Today's Globe: MGH reporting delay, Partners loss, Ruby Rogers, foodborne illness, stroke drug, psoriasis drug
Massachusetts General Hospital waited four days before alerting Boston health authorities that a wave of gastrointestinal illness was sweeping through patients and staff on one floor. The delay earlier this week is an apparent violation of rules requiring prompt reporting of suspected infectious disease clusters.
Partners HealthCare Inc., the hospital giant that provides about one-quarter of the medical care in Eastern Massachusetts, said it lost $185 million in its first quarter as a result of big losses in its investments and other financial instruments.
In Turners Falls, nearly 100 miles west of where she spent decades confined in Boston psychiatric facilities, Ruby Rogers died quietly in a nursing home, a relatively anonymous end for a woman whose name is routinely invoked during Massachusetts court hearings involving the mentally ill. Ms. Rogers, who spent her last years at the Farren Care Center, left a sweeping legacy that established key rights for the mentally ill in the Commonwealth.
As many as a quarter of Americans have a foodborne illness each year - though only a fraction of those cases gets linked to high-profile outbreaks like the recent salmonella-peanut scare, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor cut the risk of stroke by nearly half in seemingly healthy patients, according to a new study.
European regulators recommended suspending sales of Genentech Inc.'s psoriasis treatment Raptiva after the drug was linked to four cases of a deadly brain infection.
About white coat notes
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White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy. |
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