Even before I read this, I had figured out that empathy and a desire to help others don't seem to be traits that medical schools look for when accepting students. And how did this doctor not know that it is against the law to fire someone for getting sick?
A Woman Told Her Boss About A Devastating Cancer Diagnosis. He Responded By Firing Her.
The Huffington Post
By Mollie Reilly
09/11/2014
A Pennsylvania community is rallying around a woman who was fired from her job at an oral surgeon's office following her diagnosis with cancer.
Carol Jumper, who lives in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, was diagnosed with cancer impacting her pancreas, liver and ovaries in August. According to her fiance, Dennis Smerigan, Jumper received a letter from her boss, Dr. George Visnich, in which the oral surgeon said he was laying her off without compensation. Raging Chicken Press published the letter on Sunday.
"The symptoms of the disease, the pain medications you will need and the side effects of the chemotherapy will be significant and distracting,” reads the handwritten note, which bears Visnich's letterhead. "You will not be able to function in my office at the level required while battling for your life. Because of this, I am laying you off without pay as of August 11, 2014."...
Smerigan told the Beaver Countian that his fiancee worked for Visnich for more than 12 years...
Current and recovering cancer patients are protected against job discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act so long as the individual is able to perform the job's essential functions.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Kaiser Settles Lawsuit of Social Worker fired for reporting a death threat
Kaiser Settles Fired Social Worker's Lawsuit
By BARBARA WALLACE
Courthouse News
March 19, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A social worker who claimed that Kaiser fired her for reporting a death threat has settled her civil suit, a federal judge's ruling shows.
Robin Love, a licensed clinical social worker and certified alcohol and drug counselor, sued the Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The November 2012 complaint alleged that a fellow therapist had warned Love that one of her patients had said he wanted "to murder Robin Love."
"For many months, Ms. Love requested that defendants obtain a restraining order on her behalf to protect her from the threatening patient," the complaint stated.
"Defendants failed to protect Ms. Love. When Ms. Love complained to several of Kaiser's managers about the ongoing violations of workplace safety and Kaiser's failure to protect her, defendants retaliated against Ms. Love by bringing false disciplinary charges against her, subjecting her to unlawful corrective action, and then terminating her employment."
U.S. District Judge William Orrick dismissed Love's whistle-blower and contract claims this past December but left intact her claims for discrimination, wrongful termination, emotional distress and other issues.
On Friday, he dismissed the case with prejudice, noting that the parties had announced a settlement after a conference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte.
The matter shall be restored to the calendar, however, if either party certifies within 60 days that the settlement did not occur.
Details of the settlement are unavailable. Love's attorney Jenny Huang declined to comment on the dismissal. A Kaiser spokesman noted that the voluntary settlement did not include "any admission of any wrongdoing by any of the defendants."
By BARBARA WALLACE
Courthouse News
March 19, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A social worker who claimed that Kaiser fired her for reporting a death threat has settled her civil suit, a federal judge's ruling shows.
Robin Love, a licensed clinical social worker and certified alcohol and drug counselor, sued the Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The November 2012 complaint alleged that a fellow therapist had warned Love that one of her patients had said he wanted "to murder Robin Love."
"For many months, Ms. Love requested that defendants obtain a restraining order on her behalf to protect her from the threatening patient," the complaint stated.
"Defendants failed to protect Ms. Love. When Ms. Love complained to several of Kaiser's managers about the ongoing violations of workplace safety and Kaiser's failure to protect her, defendants retaliated against Ms. Love by bringing false disciplinary charges against her, subjecting her to unlawful corrective action, and then terminating her employment."
U.S. District Judge William Orrick dismissed Love's whistle-blower and contract claims this past December but left intact her claims for discrimination, wrongful termination, emotional distress and other issues.
On Friday, he dismissed the case with prejudice, noting that the parties had announced a settlement after a conference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte.
The matter shall be restored to the calendar, however, if either party certifies within 60 days that the settlement did not occur.
Details of the settlement are unavailable. Love's attorney Jenny Huang declined to comment on the dismissal. A Kaiser spokesman noted that the voluntary settlement did not include "any admission of any wrongdoing by any of the defendants."
One-fourth of bed alarms were broken before UCSD patient wandered away to his death
When Thomas Vera wandered away from UCSD to die in a nearby canyon in May 2013, executives across the University of California Health System were cutting positions of staff members who dealt directly with patients.
But those positions weren't cut because there was no money. The money was being shifted to administrators. It seems that the University of California's priorities have been shifting away from patient care to profit over the past several years.
But the greed of the executives and doctors at UC isn't the only factor at play in tragic patient deaths. I see another problem here, and we're all to blame for it. It's our refusal to talk about what should be done for terminally ill or injured patients. Sometimes hospitals are held hostage by families who demand miracles for their dying relatives. Losing a loved one is difficult, and some people can't accept the inevitable. They demand every test and treatment that might possibly give some short term benefit, and they even threaten to sue when their 95-year-old grandmother dies.
Few people want to talk about how to apportion health care dollars. The major exceptions to this are the vocal advocates of leaving large numbers of Americans without health coverage. In other words, these individuals want to let economics decide who should live and who should die. The advantage of this position is that it insulates its adherents from making specific choices about who should suffer or die. They want to let the market choose. Of course, the market is increasingly controlled by wealthy corporations and individuals who are taking a bigger and bigger share of the economy each year. The wealthy and their advocates apparently believe that fewer and fewer people should have health care.
Currently we spend an inordinate amount of money on the elderly during their last year of life, and, in particular, their last month of life. The truly disturbing aspect of this enormous outlay of healthcare dollars is that those who receive expensive hospital care during their final months have a lower quality of life than those who receive hospice or home care.
Obviously, if UCSD can keep the latest high-priced medical equipment in good repair, then it's perfectly capable of keeping bed alarms working. The California DHHS recently revealed some facts about the case of Thomas Vera, a UCSD patient who wandered into a nearby canyon and was found dead several days later:
Is this the best that all these high-priced UC administrators can come up with? A patient dying of hunger, thirst and exposure in a nearby canyon? Obviously, UCSD can do better than this. AFSCME notes: "Care providers are forced to give special treatment to VIPs—so-called because of their wealth or relationship to UC administrators—at the expense of other patients."
It seems quite possible that Thomas Vera might not have recovered from his head injury even if he hadn't wandered away. He had apparently been in the hospital for weeks, too ill for surgery, and suffering from the delusion that he was being held captive in a garage in Texas. Perhaps he would never have become a good candidate for surgery. Would this man have had a better quality of life in his last days if he'd been in hospice care, or at home? It seems clear that he would have.
And would another person have benefited more from being in that hospital bed? It's hard to see how anyone could have benefited less than Thomas Vera did.
Perhaps UCSD administrators engaged in a chain of thought similar to these musings of mine when they created the situation that allowed Thomas Vera to wander off and die of exposure in a canyon. Did UCSD make a conscious decision to maintain expensive medical technology while neglecting low-tech life-saving gadgets for certain rooms?
The University of California has an enormous amount of political clout. Why not use that power for something besides making billions in profits from its health care system? Why not lead the discussion about how much of our health care resources should go to the terminally ill or injured?
Patients often fall trying to go to the bathroom by themselves because short staffing delays staff response times. In one instance, a patient classified with “altered mental status” did not receive one-on-one attention and was found standing on a windowsill.
Chronic short staffing creates excessive workloads and stress. One nurse’s aide reports being afraid to take breaks because it would increase the ratio of patients to CNAs from 10:1 to 20:1.
The UC health system seeks to “re-align” Medicare and Medicaid patients to non-UC hospitals under the assumption that they often do not require the level of care UC provides.
Care providers complain about dirty patient care areas. An operating room assistant sees dried blood and fluids in the crevices of an operating table month after month...
Profitable high-level procedures get overscheduled, causing stress and exhaustion for care providers and delays for patients.
The State of California provides significant funding for the University’s Health System. In the fiscal year 2012-2013, it will provide approximately $300 million in public dollars for health sciences instruction....[Read more here.]
Broken Bed Alarm Blamed for Walkaway Patient's Death
Thomas Vera died after he became disoriented and walked away from his hospital room at UCSD Medical Center in May
By Steven Luke
NBC 7 San Diego
Sep 15, 2014
California Department of Health and Human Services records obtained by NBC 7 shed new light on what went wrong inside UCSD Medical Center when a disoriented patient walked away from his supervised room into a nearby canyon.
The [May 2013] lapse in hospital security led to a tragic search which ended when ...Thomas Vera’s body was found [several] days later less than a mile from the hospital entrance in Palm Canyon.
Family blames the hospital for allowing 58-year-old Thomas Vera, suffering severe head and neck injuries as well as [delusions], to leave the facility...
According to the CHHS investigation, Vera’s bed alarm never sounded. Vera was under video surveillance, and when nurses were notified, the report states they “attempted to contact security by paging security twice with no response and then pushing the panic button twice with no response.”
The panic button was “broken for 8 days,” according to the report.
State inspectors said the hospital failed to routinely test the buttons and failed to repair them when broken.
Prior to Vera’s disappearance, the most recent test had revealed more than 1 out of every 4 panic buttons at UCSD’s two main hospitals didn’t work.
“That’s incomprehensible to me. This is a big time, generally well thought of medical facility, and it’s like clown school” said legal expert Joel Brant, an attorney who specialized in elder care law.
[Maura Larkins comment: I don't believe they're clowns. They're clever, and they're calculating. The buttons were not a priority. UCSD pays huge amounts of money to maintain the equipment it wants to keep maintained. Were the walkaway patients paying full price? Were they a drain on UCSD financially?]
UC San Diego Health Sciences director of communications Jacqueline Carr released this statement in response to the incident:
“UC San Diego Health System underwent extensive internal and external investigations to identify the reasons that led to this tragic event...”
Fifteen months after the incident, CHHS says no fine or penalty has been issued as a result of the mishap...
Read more here.
Missing Hospital Patient's Body Found in Canyon: Officials
By Monica Garske and Dave Summers
NBCSanDiego
Jun 1, 2013
The body of a missing hospital patient was discovered by search and rescue officials in a canyon Friday evening after an extensive search.
Chula Vista resident Thomas Vera, 58, had been missing since Monday. For the last several weeks, he had been a patient at the UCSD Medical Center.
Vera was admitted to the hospital after falling down the stairs at his home. He suffered a concussion and broken collar bone, according to his family, and was awaiting surgery...
Family, Cops Search for Missing Hospital Patient
By Brandi Powell, R. Stickney and Monica Garske
NBC 7 San Diego
May 31, 2013
A Chula Vista man, suffering from a head injury and broken bones, walked away from a San Diego hospital wearing only a hospital gown four days ago.
On Friday, San Diego police officers and family members spent all day searching canyons near Mission Valley for any sign of the man who officials say was likely disoriented and confused...
His daughter Tanya said Thomas last spoke with his wife on Sunday night.
"These are his words - he was being held in a garage in Texas - we're from Texas so he's thinking he's in Texas - that people were holding him against his will and drugging him, and so he was crying and telling my mom he was very scared," she said...
But those positions weren't cut because there was no money. The money was being shifted to administrators. It seems that the University of California's priorities have been shifting away from patient care to profit over the past several years.
But the greed of the executives and doctors at UC isn't the only factor at play in tragic patient deaths. I see another problem here, and we're all to blame for it. It's our refusal to talk about what should be done for terminally ill or injured patients. Sometimes hospitals are held hostage by families who demand miracles for their dying relatives. Losing a loved one is difficult, and some people can't accept the inevitable. They demand every test and treatment that might possibly give some short term benefit, and they even threaten to sue when their 95-year-old grandmother dies.
Few people want to talk about how to apportion health care dollars. The major exceptions to this are the vocal advocates of leaving large numbers of Americans without health coverage. In other words, these individuals want to let economics decide who should live and who should die. The advantage of this position is that it insulates its adherents from making specific choices about who should suffer or die. They want to let the market choose. Of course, the market is increasingly controlled by wealthy corporations and individuals who are taking a bigger and bigger share of the economy each year. The wealthy and their advocates apparently believe that fewer and fewer people should have health care.
Currently we spend an inordinate amount of money on the elderly during their last year of life, and, in particular, their last month of life. The truly disturbing aspect of this enormous outlay of healthcare dollars is that those who receive expensive hospital care during their final months have a lower quality of life than those who receive hospice or home care.
In the Archives of Internal Medicine, a study asked if a better quality of death takes place when per capital cost rise. In lay terms...the study found that the less money spent in this time period, the better the death experience is for the patient.
--Why 5% of Patients Create 50% of Health Care Costs?
Michael Bell
Forbes
1/10/2013
Obviously, if UCSD can keep the latest high-priced medical equipment in good repair, then it's perfectly capable of keeping bed alarms working. The California DHHS recently revealed some facts about the case of Thomas Vera, a UCSD patient who wandered into a nearby canyon and was found dead several days later:
State inspectors said the hospital failed to routinely test the buttons and failed to repair them when broken.
Prior to Vera’s disappearance, the most recent test had revealed more than 1 out of every 4 panic buttons at UCSD’s two main hospitals didn’t work.
--Broken Bed Alarm Blamed for Walkaway Patient's Death
By Steven Luke
NBC 7 San Diego
Sep 15, 2014
Is this the best that all these high-priced UC administrators can come up with? A patient dying of hunger, thirst and exposure in a nearby canyon? Obviously, UCSD can do better than this. AFSCME notes: "Care providers are forced to give special treatment to VIPs—so-called because of their wealth or relationship to UC administrators—at the expense of other patients."
It seems quite possible that Thomas Vera might not have recovered from his head injury even if he hadn't wandered away. He had apparently been in the hospital for weeks, too ill for surgery, and suffering from the delusion that he was being held captive in a garage in Texas. Perhaps he would never have become a good candidate for surgery. Would this man have had a better quality of life in his last days if he'd been in hospice care, or at home? It seems clear that he would have.
And would another person have benefited more from being in that hospital bed? It's hard to see how anyone could have benefited less than Thomas Vera did.
Perhaps UCSD administrators engaged in a chain of thought similar to these musings of mine when they created the situation that allowed Thomas Vera to wander off and die of exposure in a canyon. Did UCSD make a conscious decision to maintain expensive medical technology while neglecting low-tech life-saving gadgets for certain rooms?
The University of California has an enormous amount of political clout. Why not use that power for something besides making billions in profits from its health care system? Why not lead the discussion about how much of our health care resources should go to the terminally ill or injured?
A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES: Profits, Short Staffing, and the Shortchanging of Patient Care at UC Medical CentersFrontline care providers give examples of how UC policies degrade safe staffing and patient care.
This report was written by AFSCME Local 3299 over the course of several months in 2012 and 2013. It is based on interviews with Local 3299 members employed at UC Medical Centers, reports by the California Department of Public Health, inpatient discharge data from the State of California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, as well as additional sources.
The public sees University of California Medical Centers as premier, world-class facilities. We rely upon them when our loved ones face the most serious illnesses because we expect them to provide the highest level of care. With the UC Medical System earning $6.9 billion in operating revenues and hundreds of millions in profits, it has the resources to do just that.
But recently, patient care advocates have witnessed something else: administrative decisions that prioritize UC’s profit margins over patients’ health. These decisions reflect a shift in values that reached a tipping point with a system-wide policy in 2011 that decentralized UC budget practices, and turned each medical center into an independent profit center.
This culture change is evidenced by a sharp rise in management salaries and compensation, excessive management costs, and unprecedented borrowing to construct new buildings.
Since 2009, management at UC Medical Centers has grown by 38 percent, adding $100 million to the annual payroll cost of management.
Debt service payments have almost quadrupled since 2006.
This diversion of patient care dollars results in management’s need to capture “efficiencies” to bolster profit margins.
While “efficiencies” can be positive, they can also have serious negative consequences. Often taking the form of aggressive cost-cutting measures, some translate into chronic short staffing, over scheduling of operating rooms, prioritizing “VIP” patients over everyone else, shortchanging charity care, and outsourcing essential services.
These degrade the medical centers’ core mission.
Care providers are painfully aware of administrative priorities that too often leave them unable to provide the care that patients deserve. Patient care workers suffer unnecessary stress and fatigue, and at times work without adequate training on the use of hazardous materials used to sterilize patient care areas. Some report being so rushed in their work that dirty patient care areas may not be properly sanitized before new patients arrive.
While workers are already feeling squeezed, the University is threatening to cut staff. At UCSF Medical Center, management recently announced its plan to reduce 300 hospital workers, or 4 percent of its full-time workforce. These reductions are being proposed at a time when the medical center is only just recovering from having to ration respiratory care services in January 2013 because of inadequate staffing levels. To make matters worse, the hospital’s CEO admits that, in his view, these cuts are needed, at least in part, to free up resources for new construction...
Patients often fall trying to go to the bathroom by themselves because short staffing delays staff response times. In one instance, a patient classified with “altered mental status” did not receive one-on-one attention and was found standing on a windowsill.
Chronic short staffing creates excessive workloads and stress. One nurse’s aide reports being afraid to take breaks because it would increase the ratio of patients to CNAs from 10:1 to 20:1.
The UC health system seeks to “re-align” Medicare and Medicaid patients to non-UC hospitals under the assumption that they often do not require the level of care UC provides.
Care providers complain about dirty patient care areas. An operating room assistant sees dried blood and fluids in the crevices of an operating table month after month...
Profitable high-level procedures get overscheduled, causing stress and exhaustion for care providers and delays for patients.
The State of California provides significant funding for the University’s Health System. In the fiscal year 2012-2013, it will provide approximately $300 million in public dollars for health sciences instruction....[Read more here.]
Broken Bed Alarm Blamed for Walkaway Patient's Death
Thomas Vera died after he became disoriented and walked away from his hospital room at UCSD Medical Center in May
By Steven Luke
NBC 7 San Diego
Sep 15, 2014
California Department of Health and Human Services records obtained by NBC 7 shed new light on what went wrong inside UCSD Medical Center when a disoriented patient walked away from his supervised room into a nearby canyon.
The [May 2013] lapse in hospital security led to a tragic search which ended when ...Thomas Vera’s body was found [several] days later less than a mile from the hospital entrance in Palm Canyon.
Family blames the hospital for allowing 58-year-old Thomas Vera, suffering severe head and neck injuries as well as [delusions], to leave the facility...
According to the CHHS investigation, Vera’s bed alarm never sounded. Vera was under video surveillance, and when nurses were notified, the report states they “attempted to contact security by paging security twice with no response and then pushing the panic button twice with no response.”
The panic button was “broken for 8 days,” according to the report.
State inspectors said the hospital failed to routinely test the buttons and failed to repair them when broken.
Prior to Vera’s disappearance, the most recent test had revealed more than 1 out of every 4 panic buttons at UCSD’s two main hospitals didn’t work.
“That’s incomprehensible to me. This is a big time, generally well thought of medical facility, and it’s like clown school” said legal expert Joel Brant, an attorney who specialized in elder care law.
[Maura Larkins comment: I don't believe they're clowns. They're clever, and they're calculating. The buttons were not a priority. UCSD pays huge amounts of money to maintain the equipment it wants to keep maintained. Were the walkaway patients paying full price? Were they a drain on UCSD financially?]
UC San Diego Health Sciences director of communications Jacqueline Carr released this statement in response to the incident:
“UC San Diego Health System underwent extensive internal and external investigations to identify the reasons that led to this tragic event...”
Fifteen months after the incident, CHHS says no fine or penalty has been issued as a result of the mishap...
Read more here.
Missing Hospital Patient's Body Found in Canyon: Officials
By Monica Garske and Dave Summers
NBCSanDiego
Jun 1, 2013
The body of a missing hospital patient was discovered by search and rescue officials in a canyon Friday evening after an extensive search.
Chula Vista resident Thomas Vera, 58, had been missing since Monday. For the last several weeks, he had been a patient at the UCSD Medical Center.
Vera was admitted to the hospital after falling down the stairs at his home. He suffered a concussion and broken collar bone, according to his family, and was awaiting surgery...
Family, Cops Search for Missing Hospital Patient
By Brandi Powell, R. Stickney and Monica Garske
NBC 7 San Diego
May 31, 2013
A Chula Vista man, suffering from a head injury and broken bones, walked away from a San Diego hospital wearing only a hospital gown four days ago.
On Friday, San Diego police officers and family members spent all day searching canyons near Mission Valley for any sign of the man who officials say was likely disoriented and confused...
His daughter Tanya said Thomas last spoke with his wife on Sunday night.
"These are his words - he was being held in a garage in Texas - we're from Texas so he's thinking he's in Texas - that people were holding him against his will and drugging him, and so he was crying and telling my mom he was very scared," she said...
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
A list of names appears in the labels column, followed by the alphabetical list of labels.
A list of names appears in the labels column, followed by the alphabetical list of labels.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Many Women Have Died Unnecessarily Because of surgery with MORCELLATORS
Why does Morcellation surgery continue when we know it kills women? Why do doctors continue to do the surgery? The answer: profits for medical device companies, profits for doctors.
How Many People Have To Die To Show A New Surgery Technique Isn't Worth It?
By Harriet Brown
Prevention Magazine
May 2014
Dr. Noorchashm asks: "When new technology makes
medicine cheaper and more convenient, how many
patients have to die to prove it's not worth it?"
Petition by Hooman Noorchashm, MD, PhD:
My wife [Dr. Amy Reed] had a surgical procedure that spread cancerous cells throughout her body. She now has stage 4 cancer. Please sign my petition demanding the FDA stop a procedure that has spread cancer in thousands of women.
My wife Amy is a mother of six, and an accomplished anesthesiologist who helped treat victims of the Boston Marathon bombing last year.
How Many People Have To Die To Show A New Surgery Technique Isn't Worth It?
By Harriet Brown
Prevention Magazine
May 2014
Dr. Noorchashm asks: "When new technology makes
medicine cheaper and more convenient, how many
patients have to die to prove it's not worth it?"
Petition by Hooman Noorchashm, MD, PhD:
My wife [Dr. Amy Reed] had a surgical procedure that spread cancerous cells throughout her body. She now has stage 4 cancer. Please sign my petition demanding the FDA stop a procedure that has spread cancer in thousands of women.
My wife Amy is a mother of six, and an accomplished anesthesiologist who helped treat victims of the Boston Marathon bombing last year.
Now, because of a dangerous, but standard, gynecological
procedure her early stage cancer was spread -- causing stage 4 cancer.
Last Fall, Amy went in for a routine hysterectomy to treat what
we thought were benign fibroids, and had a minimally invasive “morcellation”
procedure to remove her uterus. Little did we know that this procedure would
end up spreading malignant cancer cells throughout Amy’s belly. What's more is
that “morcellation” is totally avoidable and it has devastated thousands of
women and families by spreading and upstaging dangerous cancers of the uterus
and ovaries.
Now we’re taking a stand in hopes of banning this surgery for
good, and saving the lives of countless women and mothers. And the momentum is
on our side.
Because of the momentum of this petition,
numerous hospitals around the country have stopped performing this type of
hysterectomy. Last week, a major health insurer -- Blue Cross Blue Shield --
announced that they would no longer cover the procedure. And Johnson &
Johnson, which manufactures some of the surgical tools used in this procedure,
issued a worldwide voluntary recall of the tools called "power
morcellators," saying that they couldn’t guarantee that the procedure was
safe for women to undergo.
The reason this surgical procedure is so controversial is that doctors
have no reliable way of testing whether patients are at risk of having
cancerous cells spread throughout their body during the surgery. That was
the case with Amy -- in the process of removing her uterus, undetected cancer
cells were spread throughout her abdomen region, and stage 4 cancer developed.
The same has happened to scores of other women, globally. Women who went in
thinking they were having a “minimally invasive” procedure, left the operating
room with an advanced stage of cancer.
Last month, the FDA held public hearings on this surgical
procedure. Amy and I traveled down to Washington, D.C., to talk about this
petition and to bring Amy’s story to the attention of FDA and congressional
regulators. They are currently debating whether to ban this procedure or not,
and that’s why I need your help today.
I cannot tell you what this means to my wife, to me, and to our
family. Together, we can help potentially save the lives of thousands of women
moving forward. No other woman should ever have her uterine cancer upstaged to
an advanced stage by a gynecologist practicing this totally avoidable procedure
they call "morcellation."
Thank you,
Hooman Noorchashm, MD, PhD
Boston, MA
Boston, MA
Health Alert: Many Women Have Died Unnecessarily Because Dangerous Cancers of the Uterus and Ovaries Are Being Spread using MORCELLATORS. Stop MORCELLATION in Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgery.
Friends of the Public,
Many women have been harmed and have died prematurely or unnecessarily because of a routine but avoidable gynecological practice known as MORCELLATION. This world-wide practice has devastated many families for well over two decades now.
More than 600,000 hysterectomies are done in the US every year. By the age of 70, one out of every three American women will have had a hysterectomy. About 90% of these surgeries are done for what is presumed to be a benign condition called fibroids. More and more of these surgeries are done with minimally invasive techniques. Usually, to get the uterus out of the body using the "minimally invasive" technique, it is cut into small pieces with a machine called a morcellator. However, a devastating problem happens if in fact the woman did NOT have fibroids – but if she actually had cancer. Unfortunately, the tests that are done before a hysterectomy do not identify these cancers well. Many gynecologists don't even bother getting any tests. In fact, morcellating cancer spreads the cancer inside the woman’s body.
This is called ‘up staging’ the cancer.
It is important to understand:
1) The average life span following accidental morcellation of sarcoma is only 24-36 months.
2) Only 15% of woman who have leiomyosarcoma (LMS) that has spread (stage 4) will be alive after 5 years.
3) Women with sarcoma who are morcellated are about 4 times more likely to die from sarcoma than if they had not been morcellated.
This is an avoidable disaster.
This problem has been recognized for more than two decades. A review of the literature reveals that 1 in 415 women who go for fibroid surgery actually has sarcoma. This means that everyday 2-5 women in the US – and more around the world will have a deadly cancer spread because of morcellation.
This catastrophic problem has happened in our own family and we are fighting to stop this dangerous activity called morcellation. A chance of 1 in 415 for such a devastating outcome is much too high to accept. Women should be told the truth and the practice should stop.
Please help us bring an end to spreading cancer with morcellation. There are alternatives. Some surgeons have begun using a special bag to avoid spreading cancer cells. Several of the reasons why this has not yet become commonplace are the fact that: a) bag morcellation takes more time – and time is money; b) lack of training; and c) lack of awareness. Other people opt for a traditional open hysterectomy. People need to understand their options – but – currently, most women never hear anything about morcellation or about the possibility of cancer upstaging. We need your help.
Please sign our petition so we can get the word out. We want the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology to change this "standard of care" by ending the needless waste of life caused by spreading cancer with morcellation.
For more information and original references see: http://journals.lww.com/oncology-times/blog/onlinefirst/pages/post.aspx?PostID=188 ) (also see:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23189178) (also see:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21565389).
The attached video below shows an example of morcellation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnzQbRMWJ8
The following companies manufacture and distribute uterine morcellator devices:
1) ETHICON: Gynecare morcellator
2) Storz: Rotocut Morcellator
3) Richard Wolf Medical Instrumentation Company
4) LiNA: LiNA Xcise Cordless Laparoscopic Morcellator
5) Blue Endo MOREsolution Tissue Morcellator
Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci Robot deserves special mention, as the frequency of robotic hysterectomies performed by minimally invasive gynecologists is currently on the rise across the United States. Note that Intuitive Surgical builds and markets the DaVinci robot, which is not itself a "morcellator". However, use of the DaVinci robot almost invariably appears to require that the uterus be minced up, or morcellated, into smaller pieces inside the woman's belly cavity in order to extract from the abdomen. A clear example is shown in the following YouTube video of DaVinci being used to perform a robotic hysterectomy and manually morcellating the uterus using the endo-wrist component of the robot (morcellation is being performed at minute 5:30 of the video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6luiX6UQmg
Without morcellation using equipment manufactured by Intuitive Surgical, robotic hysterectomies would, likely, not be possible using the DaVinci Robot. It is noteworthy that the DaVinci robot does not appear to have a readily available warning label advising against its use to morcellate tumors with malignant potential inside the body. The company's Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Myriam Curet, a surgeon herself, has been informed and advised of this severe hazard in the use of DaVinci for robotic hysterectomy and the absence of a readily available warning label.
Many women have been harmed and have died prematurely or unnecessarily because of a routine but avoidable gynecological practice known as MORCELLATION. This world-wide practice has devastated many families for well over two decades now.
More than 600,000 hysterectomies are done in the US every year. By the age of 70, one out of every three American women will have had a hysterectomy. About 90% of these surgeries are done for what is presumed to be a benign condition called fibroids. More and more of these surgeries are done with minimally invasive techniques. Usually, to get the uterus out of the body using the "minimally invasive" technique, it is cut into small pieces with a machine called a morcellator. However, a devastating problem happens if in fact the woman did NOT have fibroids – but if she actually had cancer. Unfortunately, the tests that are done before a hysterectomy do not identify these cancers well. Many gynecologists don't even bother getting any tests. In fact, morcellating cancer spreads the cancer inside the woman’s body.
This is called ‘up staging’ the cancer.
It is important to understand:
1) The average life span following accidental morcellation of sarcoma is only 24-36 months.
2) Only 15% of woman who have leiomyosarcoma (LMS) that has spread (stage 4) will be alive after 5 years.
3) Women with sarcoma who are morcellated are about 4 times more likely to die from sarcoma than if they had not been morcellated.
This is an avoidable disaster.
This problem has been recognized for more than two decades. A review of the literature reveals that 1 in 415 women who go for fibroid surgery actually has sarcoma. This means that everyday 2-5 women in the US – and more around the world will have a deadly cancer spread because of morcellation.
This catastrophic problem has happened in our own family and we are fighting to stop this dangerous activity called morcellation. A chance of 1 in 415 for such a devastating outcome is much too high to accept. Women should be told the truth and the practice should stop.
Please help us bring an end to spreading cancer with morcellation. There are alternatives. Some surgeons have begun using a special bag to avoid spreading cancer cells. Several of the reasons why this has not yet become commonplace are the fact that: a) bag morcellation takes more time – and time is money; b) lack of training; and c) lack of awareness. Other people opt for a traditional open hysterectomy. People need to understand their options – but – currently, most women never hear anything about morcellation or about the possibility of cancer upstaging. We need your help.
Please sign our petition so we can get the word out. We want the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology to change this "standard of care" by ending the needless waste of life caused by spreading cancer with morcellation.
For more information and original references see: http://journals.lww.com/oncology-times/blog/onlinefirst/pages/post.aspx?PostID=188 ) (also see:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23189178) (also see:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21565389).
The attached video below shows an example of morcellation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnzQbRMWJ8
The following companies manufacture and distribute uterine morcellator devices:
1) ETHICON: Gynecare morcellator
2) Storz: Rotocut Morcellator
3) Richard Wolf Medical Instrumentation Company
4) LiNA: LiNA Xcise Cordless Laparoscopic Morcellator
5) Blue Endo MOREsolution Tissue Morcellator
Intuitive Surgical's Da Vinci Robot deserves special mention, as the frequency of robotic hysterectomies performed by minimally invasive gynecologists is currently on the rise across the United States. Note that Intuitive Surgical builds and markets the DaVinci robot, which is not itself a "morcellator". However, use of the DaVinci robot almost invariably appears to require that the uterus be minced up, or morcellated, into smaller pieces inside the woman's belly cavity in order to extract from the abdomen. A clear example is shown in the following YouTube video of DaVinci being used to perform a robotic hysterectomy and manually morcellating the uterus using the endo-wrist component of the robot (morcellation is being performed at minute 5:30 of the video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6luiX6UQmg
Without morcellation using equipment manufactured by Intuitive Surgical, robotic hysterectomies would, likely, not be possible using the DaVinci Robot. It is noteworthy that the DaVinci robot does not appear to have a readily available warning label advising against its use to morcellate tumors with malignant potential inside the body. The company's Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Myriam Curet, a surgeon herself, has been informed and advised of this severe hazard in the use of DaVinci for robotic hysterectomy and the absence of a readily available warning label.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
UCLA launches joint venture with Chinese firm to open lab in Shanghai
UCLA launches joint venture with Chinese firm to open lab in Shanghai
April 8, 2014.
Clinical laboratory will provide more accurate diagnoses of cancer and other diseases.
Scott Binder, UCLA
The new company, CTI-Pathology/UCLA Health, is jointly owned by CTI and the University of California. The 25,000-square-foot facility — the first of its kind in China — will offer genetic and molecular diagnostics and other sophisticated tests that exceed the scope of the average lab in China, and UCLA pathologists will train Chinese lab specialists to accurately interpret the tests. The lab is expected to open in September.
The partnership is the first between a Chinese company and a U.S. academic medical center to create a specialized laboratory in China. The agreement was signed today at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in a ceremony that was videocast to China.
“This joint venture is founded on UCLA’s desire to build strong global relationships that, through education, research and service, improve the health of people and communities throughout the world,” said Dr. Tom Rosenthal, chief medical officer for UCLA Health System and co-director of UCLA’s Center for World Health. “UCLA has a genuine interest in elevating the level of medicine around the world. This is one way we can really make a difference in the quality of the Chinese people’s health care and lives.”
UCLA will oversee management of the laboratory to ensure that its operations meet international standards for quality, and CTI will provide capital funding and marketing expertise. The University of California Regents approved the joint venture on Jan. 22.
“We are extremely pleased that the UCLA Health System, UCLA Department of Pathology and the UC Regents agreed to partner with CTI to establish and manage our joint venture laboratory in Shanghai,” said Sangem Hsu, president of CTI. “Our collaboration will offer the people of China oncology, pathology and laboratory medicine services they can trust. Many of these services are not largely available in China and are needed by physicians and health care providers to accurately diagnose and treat their patients.”
The Shanghai laboratory will be electronically and digitally linked with UCLA — enabling physicians and patients to consult with UCLA pathologists — and with hospitals, clinics and other laboratories throughout China.
“CTI will be an outstanding partner in our effort to significantly improve patient care in China,” said Dr. Scott Binder, senior vice chair of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine, and director of pathology laboratory services for UCLA Health System, which performs more than 7 million tests and diagnose more than 90,000 tissue specimens a year.
Jianyu Rao, UCLA
“In the past, Chinese medicine focused more on treatment than diagnosis,” said Rao, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine and director of cytopathology at UCLA Health System. “Due to the rise of a more-informed middle class, the Chinese people are recognizing the importance of accurate diagnoses for their conditions.”
The partnership also has led to teaching exchanges between UCLA and China. UCLA has already hosted Chinese pathologists and technologists for training on specialized diagnostics for skin, blood and brain tissue and other areas. In turn, UCLA pathologists will travel to China to learn about diseases that are common there but rare in the U.S.
“Because pathology has a history of being undervalued in China, the country has a shortage of pathologists trained to diagnose and interpret complex test results in specialized fields of medicine,” Binder said. “Our partnership gives CTI and UCLA the opportunity to save lives by changing that.”
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Yet another scope...just 3 months since the last one?
Healing well.com
Aug. 16, 2014
"I always wonder why they take pictures during colonoscopy but don't record on cd/DVD? If they do then if we go for second opinion, we won't have to go through colonoscopy again. May be something to ask."
The colonoscopy video is recorded on the hard drive. They don't want to give you a copy, so they claim it isn't recorded
v. But your point is excellent. It's also obvious that they would need the recording to defend themselves in court if the patient develops colon cancer.
Apparently most patients don't think this through, so the medics get away with telling this silly story about colonoscopy videos not being recorded.
I think most doctors would give the video recording to another doctor; they just won't give it to you.
Aug. 16, 2014
"I always wonder why they take pictures during colonoscopy but don't record on cd/DVD? If they do then if we go for second opinion, we won't have to go through colonoscopy again. May be something to ask."
The colonoscopy video is recorded on the hard drive. They don't want to give you a copy, so they claim it isn't recorded
v. But your point is excellent. It's also obvious that they would need the recording to defend themselves in court if the patient develops colon cancer.
Apparently most patients don't think this through, so the medics get away with telling this silly story about colonoscopy videos not being recorded.
I think most doctors would give the video recording to another doctor; they just won't give it to you.
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