Long after research contradicts common medical practices, patients continue to demand them and physicians continue to deliver. The result is an epidemic of unnecessary and unhelpful treatments.
More ...
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/when-evidence-says-no-but-doctors-say-yes/517368/
Friday, February 24, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
Medical Mystery: Why Is Back Surgery So Popular in Casper, Wyo.? - The New York Times
You might think that once drugs, devices and medical procedures are shown to be effective, they quickly become available. You might also think that those shown not to work as well as alternatives are immediately discarded.
Reasonable assumptions both, but you'd be wrong.
Instead, innovations in health care diffuse unevenly across geographic regions — not unlike the spread of a contagious disease. And even when studies show a new technology is overused, retrenchment is very slow and seemingly haphazard.
More ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/upshot/medical-mystery-why-is-back-surgery-so-popular-in-casper-wyo.html?
Reasonable assumptions both, but you'd be wrong.
Instead, innovations in health care diffuse unevenly across geographic regions — not unlike the spread of a contagious disease. And even when studies show a new technology is overused, retrenchment is very slow and seemingly haphazard.
More ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/upshot/medical-mystery-why-is-back-surgery-so-popular-in-casper-wyo.html?
The Worst That Could Happen? Going Blind, People Say - The New York Times
"Feeling My Way Into Blindness," an essay published in The New York Times in November by Edward Hoagland, an 84-year-old nature and travel writer and novelist, expressed common fears about the effects of vision loss on quality of life.
Mr. Hoagland, who became blind about four years ago, projected deep-seated sadness in describing the challenges he faces of pouring coffee, not missing the toilet, locating a phone number, finding the food on his plate, and knowing to whom he is speaking, not to mention shopping and traveling, when he often must depend on the kindness of strangers. And, of course, he sorely misses nature's inspiring vistas and inhabitants that fueled his writing, though he can still hear birds chatter in the trees, leaves rustle in the wind and waves crash on the shore.
Mr. Hoagland is hardly alone in his distress. According to Action for Blind People, a British support organization, those who have lost some or all sight "struggle with a range of emotions — from shock, anger, sadness and frustration to depression and grief."
When eyesight fails, some people become socially disengaged, leading to isolation and loneliness. Anxiety about a host of issues — falls, medication errors, loss of employment, social blunders — is common.
A recent study from researchers at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that most Americans regard loss of eyesight as the worst ailment that could happen to them, surpassing such conditions as loss of limb, memory, hearing or speech, or having H.I.V./AIDS. Indeed, low vision ranks behind arthritis and heart disease as the third most common chronic cause of impaired functioning in people over 70, Dr. Eric A. Rosenberg of Weill Cornell Medical College and Laura C. Sperazza, a New York optometrist, wrote in American Family Physician.
Some 23.7 million American adults reported in 2015 that they are unable to see at all or have trouble seeing even with corrective lenses. This number is projected to perhaps double by 2050 based on the aging of the population and increasing prevalence of diseases that can cause vision loss. Yet, the Wilmer Eye Institute's national study of 2,044 adults found that many Americans are unaware of the diseases and factors that can put their vision at risk and steps they might take to lower their risk.
More ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/well/the-worst-that-could-happen-going-blind-people-say.html?
Mr. Hoagland, who became blind about four years ago, projected deep-seated sadness in describing the challenges he faces of pouring coffee, not missing the toilet, locating a phone number, finding the food on his plate, and knowing to whom he is speaking, not to mention shopping and traveling, when he often must depend on the kindness of strangers. And, of course, he sorely misses nature's inspiring vistas and inhabitants that fueled his writing, though he can still hear birds chatter in the trees, leaves rustle in the wind and waves crash on the shore.
Mr. Hoagland is hardly alone in his distress. According to Action for Blind People, a British support organization, those who have lost some or all sight "struggle with a range of emotions — from shock, anger, sadness and frustration to depression and grief."
When eyesight fails, some people become socially disengaged, leading to isolation and loneliness. Anxiety about a host of issues — falls, medication errors, loss of employment, social blunders — is common.
A recent study from researchers at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that most Americans regard loss of eyesight as the worst ailment that could happen to them, surpassing such conditions as loss of limb, memory, hearing or speech, or having H.I.V./AIDS. Indeed, low vision ranks behind arthritis and heart disease as the third most common chronic cause of impaired functioning in people over 70, Dr. Eric A. Rosenberg of Weill Cornell Medical College and Laura C. Sperazza, a New York optometrist, wrote in American Family Physician.
Some 23.7 million American adults reported in 2015 that they are unable to see at all or have trouble seeing even with corrective lenses. This number is projected to perhaps double by 2050 based on the aging of the population and increasing prevalence of diseases that can cause vision loss. Yet, the Wilmer Eye Institute's national study of 2,044 adults found that many Americans are unaware of the diseases and factors that can put their vision at risk and steps they might take to lower their risk.
More ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/well/the-worst-that-could-happen-going-blind-people-say.html?
When Retirement Comes With a Daily Dose of Cannabis - The New York Times
Ruth Brunn finally said yes to marijuana. She is 98.
She pops a green pill filled with cannabis oil into her mouth with a sip of vitamin water. Then Ms. Brunn, who has neuropathy, settles back in her wheelchair and waits for the jabbing pain in her shoulders, arms and hands to ebb.
"I don't feel high or stoned," she said. "All I know is I feel better when I take this."
Ms. Brunn will soon have company. The nursing home in New York City where she lives, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, is taking the unusual step of helping its residents use medical marijuana under a new program to treat various illnesses with an alternative to prescription drugs. While the staff will not store or administer pot, residents are allowed to buy it from a dispensary, keep it in locked boxes in their rooms and take it on their own.
From retirement communities to nursing homes, older Americans are increasingly turning to marijuana for relief from aches and pains. Many have embraced it as an alternative to powerful drugs like morphine, saying that marijuana is less addictive, with fewer side effects.
More ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/nyregion/retirement-medicinal-marijuana.html?
She pops a green pill filled with cannabis oil into her mouth with a sip of vitamin water. Then Ms. Brunn, who has neuropathy, settles back in her wheelchair and waits for the jabbing pain in her shoulders, arms and hands to ebb.
"I don't feel high or stoned," she said. "All I know is I feel better when I take this."
Ms. Brunn will soon have company. The nursing home in New York City where she lives, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, is taking the unusual step of helping its residents use medical marijuana under a new program to treat various illnesses with an alternative to prescription drugs. While the staff will not store or administer pot, residents are allowed to buy it from a dispensary, keep it in locked boxes in their rooms and take it on their own.
From retirement communities to nursing homes, older Americans are increasingly turning to marijuana for relief from aches and pains. Many have embraced it as an alternative to powerful drugs like morphine, saying that marijuana is less addictive, with fewer side effects.
More ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/nyregion/retirement-medicinal-marijuana.html?
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