XTEND-15sec-NEWSt
27th August 2004
Please click on the summary link of interest:
Many Stroke Patients Get Wrong Therapy in Hospitals...n1
MONDAY, July 26 (HealthDayNews) --New research suggests that up to 65 percent of stroke patients are likely to be treated for hypertension in their first four days in the hospital, despite current guidelines that say such treatment can extend and worsen stroke symptoms.
The report appears in the July 27 issue of Neurology.
The American Stroke Association recommends against treating all but the most severe cases of hypertension in the first few days following a stroke. Studies have found that lowering elevated blood pressure in stroke victims through medication can cause more damage both short- and long-term.
In the research, doctors reviewed medical records of 154 patients admitted for stroke at a community-based teaching hospital in Minnesota.
They found that only 26 percent of patients who were treated for hypertension actually met the guidelines for treatment.
Warren Matthews comments: We included this article this week simply to reinforce the importance of preventative care. Hospitals are dangerous places to be as I have written about before, and as such they should be avoided. The amount of serious illness (and often deaths) that result from mistakes made during a stay in hospital is quite staggering.
Of course, sometimes a stay in hospital is unavoidable but the majority of hospital visits could be avoided if the 'patients' were better educated about the cause of disease and changed their attitude towards their bodies and realized that health is a personal responsibility and not something to be left to either their Doctor or their HMO or Insurance Company.
Make the effort to learn more about what you need to do to in order to avoid disease. In this regard we will do our best via our website to provide accurate unbiased information to help you better understand what you should do. I would also suggest that if you haven't already done so that you read the special report on our website on weight loss... irrespective whether you need to lose weight or not. There is a lot of helpful information within it that will help your overall health.
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A Dose of Prozac from your Kitchen Faucet?n2
Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has been revealed.
An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater.
A report in Sunday's Observer says the government's environment watchdog has discussed the impact for human health.
To read the balance of this BBC article please click here.
Warren Matthews comments: Although this is a UK report the findings are also applicable to the USA and many other countries as well. But…it is not only traces of Prozac that are being found but that of many other drugs. This is quite understandable given that many tons of these drugs are flushed down the nation's toilets every day. The sewage treatment facilities do not adequately remove these substances.
This is a serious problem and one that is largely ignored. It strengthens the need to heed the advice that I have been giving for years, which is, DON'T DRINK TAP WATER! In addition to all the 'nasties' in it such as chlorine, fluoride etc you are also getting minute doses of a wide range of chemicals in the form of pharmaceutical drugs.
Spend the money to get a really high quality water filter which takes out all these impurities. A good one is not cheap but it will pay dividends over and over in helping protect your health.
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195,000 U.S. Deaths Blamed on Hospital Errors...n3
New estimate doubles previous figure, report says:
As many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in U.S. hospitals because of easily prevented errors, a company Lakewood, Colorado-based HealthGrades Inc. said its data covers all 50 states and is more up-to-date than a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine that said 98,000 people a year die from medical errors.
"The HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have underestimated the number of deaths due to medical errors, and, moreover, that there is little evidence that patient safety has improved in the last five years," said Dr. Samantha Collier, vice president of medical affairs at the company.
To read the balance of this article by Reuters please click here.
Warren Matthews comments: I wrote an article about this back in Feb 2002. You can find it in the archives it you wish. The figures were frightening enough then…but they are even worse now. As I explained in the earlier article the true figures are likely to be much higher. So... as I have said many times before, do your utmost to avoid ever being admitted to hospital.
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Important notice: All material provided within XTEND-15sec-NEWS is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken solely on the contents of this publication. Consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health and wellbeing or on any opinions expressed within this newsletter. The information provided in this newsletter is believed to be accurate based on the best judgment of the editor but the reader is responsible for consulting with their own health professional on any matters raised within.
Prozac 'found in drinking water': (Full Article)f1
Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has been revealed.
An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater.
A report in Sunday's Observer says the government's environment watchdog has discussed the impact for human health.
A spokesman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said the Prozac found was most likely highly diluted.
'Alarming'
The newspaper says environmentalists are calling for an urgent investigation into the evidence.
It quotes the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, Norman Baker MP, as saying the picture emerging looked like "a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".
He says: "It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water."
Experts say the anti-depression drug gets into the rivers and water system via treated sewage water.
Prescriptions Increase
The DWI said the Prozac (known technically as fluoxetine) was unlikely to pose a health risk as it was so "watered down".
The Observer says the revelations raise new fears over how many prescriptions for the drug are given out by doctors.
In the decade leading up to 2001, the number of prescriptions for antidepressants went up from nine million per year to 24 million per year, says the paper.
The Environment Agency report concluded that the Prozac in the water table could be potentially toxic and said the drug was a "potential concern".
The exact amount of Prozac in the nation's drinking water is not known.
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195,000 U.S. deaths blamed on hospital error
New estimate doubles previous figure, report says (Full Article)f2
Updated: 12:33 p.m. ET July 28, 2004
WASHINGTON - As many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in U.S. hospitals because of easily prevented errors, a company Lakewood, Colorado-based HealthGrades Inc. said its data covers all 50 states and is more up-to-date than a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine that said 98,000 people a year die from medical errors.
"The HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have underestimated the number of deaths due to medical errors, and, moreover, that there is little evidence that patient safety has improved in the last five years," said Dr. Samantha Collier, vice president of medical affairs at the company.
The company, which rates hospitals based on a variety of criteria and provides information to insurers and health plans, said its researchers looked at three years of Medicare data in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
"This Medicare population represented approximately 45 percent of all hospital admissions (excluding obstetric patients) in the U.S. from 2000 to 2002," the company said in a statement.
HealthGrades included as mistakes failure to rescue dying patients and the death of low-risk patients from infections - neither of which the Institute of Medicine report included.
1.14 million 'patient-safety incidents'
It said it found about 1.14 million "patient-safety incidents" occurred among the 37 million hospitalizations.
"Of the total 323,993 deaths among Medicare patients in those years who developed one or more patient-safety incidents, 263,864, or 81 percent, of these deaths were directly attributable to the incidents," it added.
"One in every four Medicare patients who were hospitalized from 2000 to 2002 and experienced a patient-safety incident died."
The U.S. government said it is trying to spearhead a move to get hospitals and clinics to use electronic databases and prescribing methods. The Institute of Medicine report said many deaths were due to medication prescribing errors or to errors in delivering medications.
"If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual list of leading causes of death included medical errors, it would show up as number six, ahead of diabetes, pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease and renal disease," Collier said.
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