The arrest of a radiologic technician in New Hampshire on charges that he allegedly infected at least thirty-one hospital patients with hepatitis C, has led to concerns about similar outbreaks in at least seven other states where he worked in recent years, including Maryland. The technician also has a history…
Several groups of doctors and health care officials are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to modify its guidelines for opioid painkiller prescriptions. The proposed changes would include restrictions on “off-label” uses, meaning uses not explicitly approved by the FDA, and limits on the amount of time…
Serious complications and injuries can result from discrepancies between the medications patients take at home, the medications they receive in the hospital, and the medications they take home with them. To prevent such medication errors, a recent study out of Johns Hopkins recommends that hospitals train teams of nurses and…
Hospitals must regularly contend with medical emergencies, such as heart attacks or allergic drug reactions, that require an immediate response. Hospitals maintain supplies for such emergencies, known as “crash carts,” that contain equipment and medications for diagnosing and, if necessary, reviving patients. Monitoring and maintaining the crash carts requires the…
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over allegations of fraud in marketing certain drugs and of failure to report safety data, according to a DOJ press release. The DOJ had filed a three-count criminal…
Electronic health records (EHRs), used in place of voluminous paper records, may significantly reduce the risk of errors, and therefore medical malpractice claims. This finding is from a study published in the June 25 online edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Doctors have been very slow to adopt many…
A study published recently in the Annals of Emergency Medicine looked at whether the use of a trained, professional interpreter with limited-English or non-English-speaking patients in hospital emergency departments (ED’s) reduced the incidence of medication errors and other mistakes. The study compared situations in which a trained interpreter was present…
Drug shortages are affecting hospitals and pharmacies around the country. The reasons range from supply problems preventing the production of drugs, to business decisions made by pharmaceutical companies that reduce or discontinue production of certain drugs. Some critically important medications, like drugs used to treat cancer, are often in short…
An appellate court in Illinois has rejected an effort by the state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR) to obtain quality control reports from a pharmacy. Walgreens Pharmacy refused to comply with a subpoena from DFPR seeking information on several pharmacists under investigation. Walgreens argued that producing the reports…
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the federal agency that reviews highway and aviation accidents and makes recommendations for safety regulations, could serve as a model for an entity to monitor patient safety, according to a number of celebrities and other advocates. A medical journal article co-authored by actor Dennis…