Author: Ring of Fire Staff

When clinical workload and patient numbers increase, does patient safety suffer?  According to a recent article published by JAMA Internal Medicine, the answer is a clear and resounding YES!  The article[1], based upon a survey of 506 responding hospital physicians, found that 40% of those surveyed felt their clinical workload exceeded safe levels.  Moreover, the surveyed physicians also reported the following concerning numbers: Over the past year, how often has the number of patients you see or are expected to see caused you to … -Be unable to fully discuss treatment options or answer questions of a patient or...

Oxfam America recently released a study called “Behind the Brands,” which examines the social and environmental policies of the world’s largest food and beverage companies. Specifically, the report focuses on what Oxfam calls the “Big 10” companies including, Associated British Foods (ABF), Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg, Mars, Mondelez International (previously Kraft), Nestle, PepsiCo, and Unilever, and “aims to increase the transparency and accountability of the ‘Big 10’ throughout the food supply chain.” Overall, the study determined that companies “have neglected to use their enormous power to help create a more just food system.” Recognizing that the world’s largest...

If Congress allows the sequester cuts to go through Friday, almost $85 billion dollars in cuts across the budget will take effect. Ben Bernanke appeared before the Senate to express the negative impact that sequestration will have on the economy if it is allowed to occur. Bernanke was frank with the Senate and his fellow Republicans. He warned that short-term spending cuts would damage the recovery that has taken the U.S. years to accomplish and that sequester cuts are not the route this country should take to reduce the deficit. “Given the still-moderate underlying pace of economic growth, this...

A University of North Carolina student is being taken to the Honor Court for speaking out against her rapist. Landen Gambill, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina (UNC), is one of four women who, with the help of the former assistant dean of students at the University, filed a complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The complaint alleges that “UNC violated the rights of sexual assault victims and facilitated a hostile environment for students reporting sexual assault.” Now Gambill, a victim of rape by her abusive ex-boyfriend, is being accused of “intimidating...

The world’s largest retailer of health-care products, Johnson & Johnson, is under attack for making false claims during the marketing of its hip replacement devices and vaginal mesh. The DePuy Orthopaedics ASR XL hip implant was recalled in August of 2010 and the Ethicon vaginal mesh POP kit was silently withdrawn from the market. J&J tried to fool the world by publicly stating they voluntarily withdrew these products due to their own self-monitoring. However, under the pressure of newly disclosed evidence in the California DePuy ASR XL trial and in the New Jersey Ethicon trial, J&J has finally admitted...