Surgeon Leaves Needle in Patient; He Later Dies: Suit

The family of a Tennessee man who died shortly after a surgeon left a needle inside his chest cavity has sued the hospital, the AP reports. The Tennessean reports 73-year-old John Burns Johnson had open heart surgery at TriStar Centennial Hospital on May 2017. After about nine hours of surgery,…
Newser

Anti-Vaxxer Nurse Fired for Post About Measles Patient

A Texas Children’s Hospital nurse is out of a job after posting about a toddler who tested positive for measles on an anti-vaccination Facebook page. Identifying herself as a “nonvaxxer” on a since-removed page called Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children-Texas, the woman wrote Friday that she’d seen her first measles…
Newser

Drake Takes Break from Tour to Visit Young Heart Patient in Chicago

It’s unclear if KiKi loves Drake — but one thing’s for sure … he definitely loved one little girl’s “KiKi Challenge,” ’cause he made a point to visit her in Chicago. Drake stopped by the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Saturday to meet up…

TMZ.com

Sentence for Doctor Guilty of Raping Patient Stuns Lawyers

A former doctor in Houston found guilty of raping a sedated patient receiving treatment for a severe asthma attack doesn’t have to serve a day in prison, a jury decided Friday. Shafeeq Sheikh was instead sentenced to 10 years’ probation for the 2013 assault at Ben Taub hospital, the Houston…
Newser

Wrong Patient Gets Brain Surgery Due to Hospital Mix-Up

Doctors at a hospital in Kenya were two hours into brain surgery to remove a patient’s blood clot when they discovered to their shock there was no clot, the Daily Nation reports. They had the wrong patient. According to the BBC , the patient they were operating on simply needed non-invasive…
Newser

UnitedHealth is buying hundreds of clinics in $5-billion deal as insurers push into patient care

UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s biggest health insurer, is spending nearly $ 5 billion to buy hundreds of clinics, just three days after rival Aetna Inc. announced a tie-up with CVS Health Corp.

Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth said Wednesday that its Optum segment will buy the DaVita…

L.A. Times – Business

Patient in Utah Nurse Arrest Controversy Dies

A sad development in the Salt Lake City nurse arrest controversy: Bill Gray, the patient whose blood nurse Alex Wubbels refused to allow police take without consent or a warrant, has died from the injuries he suffered in a July car crash. Gray, a reserve police officer with the Rigby,…
Newser

As Doctor’s Age Climbs, So Does Patient Death Rate

Having a more experienced doctor might not be best. That’s the message from a Harvard Medical School study published in the British Medical Journal that appears to show patient mortality rate increases with the age of a doctor. The increase is small but significant: In a study of more than…
Newser

Patient Claims Doctor Kicked Her Out After Political Argument

A teacher says she went to her doctor for a physical but instead got booted from the office by her Donald Trump-supporting physician after she disagreed with him, the AP reports. Heidi Kravitz Dunn tells the Philadelphia Inquirer it happened Friday in Broomall. She says Dr. Joseph LaBricciosa ranted about…
Newser

Research Exonerates AIDS ‘Patient Zero’

The French-Canadian flight attendant dubbed “Patient Zero” in the AIDS epidemic in North America was no such thing, researchers say. In a study published in the journal Nature , researchers analyzed HIV genomes and determined that the virus came to the US from Haiti around 1971 and had already infected many…
Newser