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Rampant Disease Osteoporosis: Under-diagnosed, Under-treated - Experts Call For Earlier Diagnosis And Therapy
"With a continuously ageing population the incidence of osteoporosis is steadily rising. This does not only pose problems to the individuals concerned but is also an enormous challenge for our societies" according to Professor Wolfhart Puhl, past president of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT). Prof. Puhl, of the Orthopç¤dikum Allgç¤u, Germany, who is in Vienna for the EFORT Congress, emphasized that the problem"s "dimension is frequently underestimated. Policy makers and funding agencies do not always consider this development sufficiently in their planning."
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Drop In Access To Abortion Would Reward Antiabortion-Rights Violence, Opinion Piece Says
After the murder last month of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, "there is a very real danger" that the availability of abortion later in pregnancy "will end in this country -- not after public deliberation, legislative debate and majority vote, but because antiabortion absolutists on the fringe have intimidated and blacklisted doctors and successfully threatened violence against them," Jim Buie, author of the blog The Buie Knife, writes in a Newsweek.com opinion piece. Buie writes that his parents in the early 1950s chose to institutionalize his three-year-old-brother, who was born with severe Down syndrome, after their attempts to care for him left them with "severe emotional distress" and unable "to meet the needs of their healthy children."Buie continues that he "cannot say that the option of a late-term abortion would have been the right one for my parents." However, "some of the arguments advanced by pro-life forces disturb me," he says, especially a "tendency to romanticize, sentimentalize and idealize life with a cute, forever-young Down-syndrome "angel child."" Buie adds, "It"s an argument I find off-putting, especially when it"s espoused by people who have never been through the wringer trying to care for a child whose disability level is on the most severe end of the scale." He continues, "At the same time, it is very disturbing that until recently, the majority of Down-syndrome fetuses were aborted without expectant mothers receiving proper information or support."Because of Tiller"s murder, it is "possible there won"t be any doctors in the country willing to perform" abortion later in pregnancy, "even if prenatal tests indicate severe retardation," according to Buie, who adds that this would mean that "domestic terrorism could win." He concludes, "It would mean that parents like my own would no longer have a choice, and would instead be forced to endure the same harsh realities that were present in the 1950s" (Buie, Newsweek.com, 6/17).
News of the day
Newborn Brain Cells Show The Way
Although the fact that we generate new brain cells throughout life is no longer disputed, their purpose has been the topic of much debate. Now, an international collaboration of researchers made a big leap forward in understanding what all these newborn neurons might actually do. Their study, published in the July 10, 2009, issue of the journal Science, illustrates how these young cells improve our ability to navigate our environment.
Diagnostics

Patients And Health Care Providers Seek Improved Quality As Report Shows Extensive Errors

The Washington Post reports on efforts by hospitals to tally their avoidable mistakes and describes "hundreds of incidents of death or serious medical harm disclosed in the past year by hospitals in the Washington region, preventable errors that until recently have not required public reporting. Under laws that took effect last year in Virginia and a few years earlier in the District and Maryland, hospitals must report to health regulators many serious injuries that patients suffer in the course of treatment. The laws are different in each jurisdiction. For example, Virginia"s public records identify the hospitals by name, while Maryland"s and the District"s do not. But they all allow the public to glimpse the breadth of mistakes that health experts dub "never events" (because they should never happen): sponges left inside patients after surgery, operations on the wrong limb, medication errors, falls that lead to needless deaths (as well as other events). At least 20 states require hospitals to report every incidence of hospital-acquired infection. Patients, insurers and regulators are beginning to use this information to prod health-care providers to ensure that such events really never happen." The Post reports: "It used to be that if a doctor, nurse or technician was responsible for injuring you, your insurance company was billed for the action that caused the injury as well as what might be needed to treat it. Maryland health regulators estimate that insurance companies paid $522 million last year to cover preventable complications in hospitals, which occurred in 55,000 of the state"s 800,000 inpatient cases. Now, following the lead of Medicare, some other public and private insurers are starting to refuse payment -- for example, they won"t pay for treatment of urinary tract infections caused by a catheter. It"s on the same theory, as some put it, that if a lawn service mowed down your rosebush while cutting the grass, you wouldn"t pay the company to replace it. This activity is part of a patient safety movement that is picking up steam across the country, led by patients and family members who"ve suffered devastating errors and are pressing lawmakers to enforce accountability" (Rein, 7/21). Meanwhile, Reuters reports on other ways to improve health care quality: "Telemedicine, workplace clinics and finding ways to help people stay healthier may be more important for reforming the U.S. healthcare system than insuring everyone, according to a report to be released on Tuesday. Incentives will be needed to encourage people to change their ways before they develop heart disease, diabetes and other so-called lifestyle diseases that now eat up so many medical res, consultant Pricewaterhouse Coopers said in the report." Reuters reports: "The PricewaterhouseCoopers" Health Research Institute team conducted 37 in-depth interviews with officials at healthcare providers, the Veterans" Administration, community health centers and other groups, read other studies and commissioned an online survey in April of 1,000 consumers. They found half of those surveyed would be likely to seek healthcare online. "In Hawaii, more than 1,000 health plan members have engaged in an online consultation with physicians since the service was launched in 2009," the report reads. The Veterans Health Administration has said it has reduced use of its system by 30 percent over six years using telemedicine -- remote consultation, diagnosis and sometimes even treatment using video or online links." Reuters also notes: "One frequently cited problem is the overuse of expensive emergency departments. Half of those surveyed said they had visited an emergency room for a need other than an emergency during the last 12 months" (Fox, 7/20). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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