10 Doctors Who Shamed Their Profession

If you think about it, the comparison of doctors to mechanics is pretty apt. Given the specialized nature of their work and the general helplessness of most patients, doctors, like mechanics, are rarely held accountable for their actions. Sure, for the most part, doctors have your best interest at heart, but like in any profession, there are both good and bad apples. According to the National Patient Safety Foundation, 42 percent of people believed they had personally experienced a medical mistake. Additionally, numerous statistics have shown that a staggering amount of people die each year due to medical error. The following doctors made such blatant mistakes and/or lapses in judgment that they, at the very least, have a reputation that garnered them recognition on this list.
1.Dr. Earl Bradley, Monster: Nothing is worse than violating the trust of a child, which is why Bradley, a former pediatrician from Lewes, Delaware, is such a monster. In February of 2010, he was indicted on 471 charges of child sex abuse involving 103 children. Initial allegations against Bradley surfaced during the mid-’90s, but the hospital for which he worked was unable to verify the claims. They were enough, however, to prompt him to move to Delaware, where more allegations surfaced a decade later, including that he had abused his own son. Bradley was initially arrested in December of 2009 after a year-long investigation, which prompted the indictments two months later.


2.Dr. Robert Ricketson, Screw Up: Ricketson is no longer practicing medicine and the world is better for it. During a spine operation he performed on 73-year-old Arturo Iturralde in 2003, Ricketson intentionally inserted a piece of a screwdriver into the patient’s spine instead of a titanium rod. The rod he had intended to use went missing prior to the surgery, so he took it upon himself to improvise. As a result, Iturralde endured three additional surgeries to insert the proper rod and correct complications. After one of the operations, pieces of the screwdriver were recovered by nurses and the family was alerted. Iturralde became a paraplegic and died two years later, and his family was awarded $5.6 million in a malpractice lawsuit in 2006. During the aftermath, it was discovered that Ricketson’s medical license had been suspended in Oklahoma and Texas and he was denied consideration for a medical license in Kansas in 2002, a year after the botched surgery. He had previously been sued for malpractice several times and had history of narcotics abuse. Not a very impressive resume to say the least.
3.Dr. Jan Adams, Plastic Surgeon Imposter: Adams is most famous for performing the breast augmentation surgery on Donda West, Kanye West’s mom, that resulted in her death in 2007. But that’s not the only blemish on his record. In a malpractice suit against Adams, a previous patient claimed that she didn’t receive proper preoperative or postoperative care, leading to an infection that needed two more surgeries. What’s more, one patient claimed he got her drunk after a surgery and impregnated her, and another claimed a surgical sponge was left inside of her after a breast augmentation. Adams, who attended Harvard University, never received his diploma despite apparently completing his academic requirements. He’s also not a board certified plastic surgeon despite claiming to be one. How was this guy getting work?


4.Julie Ponder and Connell Watkins, Child Killers: Alternative medicine can be a risky proposition given the unproven nature of many of its methods. Attachment therapy in particular can yield tragic results when taken to an extreme. The treatment is used to remedy attachment disorders primarily suffered by adopted and fostered children who persistently misbehave or display little affection toward their new caregivers. In 2000, 10-year-old Candace Newmaker was killed during such treatment when she was suffocated during an intensive rebirthing session. Wrapped in a flannel sheet by psychotherapists Julie Ponder and Connell Watkins, she told to free herself from it while Ponder and Watkins held her down. She pleaded for her life, but was told by Ponder "You want to die? OK, then die. Go ahead, die right now." Newmaker was declared brain dead the next day due to asphyxia. The entire session was videotaped and presented as evidence against Ponder and Watkins, who were each given 16-year prison sentences — Watkins was paroled in 2008 after serving seven years.

5.Dr. James Burt, Ghastly Gyno: The notorious Dr. Burt was exposed for his harmful and downright bizarre practices in the late 1980s when numerous former patients came forward and initiated lawsuits. Beginning in the late 1960s, Burt took it upon himself to perform "love surgeries" in which he altered his patients’ vulvas without their consent. He justified his work in a book he authored in 1975, explaining that "Women are structurally inadequate for intercourse. This is a pathological condition amenable by surgery." He stated the procedure turns them into "horny little mice," though in reality, many of them suffered sexual dysfunction, infection and required corrective surgeries as a result. A $21 million suit was filed against Burt that couldn’t have come close to covering the physical and emotional damages endured by the at least 40 women he hurt.

6.Dr. Cecil Jacobson, Seed Spreader: As a fertility doctor, it was Dr. Jacobson’s duty to assist women in conceiving, and in the 1980s, it appeared he was doing a pretty good job. His patients reported high success rates due to his use of hCG, a hormone released during pregnancy that causes the typical bodily changes. During the supposed pregnancies initiated by hCG, he would identify the fetuses during an ultrasound, but they would usually "die" after about three months. Patients who suspected something was amiss informed a local television station, which investigated and exposed Jacobson. In the process, they discovered he used his semen to artificially inseminate patients who were told they were matched with an anonymous donor. Genetic testing later showed that he was the biological father of at least seven of his patients’ children. Jacobson, who won the Ig Nobel Prize for Biology in 1992 and claimed to have successfully oversaw the impregnation of a male baboon in the 1960s, was stripped of medical license and sentenced to five years in prison.


7.Dr. Rolando R. Sanchez, Accidental Amputator: To be fair to Dr. Sanchez, he has done a fine job of rehabilitating his reputation after the costly mistake he oversaw in 1995 — in fact, he’s still practicing. Even still, it’s the kind of inexcusable error you’d never wish on your worst enemy. In the process of amputating Willie King’s leg, Sanchez was informed by a nurse that he had cut into the wrong one. It was too late, however, and he had to finish what he started — King would later have the original leg amputated by another doctor. Consequently, Sanchez was suspended on the grounds that he presented an "immediate and serious danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public," and King later settled with the hospital.

8.Dr. Red Alinsod, Organ Tattoo Artist: Ingrid Paulicivic certainly won’t be recommending Dr. Alinsod given what occurred during her June 2009 hysterectomy. According to Paulicivic’s lawsuit, while putting the finishing touches on the surgery, Dr. Alinsod decided to brand his work by using an "electrocautery device to carve and burn" her name into her removed uterus. Alinsod claimed the move was necessary to ensure he wouldn’t confuse the uterus with others. Paulicivic became aware of the branding during a follow-up visit in which she complained of the resulting burns on her legs.

9.Dr. Elias Hanna, Carvey Carver: Dr. Hanna nearly caused the premature death of yet another Saturday Night Live legend. In 1998, he botched Dana Carvey’s heart bypass surgery by connecting a healthy portion of his artery to a healthy diagonal vessel instead of the damaged arterial section. It wasn’t until two months after the operation that Hanna discovered the mistake, resulting in an emergency angioplasty for Carvey — his fourth in less than a year. Before it was corrected, he was susceptible to suffering a fatal heart attack. Carvey filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and eventually settled for $7.5 million.


10.Alan Hutchinson, Dirty Dentist: Hutchinson, a dentist from Batley, West Yorkshire, UK, made headlines in 2007 when he was accused of using sterilized instruments to clean his ears and fingernails, working on teeth without washing his hands or using gloves, and urinating in a surgical sink. Complaints from a patient and his nurse, Claire Pygott, eventually led to a guilty verdict from the General Dental Council in London. Pygott said that she was "shocked, disgusted and appalled" by the dentist’s actions, which she had witnessed on more than one occasion.
 
Source : http://www.mastersinhealthcare.com/blog/
special thanks to Celina Jacobson

On Impact of Physician Burnout

by : Kevin Pho
I wrote last year in USA Today about the impact of physician burnout. Not only do doctors suffer, but so do their patients.

Burnout starts early in residency, with entering interns having a depression rate of 4%, similar to the general public. But after the first year of residency, that number balloons to 25%.
Now, another study adds fuel to this disturbing trend.
A paper published in the Archives of General Surgery looks at the prevalence of physician burnout in surgeons:
In a national survey, one in 16 surgeons reported contemplating suicide, researchers reported.
An increased risk of suicidal ideation was linked to three factors: depression, burnout, and the perception of having made a recent major medical error …
… But only about one in four of those who reported thinking about taking their own lives sought psychiatric or psychologic help.
The rate of suicidal ideation in surgeons, at 6.3%, was almost double of that in the general population (3.3%).
Physician burnout is a phenomenon that’s often ignored. The practice environment is deteriorating, with increasing time pressures and worsening bureaucratic burdens. Little of this is addressed in the national health conversation, or in the recently passed health reform law.
As more doctors burnout and quit medicine, patients will suffer. It’s certainly not an ideal situation as more than 30+ million newly-insured patients will be looking for physicians to care for them in the coming years.
And for the physicians who stay, burnout will impact the care they give to patients — including a decrease in empathy and an increase in medical errors.
Burnt out doctors feel they have little recourse. In the Archives study,
Only 130 surgeons — 26% of those who had recent suicidal thoughts — had sought psychiatric or psychologic help.
Among the 501 doctors who reported suicidal thoughts, 301 said they were reluctant to seek help because of worry that it could affect their medical license.
That’s unacceptable. Hospitals need to better recognize the signs of burnout and increase the support they give to depressed physicians.
Another consideration would be to better monitor work hours to ensure proper work-lifestyle balance. Today, doctors in training are strictly regulated to ensure they work no longer than 80 hours a week. Once they graduate and practice in the real world, that oversight ceases. There is nothing to prevent doctors from working days at time, which can happen at an understaffed, rural hospital, for instance.
The same zeal that goes into limiting residents’ work hours should be applied to doctors in the real world, to ensure their workload doesn’t drive them to burnout and potential suicide.

Cheney Considers Heart Transplant

Ex-US vice-president says his battery-powered heart pump is a 'wondrous device', and claims he didn't mind Darth Vader jibes.Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president whose tough approach to fighting terrorism earned him the nickname Darth Vader, is facing a decision on whether to undergo a heart transplant. Cheney uses a battery-powered heart pump, controlled by a box he wears on his waistcoat, to help circulate blood around his body. He told NBC's Today Show he would have to decide at some point on a possible transplant:"I'd reached the point, after 30 years and five heart attacks, where I really needed to do something," he said of the heart pump. "It's a wondrous device; it's really a miracle of modern technology." Cheney, who was George Bush's deputy throughout his eight years in office, has a history of heart problems, suffering his first heart attack aged 37 and his most recent last year. Cheney, who turned 70 this month, has had a pacemaker implanted and has suffered irregular heartbeats. Since last year he has been keeping a relatively low profile, writing up his memoirs with the help of his daughter, Liz, at his home in Maryland. Before that he had assigned himself the role of Barack Obama's irritant-in-chief, relentlessly sniping at him over his domestic and anti-terror policies. He remains critical, albeit more mutedly so. He told NBC he still expected Obama to be a one-term president.  "He embarked on a course of action when he became president that did not have as much support as he thought it did. When he got into healthcare reform, expanding the size of government, expanding the deficit – those are all weaknesses as I look at Barack Obama," Cheney said. ~ He softened his previous caustic claims that Obama was putting the nation in danger by sweeping aside the anti-terror laws put in place by the Bush-Cheney administration after 9/11. Those included what Cheney referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques" 


Source : Guardian

Radiation Therapy Comparable To Surgery In Elderly Patients

Stereotactic radiation therapy produces the same survival outcomes for elderly patients diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer as surgery, according to research presented at the 2010 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology held December 9-11.

According to the study, patients who underwent stereotactic radiation therapy had a lower risk of dying within the first 30 days following treatment, even though this was a frailer group of patients compared to controls. The research was conducted by a team from Amsterdam's VU University Medical Center, the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Netherlands Cancer Institute.

The group conducted a matched-pair analysis of the overall survival outcomes of patients living in north Holland who received treatment after being diagnosed with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 2005 and 2007. A total of 191 patients were identified from a comprehensive population-based registry. From this group, a total of 122 patients could be matched, half of whom had surgery and half of whom had stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) treatments.

The median age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 79 years. Patients were matched by age, gender, year of treatment, and T-stage. Baseline co-morbidities were not available, but a large number of patients who received the stereotactic radiation therapy were medically inoperable, according to lead author and presenter David Palma, MD, a radiation oncologist who conducted the study while on a research fellowship at VU University Medical Center. Palma is now practicing at the London Regional Cancer Program in London, Ontario.

Patients were followed for a median of 43 months. Six patients died within the first 30 days following treatment; five of these patients had undergone surgery. Overall survival at one year was 75% for surgical patients and 87% for radiation therapy patients. Three years following treatment, 60% of the surgery group and 41% of the radiation therapy group were alive.

"Many would expect that the patients treated with radiation therapy would do worse than those undergoing surgery," Palma told attendees at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)-sponsored symposium.

"At the time that these patients underwent treatment, patients only received radiation if they were too unwell for surgery or if they refused surgery," he continued. "Because most of these radiation therapy patients had medical problems that prevented them from having surgery, we would expect them not to live as long as the surgery patients. Yet, despite this disadvantage, the radiation therapy patients lived just as long as the healthier patients who had surgery for the first 12 months following treatment."

Up to one-fourth of Dutch patients older than 75 who are diagnosed with stage I and stage II NSCLC do not receive any oncologic therapy, Palma said. Stereotactic body radiation therapy is an attractive treatment option for surgically unfit and/or elderly patients, due to its ease of administration and favorable toxicity profile, he explained.

"Patients prefer this treatment because there is no hospitalization associated with it, it doesn't require an anesthetic, there is no risk of infection from a surgical procedure, and it only takes a few treatments," Palma added:"I think that the use of stereotactic body radiation therapy will increase," he added. "We've seen over the past five years already that elderly patients and their physicians are choosing radiation more often to treat stage I lung cancer, and fewer patients are choosing to go without treatment as well. This study shows us that the stereotactic treatment is effective even for patients who have many medical problems."

A comparison of the costs of each treatment was not in the scope of the study. However, Palma said that cost-effectiveness studies are currently being performed, though results are not yet available. "In most countries with socialized medicine, once radiation therapy equipment has been purchased, the cost of radiation treatment is relatively inexpensive," he concluded.

By Cynthia E. Keen
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
December 17, 2010

Annual mammograms reduce mastectomy risk in younger women

Annual mammograms appear to lower the risk of mastectomy in younger women, researchers reported at last week's RSNA annual meeting in Chicago.

In a study of 185 women ages 40 to 50, 22% of those who had a mammogram in the year prior to diagnosis had a mastectomy, compared with 52% who did not have a mammogram in the previous year (p = 0.02).
In addition, women who had been screened in the year prior to diagnosis had smaller tumors: 17.8 mm, on average, compared with 24 mm for those who'd had mammography more than a year ago and 28.8 mm for those who never underwent screening.
They also had less likelihood of multifocal malignancy -- 12% versus 34% for those who were never screened (p = 0.003) -- and they were less likely to have high-grade disease, at 31% versus 46%, respectively (p = 0.03).
The odds of mastectomy also correlated with the size of the tumor (p = 0.04), according to Nicholas Perry, director of the London Breast Institute at Princess Grace Hospital in London.
"Our study delivers strong clinical evidence to support annual screening of women from age 40," he said.
The researchers reviewed clinical and imaging data on women who were seen at their institute between 2003 and 2009. Only 26% had mammograms prior to their diagnosis.
Of the 48 women who had ever had a mammogram, 18 had one within the year prior to diagnosis, 15 had the exam one to two years prior, and 15 had a mammogram more than two years earlier.
Perry said that the U.K. does not recommend routine breast cancer screening for women younger than 50.
"The results are striking but should not be surprising," he said, adding that he doubted they would result in a change in recommendations.
A total of 37,000 U.S. women and 7,000 British women ages 40 to 50 are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, according to Perry. Based on these rates, yearly mammograms would spare 10,000 U.S. women and 2,000 U.K. women from mastectomy annually, he said.
When asked if the annual breast screens improved overall survival, he said longer-term studies are needed.