Day: 05/09/2015

Report finds Blue Bell Creameries knew about Listeria in 2013

Recall didn’t begin until March 2015

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/report-finds-blue-bell-creameries-knew-about-listeria-in-2013-050815.html

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as many as 10 consumers were infected with the Listeria bug in Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas between 2010 and 2015. There were 3 deaths in Kansas…

According to the Kansas health officials, hospital records available for four patients show that all were served ice cream from Blue Bell Creameries’ prepackaged, single-serving products and milkshakes made from these products. The hospital receives ice cream manufactured by Blue Bell Creameries but it could not be determine which plant produced it.

Isn’t that information included in the bar code?  Maybe not.  But what good are bar codes and other manufacturing codes if they don’t say where the product was made?

Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and other banks agree to follow bankruptcy law

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/bank-of-america-jp-morgan-chase-and-other-banks-agree-to-follow-bankruptcy-law-050815.html

The New York Timesreports that the four banks faced various lawsuits in Federal Bankruptcy Court over their handling of “zombie” debts — bills which have been legally discharged in bankruptcy proceedings, yet still appear on credit reports. Various lawsuits accused those four banks of deliberately ignoring bankruptcy rulings in order to make extra money by selling bad debt to financial firms…

Up to 1 million Americans are expected to benefit by having zombie debt expunged from their records.

Some New Mexico defendants denied public defenders

http://krqe.com/2015/05/08/some-new-mexico-defendants-denied-public-defenders/

If you’re arrested in New Mexico, you’re supposed to hear something like this: “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will provided for you.” It’s a constitutional right. But what happens if the state can’t afford your legal counsel, either?

According to the Law Offices of the Public Defender, this is what could happen: Starting this week and through June 30, defendants out of custody and eligible for a contract public defender won’t get one…

The legislature approved a $1.3 million Special Appropriation to close the gap, but “Unfortunately, on April 9, 2015, Governor Martinez line-item vetoed that appropriation,” Alvarado said…

Suicide rate for elderly a concern (Ohio)

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/12/04/suicide-rate-for-elderly-a-concern.html

In the U.S., people 65 or older make up 13 percent of the population but account for more than 18 percent of all suicides, according to the National Institutes of Health…

The suicide rate is likely even higher because it can be difficult for coroners to recognize “ silent suicides” such as intentional overdoses, self-starvation or deaths that look as if they could have been accidental. When the cause of death is unclear, officials might be inclined to call it something other than suicide because of the pain it might cause the family.

“There’s still a lot of stigma associated with suicide,” said Diana Kubovcik, client-services director of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging.

While older people make fewer suicide attempts than the young, they are far more likely to die because of often-frail health, Kubovcik said. They also turn more frequently to guns.

Double suicides involving spouses or partners also occur more commonly among the elderly, she said…

The most prominent risk factor for suicide in older adults is depression, said Debra Reilly, a senior-care liaison at Dublin Springs, a 72-bed mental-health and addiction-treatment center in Dublin. Alcohol or drug abuse also can be factors.

“People sometimes assume that depression is a normal part of aging, but that’s untrue,” said Reilly, who also is a psychiatric nurse. “The good news is depression is treatable.” …

Often, suicide coincides with a doctor visit — 20 percent on the same day, 40 percent within a week, 70 percent within a month — so physicians need to look for warning signs, Reilly said.

Suicide triggers can include the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, severe or chronic pain, or a loss of physical or financial independence, said Mary Brennen-Hofmann, suicide-prevention coordinator at North Central Mental Health Services, which operates the local suicide-prevention hotline.

“A sense of purpose and dignity in life is significant,” she said. “If you feel like you’re taking up space and have nothing to offer, those feelings can be painful.” …

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2013/08/20/Ohio-suicide-awareness-program.html

Ohio officials are partnering with the Jason Foundation to provide training and information to teachers, coaches, other school personnel, students and parents about suicide — the second-leading cause of death in the 15- to-24 age group. Only motor-vehicle accidents take more young lives.

While youth suicide rates are high, the sharpest increase in recent years has been among males age 45 to 54…

Suicide awareness has been a crusade for Kevin Stankiewicz, 17, a senior at Brunswick High School in Summit County, since the death of Joseph Anielski, who Stankiewicz said was like an older brother to him. He has written letters for the school newspaper and speaks frequently to teens about suicide prevention.

This summer, Stankiewicz said he attended a college summer camp where he talked to “a mind-boggling amount of other campers” who had considered or attempted suicide, including one person who had made eight attempts. “I think what it is is a lack of somebody to talk to,” he said…

Congress, Help Combat Prescription Drug Abuse

http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=10327

http://blogs.rollcall.com/beltway-insiders/congress-help-combat-prescription-drug-abuse-commentary/#disqus_thread

Commentary by Cynthia Reilly (directs The Pew Charitable Trusts’ prescription drug abuse project)

Experts convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded in 2012 that PRRs have the potential to save lives and lower health care costs by reducing opioid use to safer levels. These programs have already yielded benefits for patients enrolled in them. In Oklahoma, Medicaid patients in a PRR program used fewer narcotic medications, decreased their visits to multiple pharmacies and physicians to obtain these drugs, and made fewer visits to emergency departments. Opioid doses were reduced by 40 percent for patients enrolled in the Ohio Medicaid PRR program…

The problem is that current federal law prevents Medicare from using PRRs. But there is significant bipartisan momentum building for change…

Click to access pdo_patient_review_meeting-a.pdf

My comment:

“The result is that the doctor and pharmacist improve care coordination and patients have access to the pain medication they need while lowering the risk of overdose.”

I think you’re cherry-picking the results. Lowering the risk of overdose does not equal pain patients getting the medications and care they need. In fact, the results show that pain patients are being abandoned by their doctors, with even fewer doctors willing to treat anyone labeled as a chronic pain patient, both in the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

“These programs have already yielded benefits for patients enrolled in them.”

None of the results you’ve mentioned indicate any benefit for pain patients. The results say that programs saved money, but nothing is said about how these programs affected pain patients.  I would have thought you would at least know of the deaths caused by methadone because Medicaid has approved that drug for chronic pain patients due to its low cost.

As the CDC’s 2012 report indicates:

“Although the published literature demonstrates a positive impact on cost and some medical and pharmacy utilization measures, there is a clear need for more current and robust evaluations of PRR programs to examine impact on health-related outcomes such as hospitalizations and overdose deaths [the suicide rate, and the increased number of patients filing for disability].,,”

Living with chronic pain:

How to balance mental health needs for social connections with your physical limitations

http://www.psychologysarasota.com/component/k2/item/22-living-with-chronic-pain-how-to-balance-mental-health-needs-for-social-connections-with-your-physical-limitations

If you live with chronic pain, you know that the mere act of getting up in the morning and getting out of bed can be excruciatingly difficult. What I have found, in working with chronic pain patients is that often, there is an unhealthy interplay and cascade effect between chronic pain, depression and isolation…

Complicating the issue of taking pain medication in Florida is a recent spat of investigations of “pain-pill mill” doctors and an attempt by the state to better track and regulate pain doctors which has chronic pain patients on edge and struggling with either not being able to see their doctor anymore or having their medication dosage suddenly lowered due to new guidelines meant to protect them and to protect their doctors from liability and accusations of misconduct. Unfortunately, many of my patients have had their medication dosage lowered without having appropriate interventions put in place for handling the transition, which is often quite painful. Unfortunately, the rotten apples do spoil the bunch and pain doctors and their patients have been caught in the war against those doctors who are being accused of over-prescribing of pain meds…

In my practice, one of the saddest results of isolating due to chronic pain that I see is that many of my patients end up so alone that they can’t even consider surgery because there will be no one to care for them after surgery. Furthermore, when folks are in pain and depressed they are obviously not as pleasant to be around and studies have shown that depressed people are rejected more often which then exacerbates their depression further. It is very important that if you are experiencing chronic and severe pain and depression that you consider working with a therapist on ways to not lose your existing social connections and to see if there are ways to develop new ones not only so that you don’t find yourself alone when in need, but also so that you find that your life is worth living- a conclusion that is often reached in the company of others…