Americans' penchant for rating everything from tech gadgets to restaurants to professional services online - sometimes in novella-length missives - is extending to health care professionals, and entrepreneurs nationwide are cashing in on the trend.
Health care reporters know how rarely hospitals suspend a doctor's privileges. Those rights are granted and revoked by other doctors, and doctors are loathe to set a precedent by saying a botched surgery or missed diagnosis should bar a doctor for life.
That's why it was a big deal when the Reston Hospital Center in Virginia took away Dr. Bahram Tafreshi Moshiri's right to practice there in November 2001.
One would think that everything that could possibly be said about lead poisoning has been printed, broadcast and e-mailed around the globe countless times.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's $100 million grant to the International Partnership for Microbicides is big news for HIV prevention researchers frustrated by years of skimpy funding and scientific setbacks. The United Kingdom Department for International Development kicked in another $28.5 million.
California's efforts to regulate raw milk dairy products have been controversial, pitting public health advocates against passionate raw food devotees. This story details the aftermath of the first enforcement of new state regulations on raw milk products.
Foodborne illness refers to any sickness that results from consuming a solid food, milk, water or other beverage, generally because it has been contaminated. The Centers for Disease Control estimated in 1999 that there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness annually in the United States, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. This is the most recent estimate available as of March 2010. The total impact of foodborne illness, however, is likely underestimated because many cases are not reported.
Mary Agnes Carey wrote her fellowship project story about community health care patients needing specialty care.
Hiran Ratnayake published the following three stories on nursing in Delaware:
Delaware short of nurses who speak Spanish
Practice trains nurses to work with Spanish-speaking patients
