medicare for All proponents argue that savings from a reduced administrative burden and a revenue boost from a surge of patients could also buoy rural healthcare. A health assessment commissioned this year in Nevada found that even insured patients avoided seeking care, concerned with cost or confused with what services their plan covered. "For starters, you're dealing with really low volume," Dr. John Packham, an associate dean researching rural healthcare at the University of Nevada Reno, told CBS News. "Some of the hospitals that I work with, literally have two or three inpatients a day but you nonetheless have to staff it for nursing 24/7. You have to have lab and radiology available." But both Packham and Morgan agree that some rural communities may never have the volume of patients to sustain full-fledged hospitals. "As a nation, we're paying these rural hospitals for volume and they're just never going to have volume," said Morgan. "We need to start paying them to keep their communities healthy." Of the twelve Democratic candidates on the debate stage Tuesday in Ohio, at least six of the presidential hopefuls — Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren — have outlined specific written plans to tackle health outcomes for rural patients. To address rural America's shortage of healthcare workers, most candidates have pledged to subsidize and incentivize medical professionals through programs like the National Health Service Corps and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Both Klobuchar and Buttigieg's plans also explicitly call to expand the "Conrad 30" program, which allows immigrant doctors practicing in underserved areas to remain in the country. And nearly every candidate has floated ideas to invest and expand "telehealth" options or "telemedicine," essentially doctor's appointments via video conference. Biden would expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture's grant funding to emphasize telehealth "for mental health and specialty care." Buttigieg calls for doubling funding to the Federal Communications Commission's "Rural Health Care Program" subsidies. Kellye McKenzie, a South Carolina-based public health practitioner, says that it's important for candidates to explore the power of telehealth because of the impact it can have on rural communities in places like schools. "You can't talk about rural health in 2019 and not talk about what a game-changer telehealth would be in the conversation," said McKenzie. "Mental health issues are huge and the reality that these services aren't in schools however could be through telehealth, to me is incredibly exciting." Warren's plan promises to set aside a $25 billion "capital fund" for improving care in these communities, listing possible projects like building a new "Rural Health Clinic" or "improving transportation to the nearest hospital." CBS News spoke with multiple experts who cited that transportation and other social economic factors are vital components of a prevention-focused community framework that is pertinent to any healthcare discussion. Biden is the only candidate to specifically endorse the NRHA-backed "Save Rural Hospitals Act" in his platform, though some ideas from the measure appear in many of the candidates' plans. And Buttigieg calls for the passage of the "Rural MOMS Act" in his plan, which would direct funding towards maternal health in rural communities. But for Russell Pillers, a consultant working in Nye County in the wake of the hospital closure and a self-described conservative, even proposals he favors like telemedicine are far from the "silver bullet" to Tonopah's healthcare crisis. "You're trying to be really creative and we're nibbling around the edge of the main issues to try to find any way we can make some progress," Pillers tells CBS News. "But the big issues to me is really that relationship between an insurance company, in-network providers, out-of-network providers, and patients." "At the core of this, not to be too hyperbolic here, people are dying. To me that puts politics out the window." | null | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-debate-which-proposal-is-best-to-tackle-rural-hospital-crisis/ | Tue, 15 Oct 2019 21:28:13 +0000 | 1,571,189,293 | 1,571,177,850 | health | health facility |
88,532 | channel4uk--2019-04-30--Police launch new investigation into Gosport hospital deaths | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | channel4uk | Police launch new investigation into Gosport hospital deaths | Families have reacted with frustration and disappointment after police said they need several more months to investigate hundreds of deaths by overdose at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Over 650 mainly elderly people died during the 1990s after being given dangerous levels of diamorphine – the medical name for heroin – even though they were only suffering from minor ailments. Families claim there has been a cover up – and have little faith in another police investigation, the fourth, into the deaths of their loved ones. | Keme Nzerem | https://www.channel4.com/news/police-launch-new-investigation-into-gosport-hospital-deaths | 2019-04-30 19:53:10+00:00 | 1,556,668,390 | 1,567,541,641 | health | health facility |
88,534 | channel4uk--2019-04-30--Report finds serious failings in maternity services at two hospitals in South Wales | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | channel4uk | Report finds serious failings in maternity services at two hospitals in South Wales | An independent report has found serious failings in maternity services at two hospitals in South Wales. The damning review today prompted the Welsh government to put maternity services at the Cwm Taf health board into special measures. It follows concern about the deaths of a number of babies at the hospitals. Our home affairs correspondent Andy Davies is at one of them, the Royal Glamorgan in Llantrisant. | Andy Davies | https://www.channel4.com/news/report-finds-serious-failings-in-maternity-services-at-two-hospitals-in-south-wales | 2019-04-30 19:52:11+00:00 | 1,556,668,331 | 1,567,541,641 | health | health facility |
88,559 | channel4uk--2019-05-02--The London hospital teaching primary school teachers how to tackle knife crime | 2019-05-02T00:00:00 | channel4uk | The London hospital teaching primary school teachers how to tackle knife crime | It is hospital A&E departments which end up coping with the victims of knife crime, like North Middlesex, which serves the North London boroughs of Enfield and Haringey. The hospital has now teamed up with police, councillors and youth workers, to teach primary school teachers how to tackle knife crime. | Victoria Macdonald | https://www.channel4.com/news/the-london-hospital-teaching-primary-school-teachers-how-to-tackle-knife-crime | 2019-05-02 18:45:21+00:00 | 1,556,837,121 | 1,567,541,407 | health | health facility |
89,240 | channel4uk--2019-08-23--Bake Offs Prue to advise new government review into hospital food standards | 2019-08-23T00:00:00 | channel4uk | Bake Off’s Prue to advise new government review into hospital food standards | Hospital food doesn’t have the greatest reputation. But the government hopes – not for the first time – that, this will soon change. Today, the Department for Health and social care announced a review into hospital food standards in England, with celebrity Bake Off star, Prue Leith on board to advise. The move comes after six people died contracting listeria from food, provided on hospital sites earlier this year. | Minnie Stephenson | https://www.channel4.com/news/bake-offs-prue-to-advise-new-government-review-into-hospital-food-standards | 2019-08-23 18:31:13+00:00 | 1,566,599,473 | 1,567,533,611 | health | health facility |
89,264 | channel4uk--2019-08-27--CCTV reveals 1500 incidents at Northern Ireland hospital | 2019-08-27T00:00:00 | channel4uk | CCTV reveals 1,500 incidents at Northern Ireland hospital | Police in Northern Ireland say they have identified 1,500 incidents of abuse on a single ward of a mental health hospital in County Antrim. The investigation has seen police officers watch hundreds of thousands of hours of CCTV footage from Muckamore Abbey Hospital. | Keme Nzerem | https://www.channel4.com/news/cctv-reveals-1500-incidents-at-northern-ireland-hospital | 2019-08-27 19:21:46+00:00 | 1,566,948,106 | 1,567,543,665 | health | health facility |
89,437 | channel4uk--2019-09-17--Public inquiry to be held into two Scottish hospitals | 2019-09-17T00:00:00 | channel4uk | Public inquiry to be held into two Scottish hospitals | Together, they cost nearly a billion pounds to build. But now a public inquiry is to be held into two major Scottish hospitals. Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has been beset with problems since it opened in 2015, whist Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children and Young People is yet to open. The move was announced by Scotland’s Health Minister within the last couple of hours. | Ciaran Jenkins | https://www.channel4.com/news/public-inquiry-to-be-held-into-two-scottish-hospitals | 2019-09-17 19:38:38+00:00 | 1,568,763,518 | 1,569,330,090 | health | health facility |
89,539 | channel4uk--2019-09-29--Health Secretary Matt Hancock defends 40 new hospitals claim | 2019-09-29T00:00:00 | channel4uk | Health Secretary Matt Hancock defends 40 new hospitals claim | Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancee on his murder: ‘Those in Saudi Arabia who carried this out should not be able to escape’ | Krishnan Guru-Murthy | https://www.channel4.com/news/health-secretary-matt-hancock-defends-40-new-hospitals-claim | 2019-09-29 17:08:00+00:00 | 1,569,791,280 | 1,570,221,962 | health | health facility |
92,217 | chicagosuntimes--2019-01-16--Old Cook County Hospital on track to become next city landmark | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | chicagosuntimes | Old Cook County Hospital on track to become next city landmark | In the midst of an overhaul after sitting vacant for 16 years, the old Cook County Hospital, at 1835 W. Harrison St., may soon be given landmark status, solidifying its historical significance in Chicago. The city’s 18-member Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards will get the ball rolling Thursday on whether the building deserves the designation. If the committee decides it does, the matter will go before the full City Council on Wednesday next week. The Near West Side building already is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. RELATED: Sneed: Developer wants to make old hospital a community anchor Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) was born in the hospital and is pushing for landmark status. “It’s been in our history a long time,” Burnett said. “I think it’s something that … architecturally is historic, it’s solid and it’s part of Chicago and Cook County history and I think that’s something to preserve. The unique thing … is that it’s a building we’re trying giving life back to and it’s a place where so many lives started.” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she hopes the building receives the historical landmark designation. In June, Preckwinkle, Burnett and Mayor Rahm Emanuel were at a ceremonial groundbreaking for the building’s redevelopment. Plans for the structure include a hotel, office space and retail. Land around the building also will be part of the development, officials have said. “I think it’s important to recognize that this is a building that has an important place in Chicago and Cook County history,” Preckwinkle said, comparing the hospital’s history of taking all patients regardless of where they came from or their ability to pay to Ellis Island in New York. “It’s served wave after wave of immigrants and those who need care and can’t afford it or are uninsured and we’re very proud of that history,” Preckwinkle said. The committee meets at 10 a.m. Thursday in City Council chambers. | Rachel Hinton | https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/old-cook-county-hospital-redevelop-city-landmark-status/ | 2019-01-16 20:59:51+00:00 | 1,547,690,391 | 1,567,552,147 | health | health facility |
92,298 | chicagosuntimes--2019-01-22--Inside the 1B restoration of the old Cook County Hospital a city unto itself | 2019-01-22T00:00:00 | chicagosuntimes | Inside the $1B restoration of the old Cook County Hospital, ‘a city unto itself’ | The old Cook County Hospital’s grand, beaux-arts façade is mostly obscured by a white tarp-like covering these days as construction crews work at demolishing some of the old features of the historic building to make way for a hotel and office complex that county officials hope will transform the Illinois Medical District and Near West Side. Efforts to restore the façade on the front of the building at 1835 W. Harrison St. started last fall. Once finished, it will be the extravagant face of a $1 billion plan to rebuild the 102-year-old building inside and out. John Murphy, chair of the Murphy Development Group — which is one part of the Civic Health Development Group that was picked to redevelop the hospital — says the effort is on track to finish on time, by 2020, and they’re 70 percent through the demolition phase. “What is old, and some view as ugly, is going to be restored to new,” Murphy said. RELATED: Old Cook County Hospital on track to become next city landmark Last week, the City’s Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards moved to give the building landmark status. A vote by the full council is scheduled for Wednesday. In addition to the iconic north face of the building, scaffolding covers the front and east and west sides of the building and is being used by crews repairing and replacing masonry — mostly bricks and damaged terra cotta. Thousands of pieces require removal in order to fix years-worth of neglect, said Matt Beach, the development project manager. The terra cotta is being sent to a reproduction facility and then sent back to be reinstalled over the course of several months. Inside, much of the building has been gutted, though its high ceilings remain. Some of the original floor detailing, in black and white tile, is now covered in grit and dirt, and water leaks through in some spots. There are plans for a dining room and bar and lounge on the second floor, though the back of the building on that floor is almost completely exposed to the elements. After a groundbreaking ceremony in June, construction workers have demolished chunks of the building, but are keeping some of its facets, like a marble staircase leading from the first floor to the second and intricate detailing in the ceiling. Though it’s no longer a medical training ground, the redevelopments coming to the old hospital are intended to preserve its history while also bringing jobs and development to the Near West Side. When the redevelopment of the hospital is done, it’ll include a Hyatt House and a Hyatt Place hotel as well as medical offices and retail spaces. There’ll also be an on-site museum that “recognizes the past and history of what this great building represented to the medical community for more than 100 years,” Murphy said. “The old building maintains its place as the epicenter of the medical district,” Murphy said. “I think that people embrace the history and what pioneering medical procedures were developed here around the turn of the century and going forward. Some of the most brilliant minds in medicine have gone through that building, were actively trained, did their residencies there and there is just a tremendous digest of stories from the past and we believe by preserving this we take with us a piece of Chicago’s history for the next 100 years going forward.” There are about 100 workers there a day, spread throughout the massive building, Kenneth Johnston, a senior project manager with Walsh Group said. At the peak of the restoration process, 250 to 300 workers are expected to work on the building, Johnston said. The multiphase development will also have residential developments to the south of the hospital. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle estimates that the total investment will be roughly $1 billion from “private sources,” she said, meaning no county dollars are going into the project. It’ll also create about 900 jobs during the redevelopment process, from the construction phase to the end, a Preckwinkle spokeswoman said. The old hospital was a proving ground for surgeons and other medical professionals — the first medical internship and first blood bank in the country were started there and doctors there did some of the first surgical fixations of fractures. Some of the surgical halls, some with their old seats rusted over or covered in graffiti, still remain in fairly good condition and will likely be repurposed in some way in hotel rooms. An old exam light — and a mummified cat — found in one of the halls likely won’t be. Harry Richter III, chairman of the general surgery division at Cook County Health, is the third generation of Harry Richters to have worked at the hospital — his grandfather and father both trained there and the Harrison Street hospital is also where his parents met. He said it would’ve been “a crime to lose the building entirely” and he’s looking forward to it being “back online.” “In its heyday, it was a city unto itself,” Richter said. “It was a city block and more with many buildings interconnected with this great tunnel system. It was a hub of social and business activity and I think you’ll still see a glimpse of that once it’s open.” Preckwinkle called it “a transformative development for the West Side, for Chicago and the county.” “It’s really important to save our architectural heritage, and Chicago is known for its diverse and stunning architecture so I wanted to try to do everything I could to save this building, both because of its historical significance and because its kind of beaux arts classic,” Preckwinkle said. “We hope it’ll be a catalyst for further development around it and contribute to the transformation of the Near West Side,” Preckwinkle said. The old Cook County Hospital at 1835 W. Harrison St. under construction and renovation, Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 8, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times | Rachel Hinton | https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/iold-cook-county-hospital-restoration-near-west-side-illinois-medical-district/ | 2019-01-22 11:00:54+00:00 | 1,548,172,854 | 1,567,551,303 | health | health facility |
93,395 | chicagosuntimes--2019-04-10--Melrose Park mayor accuses Westlake Hospital owner of defying judges order | 2019-04-10T00:00:00 | chicagosuntimes | Melrose Park mayor accuses Westlake Hospital owner of defying judge’s order | The bitter battle between Melrose Park and a California-based healthcare network continued Wednesday, as the Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill that would grant the governor power to reverse decisions on hospital closures. Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico, along with local state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Ill., accused Pipeline Health – owners of Westlake Hospital, 1225 W. Lake St. — of defying a judge’s order issued Tuesday evening. Serpico said his phone has been “burning” with phone calls and text messages from people claiming Westlake has been removing equipment and canceling appointments despite a temporary restraining order issued by a Cook County Circuit Court judge preventing Pipeline from scaling down its operations until a decision is made by the Illinois Health Facilities Services and Review Board. “I guess the law doesn’t apply to Pipeline,” Serpico said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. The Illinois House passed H.B. 0123, co-sponsored by Welch, 69 to 35 Wednesday and will now move to the state Senate for a vote. The bill would allow the governor power to reverse decisions on hospital closures made by the Health Facilities Services and Review Board. It also would suspend any application to close a hospital until pending lawsuits over the closing are resolved. “The allegations being made by the Mayor and Rep. Welch are patently false and absurd,” Natalie Bauer Luce, a spokesperson for Pipeline, said in a statement. “The chaos they seek to create is wildly irresponsible and putting patient safety in jeopardy. We are following the judge’s order and reviewing our legal options.” Lilian Jimenez, a Melrose Park community organizer, along with others made a trip to Springfield Wednesday to hand-deliver 2,500 postcards and hundreds of letters to the Health Facilities Services and Review Board asking they deny Pipeline’s application to close Westlake. “What we want is Westlake to stay open as a community hospital,” Jimenez said. Manny Ramos is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of issues affecting Chicago’s South and West sides. | Manny Ramos | https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/melrose-park-mayor-ron-serpico-westlake-hospital-owner-pipeline-health-closing-court-order-hb-123/ | 2019-04-10 18:59:00+00:00 | 1,554,937,140 | 1,567,543,270 | health | health facility |
97,012 | clashdaily--2019-09-04--Bidens Heathcare Plan Could Cause Rural Hospitals To Close According To Study | 2019-09-04T00:00:00 | clashdaily | Biden’s Heathcare Plan Could Cause Rural Hospitals To Close According To Study | We can hardly wait for Biden to assure us… “if you like your rural hospital you can keep your rural hospital.” And it will be just as true as the empty promises his ‘boss’ gave us. One big problem with Democrats and their grandiose policies is their ignorance of how unintended consequences come into play. Trending: YIKES! Father And Daughter From Georgia Bring In Record-Setting 700lb 14-Foot Gator One decision creates a chain of secondary and tertiary effects, and Democrats regularly fail to anticipate how negative incentives buried in their policies create results that are easily predicted by disinterested outsiders. It happened with the $15/hr minimum wage plan. It happened with the ‘you can keep your doctor’ claim in Obama care. And it’s happening again with the ridiculous 2020 Democratic promises. Feasibility studies could easily rip apart most of their pie-in-the-sky plans. Here’s a look at one that came back evaluating the crippling damage it would have on the State of Iowa. The [Cedar Rapids Gazette] wrote that 52 rural Iowa hospitals could close under Biden’s public option plan and “rural hospitals could experience a loss of more than $476 million dollars under a public health insurance proposal.” Former Vice President Joe Biden’s healthcare plan would create a “public option,” allowing a government health insurance option to compete with private health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. …The Navigant Consulting study found that after having millions of Americans switch from their private insurance plan to the public option plan, the public option would pay hospitals at Medicare rates, which is typically lower than private insurance, and would cut rural hospitals’ revenues between $4.2 billion and $25.6 billion. …To make matters worse for public option supporters, the study suggested that to prevent hospitals from closing under the public option system, Medicare would have to increase payments to hospitals between 40 to 60 percent above Medicare rates, which could cost between $4 and 25 billion annually depending on how many employers move employees onto the public option. Source: Breitbart To suggest that Iowa is uniquely the ONE state whose hospital system would take a beating like this seems… improbable. Speaking of ‘unintended consequences’, Obama and Biden still haven’t had to answer any questions about THIS: Obama Loves Our Enemies: Damning New 411 Emerges About Obama & Hezbollah That’ll Blow Your Socks Off Why ‘Free Healthcare’ Costs MUCH More Than Higher Taxes…It Can Cost You Your LIFE Yo, Christians! Don’t Cave To Liberal Tyrants – Fight for Freedom, Family and Faith Free-Spending Dems NOT The Party Of Our Fathers — Or Of America’s Future | Wes Walker | https://clashdaily.com/2019/09/bidens-heathcare-plan-could-cause-rural-hospitals-to-close-according-to-study/ | 2019-09-04 17:25:22+00:00 | 1,567,632,322 | 1,569,331,514 | health | health facility |
105,382 | cnn--2019-06-24--Trump to issue executive order requiring hospitals to disclose prices to patients | 2019-06-24T00:00:00 | cnn | Trump to issue executive order requiring hospitals to disclose prices to patients | The order -- which seeks to fulfill the President's promise to lower costs for Americans -- directs the Health and Human Services Department to develop a rule that would require hospitals to disclose prices that reflect what insurers and patients pay for common items and services. However, the order does not specify what level of detail hospitals must provide -- whether it be the privately negotiated rates between hospitals and insurers for specific health insurance plans or aggregate data. Those particulars will be included in the forthcoming rule, senior administration officials said. The agency must also draw up a proposal to require providers and insurers to give patients an estimate of their out-of-pocket costs before they receive treatment. "Patient empowerment requires transparency around price and quality," said Health Secretary Alex Azar. "Every day, American patients are being taken advantage of by a system that hides critical information from them that they need to make decisions for them and their families." The vision is to have consumers one day be able to get price and quality data on their phones, said Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Hospitals, insurers and other providers in the health care industry are already preparing to oppose disclosing their contracted rates, which they say will do more harm than good. The insurers' trade group has pointed to a 2015 Federal Trade Commission blog post that said too much transparency can interfere with competition in the medical market. "(P)ublicly disclosing competitively negotiated, proprietary rates will reduce competition and push prices higher - not lower - for consumers, patients, and taxpayers," said Matt Eyles, chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group. The main hospital lobbying organization has also opposed this type of disclosure, saying that patients are more interested in their out-of-pocket costs. Also, some experts have questioned the administration's focus on giving consumers more access to prices, especially since most Americans don't shop when it comes to health care, they say. This executive order is Trump's third related to health care. The first , which he signed hours after taking office, was aimed at undermining the Affordable Care Act. It directed agencies to interpret regulations as loosely as possible to minimize the financial burden on Americans, insurers, health care providers and others. The second came shortly after Republicans in Congress gave up their effort to repeal and replace Obamacare in the fall of 2017. It also sought to weaken Obamacare by making it simpler for Americans to purchase alternative plans that are typically cheaper but don't have to adhere to all of the law's regulations. It led the administration to make it easier for consumers to buy short-term plans that last up to a year and for small businesses to join together to buy coverage, though that rule is now on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit. The most recent executive order will also direct the Health & Human Services Department to consolidate quality measures, broaden access to health care claims data for researchers and expand Health Savings Accounts, a favorite tool of Republicans. Trump has long promised to tackle the high cost of health care in America, one of the nation's thorniest problems. The administration has already taken some initial steps to require drug makers and medical providers to release more cost information, though it has generally focused on the industry's list prices rather than the negotiated rates or what consumers are actually billed. And starting this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is requiring hospitals to post their standard charges for their services on their websites in a format that can be imported into a computer system. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress are also working together in hopes of increasing awareness of pricing and of the behind-the-scenes tactics that keep costs high. However, experts say most of Trump's actions so far have not directly addressed the true problem: The high cost of what hospitals, doctors and drug makers charge for their services. Disclosing list prices or general data doesn't help most Americans since their rates are determined by their insurance -- and deductibles -- so this information will not tell them much about what they are on the hook for and could even dissuade them from pursuing care. "I'm not sure how aggregate information on rates will help patients, many of whom will have different types of coverage or be at different places in spending down their deductible," said Niall Brennan, chief executive of the Health Care Cost Institute, a non-profit research organization. | Tami Luhby | http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/s1C1Kda6Mc8/index.html | 2019-06-24 20:24:26+00:00 | 1,561,422,266 | 1,567,538,331 | health | health facility |
112,405 | cnsnews--2019-05-03--Time to End Hospitals Right to Blank Check for Emergency Care | 2019-05-03T00:00:00 | cnsnews | Time to End Hospitals’ Right to Blank Check for Emergency Care | Emergency medical care is an exception to the general principle of market exchange, whereby services are voluntarily bought and sold, with sellers competing on price. Under federal law, hospitals are required to treat patients that arrive needing emergency medical treatment, regardless of their ability to pay—but allowed to subsequently charge whatever they wish. In recent years, medical providers have increasingly exploited this arrangement by threatening exorbitant charges for out-of-network emergency care in order to force insurers to agree to generous reimbursement terms across the board. Patients have frequently been caught in the crossfire, and forced to pay large “surprise bills” for emergency care by hospitals or doctors who remain out of network. Emergency care is necessarily an unfree market, but it is a small and discrete part of healthcare, accounting for less than 7 percent of hospital spending. Ending the right of providers to fill in a blank check for emergency medical procedures would directly help some of the most vulnerable patients, who are being subject to exorbitant bills. But it would also prevent providers from leveraging this exceptional situation to undermine price competition for the bulk of hospital services. The seemingly narrow issue of payment for out-of-network emergency care therefore has broader significance. The rising cost of healthcare is often discussed as a general phenomenon afflicting medical services, but the problem is primarily a matter of medical costs and expenditures most closely tied to hospital care. According to a recent study in Health Affairs, whereas between 2007 and 2014 inpatient hospital prices increased by 42 percent and outpatient hospital prices rose by 25 percent, inpatient physician prices increased by 18 percent, and outpatient physician fees increased by only 6 percent. Over the same period, while many expensive new drugs have become available, the price index for existing drugs increased by only 2 percent. Much attention has been paid to the responsibility of hospital mergers for this trend, but prices at hospitals with local monopolies average only 12 percent more than those at facilities with four or more local competitors. By contrast, prices for equivalent services can be three times higher at different facilities within the same hospital market. What gives hospitals such pricing power, if it isn’t just market share? A major factor is the current billing rules for emergency care. Congress enacted the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to require hospitals to treat and stabilize the condition of patients arriving at emergency departments, regardless of their insurance coverage or ability to pay. Yet, this legislation imposed no limit on the amount that hospitals and clinicians could then bill patients for the care they received—even if treatment began while they were unconscious. The main constraint on hospital prices is normally the ability of insurers to steer patients to in-network facilities with which they have negotiated better rates. Yet this constraint is all but absent for emergency-care situations in which patients must often seek treatment at the nearest possible facility. Knowing that patients will expect their insurers to cover emergency-care costs, hospitals have increasingly used the threat of exorbitant out-of-network bills for emergency care to negotiate more generous reimbursement arrangements (high fees without constraints on volumes) for in-network elective care. A similar dynamic has become clear among clinicians who frequently treat emergency patients. According to a recent Brookings Institution study, whereas physicians in general contract with insurers at an average of 128 percent of Medicare rates, those in specialties able to impose out-of-network emergency bills are able to drive a harder bargain: with emergency physicians billing an average of 306 percent and anesthesiologists billing 344 percent of Medicare rates. This has yielded a phenomenon known as “surprise billing,” where out-of-network providers of emergency care bill enormous amounts in excess of charges covered by insurers—leaving individuals to pay the balance. Most shockingly, this may even happen for out-of-network clinicians practicing at in-network hospitals. As a solution to this specific problem, scholars from the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute recently recommended prohibiting clinicians from independently billing for emergency, ancillary, and hospitalist services—a reform which would make hospitals responsible for paying them and collecting reimbursement by affiliating with insurance networks. As the patient has little say over which emergency-care physicians, anesthesiologists, or pathologists will bill for services incident to their care, and hospitals have control over who operates within their walls, such a proposed reform makes a lot of sense. Yet a broader reform is required to remedy the incentive for hospitals to themselves threaten emergency-care patients with exorbitant charges. Various legislative proposals regulating out-of-network bills for emergency care were introduced in the last Congress, and congressional staff have been working to develop reforms which could pass this year. One prominent idea is an approach that has already been employed by some states—to subject out-of-network rates for emergency care to independent arbitration. This seems appealing because it does not appear overly prescriptive or rigid; but it is really just a form of buck-passing rather than an actual solution. Instead of having legislators weigh trade-offs in consultation with insurers, hospitals, patient groups, and research organizations, it would simply require judges with no healthcare staff, expertise, or relationships with effected stakeholders to improvise consequential decisions with complex unintended consequences. The administrative costs of appealing fees could be substantial, and under the pressure of interest-group lobbying, such an arrangement may inadvertently lead to payments drifting upwards. A similar danger is involved in proposals to establish default out-of-network rates based on averages or percentiles of in-network rates: Hospitals may be able to inflate their permitted out-of-network reimbursements by manipulating in-network payment arrangements. The best approach is rather to cap the rates that hospitals are allowed to charge for various out-of-network emergency-care services at a specified proportion of Medicare rates. Scholars at the Brookings Institution have recommended a tight cap of 125 percent of Medicare rates, under the belief that this could immediately improve insurers’ negotiating power with respect to reimbursements over elective care, and hence substantially drive down hospital costs. Yet, such a cap would likely decimate hospital revenues overnight, and is therefore likely to be impractical. Nonetheless, a looser cap of 150 percent of Medicare rates (or higher for some specialties) would serve to protect patients from surprise bills greatly in excess of charges covered by their insurer, while preventing hospitals making use of the threat of out-of-network price gouging to cripple the ability of insurers to negotiate reasonable in-network payment arrangements. A cap limited to out-of-network fees for emergency care could hardly be more different in spirit from proposed single-payer or all-payer reforms, which propose to effectively set a comprehensive floor on payment rates for all medical services—elective as well as emergency; in-network as well of out-of-network. By eliminating hospitals’ default right to fill in a blank check for emergency care (whose provision is already mandated by federal law) a cap on out-of-network emergency charges would in no way restrict market forces from shaping the delivery of elective care (which accounts for over 93 percent of hospital spending). Providers could still insist on their preferred reimbursement arrangements before agreeing to deliver elective care, and insurers could still negotiate discounts from preferred networks of providers. Nor would such a cap restrict the freedom of hospitals and insurers to agree to better terms of contract to pay for emergency care in-network. In fact, restoring balance to the default arrangement for out-of-network emergency care could encourage more reasonable payment agreements more broadly—by preventing hospitals from threatening exorbitant out-of-network bills to drive up reimbursement rates and veto cost-controls in payment arrangements across the board. Chris Pope is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here. : This piece was originally published by Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute. | Chris Pope | https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/chris-pope/time-end-hospitals-right-black-check-emergency-care | 2019-05-03 15:29:59+00:00 | 1,556,911,799 | 1,567,541,254 | health | health facility |
127,292 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-06-17--How Good Samaritan Hospitals new operating room opens surgical possibilities | 2019-06-17T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | How Good Samaritan Hospital's new operating room opens surgical possibilities | When doctors choose which way to perform common heart surgeries, they're typically stuck with that route -- largely because of location. Operating rooms where doctors perform minimally invasive procedures, maybe using a catheter inserted in the leg or groin to travel through the blood vessels and access the heart, often don't have the X-ray and ultrasound imaging technology or the anesthesia required to change course and perform a full open-heart surgery if the need arises. But that's no longer an issue at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. The hospital on Monday plans to perform its first surgery inside a new Hybrid Cardiovascular Operating Room designed to provide the technology and space for doctors to use the best type of surgery for each patient. "We can actually have the surgeons and the cardiologists working together in the same room," said Dr. Peter Kerwin, a cardiologist and medical director of the cardiac catheterization lab. "And we have all options open to us, up to and including open-heart surgery." The new space, double the size of a typical operating room, allows all surgical options because it incorporates an X-ray machine and an ultrasound with images displayed on a large screen. "That's important because we need to be able to see everything," Kerwin said. Doctors can use real-time images to guide precision procedures, such as mitral valve repair or aortic valve replacement. Surgeons also can use the assistance of an anesthesiologist, equipped with all of the medications needed for moderate "twilight" or full sedation. "It allows us to move into this new area in cardiology," Kerwin said. Four doctors and up to six nurses or other medical experts will work as a team to conduct each surgery in the new space, into which the hospital invested several years of planning, several rounds of simulations and millions of dollars, President Nancy Tinsley said. Dr. Mahesh Raju, a cardiologist and medical director of endovascular services, said the new operating room will decrease the time it takes to perform procedures and make the experience safer for patients. Using a hybrid approach between open-heart surgery and catheter insertion in the leg or groin, doctors can make an incision much closer to the heart -- in the neck, for example -- to decrease potential complications. "When you have a shortcut, your risk goes down," Raju said. And so does time in the hospital and recovery time at home. The new hybrid operating room is part of the Advocate Heart Institute at Good Samaritan Hospital, which includes an outpatient clinic, diagnostics, inpatient and surgical units, and an advanced heart failure treatment area -- nearly all in one place near the hospital's main entrance. The new facility adds to the hospital's "extremely comprehensive" list of cardiovascular services, Tinsley said. "We consider ourselves the complex care provider in the community," she said. "No matter what your cardiac symptom is, we're your one-stop shop." And it follows the hospital's history of advances in cardiac care, Kerwin said. In 1987, Good Samaritan became the first recorded community hospital to treat heart attacks with clot-dissolving medications, he said. Previously, only research hospitals had tried this method. And in 2002, Kerwin said, Good Samaritan became one of the first in the nation to address heart attacks by following a now-standard "cardiac alert process" that involves coordinating with paramedics to bring patients directly to a catheterization lab where they can get immediate help. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190617/how-good-samaritan-hospitals-new-operating-room-opens-surgical-possibilities- | 2019-06-17 10:23:40+00:00 | 1,560,781,420 | 1,567,539,053 | health | health facility |
128,252 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-07-26--Lake Forest named a Most Beautiful Hospital | 2019-07-26T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Lake Forest named a 'Most Beautiful Hospital' | LAKE FOREST -- Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital has been ranked 10th on Soliant's 10th annual Top 20 Most Beautiful Hospitals awards. Supporters from across the country nominated and voted for facilities that recognized nurturing staff, comforting aesthetics, and innovative designs as key elements of beauty which contribute to the overall well-being of patients. The hospital, which opened in 2018, provides patients with convenient access to world-class physicians and seamless access to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the No. 1 ranked hospital in Illinois by U.S. News & World Report. With all of the latest advancements, including recently receiving the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification, the hospital has kept its commitment to respecting the environment while providing world-class care in a community setting. The hospital was designed for physicians and staff to take advantage of the resources of an integrated academic health system. For example, video conferencing for staff and real-time video sharing in the operating rooms are available to enhance collaboration and care for patients. With more than 8.5 million total votes cast for the 96 hospitals nominated, Lake Forest Hospital emerged as one of the top 20 facilities recognized by supporters on Soliant's annual list. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/business/20190726/lake-forest-named-a-most-beautiful-hospital | 2019-07-26 12:26:24+00:00 | 1,564,158,384 | 1,567,535,773 | health | health facility |
128,334 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-07-30--Suburban facilities make US News Top Hospitals list | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Suburban facilities make U.S. News' Top Hospitals list | Several suburban hospitals were named among the best in the Chicago region in U.S. News and World Report's 30th Annual 2019-20 Best Hospitals Rankings, which was released Tuesday. NorthShore University HealthSystem-Metro Chicago in Evanston, Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage in Winfield, Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge, Advocate Good Samaritan in Downers Grove, and Edward Hospital in Naperville all made the national magazine's Top 10 list of best regional hospitals. U.S. News, in a statement, said the annual report evaluated nearly every community hospital in America. A total of 165 hospitals out of more than 4,500 were nationally ranked in one specialty, while 569 were ranked among the Best Regional Hospitals in a state or metro area based on its overall performance. The only Chicago-area hospital to rank nationally was Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, which came in 10th nationally and first in the region. U.S. News said it updated its methodology this year to emphasize patient outcomes, patient experience and enhanced risk adjustment, which accounts for differences in patient populations and is designed to not penalize hospitals that treat sicker patients. The patient experience and outcome measures focus on how often patients go directly home from the hospital, as opposed to transitioning to a nursing home or institutional care setting. "The new model provides a more comprehensive assessment that is useful to patients, families and their medical professionals," said Ben Harder, U.S. News managing editor and chief of health analysis. In addition to the overall rankings, U.S. News ranks the facilities on 12 data-driven specialty rankings, which cover cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, and urology. Most of the Top 10 hospitals also received rankings in one or more of those specialties. Tuesday, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare President and CEO Dean M. Harrison praised the group's performance in the study, noting in addition to the hospitals in the Top 10 list, Delnor Hospital in Geneva and McHenry Hospital in McHenry were ranked in the Top 20. "While these rankings are assigned to individual hospitals, this recognition reflects the relentless commitment, dedication and expertise of Northwestern Medicine's physicians, nurses and staff across our health system who partner to provide our patients with world-class care each and every day while working to advance medicine and find tomorrow's treatments," Harrison said. Other suburban hospitals received rankings in the specialty categories. Information on those hospitals can be found at https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/business/20190730/suburban-facilities-make-us-news-top-hospitals-list | 2019-07-30 18:42:15+00:00 | 1,564,526,535 | 1,567,535,394 | health | health facility |
129,075 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-09-20--Nurses hold 1-day strike at University of Chicago hospital | 2019-09-20T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Nurses hold 1-day strike at University of Chicago hospital | CHICAGO -- Nurses at University of Chicago Medical Center are holding a one-day strike following what they call a breakdown of contract negotiations between their union and the hospital. The walkout began Friday morning, with nurses marching and chanting outside the hospital. The 618-bed hospital prepared for a walkout by the about 2,200 nurses by diverting ambulances and moving patients. Although the nurses say the strike will last one day, hospital officials have told the nurses to stay away until Wednesday because temporary nurses have been contracted. The hospital's President Sharon O'Keefe has said the medical center was "disheartened that we had to get to this point." The nurses have been without a contract since April. They're seeking lower nurse-to-patient ratios and say they're being forced to work overtime. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20190920/news/309209951/ | 2019-09-20 11:44:00+00:00 | 1,568,994,240 | 1,569,590,623 | health | health facility |
129,111 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-09-22--Northwest Community Hospital announces vision for cancer center | 2019-09-22T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Northwest Community Hospital announces vision for cancer center | Northwest Community Hospital officials are seeking to build a dedicated center for cancer treatment. Hospital leaders announced the vision for the cancer center Saturday night during a gala at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center that celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Arlington Heights hospital's opening in 1959. Few concrete details were available about the concept. Many options are available, a hospital spokeswoman said. If a cancer center is built, it won't be on the main Northwest Community Hospital campus at 800 W. Central Road. There isn't enough open space there for such a facility. Stephen Scogna, hospital president and CEO, said the organization intends to spend the next year developing a program to expand its cancer care, including creating a cancer center. It'll be the mission of the philanthropic NCH Foundation to raise funds over the next few years for the project. Proceeds from Saturday night's gala, estimated to be more than $1 million, will go toward the foundation's cancer vision campaign. The Northwest Community campus has a 509-bed hospital and other health amenities. The company also has doctor's offices, immediate care centers, labs and other facilities throughout the Northwest suburbs. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190922/northwest-community-hospital-announces-vision-for-cancer-center | 2019-09-22 03:33:41+00:00 | 1,569,137,621 | 1,570,222,517 | health | health facility |
130,376 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-12-03--Amita Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates to expand | 2019-12-03T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Amita Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates to expand | Hoffman Estates officials have approved construction of a $6 million addition to the Amita Health Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital, an expansion intended to relieve congestion in the building without increasing the number of beds. The addition at the northwest corner of the hospital, 1650 Moon Lake Blvd., will be three stories and 14,673 square feet. This expansion will include clinical space, consultation rooms, group rooms, offices, work rooms, a break room and new restrooms on each floor. The 141-bed facility is the 10th largest behavioral health hospital in the U.S., offering specialized services for mental health problems and recovery from substance abuse. The building has operated under its current use for the past 20 years, with earlier expansions approved in 2003 and 2005. Originally approved as HCA Woodland Hospital in the late 1980s, the building and its adjacent medical center have undergone a number of ownership changes since. Construction of the addition is estimated to take 11 months from the time it begins. The village board's approval on Monday is contingent on a building permit being issued within the next year. The approval also requires the submitting of plans for modifications to the hospital's stormwater detention basin before a building permit is issued. Completion of those modifications will be required before the issue of a certificate of occupancy for the addition. Plans include additional landscaping around the new wing and within the current outdoor healing garden, which will become smaller due to the building expansion. A variety of trees, shrubs and perennials will be incorporated into the existing landscaping. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20191203/amita-behavioral-health-hospital-in-hoffman-estates-to-expand | Tue, 3 Dec 2019 15:49:14 -0500 | 1,575,406,154 | 1,575,418,891 | health | health facility |
130,395 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-12-04--$52 million rehab hospital proposed for Libertyville | 2019-12-04T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | $52 million rehab hospital proposed for Libertyville | A hospital dedicated to physical rehabilitation for patients recovering from strokes and other conditions is being proposed in Libertyville. Encompass Health Corp., a national company based in Birmingham, Alabama, wants to build a $52.2 million facility at American Way Drive and Winchester Road on the village's far northwest side. The 61,490-square-foot hospital would be built on nearly 9 acres between Route 45 and American Way, north of Winchester Road. Encompass, formerly known as Health South, operates 133 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals across the country, including Van Matre Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockford. The Libertyville site would be Encompass' second rehabilitation hospital in Illinois. It is seeking approvals for a 60-bed hospital with the ability to expand to 80 beds for patients recovering from strokes, neurological disorders, brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations or complex orthopedic conditions. All rooms would be private. Services would include physical, occupational and speech therapies, as well as 24-hour nursing care. It also would feature a large therapy gym, cafeteria, dining room, pharmacy, courtyard and advanced rehab technologies. "The proposed rehabilitation hospital has a unique focus, and we understand it will attract a broad range of customers from south Cook County to McHenry County," said Heather Rowe, Libertyville's economic development coordinator. The property is in a general commercial district. Encompass is seeking a special use permit and other approvals to build the hospital at the location. Libertyville's advisory plan commission is scheduled to review the proposal at 7 p.m. Monday, at the village hall, 118 W. Cook Ave. According to Encompass, the state health planning region that covers Lake, McHenry and Kane counties has the lowest number of inpatient rehab beds in Illinois. There have been no inpatient rehab beds in Lake County since Vista Medical Center West in Waukegan closed it 25-bed program in late 2017, according to the company. Encompass says there is a proven need for at least 66 inpatient rehab beds in the region, Residents needing such services now must travel either to congested urban areas or Wisconsin. The facility is expected to employ about 90 physicians, nurses, therapists and others the first year of operations and up to 165 by the fifth year. Encompass started the process in July with an application for a certificate of need from the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board. The proposal drew nearly two dozen letters of support from local, county and state politicians, doctors and others. Among them was Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler, who noted in a letter to the state board that Advocate Condell Medical Center has a Level 1 trauma center but the closest inpatient rehab center is more than 40 miles away. "It would provide a much needed service to our residents and the surrounding communities as such a hospital does not exist in this region," Weppler wrote. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20191204/52-million-rehab-hospital-proposed-for-libertyville | Wed, 4 Dec 2019 00:07:30 -0500 | 1,575,436,050 | 1,575,462,183 | health | health facility |
130,753 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-12-17--Five suburban hospitals make Leapfrog's list of nation's best | 2019-12-17T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Five suburban hospitals make Leapfrog's list of nation's best | Five suburban-based hospitals were among eight in Illinois recognized Tuesday as Top Hospitals in 2019 by the Leapfrog Group. The national nonprofit watchdog organization released its annual list, recognizing 120 hospitals nationwide for maintaining the highest quality standards identified through Leapfrog's annual Hospital Safety Grade Survey. The organization conducts two surveys in the spring and fall, which rate hospitals on a letter grade based on practices focusing on patient care and safety. The Top Hospital designation is based on the surveys' results, with less than 6% of eligible facilities receiving the honor, according to Leapfrog. Amita Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook and Amita Health Adventist Medical Center GlenOaks in Glendale Heights were recognized as top general hospitals. Loyola Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, and Rush Oak Park Hospital in Oak Park were recognized as top teaching hospitals. Other Illinois hospitals recognized by Leapfrog were HSHS St. Mary's Hospital in Decatur as a top general hospital, and OSF Holy Family Medical Center in Galesburg and Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon were recognized as top rural hospitals. All of the hospitals received an "A" rating in Leapfrog's Fall 2019 survey, which was released in October. "Our Top Hospital award ... recognizes hospitals for ensuring their facilities prioritize safety and quality in patient care," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. Bruce C. Christian, president and CEO of the two Amita hospitals, said the Leapfrog designation was "a testament to the hard work and dedication shown by our physicians and associates every day." "The Leapfrog Top Hospital award is widely acknowledged to be one of the most competitive honors American hospitals can achieve," Christian added. Missing from the 2019 list were some of the region's hospitals known for quality care. Northwestern Memorial Hospital and University of Chicago Medical Center -- both of which were on Leapfrog's 2018 list -- did not make it this year. Northwestern received a "B" rating in Leapfrog's Fall 2019 survey, while University of Chicago received an "A" rating. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/business/20191217/five-suburban-hospitals-make-leapfrogs-list-of-nations-best | Tue, 17 Dec 2019 11:17:21 -0500 | 1,576,599,441 | 1,576,628,504 | health | health facility |
154,991 | drudgereport--2019-11-27--Hospital Admits Giving Wrong Person Kidney Transplant... | 2019-11-27T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Hospital Admits Giving Wrong Person Kidney Transplant... | CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) — There was a life-threatening mistake at one of the largest hospitals in the Delaware Valley, involving two patients waiting for a kidney transplant. Last week, CBS3 received a tip that a patient at the Lourdes Hospital Transplant Center received a kidney transplant meant for another patient on the waiting list. The hospital system confirmed that the surgery mix-up did, in fact, take place last week. The two patients have the same name and are around the same age. After several follow-up conversations with Virtua Health, which took over Lourdes Health System earlier this year, the hospital system admits they gave the wrong person a kidney transplant last Monday. Officials tell us the organ recipient was in need of a kidney and the surgery was successful. But, they say, the next day a staff member discovered the kidney recipient was out of priority order based on the matching organ donor list. “This is an unprecedented event in our respected 40-plus-year transplant program. As an organization committed to safety and process, we immediately instituted additional measures and educational reinforcement to help ensure this does not happen again,” Dr. Reginald Blaber, executive vice president and chief clinical officer of Virtua Health, said in a statement. Virtua says they voluntarily reported the incident to the New Jersey Health Department. “We have a profound responsibility to people who literally place their lives in our hands. Mistakes of this magnitude are rare, and despite the unusual circumstances of similar patient identities, additional verification would have prevented this error,” Blaber said. Virtua did not say what corrective actions they’re taking, but patient advocates say making sure the right person is undergoing surgery is basic medical practice. “We would want to confirm the patient’s name – first and last name. We would want to confirm the patient’s date of birth and, on this checklist, we would ask a patient or check their medical record to assure that a number of criteria are satisfied to assure we have the right patient,” Lawrence Muscarella, of LFM Healthcare Solutions, said. The medical director and transplant coordinator visited the patient who was supposed to get the kidney to apologize. The 51-year-old patient who underwent the kidney transplant is doing well. The hospital says the other patient ended up undergoing a successful kidney transplant on Sunday and is doing well. | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/e5NiDntR5NU/ | Wed, 27 Nov 2019 00:16:38 GMT | 1,574,831,798 | 1,574,813,847 | health | health facility |
157,480 | eveningstandard--2019-01-03--Hospital in bid for Londonaposs first 24-hour emergency helipad that could save dozens of lives | 2019-01-03T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Hospital in bid for London's first 24-hour emergency helipad that could save dozens of lives | London could get its first 24-hour hospital helipad under plans that could save dozens of lives every year. King’s College Hospital has applied to extend the operating hours of its helipad in Denmark Hill, which is currently open between 7am and 9pm. London is the only major European capital without a 24-hour emergency helipad. About 500 patients have been flown to the helipad since it opened in 2016, with night opening expected to enable King’s to receive a further 75 patients a year. A spokesman said: “This would give critically sick patients faster access to specialist treatment at night as well as during the day.” The hospital’s ability to treat seriously ill patients will increase when its £100 million critical care centre opens. The helipad at King’s is the first in mainland Britain to use an automatic foam and water system that avoids the need for firefighters to be on standby for a crash landing. Seven residents have objected to the plans, saying the noise would disturb their sleep. One said: “The impact on residents would be too great if air ambulances were to land here 24 hours a day.” A noise report commissioned by the hospital shows that World Health Organisation limits for sleep would be breached for less than a minute at a time during take-off and landing. It said noise levels would fall to “acceptable” levels if windows were kept closed. The hospital's planning application said it consulted 500 residents and claims to have secured “85 per cent” support. It told the council it was “acutely aware” of concerns and proposed a two-year trial of night flights “in view of this sensitivity”. Mayor Sadiq Khan said he had no objection to the plans and referred the final decision to Lambeth council. A council spokesman said: “We are still in dialogue with King’s Hospital. No decision, or date for a decision has yet been made.” | Ross Lydall | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/hospital-in-bid-for-london-s-first-24hour-emergency-helipad-that-could-save-dozens-of-lives-a4029366.html | 2019-01-03 10:10:00+00:00 | 1,546,528,200 | 1,567,554,069 | health | health facility |
157,657 | eveningstandard--2019-01-04--East London hospital one of first in the country to launch protein shakes to combat Type 2 Diabetes | 2019-01-04T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | East London hospital one of first in the country to launch protein shakes to combat Type 2 Diabetes | An east London hospital is among the first in the country to launch a Type 2 diabetes treatment that uses low-calorie protein shakes to reverse the disease. Thirty places will be available this month at the Hackney Diabetes Centre on a pioneering weight loss course to target remission of the condition instead of management. Patients will see their normal meals replaced by 800-calorie protein drinks alongside a long-term weight management plan aimed at losing around two and a half stone over a year. It comes after NHS England announced a separate trial to be launched later this year where up to 5,000 patients will be restricted to a quarter of the recommended daily intake. The Hackney programme will be run from the centre at Homerton University Hospital by NHS dieticians and funded by the Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group. Owen Marples, a diabetes specialist dietician, said: “It is a complete shift in approach from just managing Type 2 diabetes and making sure it doesn’t get worse. It is revolutionary in that sense.” The details of the forthcoming NHS England trial have yet to be made public, but the Counterweight programme is the only peer-reviewed programme that has produced remission rates. It has been used by private practitioners for several years. The programme was also used by academics from Glasgow and Newcastle universities during a Diabetes UK-funded Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial that showed almost half of those placed on the programme reversed the disease. Only four per cent of people achieved remission using conventional NHS treatments. The study also found 86 per cent of those who lost more than two and a half stone would also beat Type 2 diabetes through sustained weight loss. Counterweight chief executive Justin Slabbert said: “Diabetes can have some pretty severe consequences and has a huge impact on the quality of your life. Now there are two doors open to patients. The first is to manage your chronic condition and the other is to undergo an intensive weight-loss programme that sets them free of diabetes.” The NHS spends an estimated £10 billion a year treating patients with Type 1 and 2 diabetes — including a cost of £1 billion to issue prescriptions. The Hackney trial will begin later this month with around 20 sessions led by an NHS dietician who has been trained in administering the Counterweight programme. Each group will run for a year and patients will aim to lose about 15kg and then maintain this new weight to give themselves the best odds of achieving and sustaining remission from their diabetes. | Ben Morgan | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/east-london-hospital-to-treat-type-2-diabetes-with-protein-shakes-a4030261.html | 2019-01-04 09:29:47+00:00 | 1,546,612,187 | 1,567,553,919 | health | health facility |
160,190 | eveningstandard--2019-01-18--London hospital trust receives more complaints from junior doctors about working hours than any othe | 2019-01-18T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | London hospital trust receives more complaints from junior doctors about working hours than any other | A London hospital trust received the highest number of complaints from junior doctors about their working hours in the country. London North West Healthcare trust was fined £13,215 after more than 2,500 reports from junior doctors, those below the level of consultant - about having to work beyond their contracted terms and conditions. The trust, which runs Northwick Park, Ealing and Central Middlesex hospitals and employs 440 junior doctors, had 2,569 exception reports – the highest number in the country – while Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, which runs Purley War Memorial Hospital and Croydon University Hospital, was found to have the highest number of reports per doctor, at 8.5 per member of staff. It resulted in £25,000 in fines. Putting in longer hours than the Junior Doctor Contract stipulates, often on night shifts running from 8pm to 8am, has been associated with chronic understaffing in the NHS. All NHS trusts had to appoint a junior doctors’ “guardian” as one of terms of the deal agreed by former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to end the junior docs’ strike in 2016. Now junior doctors can file a report when they work beyond their contracted hours or work without breaks. Since 2016, 63,309 of these “exception reports” were filed by around 36,000 trainee medics nationwide, the data obtained in a freedom of information request by the Health Service Journal revealed. Just four trusts nationwide reported zero exception reports. Doctors are entitled to time off in lieu or extra money in return for working extra hours, and to see a review of their working patterns. Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “Although the process is working well overall there are areas where guardians of safe working hours and doctors tell us improvement is needed.” But some believe the new data only shows a fraction of the actual overtime doctors work in an understaffed NHS. One junior paediatrician, 27, who has worked in both north and south London NHS trusts and wished to remain anonymous, said: “I last exception reported as an F1 [first year] on surgery - I’ve definitely worked longer than paid on A&E a few times and once or twice on this job… we either don’t know how to use the online system or it’s lots of paperwork so an effort to do. “It may also be that North West [the situation] is just so bad that even with the same proportion of doctors reporting it, there’s way more [exceptions].” A Croydon Health Services Trust spokesperson said it had worked to create an environment that “encourages reporting of incidents as well as exceptions”. A London North West Healthcare NHS Trust spokesperson said: “The vast majority of the 2,569 reports received are not about doctors working beyond their contract but about working hours not matching the hours that were planned on the rota. Actual breaches of contract are rare and quickly addressed.” | Naomi Ackerman | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-hospital-trust-receives-more-complaints-from-junior-doctors-about-working-hours-than-any-a4043076.html | 2019-01-18 15:09:38+00:00 | 1,547,842,178 | 1,567,551,843 | health | health facility |
168,592 | eveningstandard--2019-03-20--I can see the case for rebuilding Whipps Cross hospital says health minister | 2019-03-20T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | I can see the case for rebuilding Whipps Cross hospital, says health minister | Health Secretary Matt Hancock has raised hopes of transforming one of London’s oldest hospitals after admitting he can “see the case” for rebuilding Whipps Cross. Mr Hancock was asked to visit the increasingly busy Leytonstone hospital, parts of which date back more than 100 years, after its condition was raised by Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith at Prime Minister’s Questions. He saw for himself how many inpatients were treated on large “Nightingale” wards, where beds are separated only by curtains and there is a risk of cross-infection and a lack of dignity. Doctors told him how patients often have to be wheeled across an open-air footbridge to and from surgery when a lift breaks down. The hospital has an £88 million repairs backlog and bosses adopt an “Elastoplast approach” to keeping it open. Nurses told Mr Hancock about “truly, truly awful, unbearable conditions” last summer on wards without air conditioning. Bottles of water and ice lollies were distributed daily. Bosses at Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs Whipps Cross, want to knock down derelict parts of its sprawling campus and build a new £360 million hospital, part-funded by hundreds of new homes alongside. A new A&E department opened in 2012 and some wards and theatres have been modernised but staff say a new hospital is vital. Only 11 per cent of beds are in single rooms. Modern hospitals have about 30 to 35 per cent. Mr Hancock told staff: “There is clearly a need for improvement to the estate of this hospital. That is evident to anybody walking around it.” Speaking to the Standard afterwards, he said: “We have given Whipps Cross the go-ahead to take their planning for a redevelopment to the next stage. “The amount of capital money there is for new hospitals will be in the spending review, but I can see the case for modernisation of Whipps Cross.” Trust chief executive Alwen Williams said: “We have a golden opportunity to turn our ageing buildings and underused land into a modern hospital at the heart of a flagship health and care campus.” | Ross Lydall | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/i-can-see-the-case-for-rebuilding-whipps-cross-hospital-says-health-minister-a4096676.html | 2019-03-20 17:02:19+00:00 | 1,553,115,739 | 1,567,545,476 | health | health facility |
169,118 | eveningstandard--2019-03-22--The Reader Whipps Cross hospital plan is not fit for purpose | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | The Reader: Whipps Cross hospital plan is not fit for purpose | We WRITE in response to your article [“I can see the case for rebuilding Whipps Cross, says minister,” March 23] about the redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital in east London. Waltham Forest Save our NHS, the local health campaign group, has grave concerns that the proposed new hospital may not be fit for purpose because of funding constraints imposed by the Government. In the initial plan submitted we could have 83 fewer beds than we do now. Despite it being recognised that in 15 years’ time the population growth in north-east London will be equivalent to a new borough. Barts Health NHS Trust has already had the plan knocked back and has been told to find ways to reduce costs and increase the income it raises from the land. With the squeeze on funding, NHS trusts expected to sell off their land and pressure to build new housing, we are concerned that the land sale at Whipps Cross will be to the detriment of the new hospital. Especially as the plan submitted refers to Barts Trust being: ”in need of cash in the short term” from land receipts. There is a real risk that a hospital that cannot cater for thousands more residents will mean even greater delays at A&E, longer waits for treatment and inadequate healthcare for people in Waltham Forest and Redbridge. Mary Burnett and Norma Dudley Waltham Forest Save our NHS Whipps Cross hospital is lucky to be held to account by such enthusiastic campaigners, as is its parent trust, Barts Health. Most campaigners have been around far longer than the hospital managers and want what is best for the East End and beyond. The reality, though, is that much of the Whipps Cross site is in dire need of renovation. It is a tragedy that so much of it has been left to go to ruin. Yes, the populations of Waltham Forest and Redbridge are growing, and ageing. It is not uncommon for Whipps Cross A&E to be full of patients in their 90s (while the new paediatric A&E has sick toddlers). The answer cannot be to treat growing numbers of patients in expensive acute hospital beds. The solution must surely involve the trust funding a modern hospital by cashing in on this land for housing (while retaining freehold rights, and thus a long-term income stream). Barts Health’s chief, Alwen Williams, understands this. Health Secretary Matt Hancock appears to too. It’s time for action and hard cash. Community support could help overcome this considerable challenge. How could we end up with such an incompetent Prime Minister? Easy. She’s part of a factional party that has six different propositions to leave Europe and she has developed no route to unity. And she never will. No one has thought through the history of why Europe is hated by so many in Britain or done something about it over 46 years of EU membership. A reminder: 48 per cent wanted to stay in Europe, despite such a lack of participation by MPs in European government and institutions. Perhaps our politicians should ask themselves why so many wanted to stay in the EU, particularly an incoherent, strategy-deficient PM. British politicians need to take up the European challenge, get involved and sell the positive case for Europe to UK residents. Can it be done? Of course, but it requires intelligent politicians with purpose and strategy. I have written to my Conservative MP along these lines but only had the standard electronic reply. Hugh Bunce I was planning to visit the Diane Arbus exhibition at the Hayward Gallery — until a friend told me it does not accept cash between 10am and 5pm. It is outrageous for a public gallery in the centre of London to refuse cash. Not everyone has credit cards, and not everyone wants to use them for small purchases. Not everyone will use debit cards — and certainly not contactless cards. As part of the South Bank complex — which was originally at least partly funded by public money — the Hayward has a duty to serve all of society, not just some of it. Marcia MacLeod Far from being a “settled issue” — as is the global warming debate — the Royal College of Physicians’ efforts to obtain and act on a democratic mandate of its membership on assisted dying has stirred up a hornet’s nest among religious bodies. The fate of someone dying in extremis is emotive, but ending the agony with medical assistance should be a choice that is available to the patient. Strident views from religious activists in support of an anachronistic belief are wholly inappropriate. John Cameron | null | https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/letters/the-reader-whipps-cross-hospital-plan-is-not-fit-for-purpose-a4098391.html | 2019-03-22 10:07:00+00:00 | 1,553,263,620 | 1,567,545,194 | health | health facility |
170,153 | eveningstandard--2019-04-03--London hospitals trial blood deliveries by bike as Mayoraposs toxic air levy comes in | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | London hospitals trial blood deliveries by bike as Mayor's toxic air levy comes in | Blood and tumour samples could be transported by cargo bike as one of London’s biggest NHS trusts prepares for Mayor Sadiq Khan’s toxic air levy. Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals are to trial cycle deliveries of medical supplies as part of a wider “green” initiative accompanying next Monday’s launch of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez). Both hospitals are within the central London Ulez and trust chiefs want to reduce the number of freight deliveries. To tackle this, a pilot scheme involving the outsourced pathology departments — which analyse blood tests and biopsies — will be launched. David Lawson, head of procurement at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We need to ensure critical deliveries every day across our central London hospital and community sites. With a cycle path on our doorstep, we are looking to trial cargo bikes in partnership with our pathology provider, Viapath. “This is part of a wider consolidation strategy to design out 90 per cent of freight deliveries into the trust.” A spokeswoman said the trial would initially focus on blood products. It will replace an hourly motorbike or van courier service between the two hospitals. The use of cargo bikes is being promoted by Team London Bridge, the area’s business improvement district. It wants 15 per cent of firms to use the bikes for deliveries in central London. This could eradicate the need for 28,750 van journeys a year, it says. Businesses such as Ikea, Sainsbury’s and TNT already use cargo bikes and wider use could reduce the 9,000 premature deaths in London each year caused by toxic air. Nadia Broccardo, chief executive of Team London Bridge, said the Ulez was a “real opportunity to rethink how best to move freight over short distances in the capital”. She added: “From groceries to medical supplies, cargo bikes can help businesses cut costs and journey times, as well as pollution that is blighting life in London.” It is not the first time that cargo bikes have been used in the capital. First Mile, a green recycling company, makes deliveries within the West End. Lilli Matson, TfL’s director of transport strategy, said: “We’re working closely with businesses and business groups ... to encourage people to think about cleaner, safer and more efficient ways of moving goods. Cargo bikes have real potential to help clean up London’s toxic air and it’s fantastic to see Team London Bridge’s bold ambitions for cycle freight.” Only 11 per cent of motorists know which vehicles will have to pay the Ulez, research by Auto Trader suggested. The £12.50-a-day charge will typically be levied on diesel cars more than four years old, petrol cars more than 14 years old and motorbikes more than 12 years old. | Ross Lydall | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/hospitals-trial-blood-deliveries-by-bike-as-mayor-sadiq-khans-toxic-air-levy-comes-in-a4108081.html | 2019-04-03 10:07:14+00:00 | 1,554,300,434 | 1,567,544,144 | health | health facility |
181,634 | eveningstandard--2019-08-05--London hospital to share in 850m Boris handout | 2019-08-05T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | London hospital to share in £850m Boris handout | A London hospital will almost double its space for critically ill patients as a result of a £1.8 billion nationwide investment announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Croydon hospital is one of 20 hospitals to share in £850 million to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment and tackle a NHS-wide five per cent annual increase in patients. A total of £17 million is also being provided to build a “health and wellbeing hub”. Croydon hospital chiefs said the “much needed” £12.7 million investment would enable its critical care unit, opened in 1984, to be rebuilt with 24 intensive treatment and high-dependency beds. This will reduce the number of life-threatened patients having to be transferred to hospitals out of the borough and should help the hospital retain skilled staff. The unit will temporarily relocate elsewhere in the hospital while the modernisation is completed. The hospital currently has eight intensive treatment beds and seven high-dependency beds. It hopes to open the new unit in 2021. It follows a £21 million A&E rebuild that was opened by Health Secretary Matt Hancock in May. Mr Johnson said: “Following its successful A&E refurbishment, Croydon University Hospital will now benefit from bigger and better care units.” Hospital chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: “By redeveloping our intensive treatment and high-dependency units, we can ensure our patients receive the care they need.” Barking, Havering and Redbridge clinical commissioning groups and North East London NHS Foundation Trust received £17 million to develop a health and wellbeing hub in Hornchurch. With the area’s population set to increase by 15,000 in the next 10 years, the hub will include a centre of excellence to keep the elderly active, plus outpatient clinics and GP services. The £1.8 billion includes £1 billion for major infrastructure projects. NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said it was a “significant start” to providing modern facilities and equipment. But Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst at The Nuffield Trust, said the £1 billion had already been given to hospitals — but they had been banned from spending it. “They earned it last year in incentive payments for cutting their costs,” she said. Mr Hancock today told Good Morning Britain that he could “guarantee” the NHS was ready to cope with a no-deal Brexit. He said: “I can guarantee we have plans in place to make sure the NHS runs as effectively as it does today through any Brexit scenario.” | Ross Lydall | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/london-hospital-to-share-in-850m-boris-handout-a4205621.html | 2019-08-05 09:45:00+00:00 | 1,565,012,700 | 1,567,534,806 | health | health facility |
185,488 | eveningstandard--2019-09-28--Boris Johnson sets out 13bn plan for 40 new hospitals ahead of Tory conference | 2019-09-28T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Boris Johnson sets out £13bn plan for 40 new hospitals ahead of Tory conference | Boris Johnson has set out a £13 billion plan for 40 new hospitals to replace old and out-dated buildings as the Tories gather for their annual conference in Manchester. The Prime Minister told The Sunday Telegraph that the Government was embarking on "the biggest programme of hospital building in a generation". Mr Johnson said the plan was beginning with a £2.7 billion cash injection for six hospitals over the next five years. The remaining projects, including up to a dozen smaller rural hospitals, will be completed over the second half of the next decade. "We're launching the biggest hospital building programme in a generation. You will have seen that on the steps of Downing Street I announced 20 new hospital upgrades," he said. "We're now following that up with 40 new hospitals we're going to be doing across the country. It's the biggest programme of hospital building in a generation." The announcement comes as Mr Johnson arrived in Manchester for the party conference, which faces being overshadowed by moves to oust him at Westminster. The Prime Minister also faces pressure over his links with businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri while he was London mayor. Mr Johnson refused to answer questions about his political and personal battles as he arrived with girlfriend Carrie Symonds at the Midland Hotel. A small group of protesters gathered outside the ring of steel which surrounds the venue, and their anti-Brexit cries could be heard as Mr Johnson got out of his ministerial Jaguar. "Boris is a liar" and "get your Johnson out of our democracy" were among the slogans chanted by the demonstrators. Posting on Twitter on Saturday evening, Mr Johnson said: "Arrived in Manchester for our Conservative Party conference. Let's get Brexit done!" The Government's defeat in the Supreme Court and its failure to win a Commons vote to schedule a recess for the conference means that Tory MPs face shuttling between Manchester and Westminster to counter the threat of an ambush by opposition parties. A senior SNP MP said the opposition parties could stage a vote of no-confidence in the Government as early as next week in a bid to replace the Prime Minister with a caretaker leader who would secure an extension to the Brexit deadline. Labour's Jeremy Corbyn is expected to convene another meeting of opposition leaders in Westminster on Monday to plot their next moves aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit on October 31. | Katy Clifton | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/boris-johnson-sets-out-13bn-plan-for-40-new-hospitals-ahead-of-tory-party-conference-a4249296.html | 2019-09-28 20:24:30+00:00 | 1,569,716,670 | 1,570,222,008 | health | health facility |
187,258 | eveningstandard--2019-10-17--Hillingdon Hospital forced to close child wards over 'structural failure' | 2019-10-17T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Hillingdon Hospital forced to close child wards over 'structural failure' | Boris Johnson's constituency hospital has been forced to close its children’s wards after the building began to fall apart. Engineers spotted subsidence at Hillingdon hospital, prompting the Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell wards to be shut amid concerns about safety. The problems were described as “significant building failure to the sub-structure, rendering parts of the building inoperable”. The hospital’s condition is among the worst in London, with a repairs backlog of about £200 million. But it was given only “seed funding” from the Government’s £1.8 billion pledged last month by Mr Johnson to rebuild the NHS’s worst hospitals. The funding is to help it draw up plans for a new hospital, which is not due until 2025-2030. Peter Pan is an inpatient long-stay and emergency ward used by children receiving cancer treatment and who have been admitted via A&E. The Wendy ward is used for day patients, including children undergoing less complex operations and requiring blood tests. Tinkerbell is used by paediatric outpatients. The child inpatients have been moved to other parts of the hospital, while outpatient clinics are being held elsewhere on the site. Visiting the hospital last week, Mr Johnson said: “It needs a complete rebuild and that is what we are going to do.” Hospital chief executive Sarah Tedford said the move was done as a precaution. She said: “This is an unfortunate legacy of our ageing estate, which is why we have worked hard to try to secure the funding not only for a new hospital but for interim repairs and maintenance.” New: Daily podcast from the Evening Standard Listen and subscribe to The Leader on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast or your chosen podcast provider. New episodes every weekday from 4pm. | Ross Lydall | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/hillingdon-hospital-forced-to-close-child-wards-over-structural-failure-a4264141.html | Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:59:00 GMT | 1,571,324,340 | 1,571,318,118 | health | health facility |
289,971 | lifesitenews--2019-10-14--U of Michigan hospital trying to yank life support from 14-year-old boy against parents’ wishe | 2019-10-14T00:00:00 | lifesitenews | U of Michigan hospital trying to yank life support from 14-year-old boy against parents’ wishes | ANN ARBOR, Michigan, October 14, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The family of a 14-year-old boy is desperately appealing for more time for their son after a hospital declared him “brain dead” and planned to remove his ventilator. Bobby Reyes, a 14-year-old boy from Michigan, suffered a cardiac arrest on September 21 after experiencing an asthma attack and was airlifted to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. Doctors at the hospital diagnosed Bobby as being “brain dead” and within a week of that diagnosis informed his family that his ventilator would be removed, which would bring an end to his life. But the family points out that the hospital has admitted that there has been improvement in Bobby’s condition and that it is only possible for a living person to get better. Bobby’s family is requesting that the hospital give him more time while they try to find another hospital that will receive him and give him ongoing care. Last week they believed that Bobby could be transferred to and receive care in Phoenix, Arizona, with Allegiant Healthcare. But after initially agreeing to receive him, on Thursday the facility said they could not take Bobby. Allegiant claimed that they changed their decision because Bobby’s mother wanted “ongoing care,” while they were only prepared to offer him “palliation.” The family will be in court on Tuesday, October 15 at 10:00 a.m. to try to be granted more time to arrange a transfer for Bobby. Bobby Schindler, President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, will be in court with the family. A press release on his website said that “the Reyes case is representative of a very deep problem within the US healthcare system – particularly those issues surrounding the rush to end the life of patients within the confines of hospital corporations, which have a vested financial interest in discontinuing life.” “Bobby’s parents, not wanting to make the decision to end their son’s life so quickly, are simply asking for more time, and doctors are duty-bound to provide all potentially efficacious treatments that might help with the patient’s recovery,” said Schindler. | null | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u-of-michigan-hospital-trying-to-yank-life-support-from-14-year-old-boy-against-parents-wishes | 2019-10-14T18:18:00+00:00 | 1,571,091,480 | 1,571,090,550 | health | health facility |
290,016 | lifesitenews--2019-10-16--U of Michigan ‘just killed my son’: Hospital yanks life support hours after judge dismisses case | 2019-10-16T00:00:00 | lifesitenews | U of Michigan ‘just killed my son’: Hospital yanks life support hours after judge dismisses case | ANN ARBOR, Michigan, October 16, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Bobby Reyes, a 14-year-old boy from Michigan who doctors declared "brain dead," died yesterday after a judge dismissed his family’s court case asking he be given more time. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital removed his ventilator just hours later. The case was heard at 10:00 a.m. and by 3:00 p.m. the hospital had released a statement declaring Bobby to be dead. Bobby suffered a cardiac arrest on September 21 after experiencing an asthma attack and was airlifted to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. Doctors at the hospital diagnosed Bobby as being “brain dead” and within a week of that diagnosis informed his family that his ventilator would be removed, bringing an end to his life. Bobby’s family brought the case to court to seek more time to arrange a transfer for their son. But that request was denied by Judge David Swartz of the Washtenaw County Circuit Court yesterday morning, and the medical staff at the University of Michigan hospital disconnected Bobby’s ventilator just hours later. The decision to remove Bobby’s ventilator was made after a second brain death examination was made Monday which pronounced him dead. But Bobby’s family has continually pointed out that the hospital has admitted that there has been improvement in Bobby’s condition and that it is only possible for a living person to get better. They have claimed that other doctors believed there was hope for Bobby, including Richard P. Bonfiglio. Bonfiglio is himself a graduate of the University of Michigan’s medical school and attended the court hearing yesterday. He told the Detroit Free Press that he had reviewed Bobby's charts and visited him in the hospital, although he did not conduct a formal examination because he lacks admitting privileges at the hospital. When asked if he had seen reasons for the family to hope, he said, “Absolutely, yes. The problem is the whole determination of brain death is not a precise science at this point, so when you're dealing with this kind of situation, I would rather err on the side of giving him a chance than on terminating things.” “The University of Michigan just killed my son,” she said. “Our lawyer Bill had a papers at the courthouse in his hand that could have saved him but they rushed this whole thing so fast. Bobby is gone and I feel numb we tried so hard to save em I let my boy down. My heart is [broken] we were so close to finding him a place they couldn't give us no time monsters and murderers.” LifeSiteNews wishes to extend our deepest sympathies to all of Bobby’s family and friends and will bring you further coverage of this tragic story in the coming days. | null | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u-of-michigan-just-killed-my-son-hospital-yanks-life-support-hours-after-judge-dismisses-case | 2019-10-16T12:55:00+00:00 | 1,571,244,900 | 1,571,263,354 | health | health facility |
291,465 | liveaction--2019-04-30--BREAKING Hospital set to euthanize patient who wants to live by removing oxygen | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | liveaction | BREAKING: Hospital set to euthanize patient who wants to live by removing oxygen | Life Legal Defense Foundation shared a post on Facebook today regarding a 64-year-old lung cancer patient, Catie Cassidy, at Fairview Hospital in Edina, Minnesota, whom the hospital is threatening to euthanize by removing her oxygen tomorrow — which would cause her to suffocate to death. LLDF writes: Catie is a patient at a hospital in Minnesota. She has lung cancer and needs oxygen to remain comfortable. The hospital plans to remove Catie’s oxygen tomorrow morning, which will result in her death by suffocation. Catie is on video saying she does not want the hospital to “pull the plug.” She relayed this to the hospital’s chaplain, who was sent to Catie’s room by the hospital to prepare her to be euthanized. Even though the hospital has been sedating Catie, she understands what the hospital is planning to do and says she is still fighting and is “not ready” to die. We are appalled that a hospital would even consider withdrawing oxygen from a patient who has clearly communicated that she wants to live. When asked if she wants her oxygen removed, Catie’s response was “NO! I want to live!” Withdrawing Catie’s oxygen to cause her death is active euthanasia, which is illegal in Minnesota and every other state. Life Legal is evaluating legal options at this time. In the video below, Catie can be heard clearly recounting a conversation she had with an unnamed individual about the idea of being euthanized: “I said, ‘I’m not ready.’ He said, ‘You don’t wanna pull the plug?’ I said, ‘NO WAY!'” Catie has expressed her wishes not to die. She is conscious and talking. Even if a patient’s cancer is terminal, removing oxygen from a cancer patient to directly euthanize that person — certainly one who is conscious — is inhumane. And, as LLDF pointed out, “Withdrawing Catie’s oxygen to cause her death is active euthanasia, which is illegal in Minnesota and every other state.” LLDF also wrote a blog post with more information about Catie’s situation, saying that “Life Legal is representing Catie’s health care proxy. We are demanding that the hospital transfer Catie to another facility that will care for her, as required by law.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Newsroom | https://www.liveaction.org/news/hospital-euthanize-oxygen-patient-wants-live/ | 2019-04-30 18:36:31+00:00 | 1,556,663,791 | 1,567,541,583 | health | health facility |
291,472 | liveaction--2019-04-30--VICTORY Hospital will no longer remove oxygen from cancer patient | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | liveaction | VICTORY: Hospital will no longer remove oxygen from cancer patient | UPDATE, 5/1/19, 8:13p EST: Good news from Life Legal Defense Foundation. Below is the group’s statement with regard to Catie Cassidy: Yesterday, Life Legal reported that 64-year-old Catie Cassidy was threatened with removal of oxygen while receiving care at a Minnesota hospital. Without supplemental oxygen, Catie would have suffocated to death. In response, Life Legal attorneys sent a demand letter letting the hospital know of its duties under Minnesota law. We have received news today that Fairview Hospital in Edina is fully cooperating with Catie’s health care proxy and that they will continue to provide Catie with oxygen as needed. We are grateful for the work of our Life Legal Minnesota team, especially attorneys Wayne Holstad and Craig Beuning of Holstad and Knaak, who intervened immediately on Catie’s behalf. “Life Legal is pleased that Catie will receive the care she needs and that her wish to fight for her life as long as she can will be honored,” said Life Legal Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. “It is time for us to have a larger conversation about the inherent value of every human life and about our moral obligation to protect those who are most vulnerable.” UPDATE, 5/1/19, 4:01p EST: Fairview Hospital responded this afternoon to Live Action with a statement: If you’ve heard or seen the inaccurate accusations about euthanasia at one of our hospitals, we’d like to address this directly: Because of privacy laws, we cannot comment on a specific patient’s medical condition. We can share, however, how we address end-of-life care. End-of-life care is focused on comfort care during the dying process. We communicate closely with the patient or, if they are unable to participate in conversation, with their designated decision-maker if they have one. We do our best to honor the patient’s known wishes, whether those wishes are to prolong life or to stop treatment. Euthanasia is illegal in the State of Minnesota, and our health system does not practice it. It is always our goal to provide medically appropriate and ethical care and comfort to our patients with the utmost dignity and honor. 4/30/19: The attorneys at Life Legal Defense Foundation shared a post on Facebook today regarding a 64-year-old lung cancer patient, Catie Cassidy, at Fairview Hospital in Edina, Minnesota, whom the hospital is threatening to euthanize by removing her oxygen tomorrow — which LLDF says would cause her to suffocate to death. LLDF writes: Catie is a patient at a hospital in Minnesota. She has lung cancer and needs oxygen to remain comfortable. The hospital plans to remove Catie’s oxygen tomorrow morning, which will result in her death by suffocation. Catie is on video saying she does not want the hospital to “pull the plug.” She relayed this to the hospital’s chaplain, who was sent to Catie’s room by the hospital to prepare her to be euthanized. Even though the hospital has been sedating Catie, she understands what the hospital is planning to do and says she is still fighting and is “not ready” to die. We are appalled that a hospital would even consider withdrawing oxygen from a patient who has clearly communicated that she wants to live. When asked if she wants her oxygen removed, Catie’s response was “NO! I want to live!” Withdrawing Catie’s oxygen to cause her death is active euthanasia, which is illegal in Minnesota and every other state. Life Legal is evaluating legal options at this time. In the video below, Catie can be heard clearly recounting a conversation she had with an unnamed individual about the idea of being euthanized: “I said, ‘I’m not ready.’ He said, ‘You don’t wanna pull the plug?’ I said, ‘NO WAY!'” As LLDF pointed out, “Withdrawing Catie’s oxygen to cause her death is active euthanasia, which is illegal in Minnesota and every other state.” LLDF also wrote a blog post with more information about Catie’s situation, saying that “Life Legal is representing Catie’s health care proxy. We are demanding that the hospital transfer Catie to another facility that will care for her, as required by law.” The hospital did not immediately return a request for comment. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Newsroom | https://www.liveaction.org/news/hospital-euthanize-oxygen-patient-wants-live/ | 2019-04-30 18:36:31+00:00 | 1,556,663,791 | 1,567,541,582 | health | health facility |
291,773 | liveaction--2019-07-04--New York City rejects 13M for hospitals in favor of choosing abortion over healthcare | 2019-07-04T00:00:00 | liveaction | New York City rejects $1.3M for hospitals in favor of choosing abortion over healthcare | In protest of the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule, New York City officials chose to reject $1.3 million in federal funding for public hospitals in order to continue promoting abortion. The announcement comes weeks after New York City became the first municipality to pay directly for the abortions of low-income children. Liberty Counsel reports in a press release that Mayor Bill de Blasio, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Herminia Palacio, and President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitchell Katz made the announced that as long as the Protect Life Rule is in effect, they will refuse Title X funding, which supports family planning services for low-income women. As Live Action News previously reported, the Protect Life Rule requires a “clear financial and physical separation between Title X funded projects and programs or facilities where abortion is a method of family planning.” The rule has prevented Planned Parenthood, which refuses to separate its abortion business from the limited birth control and cancer screenings it offers, from receiving about $60 million annually in Title X funding. READ: New York City: Where pizza parlors are safer than “filthy” uninspected abortion clinics Mayor Bill de Blasio characterized the pro-life protections as a “gag rule,” claiming, “The doctors and nurses at the heart of New York City’s public hospital system took an oath to protect and serve patients, and we will do whatever’s necessary to ensure they are able to provide the best medical treatment. Our decision to reject Title X funds sends a clear message – we will not stand by while the Trump Administration tries to censor our providers and prevent them from giving patients information about abortions.” Bloomberg quoted de Blasio in part from a news conference on his decision to reject federal funds: “Our public hospitals will continue to give full reproductive care; no public hospital will be prohibited from giving full truthful advice to their patients,” de Blasio said during a news conference at Bellevue Medical Center, the oldest continuously operating hospital in the U.S., founded in 1736. “There’s no city that turns down federal money lightly. We’re not going to accept this gag rule in New York City. We’re going to make sure that women’s reproductive health rights are honored. We have to make sure nonprofits are made whole as well.” Planned Parenthood is, of course, classified as a “nonprofit” organization, though it has excess revenues in the tens of millions each year. READ: CDC data reveals New York City is the ‘late-term abortion capital’ Abortion is not health care, and it is not necessary to violently end the life of a preborn child with a beating heat in order to advance the best interests of women. Abortion activists, with de Blasio as their mouthpiece, claim that pro-lifers value preborn humans above the lives of their mothers. In fact, the reverse is true: Abortion activists have shown time and again that they view the only way forward as sacrificing preborn children to “empower” women. Nothing is empowering about telling mothers they must kill their own children in order to live and pursue their dreams. READ: New York City becomes first to pay directly for abortions of low-income children As Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, aptly stated, “This tantrum by Mayor de Blasio and other New York City hospital bureaucrats to forgo federal funds is driven by their absence of concern for human lives.” He noted, “There are people that truly need medical attention in those hospitals. However, it is ironic that doctors and nurses in the public hospital system ‘took an oath to protect and serve patients’ but city and state officials will do whatever necessary to murder unborn children and harm women. This is just another example that New York wants to become the world sanctuary for abortions.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Anna Reynolds | https://www.liveaction.org/news/new-york-city-rejects-millions-hospitals-abortion/ | 2019-07-04 15:31:11+00:00 | 1,562,268,671 | 1,567,536,849 | health | health facility |
292,205 | liveaction--2019-09-30--Catholic hospital in Canada forced to participate in assisted suicide | 2019-09-30T00:00:00 | liveaction | Catholic hospital in Canada forced to participate in assisted suicide | Despite an agreement saying that its beliefs and values would be respected, a Catholic hospital in Canada is being forced to participate in assisted suicide after facing legal battles from assisted suicide advocacy organizations. St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Complex in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, gave control of the hospital to the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) in 1996 after previously being run by the Sisters of St. Martha — but signed an agreement saying the hospital’s Catholic identity would be protected. This meant assisted suicide was not allowed at St. Martha’s. But outrage from assisted suicide advocacy group Dying with Dignity resulted in threats of a potential legal challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This led the NSHA to quietly announce that “[a]ssessments and provision of MAiD [medical assistance in dying] will be available in a section of St. Martha’s Regional Hospital complex at the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre” in a statement. Unsurprisingly, Dying with Dignity celebrated the change. “We hope that this is the start and that Nova Scotia’s regulation, Nova Scotia’s position will be used as a model in other jurisdictions across the country. We’re certainly pushing for that,” Jim Cowan, chair of Dying with Dignity, told Global News. However, a statement from the Sisters of St. Martha insisted that assisted suicide would not be committed within the hospital, but solely in the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre building, which is attached to the hospital. As noted by Bioedge, worldwide pressure is mounting on Catholic health care providers to drop their opposition to things like abortion and assisted suicide. One example is Jocelyn Downie, of Dalhousie University, who specifically singled out St. Martha’s to reporters. “[I]t’s indefensible to have a publicly funded institution have a faith-based filter on the services that are available,” she said, attacking the idea of organizations like St. Martha’s receiving taxpayer funding while refusing to participate in abortion and assisted suicide. Moves like these send a chilling message, not just for pro-life issues, but for religious freedom and conscience rights as well. Ultimately, what pro-death activists are saying is that any organization unwilling to participate in active killing should not be allowed to receive taxpayer funding, at a time when conscience protections are already under attack around the world. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/catholic-hospital-canada-forced-participate-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-09-30 15:45:39+00:00 | 1,569,872,739 | 1,570,221,885 | health | health facility |
336,085 | naturalnews--2019-06-02--Ohio hospital spreading deadly infectious disease through its water systems | 2019-06-02T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Ohio hospital spreading deadly infectious disease through its water systems | (Natural News) In April of this year, Natural News reported how U.S. hospitals were releasing deadly superbugs into the open air, infecting both patients and individuals in the local community with a deadly fungal strain known as candida auris. As I wrote then: It’s happening right now. And this pandemic has been silently spreading over the last four years, with virtually zero media reports, very little information from the CDC, and a coordinated cover-up by the hospitals of the western world to keep patients in the dark while they’re being infected and killed by a deadly pathogen. Now, patients in an Ohio hospital have been infected with Legionnaires’ disease after the hospital was found to be circulating a potentially deadly bacterial strain through its water supply. Local media is reporting the details of the outbreak, and Dr. Amy Acton, who heads up the Ohio Dept. of Health, is reportedly leading the investigation into what happened. InfoWars has covered the full story and reports the following (source): SEVEN DIAGNOSED WITH LEGIONNAIRES’ AT NEW OHIO HOSPITAL Seven patients have been diagnosed with the deadly Legionnaires’ disease at an Ohio hospital that’s been open just over a month, according to reports. Health officials have begun to disinfect the building’s water lines to stop the spread and are scrambling to identify the source of the bacteria, according to a Friday statement from Dr. Amy Acton, director of Ohio’s Department of Health. “To protect patients, employees, and visitors, we have acted swiftly today after my team discovered a connection between three confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in former patients at Mount Carmel Grove City,” said Dr. Acton. “Working in collaboration with Franklin County Public Health, I issued an adjudication order to immediately reduce the risk of further infection.” Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here. “It is our understanding that hospital officials have begun implementing the steps outlined in the order, tonight.” Specific maneuvers outlined in the statement include but aren’t limited to the following, according to local media: – Flush all hot and cold water lines and fixtures throughout the entire seven-floor, 200-bed facility. – Implement immediate remediation practices to disinfect hot and cold water lines and fixtures. – Ensure the two on-sight cooling towers are cleaned and serviced. Legionnaires’ disease is described as a severe form of pneumonia and is contracted by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacteria, which is why authorities are targeting the hospital’s water supply. Similarly, this brings to mind a recent superbug fungal outbreak that spread rapidly throughout U.S. hospitals, mainly New York and New Jersey. During this outbreak in 2017, there were at least 61 reported cases of the deadly fungus that touts a 60% mortality rate and has the potential to become widespread due to conventional antibiotics being ineffective in treating it. At the time, reported cases of the fungal superbug, called Candida auris, skyrocketed a staggering 800% from several months prior. “It’s acting like a superbug,” said Paige Armstrong of the CDC. “Without appropriate infection control and really a rigorous response, [it] could lead to even more cases in the United States.” Watch the full candida auris mini-documentary here, via Brighteon.com, and stay informed about the threat of deadly superbugs at Superbugs.news. A shorter podcast explanation is available here: | Mike Adams | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-06-02-ohio-hospital-spreading-deadly-infectious-disease-through-its-water-systems.html | 2019-06-02 13:11:22+00:00 | 1,559,495,482 | 1,567,539,346 | health | health facility |
337,156 | naturalnews--2019-09-30--Hackers shut down operations in Wyoming hospital forcing patients to be transferred | 2019-09-30T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Hackers shut down operations in Wyoming hospital, forcing patients to be transferred | (Natural News) In case we needed another reminder of how terribly things can go wrong when we place too much trust in technology, an attack on the computers of a healthcare system in Wyoming forced a hospital to transfer patients and cancel surgeries. The problem was caused by a ransomware attack that took control of the computers at the Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gillette. Although the emergency room remained operational, many services became unavailable at the facility, which hosts clinics, a surgery center, and a long-term care center in addition to the 90-bed hospital. For example, elective surgeries were canceled, and others were being considered on a case-by-case basis. The outpatient lab was shut down, inpatient admissions were brought to a halt, and services like imaging, respiratory therapy, record-keeping and pharmacology were all affected. The hospital said that its walk-in clinic and emergency services would remain open, but ambulances and flight crews were on hand to transport patients if needed. Although officials say they haven’t found evidence that patient data was misused, it’s possible that the hackers gained access to sensitive data pertaining to patients and/or employees. The ordeal caused Campbell County commissioners to declare a local disaster in the area, which is home to around 46,000 people and the heart of the state’s oil and coal industry. The declaration will protect the hospital from losing federal funding due to diverting patients to inferior facilities. The hospital is keeping 1,500 computers and servers offline to help contain the attack. The computers are being treated as a crime scene as investigators work to determine who was behind the attack. FBI investigators and officials from the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security are on the scene. 100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site. Emergency Management Coordinator David King said: “They have unplugged every computer in the hospital. Physically unplugged them from the wall.” A message on the hospital’s website advises patients to call to confirm their appointments prior to showing up; those whose appointments haven’t been canceled are being told to bring their medication bottles with them. In the latest update, which was posted yesterday, they advised people to call because they have no email and limited faxing capabilities. Their site also warned that some people in the area had been receiving phone calls from opportunists claiming to be hospital representatives seeking personal information on the pretense of restoring their patient portal. They advised people not to share information with these callers. Officials haven’t said how many patients have been transferred so far, and they don’t know when the issue will be resolved. Because the attack is still under investigation, hospital officials won’t discuss the hackers’ demands or specify whether those demands were being met. A similar attack was seen at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California in 2016, when staff were forced to work without email access and electronic health records for more than a week before the hospital paid hackers $17,000 to unlock its data. Two Iranian men were later found to be responsible for the attack. In another incident, N.E.O. Urology Associates in Ohio paid a $75,000 ransom in bitcoin to unlock its computer system. Other organizations hit by such attacks decided not to pay hackers for restored access. These problems are on the rise, and they will only continue to increase as we trust computers with more and more vital information. Thankfully, other hospitals are available to pick up some of the slack in this incident, but what would happen if all the hospital systems in the country or even just one state or county were attacked at once? | Isabelle Z. | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-09-30-hackers-shut-down-operations-in-wyoming-hospital.html | 2019-09-30 20:50:16+00:00 | 1,569,891,016 | 1,570,221,909 | health | health facility |
369,884 | newyorkpost--2019-01-31--Study finds malnutrition is rampant in US hospitals | 2019-01-31T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Study finds malnutrition is ‘rampant’ in US hospitals | Is your loved one getting the right amount of nutrients in the hospital? Hospitals are not known for having the most gourmet food options, but a new study shows that patients are not finishing their meals and that can cause more health problems. Just over half (51 percent) of patients leave most of their meals uneaten while staying in the hospital, a study released Wednesday from health nonprofit nutritionDay Worldwide found. Not eating well-rounded meals while staying in the hospital can increase patients’ risk of health complications and delay recovery, the study, published in peer-reviewed Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, concluded. “Malnutrition can be invisible to the eye and is rampant in US hospitals because it’s not always top of mind,” said Gail Gewirtz, president and founder of nutritionDay in the US. “Our data shows that one warning sign — poor food intake — is very common in hospitals and this is something health-care providers can easily look out for and address.’’ (The American Hospital Association declined to comment.) Researchers surveyed nearly 10,000 patients from 245 US hospitals and found that one in three hospitalized adults is at risk of malnutrition. Adults who ate none of their food had a nearly six times higher risk of death than those who ate some food, the study said. Of course, patients may not finish their food because they are sick and simply don’t feel like eating three meals per day. “Patients don’t always have the best appetite or desire to eat while in the hospital, so it’s important to create an environment and serve up options that promote optimal food intake,’’ said Abby Sauer, a registered dietitian at Abbott Laboratories and lead author of the study. “Hospital malnutrition is a public health problem globally, affecting approximately 30 percent to 50 percent of patients,” the study added. “Often patients enter the hospital malnourished or at risk of malnutrition and experience nutrition decline during their stay, placing them at higher risk for adverse outcomes following hospital discharge.” Hospitals serve more than 6.3 million employees and 481 million patients each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The health organization released a “health hospital tool kit” in 2014 to help hospitals “ensure that the healthier choice is the easier choice” for patients, employees and visitors. The CDC suggested more fruits, whole nuts and vegetables for vending machines and fewer packaged chips and candies and sugary drinks and diet sodas. For cafeteria food, the CDC suggests promoting healthy serving sizes and minimizing advertising of unhealthy options like fries, pies, pizzas or cheeseburgers. Many hospitals are working to make changes. In 2017, the American Medical Association, a professional society representing more than 200,000 physicians, called on hospitals to reduce unhealthy foods including sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats. In 2018, food nonprofit Northwell Health hired a Michelin-starred chef to rehabilitate food services at 23 New York hospitals. In addition to improving food options, the nutritionDay Worldwide study suggested increased attention to nutrition. The study was conducted in collaboration between nutritionDay and Abbott. Abbott, the pharmaceutical company behind the study, produces nutritional beverages and, as such, has a vested interest in selling them to patients. Abbott provided funding for the study, but the authors said the data was independently collected by nutritionDay. (There’s more information on the methodology here.) Methods for treating malnutrition vary by hospital and some doctors have criticized sugary meal supplements and replacements as being unhealthy for patients. Some 50 percent to 60 percent of patients do not eat all of a meal that is offered, a 2016 study from the Medical University of Vienna found. Its survey of 91,245 patients was published in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That study showed methods like evaluating patients’ eating habits, offering frequent snacks and coaching relatives on how to encourage patients to eat can be helpful in reducing malnutrition among patients. | Marketwatch | https://nypost.com/2019/01/31/study-finds-malnutrition-is-rampant-in-us-hospitals/ | 2019-01-31 21:19:54+00:00 | 1,548,987,594 | 1,567,550,147 | health | health facility |
372,550 | newyorkpost--2019-03-19--Woman sues hospital for storing frozen embryo without her knowledge | 2019-03-19T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Woman sues hospital for storing frozen embryo without her knowledge | NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman has filed a lawsuit against a Rhode Island hospital she says froze her embryo and kept it in storage for 13 years without her knowledge. The Providence Journal reports that Marisa Cloutier-Bristol states in her lawsuit against Women & Infants Hospital in Providence that its negligence took away her chance to have another child and caused her severe emotional distress. The North Attleborough woman says she found out about the embryo in 2017 after receiving a letter saying she needed to pay $500 to keep it in storage. According to the lawsuit, the embryo had been frozen in 2004 before she and her first husband decided to end in vitro fertilization treatment. Hospital spokeswoman Amy Blustein declined to comment on the case, citing patient privacy laws. | Associated Press | https://nypost.com/2019/03/19/woman-sues-hospital-for-storing-frozen-embryo-without-her-knowledge/ | 2019-03-19 15:27:53+00:00 | 1,553,023,673 | 1,567,545,689 | health | health facility |
378,223 | newyorkpost--2019-07-03--Mold at Seattle Childrens Hospital leaves 1 dead 5 others infected | 2019-07-03T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Mold at Seattle Children’s Hospital leaves 1 dead, 5 others infected | Six patients were sickened and one died from infections by a garden-variety mold at the Seattle Children’s Hospital officials revealed on Tuesday. The fatal patient and two others developed the Aspergillus infections in 2018, while the other three became ill this year, according to The Seattle Times. The mold is dangerous to those with weak immune systems, according to the hospital. “The six patients who developed Aspergillus infections were at higher risk of infection due to the types of procedures they had,” said Children’s public-relations manager Alyse Bernal. “We are deeply saddened that one of these patients died.” The hospital told the paper about the death and infections in response to questions about the indefinite closure in May of 14 operating rooms on its main Seattle campus due to mold. The ORs have been infested — on and off — for about a year, likely because of deficiencies in air-handling and purification systems, the hospital said. “We will reopen our operating rooms when it is safe to do so,” Bernal said. The hospital hasn’t determined when that will be. About 1,000 surgeries have been postponed and others have been relocated. The hospital said it is contacting 3,000 patients who had surgery in the four months leading up to the OR closures to warn them to watch out for infection symptoms. Aspergillus is a common mold found indoors and outdoors that people breathe in daily without getting sick, according to the CDC. Those with weakened immune systems or lung disease, however, are at higher risk of developing aspergillosis, a disease caused by the mold. | Tamar Lapin | https://nypost.com/2019/07/02/mold-at-seattle-childrens-hospital-leaves-1-dead-5-others-infected/ | 2019-07-03 03:44:54+00:00 | 1,562,139,894 | 1,567,537,098 | health | health facility |
378,303 | newyorkpost--2019-07-04--Horrifying mix-up sees wrong man taken off life support at Chicago hospital | 2019-07-04T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Horrifying mix-up sees wrong man taken off life support at Chicago hospital | They thought they had lost their beloved brother for good, taking him off life support and painfully watching him die. Then he showed up for a family barbecue. In a shocking bungle, Chicago police misidentified a badly beaten and unconscious patient, leaving a family to mistakenly think he was their relative and remove him from life support, a new lawsuit charges. The stricken kin only realized the mix-up when the man they thought they had watched die, Alfonso Bennett, strolled up to their home for a family party seven days later, according to court papers. “He walked in the door, and his sisters were stunned,” said family lawyer Cannon Lambert. Bennett’s kin had already “commenced making funeral arrangements … which included purchasing a burial plot, casket and home-going clothes. They also commenced work on an obituary,” court documents say. The debacle began April 29 when Chicago police found a naked and badly bludgeoned man underneath a car in the city and rushed him to local Mercy Hospital. Police later identified the facially disfigured victim as Bennett, who had been listed as missing, by using his mug shot from an unspecified crime, the suit says. The hospital contacted Bennett’s sibling, Rosie Brooks, on May 13, and she and her two sisters rushed to his side. But the women sensed something was amiss and “continually and repeatedly expressed their serious doubts about the identity of the man they were being told was their brother to nearly every medical provider,” the suit says. Staffers told the sisters they were in denial because of grief and “needed to accept it,” according to the suit filed July 3 in Cook County Circuit Court. As the patient’s health rapidly declined, Bennett’s family decided to take him off life support May 23, and he died. Seven days later, a healthy Bennett showed up at his kin’s home after “an out-of-state excursion looking to barbecue with his family,” the suit says. The astonished but overjoyed family notified Chicago police. The cops then fingerprinted the dead body and identified it as that of Elisha Brittman. Chicago police spokeswoman Jessica Alvarez told The Post on Thursday, “In order to protect a person’s privacy, we will use fingerprinting as a last resort.” Brittman’s family was heartbroken to learn that he had died without them at his side and has joined Bennett’s kin in suing the hospital and city for more than $50,000 alleging negligence, wrongful death and emotional distress. Mercy Hospital didn’t return a request for comment. A similarly horrifying mix-up occurred in New York City earlier this year at St. Barnabas Hospital, according to a Bronx Supreme Court suit. A Brooklyn woman grieved at her brain-damaged brother’s hospital bedside for nine days before consenting to pull the plug. After he was taken off life support, she discovered that her real brother was in jail and she had sent a stranger to his death. | Rebecca Rosenberg, Angel Torres | https://nypost.com/2019/07/04/horrifying-mix-up-sees-wrong-man-taken-off-life-support-at-chicago-hospital/ | 2019-07-04 21:53:38+00:00 | 1,562,291,618 | 1,567,536,942 | health | health facility |
378,771 | newyorkpost--2019-07-24--Family sues hospital after hero principal dies donating bone marrow | 2019-07-24T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Family sues hospital after hero principal dies donating bone marrow | A selfless New Jersey principal died trying to help save... | Jackie Salo | https://nypost.com/2019/07/24/family-sues-hospital-after-hero-principal-dies-donating-bone-marrow/ | 2019-07-24 20:16:27+00:00 | 1,564,013,787 | 1,567,535,980 | health | health facility |
380,967 | newyorkpost--2019-11-08--Lenox Hill Hospital will shell out $12.3M for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare | 2019-11-08T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Lenox Hill Hospital will shell out $12.3M for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare | Lenox Hill Hospital and its parent company will cough up a $12.3 million settlement to the Department of Justice for submitting phony Medicare claims, authorities announced Friday. The hefty payout follows a civil fraud lawsuit in which federal prosecutors accused Lenox Hill and Northwell Health of fraudulently billing Medicare for simultaneous surgeries performed by the former head of the Hospital’s Urology Department, David Samadi. Samadi frequently scheduled two different surgeries, one robotic and one endoscopic, at the same time in nearby operating rooms, the Department of Justice said — and then left patients in the care of unqualified medical residents or nurses as he hopped between the two. “Patients put great trust in hospitals, particularly when it comes to surgery,” Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. “Hospitals cannot pay surgeons for their referrals, and they cannot run their operating rooms like assembly lines.” As part of the settlement, Northwell Health — which operates 23 hospitals and 700 outpatient facilities — admitted to overcompensating Samadi for OR referrals billing Medicare for the simultaneous surgeries, and billing Medicare for procedures that did not need to happen in an OR. Samadi’s employment status wasn’t immediately clear, but public records show he is still a licensed physician. “The government’s investigation involved a former Lenox Hill surgeon who, during his time on Lenox Hill’s medical staff, achieved quality results for Lenox Hill’s patients,” a spokeswoman for Lenox Hill and Northwell Health said in a statement. “Lenox Hill is proud of its exemplary patient care services and distinguished medical staff, and is committed to continually refining and enhancing its compliance programs.” A lawyer for the surgeon did not immediately return a message. | Emily Saul | https://nypost.com/2019/11/08/lenox-hill-hospital-will-shell-out-12-3m-for-submitting-fraudulent-claims-to-medicare/ | Fri, 08 Nov 2019 18:26:06 -0500 | 1,573,255,566 | 1,573,258,470 | health | health facility |
381,939 | newyorkpost--2019-12-09--Mount Sinai Hospital’s emergency department is a ‘war zone,’ workers say | 2019-12-09T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Mount Sinai Hospital’s emergency department is a ‘war zone,’ workers say | Mount Sinai Hospital is considered one of the best in the country — but its emergency department is a “war zone” and a danger to the very patients it is supposed to save, current and former staffers have told The Post. Nurses from the Upper East Side hospital recalled patients going into cardiac arrest without anyone noticing, others not being admitted to the critical care area because it was too full and staffers losing track of their charges. They blamed staffing shortages and an obsession with profits. “You feel helpless because there’s nothing you can do,” said Diamond Jordan, a former Mount Sinai registered nurse who quit in September. Dr. Eric Barton, former head of emergency departments for the Mount Sinai hospital network, said he quit in July 2018 after less than a year at the helm because “I had to follow my moral compass and leave and decide this is not an organization that cares for patients.” A report obtained by The Post shows Mount Sinai Hospital knew its emergency department had issues at least three and a half years ago, when it assembled three out-of-state medical experts to review it. The three medical directors spent a day in the department on April 15, 2016, and were horrified by what they saw, writing in an internal report to the hospital that the conditions were “among the worst we have ever seen.’’ The report warned that staffing ratios, infection control, safety, patient boarding and conditions in the emergency department were “unacceptable in a first-class medical center” and implored Mount Sinai to rebuild the department. “It is our opinion that the ED at Mount Sinai is inevitably going to have one or more incidents related to patient safety, quality, or infection control that will draw substantial attention from the media, public, legal system or regulators, despite the extraordinary efforts of professional staff,” the report said. But three years on, it appears little has changed, with Barton, Jordan and five other current or former nurses claiming Mount Sinai has failed to address crucial issues. “Every day I go to work, I feel like I am going to a war zone,” said one nurse who was too nervous to be identified. Jordan, 26, said that on her worst days at work, she was assigned up to 18 patients. The recommended number is five or six. She said she averaged at least nine on a normal day. A Mount Sinai spokeswoman denied that the hospital’s nurses have ever been given a patient workload as high as Jordan claims hers was, saying it was typically less than eight. But one employee said the hospital does not count admitted patients that emergency-department nurses continue to take care of in addition to the very sick patients still being wheeled in. Barton, 57, added that when he was hired as the Mount Sinai hospital-system chair of its Departments of Emergency Medicine in July 2017 — a year after the scathing internal report — the nurse-to-patient ratio was often as high as one to 14. “I refused to work clinically in that ED because it felt too unsafe in terms of nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and what I saw in terms of the delay of care and getting patients upstairs,” Barton said. The spokeswoman said that staffers did raise concerns about workloads but that higher-ups listened, adding 20 nursing positions this year in addition to 42 new staffers since 2016. The hospital also hired a second nurse manager and four assistant nurse managers to support frontline providers, the rep said. She denied the workers’ other allegations, including that patients went into cardiac arrest unnoticed or were lost track of, calling them “simply not true.” “We’re constantly phasing in best practices and working to improve each day and each year,” the spokeswoman said. Mount Sinai was ranked 14th in US News’ annual Best Hospitals list this year — but the index only rates sites based on their specialty departments such as oncology and does not consider emergency rooms. And while long waits and crowded conditions are a daily reality in most New York City hospitals, Mount Sinai workers alleged their facility was the worst to work in. The hospital is rated a “poor performer” based on its patient-satisfaction scores on the state Department of Health website. Staffers from the hospital said the poor reviews may be because patients are left on stretchers in the emergency department’s corridor, where they frequently wait for a bed for up to two days in an area one worker compared to “Times Square.” The workers said they believe the hospital’s decision to stop using its emergency department waiting room around 2016 began a domino effect. The move — known as “split flow” and considered a best practice — was implemented by Mount Sinai Health System after a number of incidents in which patients died in hospital waiting rooms. Among them was a man who died in 2014 after waiting eight hours to see a doctor at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx Under the current system, each patient goes straight into the ER regardless of their condition. While that means patients are seen by a doctor within half an hour, workers said the move overloads the system, given the lack of staff and beds. A Mount Sinai nurse told The Post: “I’ve had several situations, including a patient whose hemoglobin was 3, which means they [virtually] had no blood pumping through their veins.” “But because it was so busy and because of delays in the lab because they had a lot of blood work, they did not discover it until several hours later, and that can be very dangerous.” The patient survived, she said. A nurse who quit in December said, “I’m embarrassed that this is the care we’re giving patients, especially sick ones.” “I went in there being very optimistic and very caring and wanting to help and loving my career, to leaving there hating the business of being a nurse.’’ | Ebony Bowden | https://nypost.com/2019/12/09/mount-sinai-hospitals-emergency-department-is-a-war-zone-workers-say/ | Mon, 09 Dec 2019 06:00:47 -0500 | 1,575,889,247 | 1,575,893,802 | health | health facility |
384,740 | npr--2019-04-02--Hospitals Look To Nursing Homes To Help Stop Drug-Resistant Infections | 2019-04-02T00:00:00 | npr | Hospitals Look To Nursing Homes To Help Stop Drug-Resistant Infections | Hospitals Look To Nursing Homes To Help Stop Drug-Resistant Infections Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois are testing a surprisingly simple strategy to stop the dangerous, antibiotic-resistant superbugs that kill thousands of people each year: washing patients with a special soap. The efforts — funded with roughly $8 million from the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are taking place at 50 facilities in those two states. This novel collaboration recognizes that superbugs don't remain isolated in one hospital or nursing home but move quickly through a community, said Dr. John Jernigan, who directs the CDC's office on health care-acquired infection research. "No health care facility is an island," Jernigan says. "We all are in this complicated network." At least 2 million people in the U.S. become infected with some type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and about 23,000 die from those infections, according to the CDC. People in hospitals are vulnerable to these bugs, and people in nursing homes are particularly vulnerable. Up to 15 percent of hospital patients and 65 percent of nursing home residents harbor drug-resistant organisms, though not all of them will develop an infection, says Dr. Susan Huang, who specializes in infectious diseases at the University of California, Irvine. "Superbugs are scary and they are unabated," Huang says. "They don't go away." Some of the most common bacteria in health care facilities are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, often called "nightmare bacteria." E.Coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are two common germs that can fall into this category when they become resistant to last-resort antibiotics known as carbapenems. CRE bacteria cause an estimated 600 deaths each year, according to the CDC. CRE have "basically spread widely" among health care facilities in the Chicago region, says Dr. Michael Lin, an infectious-diseases specialist at Rush University Medical Center, who is heading the CDC-funded effort there. "If MRSA is a superbug, this is the extreme — the super superbug." Containing the dangerous bacteria has been a challenge for hospitals and nursing homes. As part of the CDC effort, doctors and health care workers in Chicago and Southern California are using the antimicrobial soap chlorhexidine, which has been shown to reduce infections when patients bathe with it. Though hospital intensive care units frequently rely on chlorhexidine in preventing infections, it is used less commonly for bathing in nursing homes. Chlorhexidine also is sold over the counter; the FDA noted in 2017 it has caused rare but severe allergic reactions. In Chicago, researchers are working with 14 nursing homes and long-term acute care hospitals, where staff are screening people for the CRE bacteria at admission and bathing them daily with chlorhexidine. The Chicago project, which started in 2017 and ends in September, includes a campaign to promote hand-washing and increased communication among hospitals about which patients carry the drug-resistant organisms. The infection-control protocol was new to many nursing homes, which don't have the same resources as hospitals, Lin says. In fact, three-quarters of nursing homes in the U.S. received citations for infection-control problems over a four-year period, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis, and the facilities with repeat citations almost never were fined. Nursing home residents often are sent back to hospitals because of infections. In California, health officials are closely watching the CRE bacteria, which are less prevalent there than elsewhere in the country, and they are trying to prevent CRE from taking hold, says Dr. Matthew Zahn, medical director of epidemiology at the Orange County Health Care Agency "We don't have an infinite amount of time," Zahn says. "Taking a chance to try to make a difference in CRE's trajectory now is really important." The CDC-funded project in California is based in Orange County, where 36 hospitals and nursing homes are using the antiseptic wash along with an iodine-based nose swab. The goal is to prevent new people from getting drug-resistant bacteria and keep the ones who already have the bacteria on their skin or elsewhere from developing infections, says Huang, who is leading the project. Huang kicked off the project by studying how patients move among different hospitals and nursing homes in Orange County — she discovered they do so far more than previously thought. That prompted a key question, she says: "What can we do to not just protect our patients but to protect them when they start to move all over the place?" Her previous research showed that patients who were carriers of MRSA bacteria on their skin or in their nose, for example, who, for six months, used chlorhexidine for bathing and as a mouthwash, and swabbed their noses with a nasal antibiotic were able to reduce their risk of developing a MRSA infection by 30 percent. But all the patients in that study, published in February in the New England Journal of Medicine, already had been discharged from hospitals. Now the goal is to target patients still in hospitals or nursing homes and extend the work to CRE. The traditional hospitals participating in the new project are focusing on patients in intensive care units and those who already carry drug-resistant bacteria, while the nursing homes and the long-term acute care hospitals perform the cleaning — also called "decolonizing" — on every resident. One recent morning at Coventry Court Health Center, a nursing home in Anaheim, Calif., 94-year-old Neva Shinkle sat patiently in her wheelchair. Licensed vocational nurse Joana Bartolome swabbed her nose and asked if she remembered what it did. "That's right. It protects you from infection." In a nearby room, senior project coordinator Raveena Singh from UCI talked with Caridad Coca, 71, who had recently arrived at the facility. She explained that Coca would bathe with the chlorhexidine rather than regular soap. "If you have some kind of open wound or cut, it helps protect you from getting an infection," Singh said. "And we are not just protecting you, one person. We protect everybody in the nursing home." Coca said she had a cousin who had spent months in the hospital after getting MRSA. "Luckily, I've never had it," she said. Coventry Court administrator Shaun Dahl says he was eager to participate because people were arriving at the nursing home carrying MRSA or other bugs. "They were sick there and they are sick here," Dahl says. Results from the Chicago project are pending. Preliminary results of the Orange County project, which ends in May, show that it seems to be working, Huang says. After 18 months, researchers saw a 25 percent decline in drug-resistant organisms in nursing home residents, 34 percent in patients of long-term acute care hospitals and 9 percent in traditional hospital patients. The most dramatic drops were in CRE, though the number of patients with that type of bacteria was smaller. The preliminary data also show a promising ripple effect in facilities that aren't part of the effort, a sign that the project may be starting to make a difference in the county, says Zahn of the Orange County Health Care Agency. "In our community, we have seen an increase in antimicrobial-resistant infections," he says. "This offers an opportunity to intervene and bend the curve in the right direction." Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service and editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. | Anna Gorman | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/02/707842736/enter-title?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-04-02 09:00:19+00:00 | 1,554,210,019 | 1,567,544,388 | health | health facility |
384,777 | npr--2019-04-03--Shocking New Statistics About Water And Hygiene In Hospitals Around The World | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | npr | Shocking New Statistics About Water And Hygiene In Hospitals Around The World | Shocking New Statistics About Water And Hygiene In Hospitals Around The World Go to the hospital or a clinic in a wealthy country, and you take it for granted that there's going to be enough clean water — for the doctor to wash her hands before she attends to you, for the staff to clean the floors and linens, and for you to drink when you get thirsty. But in 17 countries at least one in five health-care facilities has no clean water service on site. That's just one of many disturbing findings in a new report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. That data, collected in 2016 from 69 low- and middle-income countries and territories, amounts to the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene in health-care facilities ranging from hospitals to rural clinics. Here are five more takeaways: • The problem is particularly common in Africa, but there's a lot of variation on the continent. For instance, in Namibia only 1 percent of health care facilities have no water service, while in Liberia more than half of facilities go without. Meanwhile several non-African countries also perform poorly by this measure including Myanmar, where 27 percent of health care facilities lack water service, and Peru, where it's 18 percent. • Soap is also in short supply. One out of six health-care facilities covered by the report have no hand hygiene service, meaning not just no soap and water but not even alcohol-based hand rubs available. • And there's a serious lack of toilets. One in five health-care facilities – including almost one in ten hospitals — does not have toilets beyond rudimentary set-ups like pit latrines and bucket latrines. This means more than 1.5 billion people are getting their care at health facilities with these conditions. • Waste disposal is a challenge too. In 30 countries more than half of the health care facilities lack basic waste management services – meaning that infectious waste is not treated and disposed of safely. • All this contributes to both maternal and infant mortality. The report authors estimate that each year 17 million women in the world's poorest countries give birth in health centers with inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. This increases the chance of deadly infections in both mother and newborn. | Nurith Aizenman | https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/04/03/709461530/shocking-new-statistics-about-water-and-hygiene-in-hospitals-around-the-world?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-04-03 20:43:00+00:00 | 1,554,338,580 | 1,567,544,231 | health | health facility |
384,865 | npr--2019-04-07--Economic Ripples Hospital Closure Hurts A Towns Ability To Attract Retirees | 2019-04-07T00:00:00 | npr | Economic Ripples: Hospital Closure Hurts A Town's Ability To Attract Retirees | Before it closed March 1, the 25-bed Columbia River Hospital, in Celina, Tenn., served the town of 1,500 residents. The closest hospital now is 18 miles from Celina — a 30-minute or more drive on mountain roads. **Blake Farmer/WPLN** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Blake Farmer/WPLN Before it closed March 1, the 25-bed Columbia River Hospital, in Celina, Tenn., served the town of 1,500 residents. The closest hospital now is 18 miles from Celina — a 30-minute or more drive on mountain roads. Blake Farmer/WPLN When a rural community loses its hospital, health care becomes harder to come by in an instant. But a hospital closure also shocks a small town's economy. It shuts down one of its largest employers. It scares off heavy industry that needs an emergency room nearby. And in one Tennessee town, a lost hospital means lost hope of attracting more retirees. Seniors, and their retirement accounts, have been viewed as potential saviors for many rural economies trying to make up for lost jobs. But the epidemic of rural hospital closures is threatening those dreams in places like Celina, Tenn.. The town of 1,500, whose 25-bed hospital closed March 1, has been [trying to position itself](https://www.nashvillepublicradio.org/sites/wpln/files/201903/Clay- County-Plan.pdf) as a retiree destination. "I'd say, look elsewhere," says Susan Scovel, a Seattle transplant who came with her husband in 2015. Scovel's despondence is especially noteworthy given that she leads the local chamber of commerce effort to attract retirees like herself. She considers the wooded hills and secluded lake to hold comparable scenic beauty to the Washington coast — with dramatically lower costs of living; she and a small committee plan getaway weekends for prospects to visit. When she first toured the region before moving in 2015, Scovel and her husband, who had Parkinson's, made sure to scope out the hospital, on a hill overlooking the sleepy town square. And she's rushed to the hospital four times since he died in 2017. "I have very high blood pressure, and they're able to do the IVs to get it down," Scovel says. "This is an anxiety thing since my husband died. So now — I don't know." She says she can't in good conscience advise a senior with health problems to come join her in Celina. Susan Bailey has lived most of her life in Celina and started her nursing career at Cumberland River Hospital. She now worries that its closure will drive away the town's remaining physicians. **Blake Farmer/WPLN** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Blake Farmer/WPLN Susan Bailey has lived most of her life in Celina and started her nursing career at Cumberland River Hospital. She now worries that its closure will drive away the town's remaining physicians. Blake Farmer/WPLN **The closure adds delays when seconds count** Celina's Cumberland River Hospital had been on life support for years, operated by the city-owned medical center an hour away in Cookeville, which[ decided in late January](http://cumberlandriverhospital.com/news/Closing%20of%20Cumberland%20River%20Hospital) to cut its losses after trying to find a buyer. Cookeville Regional Medical Center explains that the facility faced the grim reality for many rural providers. "Unfortunately, many rural hospitals across the country are having a difficult time and facing the same challenges, like declining reimbursements and lower patient volumes, that Cumberland River Hospital has experienced," CEO Paul Korth said in a written statement. Celina became the 11th rural hospital in Tennessee to close in recent years — more than in any state but Texas. Both states have refused to expand Medicaid in a way that covers more of the working poor. Even [some Republicans](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https- 3A__www.nashvillepublicradio.org_post_republican-2Dlegislator-2Dblames- 2Dfailure-2Dinsure-2Dtennessee-2Dlatest-2Drural-2Dhospital-2Dclosure- 23stream_0&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=QudUozOfk5JYj59lXMfG7HhQDJlDuCgW_MJ4Ojoyn1s&m=fiNEWGqEEVTPHgTCQZWbKKnGx9hm3uC0cvJsSQyf8DI&s =exdlPT_pYxo4RCx6GM4izdv6Ghrv-Rur1XNrbvkbB5E&e=) now say the decision to not expand Medicaid has added to the struggles of rural health care providers. The closest hospital is now 18 miles away. That adds another 30 minutes through mountain roads for those who need an X-ray or blood work. For those in the back of an ambulance, that bit of time could make the difference between life or death. Staff members posted photos and other memorabilia in the halls — reminders of happier times — in the weeks before its closure. **Blake Farmer/WPLN** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Blake Farmer/WPLN Staff members posted photos and other memorabilia in the halls — reminders of happier times — in the weeks before its closure. Blake Farmer/WPLN "We have the capability of doing a lot of advanced life support, but we're not a hospital," says emergency management director Natalie Boone. The area is already limited in its ambulance service, with **** two of its four trucks out of service. Once a crew is dispatched, Boone says, it's committed to that call. Adding an hour to the turnaround time means someone else could likely call with an emergency and be told — essentially — to wait in line. "What happens when you have that patient that doesn't have that extra time?" Boone asks. "I can think of at least a minimum of two patients [in the last month] that did not have that time." Residents are bracing for cascading effects. Susan Bailey hasn't retired yet, but she's close. She's spent nearly 40 years as a registered nurse, including her early career at Cumberland River. "People say, 'You probably just need to move or find another place to go,' " she says. Closure of the hospital meant 147 nurses, aides and clerical staff had to find new jobs. The hospital was the town's second-largest employer, after the local school system. **Blake Farmer/WPLN** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Blake Farmer/WPLN Closure of the hospital meant 147 nurses, aides and clerical staff had to find new jobs. The hospital was the town's second-largest employer, after the local school system. Blake Farmer/WPLN Bailey and others are concerned that losing the hospital will soon mean losing the only three physicians in town. The doctors say they plan to keep their practices going, but for how long? And what about when they retire? "That's a big problem," Bailey says. "The doctors aren't going to want to come in and open an office and have to drive 20 or 30 minutes to see their patients every single day." Closure of the hospital means 147 nurses, aides and clerical staff have to find new jobs. Some employees come to tears at the prospect of having to find work outside the county and are deeply sad that their hometown is losing one of its largest employers — second only to the local school system. Dr. John McMichen is an emergency physician who would travel to Celina to work weekends at the ER and give the local doctors a break. "I thought of Celina as maybe the _Andy Griffith Show_ of health care," he says. McMichen, who also worked at the now shuttered[ Copper Basin Medical Center](https://www.modernhealthcare.com/indepth/rural-hospital-closure- tennessee-leaves-town-scrambling/), on the other side of the state, says people at Cumberland River knew just about anyone who would walk through the door. That's why it was attractive to retirees. "It reminded me of a time long ago that has seemingly passed. I can't say that it will ever come back," he says. "I have hopes that there's still some hope for small hospitals in that type of community. But I think the chances are becoming less of those community hospitals surviving." | Blake Farmer | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/07/703932131/economic-ripples-hospital-closure-hurts-a-towns-ability-to-attract-retirees?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-04-07 11:33:00+00:00 | 1,554,651,180 | 1,567,543,713 | health | health facility |
385,190 | npr--2019-04-23--Hospitals Chafe Under A Medicare Rule That Reduces Payments To Far-Flung Clinics | 2019-04-23T00:00:00 | npr | Hospitals Chafe Under A Medicare Rule That Reduces Payments To Far-Flung Clinics | Hospitals Chafe Under A Medicare Rule That Reduces Payments To Far-Flung Clinics Eric Lewis' plans of expanding his community hospital's reach have been derailed. As CEO of Olympic Medical Center, he oversees efforts to provide care to roughly 75,000 people in Clallam County, in the isolated, rural northwestern corner of Washington state. Last year, Lewis planned to build a primary care clinic in Sequim, a town about 17 miles from the medical center's main campus of a hospital and clinics in Port Angeles. But those plans were put aside, Lewis says, because of a change in federal reimbursements this year. Medicare has opted to pay hospitals that have outpatient facilities "off campus" a lower rate — equivalent to what it pays independent doctors for clinic visits. Over the past decade, hospitals have been rapidly building outpatient clinics or purchasing existing independent ones. It was a lucrative business strategy because such clinics could charge higher rates, on the premise that they were part of a hospital. With its new policy, Medicare is essentially saying that an off-campus office is an off-campus office, regardless of whether it's owned by a hospital, a group of doctors or a solo practitioner. Taking that position will save Medicare — and possibly patients — money. The federal insurer bore the brunt of its members' extra charges, but beneficiaries sometimes picked up part of that expense through deductibles and copayments. Patients with commercial insurance often were blindsided by high bills — going to what seemed to be a normal primary care clinic, only to discover they were charged a hospital facility fee, for example. Health policy analysts say the new policy represents an important step in rationalizing payments. Part of a strategy called "site neutral" payment, the new policy has its roots in the Obama administration and was part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. "You don't care about where [your treatment is] happening. You care that it's a safe and inexpensive procedure," says Gerard Anderson, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management. "And the facility fee just adds to the cost with very little added value." The new payment structure may financially hurt some hospitals, he and other experts acknowledge. But making reimbursements more uniform across providers facilitates competition and may lead commercial insurance to follow suit — which could translate to more savings for patients. This year, the policy's two-part phase-in cut Medicare payments for clinic visits to outpatient departments by 30%, according to the rule finalized in November. By 2020, the payment rates will be cut by 60% compared with what they were last summer. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that the change will save the federal government $380 million this year and patients an average of $7 every time they visit a hospital-owned clinic. Clinic visits are the most commonly charged service for hospital outpatient care under Medicare. It could also cut down on consolidation in the industry, health care economists say, by closing the loophole that created incentives for hospitals to purchase independent physician practices and charge higher rates for services at taxpayers' expense. The American Hospital Association filed a lawsuit late last year alleging that CMS overstepped its authority when setting the new reimbursement schedule. Olympic Medical Center is among the plaintiffs. The hospital association claims that the new rule infringes on a precedent Congress set with the 2015 budget law. That legislation standardized Medicare payments for clinic visits to physicians' offices and new hospital outpatient facilities, but allowed most hospital-affiliated departments that existed at that time to continue receiving a higher rate, according to a comment letter from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. The group is a nonpartisan agency that advises Congress. The differential for site-based payments was designed originally to help hospitals offset the higher costs they incur for maintaining the staff and equipment to handle a wide variety of treatments, says Christopher Whaley, an associate policy researcher at the research organization Rand Corp. But that financial relief became an incentive for hospitals to buy independent practices, says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School. Hospitals were able to charge higher prices for services performed at newly acquired clinics. Mehrotra says the new CMS rule could be a way to slow down the trend. "This isn't going to fully put the brakes on it," he says, "but it could be one push on the brakes here — to kind of push that consolidation down." Some health care analysts have urged the government to expand the number of services covered by the site-neutral policy, including paying hospitals' on-site clinics a rate equivalent to what independent doctors receive. Hospitals acknowledge that the change implemented by CMS could lead to savings in the health care system, but they say it comes at the cost of patients' convenient access to medical care. In Washington state, Lewis anticipates a loss of $1.6 million for his hospital. The lack of a clinic in Sequim means ailing patients there will not be able to get care close to their homes, Lewis says. "If you're well-to-do financially, these aren't big problems," Lewis adds. "But I think the poorest, elderly, sickest of our society will pay the price of this policy." Melinda Hatton, general counsel for the hospital association, agrees. "I think access trumps a couple extra dollars in copays every single time," she says. On the other hand, many independent physicians support the change. Marni Jameson Carey, executive director of the Association of Independent Doctors, says she hopes the rule will curb consolidation. According to a recent report by the consulting firm Avalere, the number of hospital-owned physician practices more than doubled from 35,700 to 80,000 between July 2012 and January 2018. Hospitals own more than 31% of all physician practices, the report found. Jameson Carey says such mergers can also cause problems for the local economy. When a nonprofit hospital acquires an independent clinic, it effectively removes a tax-paying business from the area. That's because nonprofit hospitals are exempt from paying certain federal, state and local taxes — in exchange for providing community benefits. "So, not only do they [hospitals] get the facility fee," Jameson Carey says, "they don't have to pay taxes." Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service and editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. | Carmen Heredia Rodriguez | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/23/716110288/hospitals-chafe-under-a-medicare-rule-that-reduces-payments-to-far-flung-clinics?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-04-23 09:00:23+00:00 | 1,556,024,423 | 1,567,542,066 | health | health facility |
385,682 | npr--2019-05-31--Richer Medicare Payments For Rural Hospitals Could Come At Urban Centers Expense | 2019-05-31T00:00:00 | npr | Richer Medicare Payments For Rural Hospitals Could Come At Urban Centers' Expense | Richer Medicare Payments For Rural Hospitals Could Come At Urban Centers' Expense As rural hospital closures roil the country, some states are banking on a rescue from a Trump administration proposal to change the way hospital payments are calculated. The goal of the proposal, unveiled by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma in April, is to bump up Medicare's reimbursements to rural hospitals, some of which receive the lowest rates in the nation. For example, Alabama's hospitals — most of which are rural — stand to gain an additional $43 million from Medicare next year if CMS makes this adjustment. "We're hopeful," said Danne Howard, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the Alabama Hospital Association. "It's as much about the rural hospitals as rural communities being able to survive." The proposed tweak, as wonky as it may seem, comes with considerable controversy. By law, any proposed changes in the calculation of Medicare payments must be budget-neutral; in other words, the federal government can't spend more money than previously allocated. That would mean any change would have a Robin Hood-like effect: a cut in payments to some hospitals to make it possible to increase payments to others. "There is a real political tension," said Mark Holmes, director of the University of North Carolina's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Changing the factors in Medicare's calculations that help hospitals in rural communities generally would mean that urban hospitals get less money. The federal proposal targets a long-standing and contentious regulation known in Washington simply as the "wage index." The index, created in the 1980s as a way to ensure that federal Medicare reimbursements were equitable for hospitals nationwide, attempts to adjust for local market prices, said Allen Dobson, president of the consulting firm Dobson, DaVanzo & Associates. That means under the current index a rural community hospital could receive a Medicare payment of about $4,000 to treat someone with pneumonia while an urban hospital received nearly $6,000 for the same case, according to CMS. "The idea was to give urban a bit more and rural areas a bit less because their labor costs are a bit less," said Dobson, who was the research director for Medicare in the 1980s when the index was created. "There's probably no exact true way to do it. I think everybody agrees if you are in a high-wage area you ought to get paid more for your higher wages." For decades, hospitals have questioned the fairness of that adjustment. Rural hospitals nationwide have a median wage index that is consistently lower than that of urban hospitals, according to a recent brief by the Sheps Center. The gap is most acute in the South, where 14 of the 20 states that account for the lowest median wage indexes are located. Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that the index may not accurately reflect local labor prices and, therefore, Medicare payments to some hospitals "may not be appropriately" adjusted for local labor prices. More plainly, in some cases, the payments are too low. In an emailed statement, Verma said the current wage index system "has partly contributed to disparities in reimbursement across the country." CMS's current proposal would increase Medicare payments to the mostly rural hospitals in the lowest 25th percentile and decrease the payments to those in the highest 75th percentile. The agency is also proposing a 5% cap on any hospital's decrease in the final wage index in 2020 compared with 2019. This would effectively limit the loss in payments some would experience. Dobson, a former Medicare research director, said he expects "enormous resistance." (The CMS proposal is open for public comment until June 24.) HHS Secretary Alex Azar, foreshadowing how difficult a change could be, said during a May 10 Senate budget hearing that the wage index is "one of the more vexing issues in Medicare." It's problematic, agreed Tom Nickels, an American Hospital Administration executive vice president, noting in an emailed statement that there are other ways "to provide needed relief to low-wage areas without penalizing high-wage areas." It's this split that appears to be dictating the range of reactions. The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association's Michael Sroczynski, who oversees its government lobbying, questioned in an emailed statement whether the wage index is the correct mechanism for providing relief to struggling hospitals. The state's hospitals have historically been at the higher end of the wage index. In contrast, Tennessee Hospital Association CEO Craig Becker applauded the proposed change and said the Trump administration is recognizing the "longstanding unfairness" of the index. Tennessee has been among the hardest hit with hospital closures, counting 10 since 2012. In Alabama, where four rural hospitals have closed since 2012, Howard said that without the change she "could see a dozen or more of our hospitals not being able to survive the next year." Indeed, Howard said, hospitals in more than 20 states could gain Medicare dollars if the proposal passes and "only a small number actually get hurt." Kaiser Health News asked the Missouri Hospital Association, in a state where most hospitals do not stand to gain or lose significantly from the rule change, to calculate the exact differences in hospital payments under the current wage index formula. Under the complex formula, a hospital in Santa Cruz, Calif., an area at the top end of the range, received a Medicare payment rate of $10,951.30 — or 70% more — for treating a concussion with major complications in 2010 as compared with a hospital in rural Alabama, at the bottom end, which received $6,441.76 to provide the same care. Even more, MHA's data analysis showed that the lower payments to Alabama hospitals have compounded over time. In 2019, Medicare increased its pay to the hospitals in the area around Santa Cruz for the same concussion care. It now stands at $13,503.37 — a nearly 23% increase above the 2010 payment. In contrast, rural Alabama hospitals recorded a 3% payment increase, to $6,646.80, for the same care. For Alabama, addressing the calculation disparity could be "the lifeline that we've been praying for," Howard said. Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. | Sarah Jane Tribble | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/31/728283462/richer-medicare-payments-for-rural-hospitals-could-come-at-urban-centers-expense?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-05-31 11:43:50+00:00 | 1,559,317,430 | 1,567,539,606 | health | health facility |
386,756 | npr--2019-08-28--Federal Agency Accuses Vermont Hospital Of Forcing A Nurse To Assist In An Abortion | 2019-08-28T00:00:00 | npr | Federal Agency Accuses Vermont Hospital Of Forcing A Nurse To Assist In An Abortion | Federal Agency Accuses Vermont Hospital Of Forcing A Nurse To Assist In An Abortion The federal government says the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vt., violated federal law by forcing a nurse to participate in an abortion despite her objections. The hospital issued a statement saying that the allegation is "not supported by the facts," as Vermont Public Radio reported. At the center of the dispute is a nurse, whose name is not public. According to a complaint her lawyers filed last May with the Office for Civil Rights, the nurse is Catholic and had informed her employer she could not participate in abortions because of her religious beliefs. Federal law protects health workers from discrimination based on religious or moral beliefs. In 2017, the complaint alleges, the nurse was misled by her employer to believe she was assisting in a procedure scheduled after a miscarriage. "After [she] confirmed that she was, in fact, being assigned to an abortion, [her employer] refused her request that other equally qualified and available personnel take her place," the complaint reads. She then participated in the procedure and "has been haunted by nightmares ever since," according to the complaint. On Wednesday, the Office for Civil Rights announced a notice of violation against the hospital — its first such action since Director Roger Severino launched the Division of Conscience and Religious Freedom in 2018. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services receives and investigates complaints from health organizations and workers over issues of privacy violations, civil rights discrimination and discrimination based on moral or religious beliefs. As NPR has reported, Severino has made clear that protecting religious freedom is his priority, though most of the complaints his office handles have to do with patient privacy or civil rights. Severino told reporters Wednesday this nurse's story was the "quintessential violation" of conscience. "This should never happen in America," Severino said. "There is room for disagreement on these issues without having to coerce people to choose between a career dedicated to supporting life versus instances and situations where they were being forced to take life." The notice of violation says the hospital's policies violated federal law "by discriminating against health care personnel who have religious or moral objections to abortion." It gives the medical center 30 days to agree to work with the agency "to change its policies so it no longer requires health care personnel to participate in abortion against their religious or moral objections, and to take immediate steps to remedy the effect of its past discriminatory conduct." If not, its federal funding could be at risk. University of Vermont Medical Center disputes the events described by the nurse and that its policies violate federal law. It also disputes the government's allegation that it has been uncooperative in the course of the investigation. "I will tell you that we carefully investigated this complaint and we're very, very comfortable that the allegations are not supported by the facts," says Dr. Stephen Leffler, interim president of the University of Vermont Medical Center. Leffler seemed baffled by Severino's characterization of the medical center as not complying with the agency's investigation. "From the outset — and as recently as this month — we offered to discuss our policies and practices with them," Leffler says. "We asked to receive their advice on how those policies and practices could be improved consistent with our obligation to our patients. Unfortunately, OCR instead chose to proceed with this announcement today, as opposed to meeting with us to work to improve the policy together." Neither the medical center nor the government offered any details about the patient who had that procedure in 2017. Severino told reporters it was a dilation and curettage procedure but would not say whether there were any other medical issues at play or how far along the pregnancy was. He noted the law protecting health workers who don't want to participate in abortions does not make any distinctions about gestational age. Leffler, of the medical center, says he is concerned that its federal funding could be at risk if it doesn't change its staffing policy regarding abortions. "All the funding we receive is important," he says. "But we do believe that our policy is correct and just. We do believe our policy protects the rights of the patients who seek our services and protects the rights of our staff. And so we do stand by our policy." Leffler says the hospital's policy is that no health care worker would be forced to participate in a procedure that's against his or her beliefs except in cases of life or death. "I don't know of any cases where we've compelled someone to do something against their will," he adds. Emily Corwin of Vermont Public Radio contributed reporting to this story. | Selena Simmons-Duffin | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/08/28/755177461/federal-agency-accuses-vermont-hospital-of-forcing-a-nurse-to-assist-in-an-abort?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-08-28 22:34:02+00:00 | 1,567,046,042 | 1,567,543,630 | health | health facility |
387,113 | npr--2019-09-25--Nonprofit Hospital That Sued Poor Patients Just Freed Thousands From Debt | 2019-09-25T00:00:00 | npr | Nonprofit Hospital That Sued Poor Patients Just Freed Thousands From Debt | Nonprofit Hospital That Sued Poor Patients Just Freed Thousands From Debt This article was produced in partnership with MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. The largest nonprofit hospital system in Memphis, Tenn., is erasing the debts owed by more than 6,500 patients it sued for unpaid hospital bills. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare had come under fire for its practice of aggressively pursuing medical debt from poor patients, in a city where nearly 1 in 4 residents lives below the poverty line. The move to forgive outstanding bills comes amid an overhaul of its debt collection processes announced in late July. The dramatic shift was prompted by an investigation from nonprofit news organizations MLK50: Justice Through Journalism and ProPublica that revealed that Methodist filed more than 8,300 debt lawsuits from 2014 through 2018, including against its own employees. Methodist had doggedly pursued low-income defendants who had little ability to pay, often garnishing their meager paychecks. The single-page "case satisfied" notices filed by Methodist are coming into the Shelby County General Sessions Court faster than staff can process them. A court administrator estimated a backlog of about 4,500 Methodist notices are waiting to be entered into the court's system. From July 30 through Tuesday, the court had logged more than 2,300 notices submitted by the hospital system that wiped away patients' debts. That's more than nine times the number of notices filed by Methodist in the first six months of 2019. For now, it appears that Methodist is no longer using the courts as a collection agency, a practice that was roundly criticized by health care experts, some elected officials and members of the United Methodist Church, with which the hospital is affiliated. Since July 3, Methodist has not filed any new debt collection lawsuits or garnishment attempts. Among the defendants who no longer owe is Carrie Barrett, a part-time Kroger employee featured in one of the MLK50-ProPublica articles. Barrett's case began in July 2007, when a two-night stay at Methodist Bonheur Healthcare, where doctors performed a heart catheterization, left her with a $12,019 bill. In 2010, Methodist sued her for more than $16,000, one-third of which was attorney's fees. Over the years, thanks to interest and court costs, Barrett's debt climbed to more than $33,000. If she had paid $100 per month as ordered by the court, she would have been 90 by the time she paid it off. Barrett says she received a call nearly two weeks ago from an administrator who said the hospital had reviewed her records. "He said, 'The balance is zero. ... I said, 'You don't know how good that sounds to my ears.' " Jessica Curtis, a senior adviser at Community Catalyst, a national advocacy organization, has followed other nonprofit hospitals that have been the subject of similar media reports. "I was trying to remember when have I seen such a rapid switch," Curtis says. "I don't know that I've seen that before. The scale of what they are attempting to rectify is really commendable from what we've seen thus far." Because the case-satisfied notices do not include the amount owed, the total dollar amount of debt Methodist forgave could not immediately be quantified. Methodist did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nonprofit hospitals are generally exempt from local, state and federal taxes. In return, the federal government expects them to provide a significant community benefit, including charity care and financial assistance. Methodist, which operates five hospitals in Shelby County, does provide some charity care — but experts faulted it for its aggressive collection practices. Its handling of poor patients began with a financial assistance policy that, unlike many of its peers around the country, all but ignored patients with any form of health insurance, no matter their out-of-pocket costs. If they were unable to afford their bills, patients then faced what experts say is rare: a licensed collection agency owned by the hospital. Lawsuits followed. Finally, after the hospital won a judgment, it would repeatedly try to garnish patients' wages, which it did in a far higher share of cases than other nonprofit hospitals in Memphis. Methodist repeatedly refused to make its executives available for interviews, but it sent statements defending itself, noting how it is the only health care system that has hospitals in all four quadrants of Shelby County and that it provided more than $226 million in community benefit. It did not address why its financial assistance policy was less generous than those of its peers or why it garnished wages in a higher percentage of cases than other hospitals. But on June 30, three days after the MLK50-ProPublica investigation was published, Methodist CEO Michael Ugwueke said in a column published in The Commercial Appeal that the hospital would spend the next 30 days reviewing its collection and financial assistance policies. Days later, Methodist announced it would suspend court collection activities over unpaid hospital bills. In the weeks that followed, the hospital's attorney, R. Alan Pritchard, dropped dozens of suits that had been on the court docket. On July 30, the hospital announced wide-reaching reforms. "We were humbled to learn that while there's so much good happening across our health system each day, we can and must do more," Ugwueke said in a media conference call. Under the new policy, financial assistance will be provided to patients earning up to 250% of the federal poverty line, or $53,325 for a family of three. The previous policy applied to uninsured patients with incomes up to 125% of the federal poverty line. Methodist said more than half of the population of greater Memphis would be eligible for assistance under the new policy. The hospital also said it would no longer accept court-ordered interest on medical debt nor would it seek to collect attorney's fees or court costs from patients. And it said it would raise its minimum wage to $13.50 an hour by mid-September and to $15 an hour by January 2021. The lowest-paid employees made $10 an hour and about 18% of workers earned less than $15 an hour, the hospital reported in response to MLK50's 2018 Living Wage Survey. The pay increase signaled that Methodist took the issue seriously, Curtis says. "The inclusion of wages means someone has realized not just the symptom of the problem but the core root of the problem. This is a clearly promising start," she says. It's unclear whether Methodist will resume suing patients for unpaid bills. And the hospital has not said how many additional case-satisfied notices it could file. Plaintiffs cannot refile lawsuits after the case has been marked satisfied. One of the defendants featured in the investigation was a housekeeper at Methodist, who asked that her name not be used for fear that the hospital would fire her for talking to a reporter. In 2017, Methodist sued her for the cost of hospital stays to treat chronic abdominal pain she experienced before the hospital hired her. She owed about $23,000, including around $5,800 in attorney's fees. In January, a General Sessions Court judge ordered her to pay $75 biweekly. The housekeeper paid reliably until this summer, when she missed several days of work because she was sick, eventually ending up in the hospital. That left her paycheck short. She received a small annual raise in August, and another to $13.50 less than two weeks ago Last week, a reporter showed the housekeeper a copy of her case-satisfied notice. "God is a good God," she said, laughing and smiling. "I've been calling them and they tell me nothing. ... This is a blessing right here." Barrett, the Kroger employee featured in the first MLK50-ProPublica story, likewise praised God. At church this month, Barrett had an update for the congregation, which had heard her speak about her financial troubles before. "I have a zero balance," she said. "I just want to thank God for blessings that he has brought to me. ... I thank him for the victory!" she shouted, as others joined her in praise. "Victory is ours, amen!" a minister said from the pulpit. "Don't y'all know that Jesus will drop those charges? Glory to God!" | Wendi C. Thomas | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/09/25/764224277/nonprofit-hospital-that-sued-poor-patients-just-freed-thousands-from-debt?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-09-25 21:58:12+00:00 | 1,569,463,092 | 1,570,222,269 | health | health facility |
427,308 | prepareforchange--2019-08-23--This Futuristic Hospital Is Using Greenery As Medicine | 2019-08-23T00:00:00 | prepareforchange | This Futuristic Hospital Is Using Greenery As Medicine | In 2005, CPG Corporate, a Singapore-based design firm, was tasked with creating a hospital that actually lowered visitors’ blood pressure. “How do we challenge the idea of a hospital to deinstitutionalize it and make it look, smell, and feel unlike a hospital?” Jerry Ong Chin-Po, an architect who worked on the project, tells mbg of the initial challenge. “We felt the best way to do it was to integrate nature into the space.” The hospital, which opened its doors in 2010 and now serves 800,000 residents in northern Singapore, has masked the smell of medicine and chemicals with over 700 species of fragrant native plants. In the lobby, sounds of machines are drowned out by bird species in the central courtyard. And instead of walking through sterile white hallways, patients, caretakers, and the occasional butterfly navigate the space on outdoor bridges wrapped in greenery. In Singapore, medical buildings have multiple tiers of patient rooms (it’s part of how the country maintains its famously cheap health care). Some are private and have air conditioning; others have up to five beds and rely on natural ventilation. In order to ensure that all patients feel comfortable—regardless of how much they’re paying to be there—Chin-Po’s team again leaned on nature. They installed new windows that could be opened wider to allow for more airflow and made sure that every patient could see greenery from their bed, even if it was just a planter box on the other side of their window. At mealtimes, patients are given organic food grown in a massive rooftop garden, and everyone fills their plates with fruits and veggies on the weekly, hospital-wide Meatless Mondays. “We always bring this idea of creating a total healing environment,” Chin-Po says. “Not just for the patients but for the caregivers and staff as well. It’s all part of the whole system.” | Edward Morgan | https://prepareforchange.net/2019/08/22/this-futuristic-hospital-is-using-greenery-as-medicine/ | 2019-08-23 01:38:47+00:00 | 1,566,538,727 | 1,567,533,580 | health | health facility |
432,653 | prisonplanet--2019-09-11--Illinois Hospital Created Comfort Room For Aborted Babies to Die In | 2019-09-11T00:00:00 | prisonplanet | Illinois Hospital Created ‘Comfort Room’ For Aborted Babies to Die In | An eyewitness nurse revealed how a hospital in Illinois has a “comfort room” in which aborted babies who survive for hours outside the womb are left to die. Jill Stanek told a hearing on the Born Alive Act in Washington, D.C. that doctors at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn perform “live birth abortions” where the baby is allowed to die during or after the abortion procedure. The hospital provides “comfort care” for the babies for hours after the procedure by wrapping the infant in a blanket and keeping it warm until it dies. Parents of the baby are also allowed to hold it during this time. “If staff did not have the time or desire to hold the baby, she was taken to Christ Hospital’s Comfort Room, which was complete with a First Photo machine if parents wanted professional pictures of their aborted baby, baptismal supplies, gowns and certificates, foot printing equipment and baby bracelets for mementos, and a rocking chair,” Stanek said. She also revealed how once she witnessed a nurse deliver a live baby but then fail to clamp the severed umbilical cord, causing the baby to begin bleeding. The infant was then placed in a bag and thrown in the trash. Stanek also related how she held a 22 week old down syndrome baby for the last 45 minutes of his life because his parents did not want to hold him. “Toward the end, he was so quiet I could not tell if he was still alive,” Stanek said. “I held him up to the light to see through his chest wall whether his heart was still beating. After he was pronounced dead, I folded his little arms across his chest, wrapped him in a tiny shroud and carried him to the hospital morgue where all of our dead patients are taken.” Stanek subsequently quit her job at the hospital. Meanwhile, as I explain in the video below, a new sexual fetish involves couples repeatedly getting pregnant and aborting multiple babies. My voice is being silenced by free speech-hating Silicon Valley behemoths who want me disappeared forever. It is CRUCIAL that you support me. Please sign up for the free newsletter here. Donate to me on SubscribeStar here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. This article was posted: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 at 5:41 am | admin | https://www.prisonplanet.com/illinois-hospital-created-comfort-room-for-aborted-babies-to-die-in.html | 2019-09-11 10:41:04+00:00 | 1,568,212,864 | 1,569,330,490 | health | health facility |
483,540 | skynewspolitics--2019-08-05--Which NHS hospitals will benefit from PMs 16318bn spending pledge | 2019-08-05T00:00:00 | skynewspolitics | Which NHS hospitals will benefit from PM's £1.8bn spending pledge? | Which NHS hospitals will benefit from Boris Johnson's £1.8bn spending pledge? Which NHS hospitals will benefit from Boris Johnson's £1.8bn spending pledge? Boris Johnson is set to announce the 20 NHS hospitals in England that will benefit from an £850m cash injection. The money, which makes up part of a £1.8bn spending pledge, will be provided to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment. The prime minister will make the commitment for the health service during a speech at a Lincolnshire hospital on Monday. Here is a list of the beneficiaries and the funding they will receive: Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (FT): £99.5m for a new block in Luton to provide critical and intensive care, as well as a delivery suite and operating theatres. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS FT: £69.7m to provide diagnostic and assessment centres in Norwich, Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS FT: £40m to build four new hospital wards in Norwich, providing 80 beds. University Hospitals Birmingham: £97.1m to provide a new purpose-built hospital facility, replacing outdated outpatient, treatment and diagnostic accommodation. United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust: £21.3m to improve patient flow in Boston by developing urgent and emergency care zones in A&E. Wye Valley NHS Trust: £23.6m to provide new hospital wards in Hereford, providing 72 beds. University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust: £17.6m to create three new modern wards to improve capacity and patient flow in Stoke, delivering approximately 84 beds for this winter. Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge CCGs and North East London NHS Foundation Trust: £17m to develop a new health and wellbeing hub. Croydon Health Services NHS Trust: £12.7m to extend and refurbish critical care units at the Croydon University Hospital. Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS FT: £41.7m to improve paediatric cardiac services in the North East. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: £12m to provide a single laboratory information management system across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, covering all pathology disciplines. Mersey Care NHS FT: £33m to provide a new 40-bed low secure unit for people with learning disabilities. Stockport NHS FT: £30.6m to provide a new emergency care campus development at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, incorporating an urgent treatment centre, GP assessment unit and planned investigation unit. NHS Wirral CCG: £18m to improve patient flow by improving access via the urgent treatment centre. Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS FT: £16.3m to provide emergency and urgent care facilities at Tameside General Hospital. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust: £99.9m to build a new women's and children's hospital in the centre of the Royal Cornwall Hospital site in Truro. | null | http://news.sky.com/story/which-nhs-hospitals-will-benefit-from-boris-johnsons-16318bn-spending-pledge-11777749 | 2019-08-05 00:57:00+00:00 | 1,564,981,020 | 1,567,534,811 | health | health facility |
484,963 | skynewsus--2019-03-10--Hospital defends use of robot that told patient he was going to die | 2019-03-10T00:00:00 | skynewsus | Hospital defends use of robot that told patient he was going to die | California hospital defends use of robot that told patient he was going to die California hospital defends use of robot that told patient he was going to die The family of a dying 78-year-old man have been left devastated after a hospital robot rolled into his room to deliver the news that he did not have long to live. Ernest Quintana was taken to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in the San Francisco Bay area of California last weekend after suffering breathing difficulties, and died on Tuesday. His family had known that he would die of his chronic lung disease, but were not expecting to receive news of his imminent death when a robot arrived at the intensive care unit on the night Mr Quintana was admitted. Rather than a doctor deliver the news that he would likely die within days in person, one flashed up on a screen on the robot to tell them via video link. It has sparked outrage among the family of Mr Quintana, who thought the robot was making routine visit. Daughter Catherine Quintana said: "If you're coming to tell us normal news, that's fine. "But if you're coming to tell us there's no lung left and we want to put you on a morphine drip until you die, it should be done by a human being and not a machine." Part of the exchange between the on-screen doctor and the shocked family was captured on video by Annalisia Wilharm, granddaughter of Mr Quintana, who was alone with him when the robot appeared. The 33-year-old said she had been told by a nurse that a doctor would be making his rounds. "This guy cannot breathe, and he's got this robot trying to talk to him," she said. "This guy is telling him, 'So we've got your results back, and there's no lung left. There's no lung to work with.'" Ms Wilharm said she had to repeat what the doctor said to her grandfather because he was hard of hearing in his right ear and the machine was unable to get to the other side of the bed. The hospital has defended its use of the robot, insisting that the diagnosis came after several physician visits and that it did not replace "previous conversations with the patient and family members". But Michelle Gaskill-Hames, senior vice-president of Kaiser Permanente Greater Southern Alameda County, added that hospital policy was to have a nurse or doctor in the room when remote consultations took place and acknowledged it had fallen short of the family's expectations. "We will use this as an opportunity to review how to improve patient experience with tele-video capabilities," she said. | null | http://news.sky.com/story/california-hospital-defends-use-of-robot-that-told-patient-he-was-going-to-die-11660604 | 2019-03-10 00:04:00+00:00 | 1,552,194,240 | 1,567,546,802 | health | health facility |
494,044 | sottnet--2019-01-04--Hospital in Sweden closed after patient is suspected of carrying ebola | 2019-01-04T00:00:00 | sottnet | Hospital in Sweden closed after patient is suspected of carrying ebola | The room being hung around with a collection of the portraits of remarkable men, among them were those of Bacon, Newton and Locke. Hamilton asked me who they were. I told him they were my trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced, naming them. He paused for some time: "The greatest man," said he, "that ever lived, was Julius Caesar." | null | https://www.sott.net/article/404147-Hospital-in-Sweden-closed-after-patient-is-suspected-of-carrying-ebola | 2019-01-04 19:11:12+00:00 | 1,546,647,072 | 1,567,554,031 | health | health facility |
529,586 | sputnik--2019-03-31--Mexico City Hospital Blast Leaves 14 Injured - Officials PHOTOS | 2019-03-31T00:00:00 | sputnik | Mexico City Hospital Blast Leaves 14 Injured - Officials (PHOTOS) | "An investigation into the blast at a hospital, as a result of which 14 people were injured, has been launched. The hospital is located… in the Venustiano Carranza district", the statement read. According to preliminary data, there are nine women and five men among the injured. The explosion has also damaged six cars, according to the statement. The cause of the blast has not been established yet. Local media suggested a flawed gas system caused the explosion and reported that the incident injured at least 16 people. Local authorities have reportedly launched the investigation into the incident. | null | https://sputniknews.com/latam/201903311073697728-mexico-city-hospital-blast/ | 2019-03-31 00:05:00+00:00 | 1,554,005,100 | 1,567,544,606 | health | health facility |
534,850 | sputnik--2019-05-29--Netizens Ridicule Indian Hospital for Astrological Diagnosis of Patients | 2019-05-29T00:00:00 | sputnik | Netizens Ridicule Indian Hospital for Astrological Diagnosis of Patients | New Delhi (Sputnik): A media report of a hospital in India's north-western Jaipur city hiring a full-time astrologer to detect diseases and diagnose illness based on a patient's astrological birth chart has gone viral on social media. A majority of netizens are ridiculing the practice as unheard of in modern times. The hospital's in-house astrologer, Pandit Akhilesh Sharma, has been tasked with the responsibility of subjecting patients to astrological evaluation and diagnosis. Thereafter, the doctors compare the medical and astrological diagnosis before finally deciding on the line of medical treatment to be given to patients. Doctors at the hospital told Indian news agency ANI that Pandit Sharma has so far predicted diseases correctly, while clarifying that astrology is being used only for diagnosis and not for treatment. The hospital is now reportedly preparing a new course that will be a combination of medical science and astrology, which is planned to be called astronomical sciences. | null | https://sputniknews.com/asia/201905291075438967-indian-hospital-trolled-astrological-diagnosis/ | 2019-05-29 11:50:00+00:00 | 1,559,145,000 | 1,567,539,897 | health | health facility |
548,272 | sputnik--2019-11-06--Boston Hospital Staffers Oppose Melania Trump’s Visit to Mark Programme on Opioid-Addicted Babies | 2019-11-06T00:00:00 | sputnik | Boston Hospital Staffers Oppose Melania Trump’s Visit to Mark Programme on Opioid-Addicted Babies | An intense discussion involving a protest in front of the hospital premises appears to be turning a non-partisan event into a controversy around White House policies as a whole. Roughly 250 people working at the Boston Medical Centre are protesting a scheduled visit by First Lady Melania Trump, The Boston Globe reported. The appearance is set to focus on a hospital programme geared toward babies suffering from drug exposure while in the womb. The opponents - family physicians, social workers, and administrative employees among them - assumed that a photo opportunity highlighting BMC’s work with ailing little children could send the wrong message, primarily to immigrants worried about the Trump administration’s policy prerogatives, who would then prefer to abstain from turning to the said medical institution for help. Cecilia T. Girard, a nurse midwife who immigrated to the US from Ecuador, was among those who expressed concern about her being deemed as having links to the party in the White House. According to some employees, BMC, one of the largest hospitals in New England, treats an especially large number of low-income patients on Medicaid, as well as immigrants who are so worried about deportations that they have been missing appointments. Protest organisers said they sent out a letter last week asking to cancel the top-profile visit, with employees planning a late-morning demonstration in front of the hospital on Wednesday. President and chief executive Kate Walsh, who met about 75 people to talk the matter over on Monday, argued in response that Melania Trump’s visit will provide invaluable and well-deserved recognition for an innovative programme they are pursuing in their institution. Walsh said she hopes “the visit will be a unique opportunity to share our values of respect and inclusion with federal leaders whose policies have a significant impact on the vulnerable populations we are dedicated to serving", her email sent Tuesday to 6,000 employees reads. She further addressed the issue of government insurance, saying two-thirds of their patients have “some form” of it. FLOTUS’s visit to Boston comes as part of her “Be Best” initiative, which entails boosted attention and work on issues including opioid addiction in children and bullying. More specifically, the visit would focus on the Cuddling Assists in Lowering Maternal and Infant Stress — or CALM — programme that uses volunteers to help comfort babies born with opioid dependency, according to a White House statement. After a short briefing on other programmes aimed at pregnant women with substance abuse issues and their babies, FLOTUS is scheduled to tour the hospital’s pediatric care unit “to see firsthand how these programmes are implemented and meet with the children and families who have been successfully treated", the White House said. | null | https://sputniknews.com/us/201911061077234155-boston-hospital-staffers-oppose-melania-trumps-visit-to-mark-programme-on-opioid-addicted-babies/ | Wed, 06 Nov 2019 09:21:00 +0300 | 1,573,050,060 | 1,573,064,849 | health | health facility |
576,317 | telesurtv--2019-09-17--Argentinian Hospitals On The Verge Of Collapse | 2019-09-17T00:00:00 | telesurtv | Argentinian Hospitals 'On The Verge Of Collapse' | Medical groups have appealed to the government on Tuesday, asking for urgent intervention to avert mass closures of health centers in the country. Hospitals have been particularly hard by the country’s economic crisis, presided over by neoliberal President Mauricio Macri. > **RELATED:** > > **_[Argentina Police Suppress Protesters Demanding Food](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Argentina-Police-Suppress- Protesters-Demanding-Food-Emergency-20190912-0005.html)_[ _Emergency_](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Argentina-Police-Suppress- Protesters-Demanding-Food-Emergency-20190912-0005.html)** “The situation is catastrophic” [said](https://www.pagina12.com.ar/218598-clinicas-y-sanatorios-al-borde-del- colapso) Jorge Cherro, President of the Association of Private Clinics, Sanatoriums and Hospitals (Adecra), one of the groups that launched the appeal. Cherro lays blame squarely at the feet of the Macri administration, saying, "This government has brought us to this catastrophic situation, they must adopt urgent, forceful and creative measures to save the sector.” One of the biggest problems facing the country’s health system is that runaway inflation has made medical supplies hard to obtain within hospital budgets; furthermore, Cherro points out that some supplies from abroad do not even deliver to Argentina anymore because of pricing instability. The private sector is said to be particularly vulnerable, and that a collapse there will trigger a crisis in the already struggling public sector. The medical groups who are part of the appeal say that the public system doesn't have anywhere near the capacity to absorb a private sector collapse. Argentina's inflation has reached 50 percent, causing sharp rises in poverty and unemployment. The country’s crisis follows the election of neoliberal President Mauricio Macri who took on a multibillion dollar IMF loan. The subsequent privatizations and deregulation has triggered an inflationary crisis. Angered by the country’s spiralling economic crisis, voters are set to punish Macri at the upcoming presidential elections.[ Polls](https://www.losandes.com.ar/article/view?slug=tres-nuevas-encuestas- vaticinan-un-triunfo-mas-amplio-para-fernandez-en-las-generales) indicate that the progressive Fernandez-Kircherner ticket are on course for crushing first round victory. The appeal which was sent to the government is signed by; Cedim (Chamber of Entities for Diagnosis and Outpatient Treatment), Copsal (of Healthcare Providers), Confeclisa (of Clinics, Sanatoriums and Private Hospitals), Cadime (of Medical Diagnostic Institutions), Cacep (of Clinics and Psychiatric Establishments) and AAEG (Association of Geriatric Establishments). | teleSUR/ov-LA | https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Argentinian-Hospitals-On-The-Verge-Of-Collapse-20190917-0011.html | 2019-09-17 18:01:09+00:00 | 1,568,757,669 | 1,569,330,114 | health | health facility |
580,115 | theblaze--2019-01-01--Cleveland hospital no longer employs Muslim doctor who made violent anti-Jewish remarks on social me | 2019-01-01T00:00:00 | theblaze | Cleveland hospital no longer employs Muslim doctor who made violent anti-Jewish remarks on social media | Cleveland hospital no longer employs Muslim doctor who made violent anti-Jewish remarks on social media No word on whether they played a part in her termination. | Leon Wolf | https://www.theblaze.com/news/cleveland-hospital-no-longer-employs-muslim-doctor-who-made-violent-anti-jewish-remarks-on-social-media | 2019-01-01 22:00:10+00:00 | 1,546,398,010 | 1,567,554,306 | health | health facility |
582,030 | theblaze--2019-03-22--Transgender man claims Catholic hospital refused to perform a hysterectomy on him Now hes suing | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | theblaze | Transgender man claims Catholic hospital refused to perform a hysterectomy on him. Now, he’s suing. | Transgender man claims Catholic hospital refused to perform a hysterectomy on him. Now, he’s suing. 'I began taking testosterone. I had a double mastectomy. The next step was a hysterectomy.' | Jana J. Pruet | https://www.theblaze.com/news/transgender-man-sue-catholic-hospital-over-hysterectomy | 2019-03-22 20:35:16+00:00 | 1,553,301,316 | 1,567,545,281 | health | health facility |
584,233 | theblaze--2019-07-24--The hospital that treated Neil Armstrong reportedly gave his family 6 million in a wrongful death s | 2019-07-24T00:00:00 | theblaze | The hospital that treated Neil Armstrong reportedly gave his family $6 million in a wrongful death settlement | The hospital that treated Neil Armstrong reportedly gave his family $6 million in a wrongful death settlement However, the hospital never admitted to any wrongdoing | Mike Ciandella | https://www.theblaze.com/the-hospital-that-treated-neil-armstrong-reportedly-gave-his-family-6-million-in-a-wrongful-death-settlement | 2019-07-24 16:21:57+00:00 | 1,563,999,717 | 1,567,535,995 | health | health facility |
595,232 | thedailybeast--2019-08-12--Disgusting Study Shows Hospitals Sending More and More Surprise Bills | 2019-08-12T00:00:00 | thedailybeast | ‘Disgusting’: Study Shows Hospitals Sending More and More Surprise Bills | Surprise hospital bills—when a patient is asked to pay for an out-of-network service during a visit to a hospital that’s in their insurance network—have gotten a lot of attention from consumer advocates and lawmakers in recent years. But a new study shows just how prevalent the problem is: Nearly 40 percent of people who go to a hospital get hit with one of these bills, and the average amount of the bills crept up year by year. Researchers from Stanford University examined more than 5 million inpatient admissions and more than 13 million emergency room visits between 2010 and 2016, crunching insurance data to find out how many Americans are leaving the hospital with liabilities they didn’t expect. Of the ER visits, 39 percent of people got an out-of-network bill—the average amount of which rose from $220 to $628 over the six-year period, according to results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine on Monday. For inpatients, 37 percent got at least one out-of-network bill, and the average more than doubled from $804 to $2,040 over that period. In addition, the study found that the percentage of both groups getting surprise bills rose between 2010 and 2016. The bills could have serious consequences for those without savings: A recent survey showed that four in 10 Americans would be unable to pay an unexpected expense of $400 without borrowing money or selling something. “It is disgusting to think that the rate of these cases is actually going up,” Claudia Knafo, who became a patient advocate after getting hit with a surprise bill, told The Daily Beast. “We have to empower patients to know exactly what their rights are.” The study found that taking an ambulance to a hospital was particularly risky; 85 percent of all ambulance trips saddled patients with out-of-network bills. “Ambulances almost never write contracts with insurance companies,” says J.B. Silvers, a professor of health-care finance at Case Western Reserve University. “And they’re counting on the fact that you’re not going to get off a gurney and ask if you’re covered.” Emergency room patients were most likely to get surprise hospital bills from the radiology, medical transport and cardiology departments. Silvers said the status of hospital employees is the culprit. Full time staffers are usually covered under the same insurance package as the hospital, but temporary employees who are pulling in extra shifts or filling in for a sick doctor may not. “The responsibility belongs to hospitals to ensure everyone who works there is under the same insurance,” said Silvers. Silvers has some advice for patients who get a surprise bill: Negotiate. With everyone. “Talk to the hospital, the insurance company, the doctors. It’s a Middle Eastern bazaar and there’s a carpet between you and the other guy,” he said. Sean Barry, of the American Hospital Association, says his group has limited data on surprise billing but said that “hospitals and health systems are committed to protecting patients from surprise bills and support a federal legislative solution to do so.” Legislative solutions are in motion ; as of June, at least nine states had passed laws to deal with the issue and four states had laws that hadn’t taken effect yet, according to Peterson-Kaiser’s Health System Tracker . President Trump issued an executive order in June authorizing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to draft legislation to protect consumers against surprise bills. | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thedailybeast/articles/~3/9Sq0vsNLoQ4/surprise-medical-bills-new-study-says-40-percent-of-patients-socked-with-unexpected-bills | 2019-08-12 18:15:54+00:00 | 1,565,648,154 | 1,567,534,317 | health | health facility |
595,551 | thedailybeast--2019-08-30--Firing Doctor Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge to Aid-in-Dying Laws | 2019-08-30T00:00:00 | thedailybeast | Firing Doctor, Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge to Aid-in-Dying Laws | DENVER — A Christian-run health system in Colorado has fired a veteran doctor who went to court to fight for the right of her patient to use the state’s medical aid-in-dying law, citing religious doctrine that describes “assisted suicide” as “intrinsically evil.” Centura Health Corp. this week abruptly terminated Dr. Barbara Morris, 65, a geriatrician with 40 years of experience, who had planned to help her patient, Cornelius “Neil” Mahoney, 64, end his life at his home. Mahoney, who has terminal cancer, is eligible to use the state’s law, overwhelmingly approved by Colorado voters in 2016. The growing number of state aid-in-dying provisions are increasingly coming into conflict with the precepts of faith-based hospitals, which oppose the practice on religious grounds. Morris’ dismissal presents an early test of state laws. The Trump administration has moved to broaden the latitude of providers to refuse to participate in medical interventions they object to on religious grounds, though that has previously applied primarily to abortion and contraception. As hospitals across the country have consolidated, five of the top 10 hospital systems by net patient revenue are associated with the Roman Catholic Church, according to Definitive Health. That includes hospitals that did not previously have any religious affiliation. Meanwhile, there are 10 U.S. jurisdictions where aid-in-dying has been approved and public support for the option is increasing. The Aug. 26 firing came days after Morris joined with Mahoney in filing a state lawsuit that alleges Centura’s faith-based policy violates the law that allows doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to dying patients who want to end their own lives. Officials at Centura, a system jointly run by Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist churches, told Morris on Monday that she had defied church doctrines that govern her employment. “I was shellshocked,” Morris said in an exclusive interview with Kaiser Health News. “Because of all the things I expected them to do, that was not in the playbook. Because it seemed so obvious that they can’t do it.” But in legal documents filed Friday that ask to elevate the case to federal court and invoke the First Amendment in defense of their actions, Centura officials said Morris had violated terms of her physician’s employment agreement and “encouraged an option that she knew was morally unacceptable to her employer.” For Mahoney, the firing deals yet another setback in his quest to use the law. Mahoney, who in July was given four to 14 months to live, said he watched his mother die a slow, painful death and hopes to avoid that for himself. “Knowing that I could die at home is huge,” said Mahoney, who has lost 30 pounds since April, even as his belly swelled painfully with fluid as a result of the cancer. “This gets dragged out too long.” The Trump administration in May approved a so-called conscience rule that strengthens the rights of hospitals and health workers to refuse to participate in patient care based on religious or moral grounds. At the same time, more doctors and patients in the country are providing and receiving health care subject to religious restrictions. About 1 in 6 acute care beds nationally is in a hospital that is Catholic-owned or -affiliated, said Lois Uttley, a program director for the consumer advocacy group Community Catalyst. In Colorado, one-third of the state’s hospitals operate under Catholic guidelines. In a letter hand-delivered to Morris, who has worked for the health care system since 2013, Centura president Vance McLarren said that she had violated the firm’s governing rules, the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. “Rather than encouraging patient Cornelius Mahoney to receive care consistent with that doctrine or transferring care to other providers, you have encouraged a morally unacceptable option,” the letter said. The directives state that Catholic health care providers “may never condone or participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide in any way.” Such acts are described as “intrinsically immoral” and “intrinsically evil” in the document. “Patients experiencing suffering that cannot be alleviated should be helped to appreciate the Christian understanding of redemptive suffering,” the document states. Centura officials confirmed Thursday that Morris is no longer employed there, adding in a statement that the firm “expects all our caregivers to act in a manner consistent with our Mission and Core Values.” Company officials did not address claims that Centura violated state law but argued that its policy prohibiting doctors from prescribing drugs or otherwise participating in medical aid-in-dying is federally protected. “We believe the freedom of religion doctrine at the heart of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution supports our policies as a Christian health-care ministry,” Centura spokeswoman Wendy Forbes said in an email. “We will vigorously defend our Constitutional rights.” Legal experts said that Morris’ firing may be rare or even unprecedented, but the argument based on the First Amendment has gained support recently in conservative circles. “In recent years, the radical right has gotten traction with the argument that religious peoples’ constitutional rights are violated if they have to follow the same law as everybody else,” said Robert Rivas, a Florida lawyer who serves as general counsel for the Final Exit Network, a nonprofit group that promotes right-to-die causes. “When you look closely at what they are saying,” he said, “it turns out they really want to be empowered to force their religion on others.” Officials with the Archdiocese of Denver said they supported Centura’s efforts to uphold church doctrine. “Asking a Christian hospital to play any role in violating the dignity of human life is asking the Christian hospital to compromise its values and core mission,” spokesman Mark Haas said in a statement. “This is not the hospital forcing its beliefs upon others, but rather having outside views forced upon it.” The issue is playing out against growing federal protections for religious views of health care, said Kathryn Tucker, executive director of the End of Life Liberty Project and co-counsel on the Centura lawsuit filed Aug. 21. The Trump administration conscience rule, which was challenged by two dozen states and cities, including Colorado, has been delayed until Nov. 22. “What’s getting lost here is the patient, and the doctor may hold equally strong ethical and religious views as Centura,” Tucker said. “Why should their views be overridden by the views of corporate religious medicine?” Morris’ termination was immediate, according to the letter. She was asked to hand over her badge and her company laptop computer. The action abruptly halted her care of 400 geriatric patients and left Morris worried about their future. “These are complex, ill patients,” Morris said. “We have a pretty big thing in medicine about not abandoning patients, so that’s a pretty big issue.” In the lawsuit, Morris joined with Mahoney, a Golden, Colorado, nursery manager diagnosed in July with stage 4 metastatic cancer. The pair alleged that Centura’s policy prohibiting doctors from prescribing aid-in-dying drugs is broader than state law allows. Colorado’s End of Life Options Act, approved by 65 percent of voters in 2016, allows hospitals and health systems to opt out of offering aid-in-dying drugs for use on their premises. In addition, another Colorado law says health care facilities may not “limit or otherwise exercise control” over a physician’s medical judgment. The suit asks a judge to rule that the hospital system may not bar Morris from prescribing the lethal drugs — or penalize her if she does. Centura officials expressed sadness over Mahoney’s illness but said the institution promotes “the sacredness of every human life.” After he received his grim diagnosis, Mahoney asked an oncologist and a social worker at his cancer center to help him access aid-in-dying. Both said no. “I feel like I got slapped in the face,” Mahoney said. Mahoney was advised to transfer his care to a secular provider, but he said he didn’t want to undergo additional tests, costs and travel as he struggled with debilitating symptoms. Morris said she understood that Centura was religiously affiliated when she was hired but didn’t anticipate a problem. “I didn’t think it was going to affect my general family practice,” she said. “Until these conversations about medical aid-in-dying, I hadn’t felt any interference.” Once the law passed, however, a growing number of patients asked about the option. “I’ve had patients as they face devastating illness or the end of life where they say, ‘Will you do this for me?’” she said, adding later: “At a certain point, we have to stand up for what’s right.” Morris is considering her next steps, including separate legal action against Centura over her termination. Mahoney, who is scheduled for his third round of chemotherapy soon, said he’s not sure what to do in the wake of the firing. Raised Catholic, he said, he rejected that theology long ago. “I don’t believe in church. I don’t believe in religion,” he said. “I just think they’re getting way too much power.” Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thedailybeast/articles/~3/R52vc7s3xns/firing-doctor-christian-hospital-sets-off-national-challenge-to-aid-in-dying-laws | 2019-08-30 22:05:46+00:00 | 1,567,217,146 | 1,569,416,903 | health | health facility |
601,985 | thedailycaller--2019-04-12--Woman Sues Illinois Hospital For Allegedly Paying Her To Have An Abortion To Cover Up Its Mistake | 2019-04-12T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | Woman Sues Illinois Hospital For Allegedly Paying Her To Have An Abortion To Cover Up Its Mistake | A woman sued an Illinois hospital Thursday, alleging that it pressured and bribed her to have an abortion after mistakenly giving her drugs that can cause birth defects. Reneizha Morris, 23, filed the suit against UnityPoint Health Methodist in Peoria County Circuit Court Thursday, The Associated Press reported. According to the suit, Morris was admitted to the hospital on Nov. 1, 2017 for a psychiatric evaluation, WMBD News reported. The hospital also informed Morris at that time that she was pregnant. Following her evaluation, a hospital employee allegedly gave Morris methotrexate, according to the suit. Methotrexate is an immunosuppressive drug used to treat cancer. It can also treat psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. “Methotrexate must not be used during pregnancy,” according to WebMD. “It may harm an unborn baby. It is important to prevent pregnancy during and after treatment with methotrexate.” After the hospital realized its mistake, both its management and legal team pressured Morris to have an abortion, the suit alleges. Morris understood the risks of continuing her pregnancy and wanted to carry to the child to term. “I hoped that maybe [the baby] could be normal,” she said, according to WMBD. “That something good could come out of it. But over time they were adamantly telling me that there was no way that this would be a normal child.” “She told doctors during this meeting that she was willing to take the risk,” Morris’ attorney Thomas Mulroy III said, according to WMBD. “[S]he wanted to give this baby a chance and that she hoped that it was a girl.” The hospital allegedly pressured her for weeks to abort. UnityPoint officials sent her $2,000 in hopes of convincing her to have an abortion, according to the lawsuit. The hospital wanted to “eliminate evidence of their mistake,” according to Mulroy, WMBD reported. (RELATED: Did An Immigration Lawyer Pressure An Illegal To Get An Abortion She Didn’t Want? It Appears That Way) Morris had an abortion on Dec. 15, 2017. She is suing the hospital over claims of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and lack of informed consent among a total of five-counts, according to WMBD. Morris seeks a minimum of $50,000 for each count. UnityPoint Health Methodist won’t comment on pending litigation, according to spokesman Fabiola Orozco, WMBD reported. | Grace Carr | https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/12/woman-sues-illinois-hospital-abortion/ | 2019-04-12 17:55:34+00:00 | 1,555,106,134 | 1,567,543,110 | health | health facility |
602,605 | thedailycaller--2019-04-30--27 West Virginia Hospitals Join Together To Sue Opioid Companies Including Purdue Pharma | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | 27 West Virginia Hospitals Join Together To Sue Opioid Companies Including Purdue Pharma | Twenty-seven West Virginia hospitals and 10 affiliated Kentucky hospitals joined together to sue opioid companies for monetary damages, including Purdue Pharma, Monday. “Imagine what the hospitals — who are the entities of last resort — have gone through as part of this [opioid] crisis,” said the hospitals’ lawyer, Stephen B. Farmer, according to the Associated Press. “Their day-to-day ability to treat people effectively has been completely disrupted by the whole spate of opioid issues that come through their doors every day.” The hospitals say the opioid companies, some of the largest in the country, inundated the Appalachian region with the prescription pain pills. West Virginia has the highest age-adjusted opioid overdose rate in the country. (RELATED: Activist With ALS Who Needs Help From Computer To Speak Testifies At First Medicare For All Hearing) The suit is the first one brought by a big group of hospitals against opioid companies, the hospitals’ lawyers said. The suit cites statistics claiming the number of opioid-related emergency room visits has doubled nationally, blaming unlawful marketing and distribution for millions of dollars in uncompensated care hospitals have to shoulder, reported the AP. The hospitals are seeking “that the responsible parties be held accountable for the role they’ve played in this crisis,” Ronald Pellegrino, chief operating officer at WVU Hospitals, said. Distributors AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health as well as the Sackler family, which controls Purdue Pharma, are additional defendants named in the suit, reported the AP. AmerisourceBergen responded to the hospitals’ suit in a statement. “A significant number of these doctors – 38 percent in the U.S. – are employed by hospitals, which is where in many cases they prescribe, fulfill through distributors, and then dispense medications to patients,” the statement reads according to the AP. “This is why hospitals pursuing legal action related to opioid abuse against other members of the supply chain is counterproductive and ignores the facts.” Other prescription opioid makers are starting to face lawsuits like the ones brought against Purdue Pharma. An Oklahoma suit against several drugmakers paints Johnson & Johnson as an opioid “kingpin,” according to media reports in mid-March. The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Purdue Pharma but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. | Evie Fordham | https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/30/opioid-lawsuit-purdue-2019/ | 2019-04-30 22:21:55+00:00 | 1,556,677,315 | 1,567,541,688 | health | health facility |
603,609 | thedailycaller--2019-05-31--Memphis VA Hospital Remains Troubled Despite Secretarys Assurance It Has Turned A Corner | 2019-05-31T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | Memphis VA Hospital Remains Troubled, Despite Secretary’s Assurance It Has ‘Turned A Corner’ | Despite happy talk from the Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the Memphis VA Medical Center (VAMC) remains a troubled hospital. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie gave an interview in May to the Commercial Appeal in Memphis about that hospital, and in the interview, he stated the leadership, “is now one of the best in the country” He also said in the interview that the hospital had “turned a corner.” In March 2019, the Office of Special Counsel sent a letter to President Trump concluding another investigation into the Memphis VA; this one found that the hospital cancelled more than one hundred electromyography (EMG) tests improperly. “Memphis VAMC staff did not follow appropriate procedures when they discontinued a backlog of 143 EMG consults to 140 veterans,” the letter noted. “The events highlighted in the letter occurred more than three years ago under the past administration and previous medical center leadership,” Susan Carter, director of the Office of Media Relations at the VA, told The Daily Caller. She cited numerous steps the hospital had taken to improve the situation, including having EMG lab staff “sign a statement indicating they have reviewed and understand the Choice guidance on when and how to place veterans on the Veterans Choice List,” and hiring two new medical support assistants for the Neurology Service. In 2017, USA Today reported that things were so bad at the Memphis VA Medical Center that it was one of four hospitals in the system which required weekly briefings from top brass at the VA. In 2018, the USA Today reported that the Memphis VA Medical Center was one of five hospitals in the VA system to receive the worst rating in the VA’s internal rating system for three years in a row. (RELATED: VA Report Shows Young Military Veteran Suicide Rate On The Rise) That internal system is called Strategic Analytic for Improved Learning (SAIL) and ranks hospitals one to five with one being the lowest. The Memphis VAMC continues to maintain a one rating. Sean Higgins is a former employee in the Memphis VA Medical Center who was credited with more than forty disclosures of waste, fraud, and abuse at the hospital. “How can he [Wilkie] say they’ve turned a corner, if it’s still rated one,” Higgins said. Carter acknowledged that the hospital continues to maintain the worst rating, she said it doesn’t tell the whole story. “Star ratings are an internal comparison tool. While a one-star rating indicates room for improvement, the hospital still provides high-quality health care, as underscored by the fact that thousands of Memphis-area Veterans trust the Memphis VAMC for their care year after year,” she said. “The Memphis VAMC has improved in a number of areas, including standard mortality ratio, mental health and employee engagement. The facility recently received accreditation from The Joint Commission in Hospital Care, Home Care and Behavioral Health with no requirements for improvement, and the facility is set to build on these gains in the future.” Higgins said that it’s hard to argue the leadership is one of the best, when much of that team has been at the hospital for years and presided over its dismal ratings. David Dunning is the Medical Director and he has been there since 2017. Of the rest of the leadership team, Chief Operating Officer Fred Kehus, Assistant Medical Director Tommy Ambrose, and Chief of Staff Thomas Ferguson have been there even longer, Higgins said. (RELATED: Two Whistleblowers Say They Were Run Out Of VA Hospital In Jennings, Louisiana) Higgins said the leadership team is largely the same as the one which caused its abysmal ratings. Higgins has been terminated three times by the Memphis VAMC; he got his job back the first two times and is appealing the third termination. Higgins’ attorneys have filed an appeal in U.S. Federal Court, arguing that Higgins was being terminated for swearing in a meeting. “Agency wants to end the Appellant’s career for profanity and a figure of speech with no ill-intent behind it. Agency argues this is a just outcome despite the fact the Agency caused PTSD in Mr. Higgins according to his doctor and despite the fact Agency continued to subject Mr. Higgins to enormous pressure for his whistleblowing,” the appeal noted. He said if there are fewer disclosures it is only because the rest of the staff has seen how he was treated. Of Higgins, Carter said, “Mr. Higgins was removed for misconduct June 30, 2017. Mr. Higgins filed an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which thoroughly and independently investigated the basis for removal. On June 7, 2018, the MSPB rendered its ruling, which upheld the agency’s decision to terminate his employment.” Pedrick Thompson is another whistleblower at the Memphis VAMC and he agrees with Higgins assessment; he told The Caller that he has talked to several employees who considered making a disclosure but then backed out, fearing retaliation. Thompson is currently on medical leave but has worked at the Memphis VA since 2009. He said he believes that things have continued to deteriorate and are worse today than they were when he arrived. | Michael Volpe | https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/31/memphis-va-hospital-remains-troubled-despite-secretarys-assurance-it-has-turned-a-corner/ | 2019-05-31 17:51:16+00:00 | 1,559,339,476 | 1,567,539,627 | health | health facility |
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