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Question: Ive heard that the final Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act states that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will not sanction hospitals for inappropriate transfers during a national emergency if the hospital is the area affected by the emergency. Does a large-scale disaster in our community, such as an airliner crash, qualify?
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A woman having an asthma attack presented at the emergency department. After she was hospitalized for three days, her daughter came to visit and found her non-responsive and blue. The patient was resuscitated; however, she was left brain damaged. The patients daughter brought suit against the hospital and attending physician. The jury returned a $5 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
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A patient alleged that an equipment technician sexually assaulted her. After reporting the situation to several nurses, the patient was given medication to calm her, and she was discharged quickly thereafter. A Texas jury awarded the patient $300,000 based on the hospitals failure to provide treatment.
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All patients who present to a health care setting with fever and respiratory symptoms should be managed according to the CDCs recommendations for respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette and questioned regarding their recent travel history.
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Both clinical disease and sputum colonization due to Mycobacterium avium complex were traced to the potable water system of a large public hospital. There are no established methods for eradicating these organisms from potable water.
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While much attention has been paid to new hospital infection control standards for 2005, the Joint Commission also is adopting similar standards in long-term care facilities. A pre-publication edition of the new standards for long-term care, which will be effective Jan. 1, 2005, call for the following key provisions.
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Human metapneumovirus was the likely cause of 12% of all lower respiratory tract illnesses among a population of 2009 children studied from 1976 to 2001 presenting with acute respiratory symptoms. Clinical manifestations of metapneumovirus infection were bronchiolitis (59%), croup (18%), pneumonia (8%), and exacerbation of asthma (14%).
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This summary of selected abstracts from 3 meetings is published in multiple parts. The 43rd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) met in Chicago September 14-17, 2003. The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) met in San Diego October 9-12, 2003. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene met in Philadelphia December 3-7, 2003.
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Includes the following Articles: Improved Blood Donor Screening for WNV, Azithromycin Failure as Prophylaxis or Treatment of Syphilis, United Kingdom Cracks Down on Potential Blood Donors and Human and Feline Sporotrichosis in Rio.
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