Daily Rounds: Scripts For Nurses, Lawsuit-Proof Generics, Scientific Birth And More

Nurses balk at bid to guide dealings with patients - The Boston Globe - "In a push to improve patient care and make it more customer-friendly, hospitals are training nurses to be courteous, listen carefully, and check on patients at least every hour. But some nurses say their employers - in an effort to boost scores on patient satisfaction surveys and the revenue that can come with high ratings - have gone too far. Nurses unions say an increasing number of hospitals nationwide are asking nurses to adhere to standard scripts when talking to patients, down to how often they use a patient’s name (at least three times per shift)."

Generic drugs prove resistant to damage suits - The New York Times - "Across the country, dozens of lawsuits against generic pharmaceutical companies are being dismissed because of a Supreme Court decision last year that said the companies did not have control over what their labels said and therefore could not be sued for failing to alert patients about the risks of taking their drugs. Now, what once seemed like a trivial detail — whether to take a generic or brand-name drug — has become the deciding factor in whether a patient can seek legal recourse from a drug company."

The most scientific birth is often the least technological birth - The Atlantic - "According to the best studies available, when it came time to birth at the end of my low-risk pregnancy, I should not have induction, nor an episiotomy, nor continuous monitoring of the baby's heartbeat during labor, nor pain medications, and definitely not a c-section. I should give birth in the squatting position, and I should have a doula — a professional labor support person to talk to me throughout the birth. (Studies show that doulas are astonishingly effective at lowering risk, so good that one obstetrician has quipped that if doulas were a drug, it would be illegal not to give one to every pregnant woman.)"

Top court rejects state damages in medical leave case - Reuters - (Reuters) - "The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that states cannot be sued for money damages for violating a key provision of a federal law that gives workers time off for a serious medical condition, a decision that could affect millions of state employees. The high court by a 5-4 vote ruled that lawsuits against states under the law were barred by state sovereign immunity, rejecting state worker claims for money damages for violations of a provision of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act."