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Daily Rounds: Medical Apology Skeptic; $18 Baby Aspirin; School Breakfast Fight; Testosterone Vs. Viagra

Be skeptical about the state's medical apology program (The Boston Globe opinion) - "The Massachusetts Medical Society and seven local hospitals recently announced a plan to disclose medical errors to patients, apologize, and offer compensation. They tout it as being humane, fair, and designed to help injured people. There is reason, though, to question who it really serves...It’s another foothold for larger plans to limit access to compensation for patients harmed by malpractice."

$18 baby aspirin? Hospitals hikes costs for everyday drugs for some patients (Kaiser Health News) - "Sudden chest pains landed Diane Zachor in a Duluth, Minn., hospital overnight, but weeks later she had another shock – a $442 bill for the same everyday drugs she also takes at home, including more than a half dozen common medicines to control diabetes, heart problems and high cholesterol. For the price she was charged for her insulin during her 18 hour stay at St. Luke's Hospital, Zachor would have enough to cover her out-of-pocket expenses for a three-month supply under her private Medicare Advantage plan if she had been home."

School breakfast, the new food fight (The New York Times) - "Of the two edges of the sword of America’s malnutrition — hunger and obesity — the latter is by far the more prevalent and deadly. In New York City perhaps 2 percent of children have “very low food security,” which might mean vitamin deficiencies, a day without food, a loss of weight, a month of being hungry. Meanwhile, 40 percent of New York’s public school students are overweight or obese, and 2,000 New Yorkers die each year from obesity or overweight-related conditions. All of those deaths are preventable."

Testosterone chases Viagra in libido race as doctors fret (Bloomberg) - "Eli Lilly & Co. and Abbott Laboratories are offering help to the 13.8 million American men who have low levels of testosterone. Doctors warn demand for the treatments could lead to overuse with deadly side effects. In what may become one of the most sought after sex enhancement treatments since the introduction of Viagra 14 years ago, new testosterone drugs from Abbott, Lilly and other drugmakers are in hot demand. Prescriptions for testosterone replacement therapies have more than doubled since 2006 to 5.6 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales are expected to triple to $5 billion by 2017."

This program aired on May 2, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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