Americans consume 80% of opiate pain-killers produced in the world, according to congressional testimony by the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

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VIDEO: US painkiller addiction ‘epidemic’

The findings add to evidence suggesting that aspirin may be a powerful if overlooked weapon against cancer, but some physicians and health officials are concerned about side effects.

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Studies Link Aspirin Daily Use to Reduced Cancer Risk

VIRGINIA’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 82 percent of whose members are men and 3 percent of whose members are physicians, has taken upon itself the task of ordering up procedures between women and their doctors — specifically, ultrasounds for women seeking abortions. Read full article > >

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Editorial Board: Even with watered-down ultrasound bill, Virginia GOP overreaches

THE QUESTION Might the physical and mental aspects of yoga help people with chronic back pain? THIS STUDY involved 313 adults, mostly women, who averaged 46 years old and who had had back pain for an average of 10 years. They were randomly assigned to take a once-a-week, 75-minute gentle yoga class or to continue with regular care through their physicians. All participants were given educational material on back pain; the yoga group also received handouts and a CD to help practice yoga stretches and mental relaxation at home. When the classes ended after three months, as well as when participants were evaluated nine months later, little difference overall was found in back pain levels between those who had practiced yoga and those who had not, although 8 percent of the yoga group, vs. 1 percent of the others, noted some increased pain. However, yoga participants on average reported better functioning of their backs, allowing participation in 30 percent more activities than the others and the ability to walk more quickly, stand for a longer time and get dressed without help. Read full article > >

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Yoga may improve functioning in people with back pain, study suggests

As nurses, pharmacists and others seek degrees beyond B.S.’s and M.S.’s, physicians fear encroachment on their turf.

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Doctors Inc.: With More Doctorates in Health Care, a Fight Over a Title

With the rainy weather recently , lawns are producing bumper crops of mushrooms. And doctors at Georgetown University Hospital are offering some advice: No matter how tempting the fungi, don’t yank them out of the ground and pop them into your mouth . Physicians offer the cautionary tale of Frank Constantinopla, 49, who after a Sept. 12 rainstorm looked in wonder at his backyard in Springfield, Va. “Oh, there’re so many mushrooms,” Constantinopla recalls thinking. “They look so lovely; I’m so lucky.” Read full article > >

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Two men who ate poisonous mushrooms survive

Watson, the IBM supercomputer that defeated the world’s best “Jeopardy!” players this year, has found a job in medicine . It won’t be consulting with patients, but a version of the game-show champion could appear in examination rooms, offering assistance to flesh-and-blood physicians. But how soon might you see Dr. Watson? And could Dr. Watson be better than your doctor? Read full article > >

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Dr. Watson: How IBM’s supercomputer could improve health care

Albert N. Brown, 105, a retired Army major who lived to be the oldest survivor of the 1942 Bataan Death March in the Philippines and was believed to be among the oldest surviving Americans to have fought in World War II, died Aug. 14 at a nursing home in Nashville, Ill. He had a heart ailment, said his daughter, Peggy Doughty. An Iowa dentist and Army reserve officer, Dr. Brown was dispatched to the Philippines as a member of the dental corps in late 1941. He spent the majority of his service overseas as a Japanese prisoner of war. The wounds he suffered during confinement were so severe that physicians told him after the war that he would not live past age 50. Read full article > >

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Albert N. Brown, oldest survivor of Bataan Death March, dies at 105

Being in a hospital at night or over a weekend can be hazardous to your health, and even has a name: “the weekend effect.” A raft of studies has documented higher rates of death, complications and medical errors affecting patients treated at night or on weekends. “After normal working hours it’s mostly maintenance,” said Jessie Gruman, 56, director of the Washington-based Center for Advancing Health, a nonprofit health-policy group. “There’s a real sense of vulnerability you have at night when you know things are not happening at full speed. There’s less nursing care, less access to a doctor and more demands on doctors,” added Gruman, a veteran of more than 35 years of hospitalizations to treat cancer-related illnesses. To bridge the chasm between the day and night shifts, hospitals from Syracuse to Seattle are hiring a new breed of subspecialist called a “nocturnist” — an experienced doctor who works overnight taking care of patients outside the emergency room. The growing demand for these physicians, who typically work fewer hours and command higher salaries than their daytime counterparts, is being fueled by several factors: the widespread acceptance of inpatient specialists known as hospitalists, who are often eager to bolster night coverage by hiring nocturnists; mandatory limits on the work hours of interns and residents, the most inexperienced doctors who traditionally cared for patients at night in teaching hospitals with little supervision; and a push by the federal government and other groups to improve safety Read full article > >

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Shifting the risks at night

Faced with the possibility that their parents have grown too confused to manage their own finances, many adult children turn to physicians. But often they are ill equipped to help cope with an elderly patient’s financial problems.

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The New Old Age: Cost of Dementia

By Julian Fisher, MD Health news cascades over us with innovative tests and treatments, new technologies and the need for electronic health records, yes, all of it good, beneficial we hope, but lost in this forest of information is the patient.  How refreshing to read in The New York Times today an eloquent appeal from humanist, writer and physician Abraham Verghese, MD his plea to ” Treat the Patient, Not the CT Scan .” His argument is so simple and credible.  All humanistic-physicians agree with him.  How can we, though, run against the tide of history?  Here is what we face.  There is a documented shortage of primary care physicians in this country, with only token efforts to respond meaningfully.  The rewards for being a hard-working primary care physician are far less than for being a specialist or a specialist with a device (an endoscope) or a specialist with a device that beautifies (a laser).  We as physicians are effectively reimbursed for 20-minute new-patient visits and eight-minute follow-up visits.  Twenty and eight, you ask, how can that be?  That is how, in effect, insurance companies calculate their payments — mind you, they are not rationing care, but they are rationing care and have been for a long time, national debates aside. It is a challenge for any primary care physician to take a complete history from a patient with complex complaints, examine the patient, formulate a plan, and record it (oh yes, it should be in electronic form now) in 20 minutes…and let’s make sure the patient undressing and dressing time is not counted in that time.  For the 8-minute sprint, we may only have time for one complaint, not all three that need to be dealt with.  Begin to see the dilemma of primary care?  It is almost as if primary care is a marathon race, with runners (patients) zipping by the finish-line referees (primary care providers) with but moments to evaluate their performance, grade them (treat them) and move on to the next. In such a scenario, Dr. Verghese’s plea for better examination and more attention to the patient rather than the tests becomes ever more eloquent.  One of my most revered neurology teachers / professors, Robert Joynt, MD, used to say that over 90% of diagnoses in neurology were made as the patient walked into the room.  That holds for so many areas of medicine, and in the rush to mechanize and computerize, we have lost those invaluable observational skills or have not been willing to pay for their being taught and deployed.  What a shame for health care, for patients, and for society. How can we correct that? Julian Fisher, MD is a Boston-based neurologist and medical information entrepreneur.

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The Patient, Not the Data

Too few consultants on duty at weekends and evenings means junior doctors must treat too many patients, the Royal College of Physicians says.

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Out-of-hours care ‘falling short’

Decriminalising drug use could cut crime and improve health, the outgoing Royal College of Physicians president says.

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Top doctor urges drugs law review