MedImmune: Vote for vaccines
August 27, 2008
An interesting piece of campaigning from Maryland’s own MedImmune. The Gaithersburg-based biotech has started a new Web site to push the importance of taking the flu vaccine. More specifically, it’s pushing the importance of taking its version of the vaccine, which is delivered with a nasal spray instead of through a needle.
The “interesting” part is that the Web site is set up like a campaign Web site — campaign buttons, a call to cast your “fluvote” and a string of red, white and blue banners.
I suppose it’s a timely piece of advertising, and a good way for the company to get its message out. Still, just thinking about campaigning and politics gives me a little eye twitch — the same one I get whenever I see a political ad on television.
Thanks to the WSJ blog for seeing it first.
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist
Sphere: Related ContentSurvey shows mixed results for MedImmune
August 21, 2008
If you believe the results of a new MedImmune-sponsored survey, most parents believe that giving their kids a flu vaccine isn’t all that important. At least not in comparison with taking their vitamins and dressing appropriately for the weather.
That might not be stellar news for Gaithersburg-based MedImmune (producer of inhaled flu vaccine FluMist), but here’s a finding that tips the scales back its way: Two out of three parents surveyed said they wish their child could get a flu vaccine without having to get a shot.
Gee, if only one was available on the open market.
Here’s more good news for MedImmune:
- Of those parents who have previously had their child vaccinated against the flu, nearly 4 out of 5 (78 percent) say they would be extremely or very willing to try a needle-free flu vaccine for their child if their doctor said it was OK.
- Three out of four school-age children (77 percent) would be willing to get the flu vaccine if the experience was injection-free.
In February, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices expanded its annual flu vaccination recommendations to include children six months to 18 years of age.
The survey’s findings seem to show that parents overwhelmingly rely on their healthcare provider’s recommendation for vaccination decisions. But lobbying doctors’ offices is about to get even harder for pharmaceutical reps, thanks to new ethics guidelines for the industry.
Do you think FluMist’s parent company needs to generate more awareness of its product? Would you as a parent feel comfortable giving your child an inhaled vaccine?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentPreparing for pandemic flu
August 6, 2008
Health officials who are preparing for the next flu pandemic through vaccine prevention might want to consider another approach, suggest the authors of a new study on 1918 pandemic.
A team of microbiologists in Silver Spring has concluded that most people who perished during the 1918 flu pandemic died of bacterial infections — not from the flu itself.
Instead, they venture that bacterial pneumonia was the likely cause of death for most of the 20-to-100 million victims of the so-called Spanish flu — though the flu virus did have a significant role.
Records from ‘18 and ‘19 show that most victims lasted more than a week after showing symptoms - a hallmark of pneumonia. Few people died within three days, which would indicate the flu. Researchers also found new military recruits (those not exposed to resident bacteria) died in droves, while most lifelong soldiers survived.
Medical experts think that the flu strain paved the way for the bacteria to take hold by placing stress on the immune system and killing cells in the respiratory tract, making a home for invading bacteria.
“The 1918 pandemic is considered to be - and clearly is - something unique, and it’s widely understood to be the most lethal natural event that has occurred in recent human history,” said John Brundage, a medical microbiologist for the Armed Forces in Silver Spring.
And whether it originates from birds or other sources, Brundage suggests the government consider preparing for the next flu pandemic by stocking up on antibiotics - just in case.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentMultimedia: Maryland’s Anatomical Donors Day
June 17, 2008
On Monday afternoon, before the rain came pouring down, a burial service was held for Marylanders who donated their bodies to science last year.
The service is an annual occasion, held to recognize the vital donations – and unclaimed bodies – that are used by Maryland’s medical and dental students for education and research. The service was held at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville.
A proclamation from the Governor’s Office declared June 16 to be “Anatomical Donor Appreciation Day” in Maryland.
Friends and family of the donors were invited to attend the interdenominational service, which was coordinated by the State Anatomy Board and Springfield Hospital Center’s Office of Volunteer Services.
Multimedia Reporter Richard Simon caught up with a number of medical students and family members at the service.
Click here to view a larger version of the audio slideshow.
Suing ‘Dr. Doe’
May 29, 2008
The children of a woman who died of cancer in June 2005 filed suit last month against her doctors, alleging they neglected to recommend regular screenings that could have led to an earlier diagnosis and saved her life.
True, lawsuits claiming a doctor missed some early indication of what later became a serious or even fatal condition are fairly common. What struck me about this suit is the lead defendant: John Doe, M.D.
It’s also true that the use of “Doe” defendants is common in malpractice cases. But this complaint says Dr. Doe (and his later-named colleague, Dr. Samuel Croff Jr.), “provided primary care and treatment” to the decedent, Barbara Jameson, for nearly a year before she reported to the emergency room in April 2005 with “a massive intra-abdominal cancer.”
Maybe Dr. Doe was a behind-the-scenes type who read the results of imaging tests — the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, doesn’t say.
In fact, much of what happened here remains unknown as the case is in the early stages of litigation; and there may be a difference between what Jameson knew about the doctors who allegedly treated her for a year and what her children are able to figure out.
Still, if a patient is in the dark about the identity of her primary care physician, might that not foretell more disastrous communication problems down the line?
BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentBlues are skin deep for indigo man
May 29, 2008
The following really has little to do with the law, but it involves the one person who makes her own rules: Oprah.
Fran, our office manager in Towson, told me she saw on Oprah’s talk show Tuesday a man with blue skin. And it wasn’t a member of the Blue Man Group or some dude dressed as a Smurf for Halloween.
The man in question was Paul Karason of California, and he was originally on “Oprah” in February. It turns out he began drinking a tonic called colloidal silver more than 15 years ago in solidarity with a friend diagnosed with petroleum poisoning, according to Oprah’s Web site. Karason said he discovered in a matter of days that the drink cured his acid reflux, according the Web site.
Karason then began applying the colloidal silver to damaged skin on his body. After he had used the potion for several months a friend noticed his skin had changed color from white to blue. (I’d like to think if I started to resemble a ripe blueberry, I would recognize it immediately.)
Silver is known to kill bacteria and was at one point a popular antibiotic (PDF), but one potential side-effect of long-term use is argyria, a condition whereby the skin turns silver or blue. (One law firm refers to it as the “disease of the living dead,” because of the ghostly appearance of those who have it and the fact that any exposure to sunlight darkens the hue.)
So that explains Paul Karason’s blue skin. And why the Food and Drug Administration in 1999 said colloidal silver has no medical benefit (PDF), meaning it can be sold as a dietary supplement without making health claims.
No word from the government as to whether silver-tainted products led to this, however.
DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentSaying “I’m sorry” for medical malpractice
May 19, 2008
For some, bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit is the only way to get what they truly want — an apology. However, some hospitals continued to maintain a “deny and defend” policy.
But according to an article in the New York Times today, hospitals and doctors are realizing that by just saying “I’m sorry,” litigation can be avoided or smaller settlements can be reached. (Johns Hopkins is one such institution, the article notes.)
The article states that “Malpractice lawyers say that what often transforms a reasonable patient into an indignant plaintiff is less an error than its concealment, and the victim’s concern that it will happen again.”
Plaintiffs’ lawyers: Do you think that your client would be less likely to bring suit if the doctor admitted the mistake and your client knew the hospital was taking steps to ensure it would not happen again?
Defense lawyers: would you still counsel against a doctor or hospital making such an admission, even if it couldn’t be used at trial?
CHRISTINA DORAN, Assistant Legal Affairs Editor
Sphere: Related ContentDennis Quaid testifies about limits on lawsuits
May 14, 2008
Actor Dennis Quaid was in Congress today, testifying about the medical mistake that caused his newborn twins to get 1,000 times the normal dose of the blood thinner Heparin.
While the mix-up occurred in the hospital, Quaid and his wife say Heparin’s maker, Baxter Healthcare Corp., must answer for the way it packaged the dose and the megadose.
The two labels were so similar, the Quaids claim, that Baxter had warned hospitals about it and submitted changes to the FDA, but didn’t bother to recall containers that were already out there. Baxter says it should be immune from suit because the FDA approved the original labels.
That puts the case at the crossroads of the debate over federal pre-emption of consumer lawsuits, now underway in Congress and coming to the Supreme Court later this year in a case from Vermont.
According to the Associated Press:
Lawsuit limits have been included in 51 rules proposed or adopted since 2005 by agency bureaucrats governing just about everything Americans use: drugs, cars, railroads, medical devices and food.
Decried by consumer advocates and embraced by industry, the agencies’ use of the government’s rule-making authority represents the administration’s final act in a long-standing drive to shield companies from lawsuits.
“Like many Americans, I believed that a big problem in our country was frivolous lawsuits,” Quaid testified. “But now I know that the courts are often the only path to justice.” He added that pre-emption “will basically make us uninformed and uncompensated lab rats.”
What’s your take — do you agree with the consumer advocates, or do you think there needs to be a limit?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentThe Serious Games Initiative
May 9, 2008
“Serious Games” sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s the best way to describe what’s going on at the Baltimore Convention Center today.
More than 300 people are in town for the fourth annual Games for Health conference - a group that is serious about the use of video games for health benefit.
For instance, they’ll reveal a new version of the popular video game Guitar Hero that’s designed to be used by an arm amputee, for rehabilitation. They’ll examine how the use of “PD Wii” is aiding balance and mobility in Parkinson’s patients. One panel will discuss how exercise games (or “exergaming”) in gyms can be used to make physical activity more fun.
And video games are even being used to train medical professionals. Physicians and EMTs are immersed in a 3D simulation of an emergency situation or a patient interaction to practice responding.
Parents will appreciate this one: a team of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center are working on an “interactivity kiosk” originally titled Project ER that is aimed to lower stress for the 60,000 children who visit Pittsburgh Medial Centers ER each year.
And this year, for the first time, a health insurance company is participating. Humana is a conference sponsor.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentBrody, others discuss health care on MPT
May 1, 2008
Aptly enough, JHU President Bill Brody will be on Retirement Living TV.
He’s conducting the interviews for a special on health care.
“Healthcare ‘08: Search for Solution” is being produced by RLTV and Maryland Public Television, with help from Johns Hopkins University and the National Coalition on Health Care.
The program will feature Brody having “in-depth conversations” with public figures about the present and future state of health care.
“This series presents an insight into both how our health care system really works and what needs to be done to fix it. Dr. Brody does an exceptional job at challenging conventional wisdom in these interviews,” said Elliot Jacobson, VP of programming and production, RLTV.
Here’s the schedule:
MPT - 8 p.m. EDT
May 1: Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
May 8: John Erickson, CEO, Erickson Retirement Communities
May 15: Bill Novelli, CEO, AARP
May 22: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
TBA: Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, Director, NIH
If Brody asked you, what would you say about the future of health care?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
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