Never Trust a Nurse with Fake Nails - Shocking Storie

Never Trust a Nurse with Fake Nails: Researchers studied 41 nurses and found that those wearing artificial nails were more than twice as likely to have bacteria on their hands after washing than those with natural nails.

The family of a 79-year-old dialysis patient is suing a Florida nurse who accidentally gave him a deadly dose of a drug that induces paralysis, instead of an antacid.

"The hospital killed my dad," said Marc Smith of Miami, Fla., whose father went into cardiac arrest after the nurse's mistake at North Shore Medical Center in Miami.

Richard Smith, who had a history of kidney disease, had been admitted to the ICU after a dialysis session where he experienced severe shortness of breath. The next day, July 30, 2010, he complained of an upset stomach, so the doctor prescribed the antacid.

Marc Smith came by to visit that morning, and found his dad "unconscious, unresponsive and on a respirator."

"The nurse said my dad had coded. I said, 'He coded? When did that happen?'"

Smith looked at his dad's chart, and found his father had been resuscitated about 10 minutes earlier.

"The nurse basically told me, 'Talk to the doctor," Marc Smith said.

When he did, he says, the doctor told him, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this but the nurse administered the wrong medication and sent your dad into respiratory arrest."

"He said the packaging looked the same and he grabbed the wrong package," Marc Smith recalled.

Uvo Ologboride, the nurse named in the lawsuit, had given Smith pancuronium. The drug, which is typically used during intubations, acts as a muscle relaxant and paralytic. In higher doses, pancuronium is used to administer lethal injections. Thirty minutes later, Smith was found unresponsive.

Although doctors were able to revive Richard Smith, he was brain dead. He remained in a vegetative state until he died a month later.

The Smith family lawyer, Andrew Yaffa, told ABCNews.com, "This is the worst case of medical neglect I have ever seen."

Yaffa, who said he's handled hundreds of hospital death cases in his 22 years as a lawyer, added, "The hospital just seems to be thumbing their nose to this family."

The nurse who administered the incorrect medication "is still working there in the exact same unit where the medical error occurred," Yaffa said.

Ologboride, who could not be reached by ABCNews.com, has been retrained, and fined, according to ABC News Miami affiliate WPLG. In addition, the hospital has since removed pancuronium from all nursing areas except for the operation room, where the medication will only be handled by anesthesiologists.

But that's little consolation for Marc Smith, an EMT, who says, "if we administer the wrong medication and someone dies, that's negligence. That's murder."

The stress has taken its toll on his mother, he said, who was married to Richard Smith for 55 years.

"For the most part, she's making it," he said.

The elderly couple had recently taken in two children, a 2 year old and a 10 year old whose parents had died.

Ever since Marc Smith was a boy, "My mother and father had taken in a countless number of children who were in bad situations at home or didn't have place to stay," he said. "They did it on a teacher's salary, but we never wanted for anything growing up."

A report from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration demonstrated that with all the safeguards in place to prevent a patient from receiving the wrong medication, the nurse would have had to ignore nearly all of the protocol in place for administering drugs.

Specifically, the nurse "failed to look and read what medication he was taking … failed to scan to determine the right count for the medication, failed to match the patient's ID with the scanned medication."

In addition, the report says, the pharmacy wasn't able to show any justification for storing pancuronium in that particular area of the hospital.

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3 Healthiest Foods on The Planet

MEIKE BERGMANN/JUPITER IMAGES

THINKSTOCK/PUNCHSTOCK

GEOFFREY KIDD/ALAMY

Healthy Food #3: Dark Chocolate

Why It's Healthy:

— Just one-fourth of an ounce daily can reduce blood pressure in otherwise healthy individuals.

— Cocoa powder is rich in flavonoids, antioxidants shown to reduce "bad" LDL cholesterol and increase "good" HDL levels

Healthy Food #2: Broccoli

Why It's Healthy:

— One medium stalk of broccoli contains more than 100 percent of your daily vitamin K requirement and almost 200 percent of your recommended daily dose of vitamin C — two essential bone-building nutrients.

— The same 

Healthy Food #1: Lemons

Why They're Healthy:

— Just one lemon has more than 100 percent of your daily intake of vitamin C, which may help increase "good" HDL cholesterol levels and strengthen bones.

— Citrus flavonoids found in lemons may help inhibit the growth of cancer cells and act as an anti-inflammatory.

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Celebrities With Mental Disorders - Health

Celebrity Mental Disorders Image Gallery

Catherine Zeta Jones may be the new face of bipolar II disorder.

With 26 percent of Americans 18 years or older living with a diagnosable mental disorder, it's no wonder mental health is an increasing priority for the average person. But what about the celebrities or famous people we've come to follow so closely? They aren't exempt from mental health issues, either. Some are more private about their mental health, while others strive to raise awareness in hopes of debunking misconceptions about disorders. This slide show includes some of Hollywood and history's most well-known names.

Catherine Zeta Jones may be the new face of bipolar II disorder, but it's no role she hoped to land. Despite now speaking publicly to help remove some of the stigma that comes with the condition, who's to say Jones would've done so it if reports of her treatment hadn't gotten out? "She went to go get some help and some other patient probably in there said, 'Hey, you won't believe who's in here now,'" husband Michael Douglas said during an interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." What's the difference between bipolar I and II? According to WebMD, they possess many of the same characteristics -- the highs and lows -- but with bipolar II, the person never reaches full-on mania.

Next, was it manic depression that made Mad Max so sad

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Physicians in rural primary care are committed to professionalism, quality improvement

The increased demand for primary care services expected to result from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may be felt strongly in rural areas. While studies have found that the quality of care delivered to rural patients is as good or better than that available in urban areas, the belief persists that top-quality primary care is only available in big cities. But a new study appearing in the National Rural Health Association's Journal of Rural Health finds few meaningful differences between rural and urban primary care physicians on key measures of professionalism, including their attitudes about participation in quality care improvement. The study did find differences in the likelihood of physicians' knowing a colleague who was impaired or incompetent, in their confidence evaluating new information and in several aspects of their interactions with patients.

"In terms of professional beliefs and behaviors, we found that rural and urban doctors are more alike than they are different," says study leader Eric G. Campbell, PhD, director of Research at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Despite our results and other evidence, the perception still exists that rural primary care is not as good as that available in cities. So we needed to learn more about the factors driving that misperception and the role it may play in the continuing shortage of rural physicians in the U.S."

Campbell and his co-authors note that, while smaller rural communities may have disadvantages in terms of fewer training options, rural primary-care physicians are significantly more likely to participate in activities such as quality improvement in their practices and hospitals. The fact that rural physicians are more likely to have personal as well as professional relationships with their patients may give them a better sense of environmental and lifestyle factors that affect patients' health but also could lead to challenges when professional responsibilities conflict with patient expectations and perceptions.

This study was designed to determine whether there were significant differences between primary care rural and urban physicians in terms of professional beliefs and in their interest and participation in quality improvement activities. The survey was sent to almost 3,000 practicing physicians randomly selected from an American Medical Association database, almost 2,000 of whom responded. The current report analyzes responses from 840 family practitioners, internists or general pediatricians. Based on ZIP code information, 127 respondents practiced in rural communities, while the other 713 were from urban areas.

There were no significant differences between rural and urban physicians' attitudes regarding participation in quality improvement activities and the importance of open communication with patients, including reporting any errors in their care. Rural physicians were more likely to participate in error-reduction initiatives, in reviews of other physicians' records, and to feel prepared to contribute to quality improvement efforts. They also were more likely to agree that physicians should discuss the costs of care with their patients and to report having added Medicaid or uninsured patients to their patient panels during the preceding year.

"Rural physicians are dedicated to providing high-quality care and committed to supporting safety-net patients," says Anne Kirchhoff, PhD, MPH, corresponding author and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah. "The Affordable Care Act should help more rural primary care providers receive payments for care they currently provide without charge. But as the Medicaid expansion is limited to only half the states, many rural providers will still shoulder a disproportionate cost burden compared with urban physicians."

Although both urban and rural physicians agreed on the importance of reporting colleagues who were incompetent or in some way impaired, rural physicians were significantly more likely to indicate actually knowing about such individuals. Similar percentages of both rural and urban doctors felt prepared to deal with impaired or incompetent colleagues. Rural physicians were more likely to report having fulfilled patient requests for brand-name drugs when less expensive generics were available - a common measure of wasteful medical practice - and were less likely to feel prepared to evaluate new medical information.

"Our findings suggest a deep and broad agreement among primary care physicians on the key tenets of medical professionalism, regardless of the location of their practices," says Campbell. "However we are concerned that, while rural physicians are more likely to know an impaired physician, most of them do not feel prepared to deal with such colleagues. Although rural physicians were more likely to talk to their patients about the costs of their care, they may not be as drug-cost-conscious as they could be. And many don't feel prepared to evaluate new clinical information. We need to further explore the implications of these findings, particular since a significant number of the patients enrolling in new ACA-sponsored health plans will be from rural areas."

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Will health care reform require new population health management strategies?

In response to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, employers may no long offer traditional employee health care benefits as they protect themselves from rising health care costs and seek to minimize their risk. How the shifting landscape of health care coverage will impact population health management providers, employers, and employees is the focus of a commentary in Population Health Management.

Bruce Sherman, MD, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (Cleveland, OH), and Chris Behling, AXA (New York, NY), explore many potential scenarios and conclude that employees and their families may be most impacted by these changes. In the article "Beyond Incentives: The Impact of Health Care Reform on Employer Population Health Management Strategies," they propose the need for new models of population health management services delivery.

"Sherman and Behling have done a great job outlining the challenges faced by every employer in our nation under health reform," says Editor-in-Chief David B. Nash, MD, MBA, Dean and Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor, Jefferson School of Population Health, Philadelphia, PA. "The success of Obamacare rests, in no small part, on following their advice!"

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'Professional musicians' identified through health insurance records

Professional musicians are almost four times as likely to develop noise-induced hearing loss and 57% more likely to develop tinnitus than the general public. These are the findings of a new study published inOccupational & Environmental Medicine.
A 2010 study published by the BMJ found that personal music devices - such as mp3 players - put young people at risk of hearing loss, as they can generate levels of sound in the ear in excess of 120 decibels. The authors behind that study explained that, at that volume, the sound level is similar in intensity to a jet engine.

The authors recommend that professional musicians - whether they play classical or rock music - should use ear protection when playing live, and that sound shields should also be installed between different sections of an orchestra.

The musicians were 57% more likely to having tinnitus - incessant ringing in the ears - and almost four times as likely to have some level of deafness.

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Expanded health coverage may improve cancer outcomes in young adults

"Overall, the ACA is going to improve health coverage for young people, but we can't forget about some young people who may feel they can't afford the premiums," added Nguyen. The authors wrote in their article that "extra consideration will need to be given to ensure that at-risk patients can obtain insurance coverage under the ACA."

Premium costs for some young adults who purchase insurance in the individual market are expected to rise substantially. Such individuals often lack employer-sponsored health plans. The higher costs are partly because the coverage under the ACA is required to be more comprehensive than many existing plans, and because the premiums paid by young, healthy people are helping to subsidize lower costs for older adults.

On the other hand, the ACA extends young adults' coverage under their parents' health plans until age 26, and federal subsidies will pay part of the premium costs of low-earning consumers.

Young adults who lack health care insurance are more likely to be diagnosed in advanced stages of cancer and have a higher risk of death, according to a study from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) and Harvard Medical School.

Consequently, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, may improve cancer outcomes in young adults as it expands coverage to many who have been uninsured, said first author Ayal Aizer, MD, MHS, of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and senior author Paul Nguyen, MD, of Radiation Oncology at DF/BWCC in a report published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology today. Cancer patients will also benefit from the ACA requirement that insurers cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.

"We found that patients who have insurance coverage do better on every measure," said Aizer. Those who had insurance coverage were less likely to come to medical attention when their cancer had metastasized, or spread beyond the original site. The results showed that 11.3 percent of covered individuals had metastatic disease when they were diagnosed, compared with 18.5 percent of uninsured patients. That amounted to a 16 percent greater adjusted likelihood of having a potentially curable cancer.

Insured patients were about twice as likely to receive "definitive therapy" - radiation or surgery - for their disease. And, strikingly, the insured were 20 percent more likely to survive.

The researchers analyzed records of 39,447 cancer patients ages 20 to 40 years whose medical, demographic and insurance information was stored in a National Cancer Institute-sponsored database.

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