Surgeons tweeted updates during a recent double hand transplant at Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center in Louisville. While the operation would be only the third double hand transplant in the U.S., it’s probably the first accompanied by live tweeting.
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Drug counterfeiting has become a $200-billion business annually, according to the World Customs Organization. By some calculations, the counterfeiting trade has become more lucrative than the narcotics business. It’s a global problem. The World Health Organization estimates that counterfeit drugs make up ten percent of the drug market worldwide. And experts say that solving it–or at least stemming the tide–requires the participation of both government and industry.
Continue reading ‘Drug Counterfeiting – a $200 Billion Business’
More drugs are hitting the recall list these days. As CNN Money reports, the number of recalls hit 1,742 last year–that’s an increase of 309 percent over 2008. “We’ve seen a trend where the last four years are among the top five for the most number of drug recalls since we began tallying recalls in 1988,” says Bowman Cox, managing editor of the Gold Sheet, a trade pub that analyzes FDA data. “That’s a meaningful development.”
Pharmaceuticals promoting their products through Facebook “Shares” have been warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)… and they’re apparently heeding that warning. Pharmaceutical company Novartis removed it’s Facebook Share after receiving a letter from the FDA warning that the Facebook Share button it is using to promote its cancer medication, Tasigna, violates FDA requirements about disclosure of drug information, and that the information is misleading and “implies superiority over other product.”
When his phone battery ran low, instead of dialing 911 and possibly languishing on hold, Atlanta Councilman Kwanza Hall tweeted, “Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson St. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet,” according to WSBTV. Within moments, Twitter followers retweeted his message and several called 911. Paramedics were able to rush the woman to the hospital.
Continue reading ‘Web users see Twitter, Facebook as 911 backup’
With Genzyme in the news, we’ve all been hearing plenty about the wave of M&A deals that’s been rolling through the world’s life sciences industry. Last year, Thomson Reuters tracked more than 1,400 such deals worth $206 billion worldwide, giving the Boston Globe the hard numbers it needs to assert that this is one trend that has yet to crest.
Continue reading ‘Biotech M&A Frenzy Shows no Sign of Slowing’
The explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 and set off one of the worst environmental disasters in history is an extreme case, but workers on even the safest offshore rigs are susceptible to injuries and high rates of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, Editor Neil Versel writes. Oil companies routinely have stationed nurses and paramedics on rigs to treat minor ailments aboard rigs, but with rigs now outfitted with Internet and satellite connections, more and more operators are turning to telemedicine and remote monitoring and diagnostic tools to help care for offshore workers and save money. An article in the July-August issue of the journal Telemedicine and e-Health looks at this trend.
Continue reading ‘Remote Monitoring Aid Patients on Offshore Oil Rigs’
Despite laws in all 50 states that prohibit underage drinking, it’s still a seemingly intractable problem. In 2008, 189,000 visits made by patients ages 12 to 20 to the ED involved alcohol, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Seventy percent of those alcohol-related ED visits involved alcohol only, and 30 percent involved alcohol mixed with other drugs.
Continue reading ‘Males Dominate Hospital ED Visits by Underage Drinkers’
It’s been a little over six months since Apple’s iPad debuted with much fanfare. Not long after its debut, speculation about what the gadget could do for healthcare was rampant. In February, Dr. Ben Alexander, WakeMed’s chief medical information officer and pediatric intensivist, wondered whether the iPad would revolutionize healthcare. We were giddy about the possibilities Apple’s sleek tablet computer could open up for healthcare.
Continue reading ‘Can the iPad Live Up to all the Healthcare Hype?’
Instead of treating a 60-year-old stabbing victim after his initial arrival at St. Mary Medical Center’s ER, nurses and other staff took photos of the man and posted them on Facebook, the Los Angeles Times reports. William Wells, the patient, had been stabbed more than 12 times by a fellow nursing home resident. His throat was sliced so severely that he was almost decapitated. He died soon after the photo was taken. His death was ruled a homicide. Police arrested his suspected attacker.
Continue reading ‘Photos of Dying Patient Posted on Facebook’
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