Veterans Administration, the VA and CVS have partnered for a test program that will have the pharmacy chain’s MinuteClinic urgent care centers treating some veterans for minor injuries and ailments. [More]
medical care
Free-Standing Emergency Rooms Accused Of Duping Patients Into Paying “Facilities Fees”
By 1.13.17
The country’s largest operator of free-standing emergency rooms — urgent medical care providers that are not physically connected to any hospital — has been accused of deceiving their patients into paying fees of several thousand dollars. [More]
Woman Loses Hospice Care Because She’s Lived Longer Than Expected
By 8.12.16
When someone is receiving hospice care, it usually means they’re very close to the end of their life. But what happens if that person simply refuses to die? [More]
Some Health Providers Are Sharing Patients’ Info Online In Reaction To Bad Yelp Reviews
By 5.27.16
Now that we live in a world where it seems everything can be rated — from your restaurant experience to your root canal — privacy issues are popping up in unexpected places. Like in health care providers’ responses to negative reviews from patients on Yelp, for example. [More]
Study: Colorado Tourists Going To The ER With Pot Complaints More Than Residents
By 2.25.16
It’s probably no surprise that now that marijuana is legal in Colorado, tourists are trying it out. However, doctors say they were somewhat surprised by the results of a study which found that out-of-state tourists were visiting emergency rooms more often than residents with pot complaints. [More]
Doctor Accused Of Murder For Prescriptions That Led To Overdoses
By 3.5.12
The Los Angeles District Attorney revealed that a California doctor faces murder charges for allegedly pushing unneeded prescription drugs to patients, three of whom died of overdoses in 2009. She also faces 21 felony counts of writing fraudulent, purposeless prescriptions. Authorities says she prescribed tens of thousands of unneeded prescriptions to various patients, including methadone, Xanax, oxycodone to patients. [More]
Your Medical Records: Ask For Them!
By 1.18.10
Hospitals can be slow to respond for health records, writes CNN, which can cause serious problems if you’re moving a patient from one facility to another. Here are steps from that article on how to make sure you get your data as quickly as possible. [More]
Hospital Was Filmed Dumping Homeless Paraplegic On Street, Driving Off
By 1.18.08
In February 2007, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles abandoned Gabino Olvera, a mentally ill paraplegic man, on the street: “[The hospital] took him across town in a van and left him in a soiled hospital gown without a wheelchair in the heart of the city’s homeless area.” Olvera, with the help of an advocacy organization called Public Counsel, is now suing them for neglect and elder abuse (although we’re not sure how the second one applies since he’s only 42). His case is “one of about 50 reported incidents in the past 12 months of sick, confused and homeless patients being left by ambulances” in downtown LA.
