Insights

Here’s what we’re checking out today:

<strong>Painkillers:</strong> Popular (and highly addictive) painkillers Darvon and Darvocet – prescribed to an estimated 10 million Americans in 2009 – <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-1120-fda-darvon-we… be pulled from the market</a> because they have been linked to potentially fatal heart rhythm problems, reports Andrew Zajac for the Los Angeles Times.

<p>Doctors looking for a business model to help them stay profitable in tough economic times should consider the sure-fire plan cooked up by <a href="http://www.relianthospice.com/">Reliant Hospice</a> in Columbia, South Carolina.</p>

<p>Today's <em>Daily Briefing </em>is a bit behind schedule but is all about pushing health and health care forward.</p> <p><strong>Politics:</strong> Politico's Glenn Thrush has a <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html">great lead here</a>: "A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in."</p>

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Rehab:</strong> Can the hallucinogen <a href="http://www.pitch.com/2010-11-18/news/ibogaine-helps-addicts-heroin-meth… help drug addicts kick the habit</a>? Keegan Hamilton reviews the evidence on ThePitch.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="http://www.consumersunion.org/">Consumers Union</a> invited me to speak at its Safe Patient Summit in Austin last week. The group of patient advocates, health care providers and reporters engaged in a fascinating discussion about how health care might become a more transparent industry and a less frightening and frustrating experience for those who are the victims of medical error or negligence.

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Gimme Insurance:</strong> Writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, Trudy Lieberman <a href="http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/the_education_of_congressman-elect_and… the astonishing case of a newly elected doctor-Congressman</a> who was irked because his new health insurance didn’t start on the very first day of his new job. Welcome to the rest of America, Rep. Andy Harris.</p>

<p>Health reform may go under the knife when Republicans take control of Congress in January – but reform-related scams likely will remain <a href="http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/insurance… and well</a>. Here are some resources for reporting on these scams should they crop up in your community.</p>

<p>What does it mean to be a “good girl” or “bad girl,” and who is making the wiser sexual choices? This was a topic discussed at the <a href="http://www.breakingthesilenceevent.com/BTS_Home.php"><span style="color: #99338a;">Breaking The Silence: Black and Latino Women Taking Care of Ourselves while Building Healthy Relationships with Men</span></a> conference Saturday, November 6th.</p>

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Alcohol Tax:</strong> Doubling the current tax on alcohol could <a href="http://inews.idsk.com/viewer/story.php?CLIENT=INFOMAILER&amp;NEWSID=imn… alcohol-related deaths by about 35 percent</a> and deliver other public health benefits, according to new research released at the American Public Health Association meeting in Denver.</p>

<p>When a patient is under anesthesia, they are truly at a doctor’s mercy.</p> <p>This makes the case of Dr. Russel J. Aubin, an osteopath and anesthesiologist, especially troubling.</p> <p>Antidote has written in the past about doctors who overprescribed medications, made the wrong diagnoses or started illicit affairs with their patients. At least these patients had control over their bodies and minds.</p>