I-Team Blotter
Docs Often Put Positive Spin On Patient Prognosis
Theresa Sullivan Barger reports
Medical Board Suspends License Of Doctor Charged With Sexual Assault
Theresa Sullivan Barger reports
Nursing Homes Face Fines For Resident Injuries
Blumenthal Sponsors Bill To Protect Patients From Unsafe Medical Devices
Theresa Sullivan Barger reports
St. Francis Hospital Oncologist Fined
Theresa Sullivan Barger reports
Cromwell, Milford Nursing Homes Among Six Penalized By DPH
Kids Without Health Insurance At 6%, Beat National Rate
Theresa Sullivan Barger reports
Mental Health Facility Cited For Inadequate Care
Westport Plastic Surgeon Fined $25,000
Report: Troubled Teens Dumped In Alternative, Adult Ed Programs
Eye Surgery Centers In Waterford, Bridgeport Fined
Theresa Sullivan Barger reports
Medicaid May Require Approval For Some Cancer Drugs
Four Nursing Homes Face DPH Fines For Care Lapses
Patient Safety Advocates Start New England Watchdog Group
Darien Pediatrician Fined, Reprimanded
Docs Often Put Positive Spin On Patient Prognosis
by Theresa Sullivan Barger | Feb 8, 2012 4:15 pm | Comments (0)
Doctors admit it’s sometimes hard to give patients the truth about their prognosis.
VA Seeing Spike In Homeless Vets With Families
by Peggy McCarthy | Feb 6, 2012 8:00 pm | Comments (5)
Andy and Miriam Miranda don’t fit the historical profile of homeless veterans. Former teachers with master’s degrees who have a six-year-old son, they have lost a house to foreclosure and were evicted from an apartment for falling behind on rent.
Medical Board Suspends License Of Doctor Charged With Sexual Assault
by Theresa Sullivan Barger | Feb 3, 2012 1:25 pm | Comments (0)
The state Medical Examining Board voted unanimously Friday to suspend the medical license of an East Hartford internist charged with raping a patient in an examining room.
Nursing Homes Face Fines For Resident Injuries
by Lisa Chedekel | Feb 1, 2012 9:27 am | Comments (0)
Two nursing homes, in West Haven and Waterbury, face fines from the state for incidents in which staff members reportedly were abusive towards residents, while four other homes have been cited for other care lapses that led to resident injuries.
Hospital Errors Persist, State Probes Rare
by Lisa Chedekel | Jan 29, 2012 9:00 pm | Comments (11)
Incidents of pressure ulcers, wrong-site surgeries and other surgical errors reported by Connecticut hospitals have increased in the last five years, despite myriad efforts to curb them, a new state report shows.
At the same time, state health department investigations of many hospital adverse events, such as patient injuries from falls, perforations resulting in disability, and death or serious injury due to surgery, have been rare, data in the report shows. For example, of 196 cases reported since 2007 in which patients were injured by a perforation during a colonoscopy or other procedure, the Department of Public Health (DPH) investigated just 20, or one in 10 cases.
The new Adverse Event Report, prepared by the DPH, marks the first time that acute-care hospitals and other medical facilities have been publicly identified by name, as they report errors that caused harm to patients.
The five hospitals with the highest rate of adverse events in 2010, calculated per 100,000 inpatient days, were: New Milford Hospital (21.4), the Hospital of St. Raphael in New Haven (19.2), Sharon Hospital (17.2), Johnson Memorial in Stafford Springs (17), and William W. Backus in Norwich (16.2). Other hospitals, including the Hospital of Central Connecticut and Saint Vincent’s Medical Center, had above-average rates of errors over the seven-year period from 2004-2010.
Teen Births: Solutions Embrace Cultural Nuances
by Magaly Olivero | Jan 24, 2012 8:00 pm | Comments (0)
Multi-million dollar initiatives to help at-risk and parenting teens across Connecticut call for “evidence-based” and “culturally appropriate” approaches – the mantra of experts assisting Hispanic youth, who have the highest number of teen births in the state.
Teen Births: Nearly One-Half To Hispanics
by Magaly Olivero | Jan 24, 2012 8:00 pm | Comments (2)
Yanisha Claudio, 15, of Hartford, tenderly swaddled three-week-old Jordan, hoping he wouldn’t wake up. “He was crying until four o’clock in the morning,” said the weary Bulkeley High School freshman.
It’s been a tough year for Claudio, whose boyfriend broke up with her after a trip to the emergency room confirmed she was more than five months pregnant. At home for now, Claudio juggles the demands of being a mother and a student with help from a daily tutor, a case worker who visits weekly, and the baby’s grandmother, a former teen mother herself.
“I never thought this would happen to me,” said Claudio. “I don’t know anything about being a mother.”
While teen pregnancy rates have declined nationwide and in Connecticut, statistics and interviews show an intergenerational cycle of children-bearing-children puts Hispanic teens in Connecticut at risk of giving birth once, or even twice, before their twenties.
Hispanic teen birth rates in Connecticut are 8.5 times higher than whites and almost double that of African Americans for girls ages 15 to 19. Of the 2,626 teen births in 2009, almost half – 1,277 - were to Hispanics, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.
Of the 22 births to teen moms ages 13 and 14, more than half – 12 girls – were to Hispanics. Nearly 15 percent of all teen births in the state were to girls who were already mothers. The rate was similar in 2008: of the 2,817 teen births, 1,364 were to Hispanic teens. Hispanics make up just 13 percent of the state’s population.
LISTEN TO FIRST PERSON: Candida Flores helps teen mothers.
To read related story on programs available to help teens click here.
New Report Cites Rise In Army Suicide Rate, Sex Crimes
by Lisa Chedekel | Jan 24, 2012 7:22 am | Comments (2)
Troops who have deployed to war zones two or more times have a higher risk of committing suicide than those who have deployed once or never deployed, a new Army report shows.
Blumenthal Sponsors Bill To Protect Patients From Unsafe Medical Devices
by Theresa Sullivan Barger | Jan 18, 2012 2:19 pm | Comments (2)
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has joined two other senators introducing legislation designed to protect patients from unsafe medical devices without derailing the current fast-tracking system of medical device approvals.
St. Francis Hospital Oncologist Fined
by Theresa Sullivan Barger | Jan 17, 2012 6:21 pm | Comments (0)
The state Medical Examining Board fined a St. Francis Hospital Cancer Center oncologist $5,000 Tuesday for accidently administering 29 doses of radiation to the left side of a patient’s mouth, when the cancerous mass was on the right side.