The Recovery Room archives:
Episode 017: "A Watershed Moment for Health Care Accountability"
If you’ve ever tried to find consumer ratings for a surgeon the way you might compare plumbers or car mechanics, you know that the information is almost impossible to find. How many patients survive surgery? How many went home with complications? Performance data for surgeons or surgical groups - or hospitals, for that matter - when it exists at all – hasn’t been available to the public. That’s starting to change. On today’s show, we talk with Dr. Dave Shahian from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The Society of heart and lung specialists recently released performance data for the first time in what some are calling a “watershed moment” for health care accountability. The resulting ratings of surgical groups is currently available in the most recent issue of Consumer Reports and on the magazine’s website. Later in the show, we’ll speak with John Santa. He’s the director of Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center.
Episode 016: The Law, The Lord and The Lab: The Legal, Ethical & Scientific Debate About Stem Cell Research [September 17]
Ever since the embryonic stem cell was first isolated a dozen years ago, stem cell research has been at the mercy of shifting political tides, public debate and legal challenges. The current court battle has put millions of dollars of grant money for stem cell research at risk. On today’s show, we unravel the current legal and ethical debate with the help of bioethicist Laurie Zoloth, and later in the show we’ll talk with Dr. Tim Kamp, a prominent stem cell researcher about when the promise of stem cell research will start becoming a reality.
Episode 015: The Constitutional Debate About Health Care Reform [September 10]
Before the end of the year, many Americans will start to experience the initial portions of the Health Care Reform Bill, signed into law in March by President Obama. Other changes won’t take place until 2014, including the most contentious: the individual mandate to purchase health insurance. On today’s show: the Constitutional debate about health care reform. We’re joined by two experts in Constitutional Law – Georgetown Law Center Professor Randy Barnett, a vocal critic of the individual mandate; and Jack Balkin, a Yale Law professor and celebrated legal blogger who supports the law.
Episode 014: Learning How To Die - Hospice & Palliative Care [September 3, 2010]
If you’re diagnosed with a fatal, incurable disease, does that mean that you’re dying? In today’s medicine, the answer isn’t clear. Not to patients; and not to doctors. On today’s show, we’ll speak with Dr. Diane Meier, an expert in palliative and hospice care, who thinks there’s a better way to treat the nation’s sickest patients. And later in the show, a nurse practitioner who specializes in Palliative care talks about her work.
Episode 013: All The News That's Flawed To Print - The Good, The Bad and The Future of Health Journalism [August 27, 2010]
Is health news … bad for your health? According to Health News Review dot org, 70% of health reporting fails to meet basic journalistic standards. On today’s show, the publisher of the media watchdog explains how to be a smart consumer of health news (here’s a hint: turn off your tv). And later in the show, a day in the life of a health news veteran.
Episode 012: Orphan Drugs for Rare Diseases [August 20, 2010]
On today's show, the Food and Drug Administration joins patient groups in the fight against rare diseases, and host Dr. Rick Greene's conversation with the mother of a 13 year-old child with the rare disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Episode 011: Cesareans, Foreign Medical Grads [August 6, 2010]
Cesarean rates have been on the rise in the US for years. Over 30% of American births are currently done by c-section. And it’s a number that isn’t likely to drop any time soon. Once a woman gets a cesarean, she’ll almost always have another when she gives birth again. Recent revisions to guidelines for VBACs – or “vaginal birth after cesarean” – are intended to reduce multiple c-sections. On today’s show, why those guideline revisions may have less impact than intended and just how concerned we should be about the rising cesarean rate. And later in show, how foreign medical grads are contributing to US health care.
Episode 010: Hospital Delirium, Medical Tourism [July 30, 2010]
Delirium affects millions of elderly hospital patients every year, but it’s only recently being treated with the seriousness it deserves. On today’s show, why preventing hospital delirium may be more important than treating it, plus a physician who experienced the horrors of the condition first hand when her mother’s delirium nearly cost her her life. Also on the show: why some Americans are leaving the country for medical treatment – and the risks that come with it.
Despite some very public efforts to educate the public about the importance of screening for colon cancer, the percentage of Americans who get screened for the second-leading cause of cancer death is still low. On today’s show, we talk with a colonoscopy expert about the limitations – and some of the alternatives – to what remains the gold standard screening procedure for the disease. And later in the show, a colorectal surgeon talks how genetic testing is changing treatment options and how to choose a treatment when you’re diagnosed. But first: did you ever imagine that a conversation with a surgeon would include the question: “Is the robot going to do my surgery?”
Episode 008: New Drugs, New Docs - Targeted Cancer Treatments, Hospitalists [July 16, 2010]
On today's show, a new generation of cancer drugs that offer the promise of more personalized medicine. And later in the show: Hospitalists. A new breed of medical specialist that's trying making hospitals more efficient and safer for patients.
Episode 007: Discouraged, But Still Hopeful: The War Against Alzheimer's [July 9, 2010]
There is perhaps no disease that better illustrates the limits of medicine than Alzheimer's. Decades of research and billions of dollars spent in pursuit of a cure has resulted in very little practical treatment for the millions who suffer from the disease. On this week's show: a leading Alzheimer's researcher who remains hopeful about the fight against the disease, despite recent discouraging news from the National Institutes of Health. Plus, a geneticist who's launching a large study in search of genetic clues that explain the prevalence of Alzheimer's in African Americans. And later in the show, a surgeon whose life changed when he found himself on the operating table
Episode 006: Playing The Odds - New Drugs, MS, & Prostate Cancer Screening [July 2, 2010]
More than we'd like to admit, decisions about medical treatment require a careful weighing of benefit and risk. Surgery, medication, screening: all come with varying degrees of potential good and potential harm. On today's show: two groups of patients and the decisions they face.
Episode 005: Obama, Obesity and Hospital Vistiation Discrimination [June 25, 2010]
A third of kids and nearly half of adults are obese - up 50% in three decades. But the nation seems as poised as ever to tackle problem, with Michelle Obama and the White House making obesity a national priority. And back in April, President Obama asked Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sibelius to write new hospital visitation rules. But what kind of changes can patients expect? On this week's show, the Obama health care legacy that has nothing to do with health care reform.
Episode 004: Physician-Industry Relations - A Debate On Conflict of Interest [June 18, 2010]
In 2008, pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers spent more than 2 billion dollars marketing their products to the medical community. But are accusations of conflict of interest overblown? Is industry money necessary for continued medical progress and innovation? Or should we ask ourselves, like some critics of physician-industry relations do, why these companies waste their money if no physicians are influenced?
RR 003 Patient Safety, Patient Responsibility [June 11, 2010]
10 years ago, the medical community was shocked when an Institutes of Medicine report estimated that 44,000 - and maybe as high as 98,000 - patients were dying every year in American hospitals due to medical error. On today's show, we ask: "How much safer are we a decade later?" Plus, a surgeon who wants to make surgery safer by making patients smarter.
RR 002 Alternative Medicine Gets Integrated [June 4, 2010]
The number of physicians who support the integration of alternative and conventional medicine is still small, but it’s growing. Part of the problem say supporters is not a lack of evidence, but a lack of emphasis. Two doctors trained in both conventional and alternative medicine make the case for integrated medicine. Also on the show: hospital chaplains and their own battle for relevancy in 21st century medicine.
RR 001 Physician Shortage [May 28, 2010]
Health care reform offers the promise of primary care to millions of uninsured Americans. The problem? There's already a critical shortage of primary care physicians. Host Dr. Rick Greene talks with a pair of public health experts about the shortage, and with a general surgeon facing burn-out in rural North Carolina.
