At V.A. Hospital, a Rogue Cancer Unit “Had the government responded more aggressively, it might have uncovered a rogue cancer unit at the hospital, one that operated with virtually no outside scrutiny and botched 92 of 116 cancer treatments over a span of more than six years — and then kept quiet about it, according to interviews with investigators, government officials and public records. The team continued implants for a year even though the equipment that measured whether patients received the proper radiation dose was broken. The radiation safety committee at the Veterans Affairs hospital knew of this problem but took no action, records show. … Peer review, a staple of every good hospital, in which colleagues examine one another’s work, did not exist in the unit. The V.A.’s radiation safety program; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates the use of all nuclear materials; and the Joint Commission, a group that accredited the hospital, all failed to intervene; either their inspections had been limited or they had not acted decisively upon finding problems.”

'Best of the Best' Children's Hospitals

Deadly Hospital Infections Being "Neglected" in UK, Says Watchdog Group

Eli Lilly Accused of Pushing Ineffective Dementia Drug “In the early part of this decade, physicians — at the urging of drug maker Eli Lilly — prescribed Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia. But the drug was not approved to treat dementia and was ineffective, and Lilly apparently knew that, some health insurers claim. Unsealed company documents reveal Lilly’s marketing campaign for the drug, originally approved for use as an anti-psychotic. The documents have been presented as evidence in litigation against Lilly for overpayment. … A company spokesman said the plaintiffs have released "one-sided, cherry-picked" documents that do not tell the whole story, and that Lilly will contest the charges in court. The released documents also allege that Eli Lilly produced a number of articles about Zyprexa, showing the drug in a positive light, and asked doctors to submit them to medical journals as their own work. The documents also allege that Lilly assembled a guide to selecting scientists who would write favorable articles. The documents saw the light of day only because of suits against the drug marker brought by health insurers and pension plans. These plaintiffs are seeking to recoup the money spent on Zyprexa to treat elderly policy holders with dementia. The plaintiffs also demand that Lilly pay $6.8 billion in damages for soft-peddling Zyprexa’s health risks and marketing it for unapproved uses.”

FDA panel votes to eliminate Vicodin, Percocet “Government experts say prescription drugs like Vicodin and Percocet that combine a popular painkiller with stronger narcotics should be eliminated because of their role in deadly overdoses. A Food and Drug Administration panel on Tuesday voted 20-17 that prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with other painkilling ingredients should be pulled off the market. The FDA has assembled a group of experts to vote on ways to reduce liver damage associated with acetaminophen, one of the most widely used drugs in the U.S. “

Medication errors: the importance of an accurate drug history (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2009)

Patients Not Always Told of Lab Results “Casalino tells WebMD that "patients should never assume that no news is good news" because "a lot of things can go wrong in the office. Some may never receive a report from the lab, or it may come in but the doctor never sees it and it might get filed away before he does." He tells WebMD that many primary care doctors' offices are swamped with paperwork, making it easy for test reports to go to the wrong place, or the right place and not be seen, and that often procedures are not in place to make sure doctors see and act on lab results. "Doctors should at the least mail out a form and keep a copy in the charts," he says. "In our research team, it turned out that almost everybody had a personal experience with a missed communication." … But the backup for patients should always be to call their doctors if they aren't notified of the results of tests, Dunham says. “

Radiation dose from multidetector row CT imaging for acute stroke. (Neuroradiology. 2009)

Soap-sniffing Technology Encourages Hand Washing To Reduce Hospital-acquired Infections, Save Money

Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Products “FDA notified consumers and healthcare professionals to discontinue use of three Zicam Nasal Gel/Nasal Swab products sold over-the-counter as cold remedies because they are associated with the loss of sense of smell that may be long-lasting or permanent. The FDA has received more than 130 reports of loss of sense of smell associated with the use of the three Zicam products. In these reports, many people who experienced a loss of smell said the condition occurred with the first dose; others reported a loss of the sense of smell after multiple uses of the products.”