22 Hours in a Chair

I recently wrote a graduate paper on the abuses that occur in some mental health facilities. I say some, because there are psychiatric facilities that are caring and humane with their treatment. Unfortunately there are facilities like this one who abuse and neglect people who often times have difficulty of taking care of themselves.

A psychiatric patient died at a North Carolina mental hospital after
nurses left him in a chair and didn’t give him any food or water for
nearly a day, according to a report cited by the News & Observer.

Steven Sabock, 50, died of a heart problem about 22 hours after someone left him on a chair in the dayroom at Cherry Hospital.

“The hospital’s security video recorded Sabock’s care from April 28,
when he choked on his medicine while a nurse stood by without helping
him, and through his day without food until his death from a heart
problem,” the paper says. “Health care technicians, according to the
report, are seen on the recording watching television through the
night, playing cards, and talking on a cell phone while they were in
the room with Sabock.”

How Well Does Your Doctor Rate?

Looking to find a good doctor? Want to see what other patients are saying about your doctor?

Websites that rate and review doctors, and sometimes other health professionals, have sprung up in recent years as patients have extended the consumer-empowerment movement into the healthcare field.

Circumcision rates dropping

Circumcisions rates are dropping according to national experts. These rates are reducing because of immigration trends and a change in Americans attitudes toward circumcision.

According to a study by the National Health and Social Life Survey, the U.S. circumcision rate peaked at nearly 90 percent in the early 1960s but began dropping in the ’70s. By 2004, the most recent year for which government figures are available, about 57 percent of all male newborns delivered in hospitals were circumcised. In some states, the rate is well below 50 percent.

Hospitals are dirty

Prey that you are not going to be hospitalized anytime soon.  MSNBC reports that some 100,000 people who are hospitalized get infections from the very hospital they are staying in.

Between 40,000 and 100,000 people die every year because of doctors’ mistakes, including surgical mishaps and drug mix-ups.

Finally some good news

I know this is not going to fix the problem completely. But, the Army is planning on hiring at least 25% more psychiatrist to hand the influx of patients from Iraq and Afghanistan.   I am keeping my fingers crossed that this plan moves to reality smoothly and quickly.

A contract finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33 million to add about 200 mental health professionals to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs, officials told the Associated Press on Thursday.

Drug and alcohol treatment is expensive

The Washington Times is running an article that states employer-sponsored health plans in 2006 provided limited coverage for substance-abuse treatment and did not provide the same level of benefits for substance abuse as those given for medical and surgical benefits.

The declining coverage rates are a concern, as alcoholism and dependency on illegal drugs remain a serious problem. In 2005, approximately 22.2 million Americans age 12 or older were “dependent” or “abused” illicit drugs or alcohol.

Health care ranked by state

A new study published by the The Commonwealth Fund ranks states according to the quality of health care. Hawaii ranks number 1, while Mississippi and Oklahoma rank last. 32 indicators were used to rank the states.
Follow the link below to view the full article.

Caregivers

An insightful article in the L.A Times appears about a middle age woman who is caught caring for her ill mother and trying to raise her 5 year old daughter.

“There are times when I’m so stressed I know [my blood pressure] has to be high,” says Wood. “I feel trapped sometimes; on the bad days I feel trapped.”

Race and coronary procedures

A study has revealed that black Medicare patients are less likely that whites to receive blood vessel opening procedures following a heart attack. This study is published by JAMA.

Although differences in revascularization may reflect overuse of procedures in white patients, the receipt of revascularization could also explain some of the differences in longer-term mortality in black patients and may represent a broader marker of differences in post-AMI care between black and white patients.

Hospital acquired conditions not to be paid for by medicare

In 2008, Medicare plans on not paying for six hospital acquired conditions.  In 2009 another seven conditions could be added to the list.  The initial six conditions are: pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infections,  Staphylococcus aureus septicemia and three so called never events (air embolism, blood incompatibility and object left behind in surgical patient). 

This new payment system is going to put the pressure on hospitals and staffing.  Follow the article to amednews.com by clicking this link.