Category: Interesting Links
May 11, 2010 | 5 comments | by John Goodman
New Online Reviews of Doctors, Lack of Sleep and Early Death, and Do Women Make Better Physicians?
Sleep deprivation is bad for you. But is it worse than waterboarding?
Half the medical students are women; but do women make better doctors? By some measures, yes.
May 10, 2010 | 6 comments | by John Goodman
Teaching Doctors the Price of Care, Organic Foods, and 71 Million Unused H1N1 Vaccines
Patients don’t know what anything really costs? The doctor doesn’t either.
Study: People who eat cookies labeled “organic” believe the cookies have 40% fewer calories. Obviously, Mayor Bloomberg and the other nanny state enthusiasts are trying to regulate the wrong things.
The U.S. has 71 million unused H1N1 swine flu doses. Health officials say anyone who has not been vaccinated should still try, just in case.
May 06, 2010 | 4 comments | by John Goodman
Genes in Unexpected Places, California’s Ticking Pension Bomb, and How Personality Affects Brain Aging
The least among us: Scientists are finding genes that stop cancer growth and have other valuable uses in yeast, nematode worms and even frogs.
California’s unfunded pension liability is about six times the size of this year’s state budget and seven times more than the outstanding voter-approved general obligations bonds.
May 05, 2010 | 3 comments | by John Goodman
At Other Blogs
Health Business Blog: Robots are coming. At 36 weeks, robot-assisted therapy and intensive therapy performed about the same, and both were superior to usual care.
The Digerati Life: ObamaCare timeline. Best artwork I’ve seen.
Maggie Mahar at Health Beat: Can fear of cancer cause even more suffering than cancer itself? Answer: Maybe.
Colorado Health Insurance Insider: “The idea that health insurance should be strictly a free market, unregulated product is popular among people who are healthy…” Yes. Just like life insurance is popular among the living and fire insurance is popular among people whose homes have not yet burned down and auto collision insurance is popular… Give me a break!
Jason Shafrin at Healthcare Economist has a good summary.
May 04, 2010 | 5 comments | by John Goodman
Doctor Frustration, Lucky Charms, and Paying to Live Longer
Doctor frustration: “I’m at the office late every night taking care of mindless paperwork, just so the insurance companies can deny payment.”
Do lucky charms improve performance? Sometimes.
Is an adopted child like a used car? Does the adoption agency have a duty to reveal all defects?
Would you pay $93,000 to live four more months? If you have prostate cancer, you may get that chance.
May 03, 2010 | 7 comments | by John Goodman
Patient Satisfaction, Social Networks Affect Drinking Patterns, and Botox Diminishes Emotions
When doctors sit down, patient satisfaction goes up. The effect is real.
Sweat the small stuff: Small irritants destroy marriages.
People who socialize with heavy drinkers are more likely to become one.
If you could not smile or frown, would your ability to feel emotions be impaired? Apparently, Botox does just that.
Apr 30, 2010 | 6 comments | by Devon Herrick
Exercise for Depression, Illegal Immigrants Not So Scary, and Chocolate Causes Depression?
Exercise for depression or anxiety: The effect is similar to medication and talk therapy and better than relaxation, meditation, stress education and music therapy.
Surprise finding: Illegal immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native Americans.
Apr 28, 2010 | 7 comments | by John Goodman
Official State Microbe, Fifty Years and No Sign of E.T., Food Stamps Cause Obesity
Wisconsin has an official state microbe.
Study: Food stamps cause obesity. One in eight persons uses them.
Do you have the right to keep others from researching your DNA? Indian tribe says “yes.”
Apr 27, 2010 | 9 comments | by John Goodman
Congress Can Stay in their Current Health Insurance Plans, Vacation Subsidies for the Poor, and Consumer-Driven Execution?
OPM: Congress won’t have to become uninsured after all. Members and staff can stay in their federal insurance plans until they must join the exchanges to be created in 2014. My advice: Get your surgery done before that date.
About 40 percent of all advanced clinical trials sponsored by the Cancer Institute are never completed. That is an incredible waste of effort and money.
Consumer-Driven Execution. In Utah the condemned can choose: Firing squad or lethal injection. (Need I say what real men would choose?)
Apr 27, 2010 | 6 comments | by John Goodman
