CNN reports:
The father of Christina Green, the youngest of six people killed January 8 at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' meet-and-greet outside an Arizona supermarket, told CNN Friday that some of his daughter's organs "went to a little girl in Boston."
Bill Walczak, currently CEO at the Codman Square Health Center, will become president at Carney Hospital, the health center reports.
Walczak co-founded the health center in 1974. Sandra Cotterell, chief operating officer at Codman, will become the center's CEO.
The Boston Public Health Commission reports a sharp rise in flu cases in the under-5 set likely signals the start of more widespread flu cases among adults.
Emergency-room visits for flu-like symptoms in general is up sharply over the past month, but especially among children under 5, the commission said today. Lab-test sampling - not everybody who shows up at an ER with fevery aches has samples sent for testing - shows 21% of cases are now among kids under 5, the commission said.
Carey Goldberg provides the stomach-turning details of what turned out to be a viral buffet:
Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have agreed to a new payment system with Blue Cross Blue Shield, in which they get paid a "global" amount based on their average number of patients, rather than per procedure - with bonuses for meeting certain quality and patient-satisfaction goals. Beth Israel CEO Paul Levy considers the effect on the medical center:
Beth Israel Deaconess CEO Paul Levy discovers that sign, sign, everywhere a sign works well in songs, but not so well on hospital walls.
The New England Journal of Medicine has a case study on the error, in which the surgeon himself explains what happened and the hospital discusses how it changed its policies to try to prevent this. The case study doesn't say when the incident occurred, but notes the case was originally discussed at a conference in January, 2009.
Via CommonHealth.
Between 12:15 and 1 p.m. Carey Goldberg reports it's part of an effort to encourage people to get off their asses and walk.
Last week, Paul Levy, CEO at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, cited some work by the staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital to reduce the number of falls patients take in the hospital. Today, he notes his own staff have taken a different approach to the problem. And then he looks at a map of where the two hospitals are and wonders:
Aaron Gouveia videoed his confrontation with two anti-abortion protesters outside Women's Health Services on Harvard Street earlier this year. He accompanied his wife there to have an abortion after doctors told them their 16-week-old fetus, the one they'd already picked out a name for, had mermaid syndrome, no kidneys, no bladder and no chance of surviving. And, he writes (cached version), he couldn't take it when these two women started screaming at his wife:
... Hell is watching her entire body convulse with sobs because she's being tortured with grief. For as long as I live and no matter how many children we have, I will never forget that sound. And I vowed to do everything in my power to make sure she’d never make it again.
Across a crowded street, two people with "God Is Pro-Life!" signs and pictures of torn-up fetuses managed to drive the blade in even deeper. Again, I was left trying to console the inconsolable, feeling even more helpless this time, because I wasn't allowed into surgery with her.
Running on pure adrenaline, and without even a hint of a plan, I grabbed my cell phone and crossed the street. ...
In a federal lawsuit filed yesterday, workers at Cambridge Health Alliance, which runs hospitals in Cambridge, Somerville and Everett, charge they routinely have 30 minutes deducted from their pay for lunch even when they actually worked through lunch.
The Globe reports the state Attorney General's office has signed off on the Archdiocese of Boston's planned sale of the six-hospital chain to a private equity firm with conditions - such as all the hospitals, including St. Elizabeth's in Brighton and Carney in Dorchester, stay open for at least three more years.
NEWTON-WELLESLEY HOSPITAL WOMEN’S IMAGING CENTER
ASKING PATIENTS TO “PAY IT FORWARD”
Pink Card Program to Generate Awareness Around
Importance of Early Detection in Breast Cancer
While breast cancer can take years to develop, women rarely have any symptoms in the early stages. However, if breast cancer is found early with a mammogram, the five-year survival rate is 98%. Mammograms, along with clinical breast exams and general breast awareness, are vital for early detection and successful treatment.
During the month of October, after a patient has her routine mammogram at the Manton Women’s Imaging Center at Newton-Wellesley Hospital or other locations in Natick and Walpole, she will be asked to pay it forward in an effort to potentially save a life.
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Newton-Wellesley Hospital is asking patients coming in for a mammogram to pass along a pink reminder card to their mother, sister, daughter, or friend as a way to encourage a loved one to schedule her annual mammogram.
Jonathan Potts reports that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is finding it a lot easier to build up its patient count through fluffy features in the local media now that local newsrooms have mostly gotten rid of dedicated health reporters.
Boston Zest updates us with the latest Massachusetts flu-shot info (for starters, just one shot this year).
BosGuy reports on his third case of viral meningitis:
I swear I must be the only person who can self-diagnose meningitis and rate Boston area hospitals on their proficiency with spinal taps.
Blames cuts in government reimbursements, the Boston Business Journal reports.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a state law that makes psychotherapists' patient records private has no exceptions under which state investigators could take a look at them to determine whether the doctors are inappropriately prescribing drugs to their patients.
Deb Geisler chronicles her journey from ER to room to discharge over the course of a day, including:
Then you discover that your "primary" physician has gotten your test results, not told you anything about them, left orders to put you on IV antibiotics, including the one every medical document identifies as a drug allergy, and left the hospital. Cannot be contacted.
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