The Ethics of Keeping Alfie Alive
By SAURABH JHA Of my time arguing with doctors, 30 % is spent convincing British doctors that their American counterparts aren’t idiots, 30 % convincing American doctors that British doctors aren’t idiots, and 40 % convincing both that I’m not an idiot. A British doctor once earnestly asked whether American physicians carry credit card reading machines inside their white coats. Myths about the NHS can be equally comical. British doctors don’t prostate every morning in deference to the NHS, like the citizens of Oceania sang to Big Brother in Orwell’s dystopia. Nor, in their daily rounds, do they calculate opportun...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 21, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: at RogueRad Tags: OP-ED Uncategorized AlfieEvans Source Type: blogs

Small Hairs Make Big Cuts (and Consequences)
​The hair or thread tourniquet syndrome is a relatively rare condition that has evaded me in the emergency department for several decades, until past year when three cases showed up over six months. This condition has been around for as long as there has been hair or thread and body appendages. In fact, this condition may have first been described in the 1600s. (J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol 2005;18[3]:155.)The etiology of this condition seems almost unbelievable. How in the world does a hair get wrapped repeatedly and tightly around an appendage of the body? Some authors expressed the need to consider nonaccidental etio...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - April 30, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

3 ways to help get more children immunized
Follow me on Twitter @drClaire There is much to celebrate during National Infant Immunization Week this year. More than 90% of children 19 to 35 months have received all the recommended doses of vaccines for their age against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and hepatitis B — and more than 80% have received all the recommended protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, pneumococcus, and Haemophilus influenzae. But there are also reasons to be concerned. Only 72% have had all the recommended vaccines, which means one in four children is missing at least one. Even more concerning, studies show that ther...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 24, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Infectious diseases Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs

Tropical Travel Trouble 003 Stiff in the Mouth
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog aka Tropical Travel Trouble 003 A 65 yr old woman from Ethiopia is visiting her grandchild for the first time in Europe. She is normally fit and well, physically active with a small-holding in Ethiopia. She does not take any medication and cannot remember the last time she saw a doctor. She presents to you with difficulty chewing 3 days after arriving in the UK. She describes it as being “stiff in the mouth” Questions: Q1. What is the differential diagnosis an...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 5, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine tetanus Source Type: blogs

Tropical Travel Trouble 002 Rabies
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog aka Tropical Travel Trouble 002 A 19 year old gap year student has returned from India to your emergency department reporting she was bitten by a monkey at a temple. A selfie gone wrong but it scored 1000+ likes on Facebook… She is concerned because one of the Facebook comments suggested she may have rabies! A quick Google search suggested 60,000 people a year DIE from rabies. Should she be worried? Should you be worried? Questions Q1. What other questions should yo...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - February 27, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine rabies Source Type: blogs

Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 226
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 226. Question 1 Between 1995 and 2000 the CDC in the USA reported 15 to 18% of cases of tetanus in which particular subset of the population? + Reveal the Funtabulous Answer expand(document.getElementById('ddet1602238564'));expand(document.getElementById('ddetlink1602...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - February 15, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five Source Type: blogs

Vaccinations: More than just kid stuff
Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling This is the time of year when it’s important to think about flu vaccinations. And there’s good reason for that! The flu causes thousands of preventable hospitalizations and deaths each year. But what about other vaccinations? Do you think of them as something for kids? You aren’t alone. And it’s true, a number of vaccinations are recommended for young children as well as preteens and teenagers. These vaccinations have provided an enormous benefit to public health by preventing diseases that were common and sometimes deadly in the past, including polio, rubella, and whooping cough....
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 7, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Health Infectious diseases Prevention Vaccines Source Type: blogs

What ’s the point of a perfect patient chart?
Last week I made a patient’s chart perfect. Not bragging, but ultimately it ended up being pretty easy, and I’ll explain how and why in a little bit. This was a patient I had not seen in several years, with a number of chronic medical problems, for which he had been taking less than optimal care of himself since I had seen him last. Here for a “checkup,” we talked about his health conditions and how he had been over the past few years. I got a little update on his family and all the things he had been up to, and then he and I — along with his wife, who was here with him for the appointment ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 18, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/fred-n-pelzman" rel="tag" > Fred N. Pelzman, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Health IT Primary Care Source Type: blogs

Weird and Wild: Piercing Problems, Tongue Rings, and TXA
​Some of our patients are total daredevils. This unique population keeps us on our toes. Our weird and wild series recently discussed laceration repair involving tattoos, but problematic piercings also present to the ED.​Traditional through-and-through piercing of the tongue body without complication. Photo: Creative Commons.An 18-year-old otherwise healthy woman presented to the emergency department with tongue swelling and mouth pain. Your first thought may be that this is an allergic reaction, but you quickly realize this is not the patient you expected. This patient just had her tongue pierced, and something ha...
Source: The Procedural Pause - January 2, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

The case of a fish hook in the eye
Triage Note: Fish hook in eye. No bleeding. Tetanus up to date. It’s a sunny weekend during cottage season. A young woman is rushed into the ER as she cups both hands over her left eye. She’s in shorts, and flip-flops, and she’s hyperventilating. Her friends follow, hands similarly cupped over their mouths. I read the triage note. I’ve never seen this before. I’ve removed dozens of fish hooks — it’s one of my favorite things to do — sometimes challenging, and instantly satisfying. I’ve removed many fish hooks around the eye, but a puncture of the globe itself would need exploration in the operatin...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 22, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/raj-waghmare" rel="tag" > Raj Waghmare, MD < /a > Tags: Conditions Emergency Medicine Source Type: blogs

Forever Damaged From An Untested 8-in-1 Vaccine, Help Needed As Jodie ’s Legal Battle Continues
Conclusion We don’t know how many other children were given this experimental vaccine, but Jodie Marchant is the only one known to have survived this and her family is the only family in the world to hold the records proving this vaccine corruption has gone on. In recent times, due to immense pressure regarding informed consent not being provided often enough to parents by doctors, the Supreme Court Montgomery ruling was passed. This ruling will help change the way doctors provide informed consent and should help families receive compensation for their child’s vaccine injury. This ruling might also help the Marchants w...
Source: vactruth.com - October 28, 2017 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Augustina Ursino Tags: Augustina Ursino Case Reports on Vaccine Injury Human Top Stories truth about vaccines Source Type: blogs

Wine Glass in the Foot: A Case Study
​Emergency department providers welcome the weird, the wild, the wonderful, and the unexpected. Routine chest pain workups and negative abdominal CTs occasionally bore us. Last summer we had the pleasure of meeting a man who was a line cook at a local restaurant. He came via ambulance for a foreign body in his foot. What we saw was unanticipated—he arrived with half a wine glass lodged in the sole of his foot.​ The stemware was lodged in the patient's foot, going through his shoe and sock. Photos by Martha Roberts.The patient was laughing and not in much pain. He said he had a high pain tolerance and could barel...
Source: The Procedural Pause - October 2, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

What Every Parent Needs to Know About Back to School Vaccine Threats and Exemptions
Conclusion Because the mainstream media has financial interest in promoting vaccines, informed parents must seek information elsewhere about back to school vaccine mandates and exemptions. Parents, as you prepare to send your child back to school, do your homework and determine which exemptions are available in your area. A list of vaccine exemptions for all fifty states is published online by the National Vaccine Information Center. Sharing this article with other parents will also help them make informed decisions about vaccines. References: http://www.nvic.org/vaccine-laws/state-vaccine-requirements.aspx http://www.oma...
Source: vactruth.com - August 17, 2017 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Missy Fluegge Tags: Top Stories truth about vaccines Vaccine Exemptions Source Type: blogs