Health Care
Insurers limiting doctors, hospitals in health insurance market
“Insurers in California’s new health insurance exchange are holding down premiums by limiting choices, raising concerns that patients will struggle to get care.”
Read MoreDismissal of caregiver abuse puts California patients at risk
Ryan Gabrielson of The Center for Investigative Reporting reports that “California regulators routinely have conducted cursory and indifferent investigations into suspected violence and misconduct committed by hundreds of nursing assistants and in-home health aides – putting the elderly, sick and disabled at risk over the past decade.” In two stories published yesterday, Gabrielson’s examines how…
Read MorePayoffs alleged at assisted living centers
“The 2011 documents allege several instances of state inspectors taking bribes, one of many problems found in a six-month investigation of assisted living facilities by U-T San Diego and the CHFC Center for Health Reporting at the University of Southern California.”
Read MoreTexas doctor’s patients end up maimed, dead as medical board fails to stop him
Dr. Christopher Duntsch began his medical practice in 2010, The Texas Observer reports, and by the time the state revoked his license in 2013, a series of botched surgeries had left two of his patients dead and four paralyzed. The real tragedy of the story, according to the Texas Observer, is how preventable it was:…
Read MoreThousands of physicians still practicing despite misconduct
The nation’s state medical boards continue to allow thousands of physicians to keep practicing medicine after findings of serious misconduct that puts patients at risk, a USA TODAY investigation shows. Many of the doctors have been barred by hospitals or other medical facilities; hundreds have paid millions of dollars to resolve malpractice claims. Yet their…
Read MoreNew York Promised Help for Mentally Ill Inmates — But Still Sticks Many in Solitary
“In New York, inmates diagnosed with ‘serious’ disorders should be protected from solitary confinement. But since that policy began, the number of inmates diagnosed with such disorders has dropped,” according to a ProPublica report.
Read MoreLocked in Terror
The Fresno Bee reports: “The Fresno County Jail has been a place of terror and despair for mentally ill inmates who spiral deeper into madness because jail officials withhold their medication. About one in six jail inmates is sick enough to need antipsychotic drugs to control schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and other psychiatric conditions, but many…
Read MoreSponges, tools and more left inside Washington hospital patients
KUOW in Seattle reports that about 30 times per year, a sponge or surgical instrument is left inside a patient at a hospital in Washington state. Foreign ojects left behind are among the state’s most common medical mistakes. Medical experts told KUOW such an event should never happen, at that the system in place to…
Read MoreMentally troubled students overwhelm schools
The Star Tribune reports that one boy’s struggle with “Mr. Angry” highlights a growing dilemma: Thousands of kids with mental problems rely on schools for care. Gianni is one of thousands of students afflicted with serious mental health problems who are flooding into Minnesota schools because they have nowhere else to go. Their complex needs…
Read MoreSmall-town Texas patients died amid federal, state regulatory inaction
The Dallas Morning News investigation shows how Dr. Tariq Mahmood operated a chain of dangerous small-town Texas hospitals for more than four years until regulators finally started to crack down. Before they acted, repeated warnings about grave risks to patients and potential fraud reached multiple agencies. At least four patients died. The project details how federal…
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