Dan Frith

The average price paid per bed for skilled nursing facilities hit a record $47,400 in 2006, according to the latest edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report. The figure marks a nearly 10% increase over the 2005 average sale price and 50% premium over the 2003 mark.Why so expensive? The…

Those of you who have followed our blogs on Legal Medicine know that we have previously published articles on some of the more corrupt executives who own and run nursing homes in America. Well here we go again! Three former nursing home executives, one a lawyer, were charged on March…

A 65 year old man went to his family practitioner who ordered a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. The test showed highly elevated PSA levels – indicative of prostate cancer. Two weeks later the patient returned to his family doctor who again ordered a PSA test. The second test, performed…

What kind of doctor do you want? A confident professional, little small talk, and a quick decider? Or how about a caring communicator who acknowledges uncertainty? Many patients might be inclined to select the former…and they would probably be wrong!Jerome Groopman, MD has recently published a book entitled, “How Doctors…

The news this winter has followed a familiar path regarding the frequency and effects of flu outbreaks in nursing homes. I previously blogged on this topic. Norovirus, flu, group a strep, whatever the infectious process… don’t we owe our elderly and infirm a safe environment in which to live? In…

An examination of child-related medical negligence settlements and judgments finds that failure to diagnose is the most common reason for payments. The study, published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, pulled statistics from the National Practitioner Data Bank, a mandatory electronic depository which documents such…

This case comes from Oregon but could be from anywhere. The patient, a 54 year old woman, underwent a routine mammogram at a health clinic. The radiologist who interpreted the study reported it as normal. However, two years later the patient was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer which had…

For that matter don’t get sick on the weekends or at other dangerous times! What are we talking about? Well, a recently published study found that heart-attack patients admitted to a hospital on Saturday or Sunday are at a greater risk of dying than those same patients when admitted between…

Let’s face it – most residents in assisted living facilities and nursing homes are incapable of moving quickly. They may be confined to a bed…a wheel chair…or a meri-walker. This reality can have devastating results when a fire breaks out!Virginia law requires fire suppression and alarm systems in its nursing…