Lori Pinkley, a 50-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., has struggled with puzzling chronic pain since she was 15. She has had countless disappointing visits with doctors. Some said they couldn’t help her. Others diagnosed her with everything from fibromyal…
“6 in 10 Kids Got Opioids After Tonsil Surgery, Study Says.” So screams the headline from The Daily Beast. “In the midst of the opioid crisis, doctors sent many kids home with oxycodone and hydrocodone,” it goes on to say. Another example o…
Medical treatment has knocked down tumors in 6-year-old Easton Daniels’ brain, but the drug used also wiped out his immune system. To bolster his immune function and help keep him healthy, he has visited a hospital for intravenous infusions of immune g…
The bootleg medications were smuggled across the border and sold to mostly Latino immigrants in public spaces throughout Los Angeles — at swap meets, parks, beauty salons and makeshift stands outside mom-and-pop grocery stores. The drugs were cheap, an…
Take one-half tablet three times per day with meals, increasing by half each week until reaching a maximum of three tablets three times per day. Did you get a new prescription from your doctor? If so, there is a 50 percent chance you will not adhere to…
When PDL BioPharma’s $40 million blood-pressure medicine faced the threat of a generic rival this year, the company pulled out a little-known strategy that critics say helps keep drugs expensive and competition weak. It launched its own generic version…
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) including Express Scripts, CVS Health, and OptumRX are the subject of intense criticism by virtually everyone in medicine and politics. While the purpose of PBM’s group purchasing business model was intended to contribu…
For the last three decades, the numeric pain score has been the go-to assessment for acute pain in the hospital setting. Since this methodology was developed for research purposes to see if drug “A” had an effect on patient “A,” its clinical utility is…
In August 2014, a 13-year-old boy with Type 1 diabetes died after being treated by self-described “master herbalist” Tim Morrow who was tried for child abuse resulting in death and practicing medicine without a license. He had told the boy’s mother to …
“Complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) is a category that includes all the methods of physical or mental healing that do not fall under the umbrella of western medicine. Examples include comprehensive healing traditions from other cultures, suc…
