Tag: Medical

HealthcareLeave a comment

Board: Pharmacy error led to overdose, possible death

Gary Dickson

Several Iowa pharmacies, including Hamilton Drive Hy-Vee Pharmacy, have been fined and ordered to undergo training for dispensing incorrect medications. These errors have led to serious consequences for patients, such as potential overdoses and seizures. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy has taken disciplinary actions against the pharmacies involved, imposing civil penalties and ordering educational training on medication errors and patient safety. Continue reading Board: Pharmacy error led to overdose, possible death

Humor, Pondering and Wandering, SatireLeave a comment

Adventures in surgery prep

Gary Dickson

A year ago, I found myself facing surgery for a cancerous nodule on my left lung. Here is a fractured recounting of what I remember the procedure was like.

After check-in, I started to wander aimlessly down the hallway towards the emergency room until Nancy and a nurse caught up with me and escorted me to a bank of elevators. The door to one slid open and I spread my arms across the doorway and stuck my head in peering left and right into the cavernous space.

“Is there room for all of us in here?” I said in my best Boris Karloff voice to the elderly couple waiting inside for my wife and me to join them. They may have been having second thoughts about riding the cage when they saw my wide eyes and shit-eating grin on my face. I turned around and gestured towards my wife and the nurse. “Come on in,” I yelled, “I think there’s room for the entire team!” Continue reading Adventures in surgery prep

Family, Health, Iowa, South DakotaLeave a comment

A new era of vaccines leaves old questions about prices unanswered

Gary Dickson

The world is entering a new era of vaccines. Following the success of COVID-19 mRNA shots, scientists have a far greater capacity to tailor shots to a virus’s structure, putting a host of new vaccines on the horizon. These shots are welcome since RSV can be dangerous, even deadly, in the very old and very young. But the shots are also expensive. So their advent is forcing the United States to face anew questions it has long sidestepped: How much should an immunization that will possibly be given — maybe yearly — to millions of Americans cost to be truly valuable? Continue reading A new era of vaccines leaves old questions about prices unanswered