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Every Patient's Advocate
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Patient empowerment, advocacy, medical consumerism and tools to navigate the dysfunction of American health care.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'health'
Never Events — Shooting the Messenger
Beginning October 1, 2008, Medicare, and many health insurance companies, will no longer pay hospitals for the additional services needed for patients who suffer from “never events.” Never...
Ulterior Motives for Eating Disorders, Too
I had lunch today with a long-time friend, Mindy. (No, of course that’s not her real name…) It’s been at least a year since we saw each other, and probably two since we had a long ...
7 Years Later, A Misdiagnosis Gives Nancy Her Life Back
Imagine being diagnosed with an incurable and debilitating disease at the age of 45, then having to give up your beloved teaching career, your independence, and never knowing when you’ll simply coll...
MRSA: Patients Ignored, Left to Die - Redux
Last January I posted three stories I had been told, all within a few days of each other, about patients who had acquired MRSA in the hospital and had been revictimized by the system that would not tr...
A Sea of Broken Hearts - Dad Posts About the Loss of Alex
I’ve added another guest post this morning — one that will break your heart, too. John T. James, PhD, a dad — and now a fixer — posted about his son Alex, a seemingly healthy 1...
Guerrilla Patienting: Getting the Healthcare You Need
Last week I spoke to a group of payers — health insurance executives, Medicare and Medicaid representatives — and shared with them the many ways in which we patients feel the American heal...
Peter Jennings, Healthcare Reform, Asking the Tough Questions
As more and more questions are being asked about how we Americans can possibly continue to pay for our healthcare, a documentary has surfaced that will help us citizens better understand why the Ameri...
Patient Safety Day, “Independence” Takes on a New Meaning
Sometimes the best way to accomplish the most is to get good heads together for conversation, brainstorming and more. Some of those names we hear over and over again in the patient safety world were...
Heather, SPTCL, the Next Chapter - Hang on to Your Hat!
[To catch up on previous chapters of Heather's story, link here (post #1) and here (post#2.)] Heather had her first oncology appointment today. She was lucky to get in so quickly after her primary c...
CNN’s Heroes of Patient Empowerment. A Humble Thank You.
There aren’t many times that I am left speechless, but this is one of them. If you are a regular reader of CNN’s Empowered Patient, offered each week by Elizabeth Cohen, then you know ther...
Misdiagnosis, a Visit to the Lab and One Last Point
For those of you who have read my misdiagnosis story, you know that one of the ultimate heroes was the pathologist (I’ll call him Dr. H.) who helped me understand how the misdiagnosis happened....
What Tim Russert Has Taught Us About Healthcare and a Healthy Life
Like so many of you, my heart breaks at the loss of Tim Russert. On so many levels, we felt a kinship to him. Anyone who has tried to understand American politics or politicians during the past 20 y...
Randy Pausch - a Commencement Address of a Lifetime
Those of you who follow my blog know that I’m a fan of Randy Pausch, like so many others. I first blogged about him last September, after watching his Lecture of a Lifetime — what he has ...
The Blue Beast, and Your Chance to Make a Difference
I spent a few hours yesterday with a delightful team of people who YOU should get to know, too. Meg, Pauline and Blake are traversing the country this summer in a big blue bus (they call it the blue b...