"The thought of losing this newspaper is deeply disturbing,'' blogged Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "It is the major source for investigative journalism that keeps the government, corporations, and, yes, nonprofits, honest and accountable. We simply cannot afford not to have it."
Yeah, and then they HIDE IT upon a SLOW SATURDAY when people are setting up their weekends and not reading papers. That's why government dumps bad news on a Friday afternoon.
Obviously, a CEO who STANDS UP for the LITTLE GUY, 'eh?
"State details safety lapses at Beth Israel; Sloppy cleaning, lax training are cited" by Stephen Smith, Globe Staff | April 11, 2009
Btw, Beth Israel also the Sox health care provider, and Globe parent Times owns 17% stake in Red Sox.
But that has nothing to do with censoring and concealing these items, right, Globe?
During a surprise visit last month, state investigators witnessed a worker in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center nursery sloppily cleaning a board that had been used during a minor surgery, contaminating a nearby counter.
They also discovered during the inspection that nurses treating the tiniest of babies had received no special training in how to transfuse blood into their delicate veins. And they watched as a doctor used medical instruments to examine the eyes and ears of one infant - and, then, a half-hour later, used the same ones on a second baby without disinfecting them.
That's how INFECTIONS START!! Related: VA Truly Up Soldiers' Asses
These and other safety lapses, made public yesterday, turned up during an investigation prompted by a cluster of hard-to-treat bacterial infections among mothers and their newborns who had been at the Harvard-affiliated hospital since late last year....
And the ties just get tighter, don't they?
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So far, disease trackers have identified 19 infants and 18 mothers who have fallen ill with infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a germ that thwarts treatment by first-line antibiotics. The source of the cluster of cases remains a mystery, although genetic testing has shown the same strain had infected all of the patients, a strong clue there is a common source.
The state inspectors were unstinting in their critique of what they observed as they toured labor and delivery rooms and the nursery on three days in early March, declaring flatly at one point that "the hospital failed to implement an appropriate and effective infection control program for the prevention, control, and investigation of infections and communicable diseases."
And that is BOSTON'S BEST, too!!!!!
They found, for example, that at 11 a.m. on March 3, 19 people swarmed an operating room where a mother was giving birth to a premature baby, with both mother and child susceptible to infection. The crowding, investigators said, put both of them at risk. In another case, investigators watched as a surgical technician provided a surgeon with an unsterile needle holder.
And, on several occasions, the investigators observed worrisome lapses related to circumcisions, including an instance when a nurse didn't change gloves before tending to the dressings of a baby. Of the 19 infants who have become ill with the drug-resistant staph infection, 15 have been boys, according to Dr. Anita Barry, who is overseeing the investigation of the cases by the Boston Public Health Commission.
"I think the circumcision dressing example was one we found particularly problematic," Dreyer said. "You've got examples of contamination that may be in the context of kids with open wounds from circumcision. The danger is spread of infection."
--more--"Globe is doing all it can to contain the effect from the hospital and its pr.
One week later, another Slow Saturday Special:
"Beth Israel halts sending insurance data to Google; Hospital admits 'mistake' as flaws in practice found" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | April 18, 2009
WASHINGTON - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's top technology executive acknowledged yesterday it was "a mistake" to send insurance claims data to Google Health as a way of summarizing patients' medical histories and discontinued the practice as of yesterday.
Beth Israel is one of many hospitals and insurers that send claims data to Google Health's "personal health records," which let people keep all their records of medications, allergies, and illnesses in a single file that is easily accessible over the Internet. But as the Globe reported last week, claims data is prone to inaccuracies, particularly for patients with complex health problems....
When did the Globe report that? A Monday?
"Electronic health records raise doubt; Google service's inaccuracies may hold wide lesson" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | April 13, 2009
WASHINGTON - .... Some of the information in his Google Health record was drawn from billing records, which sometimes reflect imprecise information plugged into codes required by insurers. Google Health and others in the fast-growing personal health record business say they are offering a revolutionary tool to help patients navigate a fragmented healthcare system, but some doctors fear that inaccurate information from billing data could lead to improper treatment....
And the computerization of records is supposed to save the health sysytem?
Related: "Patients at Veterans Affairs health centers around the country were given incorrect doses of drugs, had needed treatments delayed, and may have been exposed to other medical errors due to software glitches that showed faulty displays of their electronic health records"
Ideally insurance claims could provide a trove of data that could greatly accelerate the Obama administration's effort to computerize all medical records within five years. The stimulus package contained $17 billion to help computerize doctors' records.
Hey, what is MORE WASTED MONEY, 'eh, Amurka?
Coulda used that money for actual care instead!
But transferring existing information from paper or outdated computers could take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to complete. Insurance data, by contrast, is already computerized and far easier and cheaper to download. But it is also prone to inaccuracies.....
Which is a good thing to know lying on that operating table, isn't it, 'murkn?
Hey, don't worry; Beth Israel will take good care of you.
Also see: Boston's Best Hospital
