Switched at birth
The title of this post sounds like the title of made-for-TV movie. But it's fact. A baby boy was mistakenly sent home with the wrong family. The mistake happened in March at Heartland Regional Medical Center in southern Illinois. Upon realizing the error, hospital workers immediately contacted the families. Though they were not required to do so, the hospital reported the incident to state authorities. I don't know how, in today's day and age, an error like this could occur. When people I know have given birth recently there are alarms on the maternity ward, infants and their parents wear matching bracelets, and photo IDs are taken of the children. In addition, unless there are medical issues, infants usually stay with their parents more now than in the past. At the time of writing, Heartland Regional Medical Center's web site isn't responding, so I'm not sure what their internal policies are.
Every so often, we hear news reports about accidental deaths or overdoses due to over-prescribed, often unnecessary drugs or surgery. But these seems to be rare, right? We'd like to think so, anyway. 
Interested in finding out which hospitals rank in the upper echelon of health care facilities? Thankfully we have organizations whose sole purpose it is to do that sort of thing. Enter HealthGrades, who has put out their second annual 
In a move that is sure to make hospital administrators feel slightly uneasy, medicare is implementing a no-pay policy for hospital errors that could have been prevented. These 
Here's some scary heath news: even if you don't have symptoms, harmful and potentially fatal bacteria can be lurking in your guts. One type of bacteria in particularly seems to thrive -- 
I thought it was a known fact that cell phones were a no-no in hospitals, but everytime I go to one, I see a number of people chatting on their cell phones or texting like mad. What's the deal? Is it ok to use your cell phone in a hospital or not?
The communication barriers in American medical facilities will only get worse as more people in the country seek medical services as the population increases. Although many hospitals already require bilingual employees, what about that life threatening situation where a language barrier can prevent quick action and treatment?
All walk-in health clinics inside grocery and pharmacy stores the wave of the future for cheap and immediate health care? In an country where over 40 million of us are medically uninsured, health clinics in neighborhood stores are becoming more popular and many millions of citizens are probably using them.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists is getting ready to do something this fall that it has never done before: 
Nurses and doctors sometimes get to take abuse on the job in an undeserved fashion. It's true that both positions in the medical industry have to deal with unhappy and sick patients (not to mention, emotionally charged). But where does the line need to be drawn at outright abuse.
Of all the threats we face in the world today (disease, accidents, terrorism, and the list goes on) who would have thought something perfectly preventable like medical errors would earn 
Okay, so here's a thought from the health care industry: flat rate surgery, with a warranty? A hospital group in Pennsylvania is doing just that, 
So a couple of 
Summer Slimdown Guide: Instant self-confidence boosters
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Summer Slimdown Guide: Calorie-free foods (or close to it)
