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Hospital
workers peek at Clooney's records
NORTH BERGEN,
NJ — Twenty-seven New Jersey hospital workers
were suspended for sneaking a look at George Clooney's
medical records after he was treated for a broken rib
and scrapes following a late September motorcycle accident.
No physicians were among the 27 suspended. The punishment
drew criticism from the hospital workers' union and
Mr Clooney himself. "While I very much believe in a
patient's right to privacy," the actor announced, "I
would hope that this could be settled without suspending
medical workers."
Vodka
drip to the rescue
MACKAY, AUSTRALIA
— A young man was saved by his quick-thinking
Aussie physicians — and a bottle or two of vodka.
The man, who fell into a coma after drinking the antifreeze
component ethylene glycol in a possible suicide attempt,
was initially treated with medicinal alcohol, an antidote
to his poisoning. But when the hospital ran out of the
alcohol, doctors turned to a vodka drip, administered
at a rate of three drinks per hour for three days. The
man made a full recovery. "By the time he woke up I
think his hangover would have well and truly gone,"
one doctor said.
Another
COX-2 off the market
OTTAWA —
Another COX-2 inhibitor is down for the count. Lumiracoxib
was withdrawn from the market at Health Canada's request,
just as rofecoxib was in 2004. Regulators said the "serious
hepatotoxicity associated with the use of [lumiracoxib]
cannot be safely and effectively managed." Health Canada
asked all doctors to cease prescribing the osteoarthritis
drug and to ask patients with prescriptions to stop
taking it.
"Um,
it starts with a 'z'..."
CHICAGO —
Forty percent of patients have no idea what hypertension
meds they're on, says a new Northwestern University
study to be published in the November issue of the Journal
of General Internal Medicine. One reason for this
problem, lead author Dr Stephen Persell told Reuters,
is that patients frequently can't pronounce the bizarre
names of generic drugs.
Staph
kills more than AIDS
ATLANTA —
American public health officials say staph may kill
more people than AIDS in the US, after a new study on
the incidence of drug-resistant staph (MRSA) was published
in the October 17 JAMA. Over half of MRSA infections,
the study found, are spread in healthcare facilities,
and the disease has become the most common infection
seen in EDs. "Old diseases have learned new tricks,"
wrote Los Angeles public health officer Dr Elizabeth
A Bancroft in an accompanying editorial.
Can
yoga help CA patients?
NEW YORK CITY
— A good yoga session can lift a breast
cancer patient's spirits, reported a team of New York
and Ahmedabad, India researchers. In a study published
October 1 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,
they show that yoga improved overall quality of life,
emotional and social well-being and reduced stress in
breast cancer patients who aren't on chemotherapy. Another
study published in the same issue found exercise alone
didn't explain the improvement, indicating the benefit
may stem from yoga's meditation techniques.
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