Medical Journal September 2021 Digital Edition
September 20, 20211 min
Post Views: 3,064
Discrimination claim based on lack of on-site interpreter fails
September 20, 20218 min
BY Beth Anne Jackson And Allison Shelton, Brown & Fortunato An August opinion by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (Fifth Circuit), Francois v. Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Inc., affirmed the dismissal of a claim of discrimination by plaintiff Damian Francois, a patient who was deaf and communicated mainly in American Sign Language (ASL). Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Louisiana did not provide him with an on-site interpreter until...
Best practices for healthcare employers as continuing targets of pandemic-related litigation
September 20, 202110 min
BY Kevin Troutman and Jacqueline Del Villar, Fisher Phillips Although many were hopeful that a national vaccine rollout would bring some sense of normalcy by summer’s end, with fall now upon us and the Delta variant continuing to surge, such hopes have come and gone. Instead, with the continuance of the pandemic, the controversy surrounding vaccinations, and ever-evolving state and national legislation, pandemic-related litigation continues to rise. Employers must remain on high alert as...
Hospital pharmacies must innovate to drive financial recovery
September 20, 20219 min
BY Craig Dolan, PharmD, MBA, Vice President of Business Development and Innovation, McKesson RxO As we move through 2021, hospitals and health systems remain on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the foreseeable future, hospitals will not only take on a large role in vaccinating the public but also must continue to be able to treat both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, with the flexibility to manage and adapt to surges in the...
Integrative approaches to post-COVID syndrome
September 20, 20219 min
BY Victor S. Sierpina, MD, ABFM, ABIHM, WD and Laura Nell Nicholson Family Professor of Integrative Medicine Director, Medical Student Education Medical Director, Island West Family Medicine Clinic University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor Are integrative medicine approaches useful to the management of post-COVID syndrome? This is an evolving space of clinical and pre-clinical science, so no definitive consensus, adequate randomized trials, or meta-analyses are yet available to answer this question. However, at this stage...
Promote, encourage community-based COVID-19 testing for kids
September 20, 20216 min
BY Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association Protecting the state’s youngest Texans during the rampant spread of the COVID-19 delta variant amid an in-person learning environment is increasingly challenging. Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services indicate that, by late August, more than 51,000 Texas children contracted COVID-19 since the new school year began. Vaccines are not yet available for most school-age children, and Texas educators have less flexibility this year in terms...
Long-term benefit of SABR for operable early-stage NSCLC shown in new study
September 20, 20216 min
A new study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) was as effective as surgery at providing long-term benefits to patients with operable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and generated minimal side effects. The study is the first of its kind to compare long-term results of SABR against surgical treatment in patients with operable early-stage NSCLC. The findings from the single-arm, non-randomized STARS trial were developed and led...
Docking peptides, slow to lock, open possible path to treat Alzheimer’s
September 20, 20218 min
Progress on treating Alzheimer’s disease has been frustratingly slow. A group of scientists in Houston suggests frustration at a very small scale may lead to a new path toward treatment. Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) and at Rice University, associated with the Rice-based Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP), found through experiments and computations that amyloid-beta peptides, small molecules that are abundant in the brain, go through several intermediate stages of frustration as...
Lola Okunnu, M.D., joins Houston Methodist Primary Care Group practice in Sugar Land
September 20, 20212 min
Houston Methodist Primary Care Group is pleased to welcome Lola Okunnu, M.D., who is serving patients at the Sugar Land practice located at 16605 Southwest Fwy., Medical Office Building 3, Suite 400. Okunnu is a family medicine physician whose clinical expertise is in treating and/or managing acute and chronic medical needs, and keeping everyone in the family healthy. She received her medical degree from The University of Texas at Galveston, and then completed her family...
Houston Methodist Primary Care Group welcomes Zenithe Pierre Ware, M.D., to Riverstone practice
September 20, 20212 min
Houston Methodist Primary Care Group is pleased to welcome Zenithe Pierre Ware, M.D., who has relocated to our Riverstone practice, located at 18717 S. University Blvd., Suite 105, Sugar Land, Texas, 77479. “I like to get to know my patients and collaborate with them to provide individualized personal care,” said Ware, who served patients in the Clear Lake area prior to her move. Ware is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. She focuses on preventive...