tchill

The South Carolina legislature is proposing mandatory ultrasounds for women considering pregnancy termination. The proposal, brought by non-physicians, raises multiple medical, financial, and ethical concerns. For many reasons, pre-abortion ultrasounds would create more problems than they would solve. Obvious crucial questions include: Who would perform each ultrasound - an ultrasound technician or a physician? What type of ultrasound would be performed - screening, anatomic, Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO)-level, or other? Who would read the ultrasounds? Primary care physicians, radiologists, or perinatologists? Each has different skills. Who would convey results to patients? A physician, an ultrasound technician, or other medical staff? Would results include a written report? Would patients be offered counseling after the ultrasounds? Who would be liable for incorrect information? Politicians have called pre-abortion ultrasounds "accurate" and "non-ju...

Six weeks ago, a 55 year-old white male had surgery for cervical spondylolysis. Since discharge from the hospital, he has started feeling intermittently lightheaded. Who should he see? He describes multiple episodes of lightheadedness since his hospital discharge. These have occurred with standing, and improved with bending forward. Separately, he has had three episodes of chest pain and paliptations. The chest pains have occurred while sitting, lasted about five minutes, and improved slightly with combivent. During hospitalization, the patient experienced several complications. These included, successively, cervical myelopathy, ulcerative esophagitis, and urinary retention. He received, respectively, prednisone, omeprazole, and tamsulosin. During his final week in-hospital, he received mirtazepine for depression. Discharge medications included those mentioned, oxycodone, cyclobenzaprine, iron and stool softeners. He had underlying COPD before admission, and during his hospitalizati...