10 Worst Medical Treatment Dangers 2013

   Advances in health technology are often a double-edged sword. They provide new ways to improve patient care but also create new opportunities for harm if design flaws aren't identified and fixed, equipment isn't properly maintained, or safety and usage protocols aren't followed. To help minimize the chance of adverse events, ECRI Institute of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, an independent nonprofit organization that...

End-of-Life Care Guidelines Updated

   The Hastings Center has updated and expanded its landmark 1987 consensus guidelines for ethical care of terminally ill patients. Oxford University Press published this second edition of The Hastings Center Guidelines for Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment and Care Near the End of Life.   "As the population ages, more people are living with chronic diseases," Hastings Center President and guidelines working group member Mildred Z. Solomon, EdD, said in a news release. "Advances in medicine have created both benefits and...

End-of-Life Wishes: Lack of Communication Persists

Steven For Medscape   Although many elderly patients and their families discuss advance care planning (ACP) with their physicians, those wishes often fail to be added to patients' medical records, according to findings from a study carried out in Canada and published online April 1 in JAMA Internal Medicine.   "To our knowledge, there has been no rigorous audit or evaluation of ACP from the patient or family perspective using validated questionnaires that assess the frequency of engagement in key ACP activities," write Daren...

ADHD: Why Do the Numbers Keep Growing?

Thomas J. Power, PhD from Medscape   A recent New York Times analysis of data from the most recent National Survey of Children's Health concluded that almost 1 in 5 teenage boys and 11% of all school-aged children have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Medscape asked Dr. Thomas Power, from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), to discuss some theories to explain this increase.   My name is Tom Power. I'm a psychologist and Director of the Center for Management of ADHD at CHOP. I...