Furthermore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have received reports of radiation damage caused by CT scans and have done nothing. State regulators seem to powerless because the against whom victims filed complaints hospitals have claimed that they did not make any errors, thus indicating that they exposed their patients to dangerous levels of radiation on purpose without the patients’ knowledge and consent. In one case a hospital in California had increased the radiation exposure 13 times greater than the manufacturer’s safe-level recommendation in order to get clearer pictures.  

This situation is an outrage and is clearly a case of criminal negligence on a massive scale. It is also a violation of patients’ rights to arbitrarily cause such dangerous exposure without their knowledge and consent and without proper medical justification such as eradicating malignant tumors. The fact that it is happening on such a wide scale with no government intervention is stunning. What is even more shameful is that the named hospital officials are refusing to take responsibility for their assaults. The Associated Press reported that several hospitals in California stated that they have been using GE Health’s dosage level recommendations in the cases where the CT scans caused radiation damage.  Finally, the FDA’s response to all of this chaos was to issue an alert to all hospitals to check their scanner radiation settings, which is stupid since the hospitals are denying that there were any mistakes and that the technicians used the settings set by the radiology department heads. Certainly, the fact that there are so many incidents of radiation poisoning in so many different hospitals suggests that the problem rests with the design of the device and with a lack of understanding among decision makers as to what is a safe versus risky level of radiation. Presently, radiological experts are dumbfounded and government officials are ineffectual. 

In conclusion, we have a new scandal that seems to be receiving very little attention in the press with no palpable response from the public or from government officials. Until a couple of days ago people believed that CT scans were safe and used less radiation than X-rays. Now we are finding out that the opposite is true and that thousands of people are needlessly suffering hair loss, nausea and vomiting and the possibility of developing brain cancer. The hospital managers are telling the investigative reporters that they were either following manufacturer’s recommendations, or that they made choices in certain cases to increase the radiation dosage to get clearer images. In this writer’s professional opinion, it seems that the culprits to a large extent are the management personnel at GE Health and the officials at the FDA. Regarding the former, there apparently aren’t sufficient safeguards in the programming by which the technicians set the level of radiation exposure. Concerning the later, the FDA officials are refusing to establish safe radiation parameters and order a recall of the CT scanning devices to cause GE and other manufacturers to prevent technicians from being able to go beyond the acceptable dose range. Moreover, we need to have a legal standard of patient safety which prohibits over exposing the patients with criminal penalties for non-compliance. 

Other Internet Media Sources 

Related blogs about ct scan radiation overdose Two more hospitals report CT scan radiation overdoses - NewsPlurk 

Unforgivable medical errors, revisited : Respectful Insolence 

Brain Scan Radiation Overdoses More Widespread Than Previously … 

Radiation Overdoses and Regulatory Ineptness :: DC Medical … 

Medical watch: Radiation overdose exposures expanding « Altaloman … 

Boston Medical Malpractice?: CT Brain Perfusion Scans Can Cause … 

NY Medical Malpractice Video Tutorials: Brain CT (CAT) Scan … 

Calif hospitals used manufacturer CT scan settings | Washington … 

Calif hospitals used manufacturer CT scan settings - KCOY Santa … 

Ct scan overdose california - Ct overdose california - Imac 2010 … 

Overexposure to Radiation During CT Scans? :: Drug Injury Lawyer Blog 

The difficulty of regulating x-ray radiation in the ER | KevinMD.com 

After Stroke Scans, Patients Face Serious Health Risks / Defeat … 

ThePopTort: GE’s Killer Tests 

The Medical Quack: Radiation Over Exposure Investigation Efforts … 

Twitter Trackbacks for The Radiation Boom - After Stroke Scans … 

Reduced Radiation CT Scans « Jon Barron’s Natural Health Blog 

Patients at serious risk after hospitals overdose stroke scans … 

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time: Fwd … 

New Details Emerge in CT Scan Radiation Overdose Scandal « NEWS Gate The Anti-Yale 

Two more hospitals report CT scan radiation overdoses – LA Blog 

Alabama Woman Files Suit Over Ct Scan Radiation Overdose 

General Electric and Toshiba medical radiation scans overdoses … 

Radiation, radiation overdose, CT Scans, FDA, medical malpractice … 

CT Radiation Overdose Scandal Worse Than First Thought | 24-7-news.com 

MD Whistleblower: CT Scan Risks: Radiation Danger and Overuse … 

Two more hospitals report CT scan radiation overdoses | XJwebs … 

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM EXCESSIVE RADIATION DURING CT SCANS … 

CT Brain Scan Radiation Overdoses More Frequent Than Thought

Thirdly, if you have no pre-existing condition and you can’t afford full coverage you will have to take a plan with a high deductible from $1,500 to $10,000. Since the average healthy person spends less than $1,500 per year on doctor’s visits, you will be paying premiums for nothing because you will have to pay full price for doctors’ visits. So, nothing has changed for those who can’t afford the cost of low or no deductibles. Fourthly, if you have no insurance and need health care now the new website http://healthcare.gov refers you to an existing family health care center or facility obligated by the Hill-Burton Act to provide care to indigent people. If you need care urgently you will have to wait about one month for a specialist appointment in most cases. This waiting time will not change under the new law, so the promise of quicker access of the uninsured poor to health care was a lie. 

Finally, the patient protection aspect of this new law is a joke. The new statute creates a hodgepodge of new federally funded research programs to find ways to improve quality. There is not one section on establishing standards of patient safety; it only makes the pork barrel deeper and wider for the politicians and their cronies to feed their greed.  In conclusion, the new health care law is a bogus shell game. The underinsured will remain as such with the high deductibles still in place. The people with pre-existing conditions will be subjected to high deductibles so they will have to pay out of pocket for most services related to those conditions in addition to the premiums. Access to healthcare for the poor uninsured who are not eligible for Medicaid will remain the same; waiting more than one month for an appointment to see a specialist. 

Other Media Sources:

Affordable Care Act proves to be anything but for Florida …‎Required first dollar coverage for preventive services‎Upcoming Healthcare Changes Benefit Children and Families‎A Reply to the Cato Institute’s Report on Healthcare Reform‎Obama Administration to Launch New Health Care Web SiteHealth care confusion‎Health-care reform has pros, consHijacked, Stolen Health Care Reform: Why Health Care Costs Will …Anthem, Aetna submit new rate requests in CaliforniaHow Will Health Reform Affect You?Bond Financial helps clients with benefits plansHealth Centers Will Save Billions Under Health Care Reform Act …Tanning salons say tax unfairly targets themAbortion and Health Reform: Who to Believe?CMS proposes disclosure requirements for MRI, CT and PET services …How Health Reform Will Impact Existing PlansUS Congressional members sign on to repeal ObamacareCritical ConditionAffordable Care Act popular among everyone but seniorsHow Health Reform Saves Consumers and Taxpayers MoneyHealth Law Backers Say Most Small Businesses Will Get Tax CreditsGrijalva highlights availability of small business tax credit for …Health Insurance for Georgians with Pre-Existing Medical ConditionsUAHC’s revenue dives, proxy battle looms: All options open as HMO …Enzi Says 1099 Will Make More Paperwork For Small Businesses

USNWR: “The mission of the annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings has remained unchanged in 21 years: to help guide patients who need an unusually high level of hospital expertise. Other “best” lists factor in routine procedures such as hernia repair and unthreatening conditions such as mild heart failure. Best Hospitals judges medical centers on competence in complex, demanding situations, often with patients whose age or other health conditions pose their own risks. Replacing a heart valve in a man in his 90s, diagnosing and treating a brain tumor, and managing inflammatory bowel disease are a few of many examples.”

Although judging hospitals as to how well they perform in critical risky situations seems like a good idea, there are some problems here. For one thing, there are too many confounding variables to make comparisons between hospitals regarding the death rates of patients with high risk conditions. For example if the researchers compare the survival rate of heart valve replacements of patients in their 90’s the sample size would be too small to be of any statistical significance and the comparative analysis would have to take differences in pre-existing conditions into account.  

USNWR: “For 2010-11, we ranked hospitals in 16 specialties, from cancer and kidney disorders to orthopedics and urology. A total of 4,852 hospitals were put through our statistical wringer. This year, only 152 of the 4,852 hospitals evaluated performed well enough to rank in any specialty. And of the 152, just 14 qualified for a spot in the Honor Roll by ranking at or near the top in six or more specialties.”

This is a telling statement about the quality of care in the U.S. provided that the surveyors looked at things like nurse-to-patient ratios and unexpected deaths and complications.

USNWR: “In 12 of the 16 specialties, hard data such as death rates, procedure volume, and balance of nurses and patients largely determined rank. In the four remaining specialties—ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology—hospitals were ranked on reputation alone; it makes no sense to take mortality data into account in specialties in which few patients die.”

Excluding mortality data was a mistake since most of the deaths would be considered unexpected, requiring further investigation. The public would need to know which of those hospitals in which “few patients die” has the highest death rate.

USNWR: “Reputation (32.5 percent). Each year, 200 physicians per specialty are randomly selected and asked to list five hospitals they consider to be the best in their specialty for complex or difficult cases. The figure shown in the rankings is the total percentage of specialists in 2008, 2009, and 2010 who named the hospital.”

Asking physicians to rate their hospitals is like asking chefs to rate the quality of food in their restaurants. The hospital performance is only as good as the physicians, nurses and allied professionals who provide the services. However, if you ask an off-duty nurse, you will most probably get an earful of complaints, and if you are doing a survey, it would be worth your while to listen.

USNWR: “Mortality index. A hospital’s success at keeping patients alive was judged by comparing the number of Medicare inpatients with certain conditions who died within 30 days of admission in 2006, 2007, and 2008 with the number expected given the severity of their illness. An index number above 1.00 means the hospital did worse than expected and below 1.00 better than expected. Software used by many hospitals and researchers (3M Health Information Systems MS-DRG Grouper) made the severity adjustments.”

The method of relying on the 3M MS-DRG Grouper is inaccurate at best. The severity scores in this software determine the amount of revenue that hospitals receive from Medicare and other third party payers. The higher the severity, the more the reimbursement; therefore, hospital billing personnel tend to exaggerate the severity data as much as possible to enhance the institution’s revenue. Consequently, since the actual severity would likely be less than what is in the 3M software reports, the “better-than-expected” death rate could be actually hiding a number of deaths due to negligence. Those hospitals that did worse than expected might only be guilty of having more integrity when entering diagnostic severity codes for billing.

In conclusion, it appears that the hospital ranking methodology is grossly unreliable. There is also the possibility that there may be some biases at work in naming the top hospitals. What’s seems to be missing from the entire survey is an in-depth look at which hospitals are experiencing the largest numbers never events, like death from narcotic overdose, choking, wrong surgery, surgical instruments and sponges left behind, traumatic injuries, bedsores, the percentage of hospital-acquired infections and the like. If the people in charge of the USNWR hospital survey want to get a reality check on which are the best hospitals, they should survey the nurses after guaranteeing anonymity.  

Other Internet Media Sources:

US News and World Report, UPMS is still the best

University of Michigan health system on U.S. News and World Report’s honor roll  

US News: Cleveland Clinic Maintains Rank as No. 1 Heart Hospital US News and World Report, UPMS is still the best

US & World News, Thursday 7/15 – WTVWUSmanufacturing fears weigh on world markets

U.S. News & World Report: UT Southwestern Tops North Texas Rankings

Hospital for Special Surgery Ranked No. 1 in Orthopedics by U.S. News & World Report  

Downbeat US economic news weighs on world markets

St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital Ranked Among Nation’s Best Hospitals in Five … 

Memorial Hermann Heart and Heart Surgery, Gynecology, Urology, Kidney UCI named in top hospitals ranking

Mort Zuckerman Did Not Quite Write An Obama Speech

Landon Donovan Doesn’t Have Love Child

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital named a ‘top hospital’ for fourth …

National Jewish Health Named Nation’s Top Respiratory Hospital for 13th …

Phooey to PHEEIA

Morning Roundup — Thursday, July 15

Hamot makes US News Best Hospitals list for pulmonary care

The Pain Index: 10 states placing the largest budget burden on residents

Report: HIV Prevention Research Enters New Era

Champagne, Massage Lure Hedge Fund Women to Help Needy Students

Only 19 Percent of Teens Report That They Have Meaningful Relationships with …

Even U.S. News Suggests Law School Tuition Is Getting Ridiculous

Friendly viruses in the intestine are unique – even among identical twins

Medical centers here climb in US rankings

“Common Good is a non-profit, non-partisan legal reform coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to America. By conducting polls, hosting forums, and engaging with leaders in health care, education, law, business, and public policy from across the country, Common Good is developing practical solutions to restore reliability to our legal system and minimize the impact of legal fear in American life.”It is not clear what the founders’ real agenda is since they state that they are “non-partisan”.

However, when we take a closer look at why CG is advocating for the formation of health courts, we see a different approach. They have pointed out that the legal system is the failure touting statistics like less than 20% of all malpractice cases have merit and that some 86% of the real victims never actually file suit. They cite the 1991 Harvard Medical Practice Study as the authoritative source for these outlandish claims. The answer to these problems, says CG is to establish health courts in every state. There would be a local review board in every jurisdiction to consisting of medical experts who would review and evaluate the circumstances leading to the injury. In clear and uncontestable cases, the provider would be ordered to pay damages according to a compensation schedule. In this scenario the review board would also have the power to dismiss any case that it deemed has no merit. It seems that this proposal would virtually take medical and nursing malpractice out of the legal system altogether except for one shot at an appeal before a federal judge. The problem with relying on such statistics is that most cases settle prior to trial and the details are usually secret as a condition of the settlement.

Therefore, we have no way of knowing what the real percentages are.In general, the idea of specialty courts to handle specific problems, whereby judges develop expertise in adjudicating a certain type of case, is not new. We currently have in most jurisdictions divisions dealing solely with juveniles, families, matrimonial issues, mental health determinations, probate and the like. Thus, it would be a good idea to establish separate divisions for health care issues, which would not require restructuring the entire legal system. Judges should be required to demonstrate expertise in understanding standards of care. There would also have to be patient safety standards written into the legislation addressing certain problems including but not limited to the following:

1.      Prevention of falls;

2.      Prevention of bedsores;

3.      Reasonable response time to patient calls for assistance;

4.      Minimum nurse staffing requirements;

5.      Minimum number of hours per day of direct patient care;

6.      Medication administration safety protocols;

7.      Patient identification procedures prior to surgery;

8.      Medical equipment being in working order at all times.

Moreover, we need more stringent rules in error reporting requirements and full disclosure to patients or their significant others when a mistake has caused injury or death.In conclusion, if the goal for the common good is really to provide more accurate ways of identifying victims, providing fair compensation and preventing future never events, then there must be a more efficient way of defining standards of care and identifying whenever there is a breach. There must also be a reasonable limit placed on the time for completion of discovery. Having cases adjudicated by a medical expert panel without regard to the rules of evidence would be grossly unfair to both sides. There must be an opportunity for the parties to examine the evidence before presentation before the court. The proponents of tort reform operating from the standpoint that lawyers and lawsuits are to blame for runaway health care costs would do well to remember that the plaintiff lawyers have to invest thousands of dollars just to determine whether a case has any merit and that a trial will cost about $200,000. That serves as enough deterrent to keep away from frivolous claims.

July 8, 2010

The Five Hottest Topics in Google Trends today are stress tests, spy swap, earthquake, oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, Alisa Maier. Of course the cyber public is very fickle so the popularity of any topic cannot be assured for more than five minutes. In any event I try to identify and write a comment about those that have far reaching impacts on our lives, manifest some kind of social phenomena or have great entertainment value. In today’s selection we have information about heart attack prevention, intrigues about Russian spies in the U.S. and American spies in Russia, shattering earthquake news, more about the worst oil spill in history, and parental precautions against child snatching.

The Top Five Hot Topics in Google Trends

July 7, 2010

When I started this article I was writing about the top five hot topics on Google Trends. By the time I finished three of the topics disapeared off the top ten list. The attention span of the world wide web seems to be about three minutes on any topic. In any event, some of these topics deserve less time and some deserve more. This is the first of a daily series to identify those “hot” topics that need some pause for thought.

What Will People Think?

July 7, 2010

The simple concept of “What will people think?” when we get ourselves ready to go out in public has far reaching consequences. The images we project have profound unseen impact. Those who put individuality ahead of concern for maintaining a good name and reputation are in for a rude awakening. Find out why.

The World of Chaos: Organized Medicine + Politics = Health Care Reform 

July 6, 2010

We used to say the two biggest lies are “The check is in the mail” and “It won’t hurt a bit.” Now, there is a third biggest lie, which is, “We have the best health care system in the world,” as Bill Clinton and George Bush uttered repeatedly during their respective terms. On the other hand, all of the standard measures of health care quality points to ours as being “the best substandard price-gouging health care system in the world”. Find out what’s really wrong and why no one wants to fix it.

The Double Negative (A Short Story) 

July 5, 2010

How may we turn adversity into advantage? In this fictional short story, we see a prime example of how to dismantle anger emanating from the pain and embarrassment of a thwarted intention. Learn the technique of keeping your dignity in the face of humiliation by following the main character’s internal struggle to transform humiliation into personal triumph.

Health Care Reform and Depression on the 4th of July

July 4, 2010

The 4th of July, is more than fireworks and barbecues. It is time when we need to remind ourselves that we the people have the power and that it is not up for grabs. In this article, we shall look at the shameful scam of the health care reform bill and the nefarious conspiracy of mind control with mass marketing of antidepressants and tranquilizers. We need to smell what our political leaders are shoveling at us.

Stress Management: We have nothing to be stressed about other than stress itself

July 2, 2010

The word “Stress” actually relates to wear and tear as when the rubber meets the road on a tire or the brake pads pressing up against the rotor in the wheel. The term as it applies to living organisms was first introduced by Hans Seyle in the 1930’s who defined it as the consequence of the failure of an organism (human or animal) to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined. Thus stress symptoms are the manifestation of a chronic state of responses to stress triggers that are actually benign. Even a thought can set off the same response mechanism that would be in play while standing in front of a hungry lion. Hence, Seyle’s definition still reaches to the heart of stress management; the idea of the response being inappropriate and engaging in a process of altering ones misperception of pending disaster or imminent danger.  

Everything I Wanted to Say to my Teenage Daughter that She didn’t Want to Hear

July 1, 2010

What do we say to our teenagers? Why don’t they believe their parents? Children learn more from what we do than what we say. The bottom line for teens is time and validation. Find what one parent has to say from the heart.

The Line 

June 29, 2010

We are always dealing with an unseen truth that governs our lives and exists beyond our capacity to notice. Learn how to unlock the door to seeing the miraculous in the mundane and achieve true peace and joy.

The Point

June 28, 2010

The point identifies an exact location in space yet it has no dimensions and therefore has no physical existence. Thus if you touch a surface with the tip of a needle you are covering an infinite number of points. Yet every measurable physical structure is a conglomeration of lines connecting one non-existant point to another. Thus the point is a geometric key to understanding the concept of G-d creating something from nothing.

The reality check is that the Congress has passed this bill with a three year delay in implementation, so it was designed to change nothing for the immediate future with the hope that after three years, with no one paying attention anymore, the administration can sneak a few changes in to implement its socialist agenda. Meanwhile, we as a society still have the same health issues in a system that continues to thrive on treatment rather than prevention. One prime example is depression and anxiety. People naturally become depressed in the kind of severe economic downturn that we are experiencing with increased anxiety about a future that looks bleak. Medical insurance, health insurance or some type of managed care health plan seems irrelevant when facing unemployment. In a depressed economy, with massive anxiety and depression plaguing the population there is a serious public health problem. This kind of insidious upheaval leads to other chronic diseases like, diabete3s, high blood pressure, heart attack and the like.

The generally accepted “treatment” however, is for the pharmaceutical companies to make billions of dollars selling anti-depressants and tranquilizers. Moreover, aside from monetizing human responses to stressful stimuli, there is a political benefit to having massive numbers of citizens living in chemically induced altered realities. People on Prozac are less likely to protest against nefarious political agendas. Therefore, what motivation does the government have to reform health care to the extent that people will have better access to professional counseling for coping with and resolving their struggles?

In conclusion, as we throw a few slabs of meat on the barbecue grill and sip some beer on this 4^th of July we need to realize that there are a few avenues toward seizing power and control that the founding fathers could not anticipate. The constitution is a wonderful document and has saved our republic from despotism enumerable times in our 214 year history. However, it is subject to interpretation and we know from experience that Supreme Court justices take opposite views of what is or is not constitutional depending upon whether they are liberal or conservative. Therefore, we need to be diligent in letting our political leaders know that we are not as stupid as they think. We need to consistently remind them that they work for us. That is why freedom of speech is still the most important constitutional amendment.

First, I have heard medical professors on many occasions tell their students that about half of all diagnoses can be arrived at by history alone. Although they were emphasizing the importance of taking a proper history, this was a double edged sword, because too much reliance on history can also lead to a wrong conclusion. In any event, the failure to take a proper history is tantamount to gross negligence because it is simple task to elicit relevant information.

Second, the review of systems is also a simple task accomplished during the interview. The doctor or nurse asks questions pertaining to all bodily functions to find out if there are any specific complaints that the patient did not think was relevant to the chief complaint.

Third, the observable symptoms and subjective complaints have to have a reasonable connection to the diagnosis. For example, if there is a high fever of unknown origin, the doctor has to conclude that there is an infection somewhere. Further diagnostic action would require locating the source of the infection beginning with a complete review of systems. Based on the patient’s answers, the physician would have to then focus on the problematic area in ordering tests.

Fourth, not ordering the proper tests is probably the most common root cause of the failure to diagnose cancer and other devastating diseases in a timely manner. This type of negligence is especially unconscionable in the face of persisting symptoms that are not responding to treatment.

Fifth, the failure to follow-up to obtain test results should be classified as a crime because the information is available and the doctor didn’t bother to look for it. I can recall a personal experience of having to call my mother’s doctor to find out that she was anemic and needed a blood transfusion several days after the office assistant drew blood for a complete blood count (CBC). My question was, “When were you planning to tell me?” Needless to say I changed doctors in a big hurry.

Sixth, the doctor has to inform the patient that the diagnosis is not an exact science and that the doctor, patient and family have to work together to carefully watch the response to treatment. There has to be a return scheduled for a follow-up visit and the doctor must tell the patient where to go in case the condition deteriorates.

In conclusion, for any doctor who makes a wrong diagnosis in good faith after providing a proper history taking, review of systems, a reasonable assessment of symptoms, ordering appropriate tests, and diligent follow-up with patient teaching there is no liability. Thus one has to find out what’s missing. The most important consideration is whether the doctor remembered why the patient came in for help in resolving an existing health problem. Additionally, in the case of primary care physicians working for an HMO who become financially penalized for too many specialty referrals, one must scrutinize whether such a referral was warranted; and If it was and withheld, then the PCP should be liable for denying access to competent medical care.

One evening a couple of years ago, I got a call from my mother’s home attendant saying that Mom had become completely confused and speaking as though she was in the world of the past. It’s interesting how people go back in time when they can’t remember where or who they are and/or can’t distinguish familiar faces. Later, when I arrived at the emergency room, my mother could not recognize me. The doctor said it was “prosopagnosia.” She thought I was one of the doctors. On the one hand, it was a bit encouraging that she understood that she was in the hospital, but on a personal level, I was in shock. I walked over to the nurses’ station and stood there accessing another realm of calm and internally crying in prayer for at least some face recognition and the return of that loving smile that radiates whenever I come into her line of sight.

Then after speaking to her doctor, I returned and Mom looked at me and said, “Doctor, you look a lot like my son.”

“Maybe that’s because I am.”

She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then broke into her usual smile, and said, “Oh; well that explains it then.”

This personal miracle was not just a return from a world in which everything familiar seemed strange, but it was the sudden turning of a life-altering event into a humorous anecdote.

In a deeper reality, this entire episode was about words, because the only way we can tell whether someone is oriented, confused or insane is by what he or she says. The words we speak are more powerful than any weapon because words create the reality in which we live. With words, we can make friends or enemies, start wars or make peace. We can build up our friends or rip them apart merely by what we say. With one utterance, we can impact a child positively or negatively for the rest of his or her life and beyond.  

In summary, the idea of face recognition being a vital mechanism for survival in human beings has been somewhat obscure in the scheme of things. But when you think of it you can realize that our sense of security is largely dependent on seeing familiar faces, especially when we enter an unfamiliar crowded area full of strangers. Moreover, there seems to be a peaking interest in this phenomenon. Certainly the emotional impact is far reaching enough to warrant more scientific study. From a clinical perspective, my mother’s experience was strangely interesting because she was oriented to the place and people. She knew that she was in the hospital and was interacting coherently with the doctors and nurses. Yet she had this problem of prosopagnosia, being unable to distinguish one face from another. Fortunately for us it was a temporary condition; however, for those who have to deal with this long-term, there really isn’t any support system available to provide coping assistance in a meaningful way. Therefore, research on prosopagnosia should be centered on teaching care givers how to lessen the emotional impact for patients and family members.

Trauma is an occurrence that suddenly and adversely changes the body and mind. Initially, the injury phase is a mixed bag of intense emotions and pain. During the first instant after a traumatic event, the victim is in shock. Depending on the severity of the event the initial shock can last from a few seconds to a few hours and can even be life-threatening. The sudden onset of injury produces a change that evokes a series of responses such as pain, denial, anger, guilt, anxiety, helplessness and panic. For the most part doctors treat the pain and physical injuries and usually there are counselors on hand to give coping assistance to the victims and their families.

Regarding the after math, the sudden change, whether temporary or permanent affects every aspect of being. The injurious event strips away all goals and expectations developed over a lifetime, with nothing to look forward to except for pain and anguish. If that weren’t enough, the road to recovery is fraught with obstacles, namely harmful coping mechanisms and responses such as flash backs, recurrent nightmares, intrusive thoughts, sleep deprivation, chronic pain, alterations in body image, self esteem and social relationships, loss of independence, lower frustration tolerance, irritability, inappropriate startle responses to common sounds and alterations in danger perception; all of which we have come to know as post traumatic stress (PTS). Health care providers don’t pay much attention to PTS. You won’t see any printed instructions in most hospitals for what to do in case of flash backs or recurrent nightmares that leave the victim reliving the accident multiple times every day.

Therefore, I thought it might be beneficial to open a discussion on how to deal with post traumatic responses and what kind of help might be available for those who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This could be anything from fear of dogs because of being bitten decades ago that one never got over, or some vague nagging tenseness that occurs every time someone crosses the street because of an accident or even a near miss.