Information technology
21st Century Oncology breach prompts 3 federal class-action lawsuits | News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.)Another lawsuit has been filed against Fort Myers-based 21st Century Oncology over a data breach affecting 2.2 million patient records. This new case names Jim Bimonte, a resident of Broward County, and Mary Ann Rodriguez, a resident of Palm Beach County, as plaintiffs. Like previously filed cases, it claims the cancer-care giant failed to take adequate steps to protect sensitive information.
Medical devices and equipment
Olympus hiked prices for scopes as superbug infections spread | Kaiser Health NewsSoon after doctors at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center traced deadly infections to tainted medical scopes last year, they pressed the device maker to lend them replacements. But Olympus Corp. refused. Instead, the Tokyo company offered to sell UCLA 35 new scopes for $1.2 million—a 28% increase in price from what it charged the university just months earlier, according to university emails obtained from a public-records request.
Pharmaceuticals
Drug Company Jacks Up Cost Of Aid-In-Dying Medication | NPRWhen California's aid-in-dying law takes effect this June, terminally ill patients who decide to end their lives could be faced with a hefty bill for the lethal medication. It retails for more than $3,000. Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes the drug most commonly used in physician-assisted suicide, doubled the drug's price last year, one month after California lawmakers proposed legalizing the practice.
Safety, quality and clinical practice
Digital mammography may also reveal heart disease risk | ReutersMammograms performed to check the health of the breasts could also give clues to the health of the heart, researchers say. That's because the amount of calcium in the arteries of the breast, which can be seen on a digital mammogram, seems to reflect the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart.
One man's desperate quest for a brutal surgery | STAT
The operation is so terrifying some call it MOAS: the Mother of All Surgeries. It can take 16 hours. The risk of complications is high. And after 30 years of research, doctors are still arguing about how well it works. But to appendix cancer patients, who are often told their condition is fatal, this marathon surgery—cytoreduction combined with heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy—offers a glimmer of hope.
