Corepoint Integration Engine is the #1 ranked Interface Engine in the Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services Report for three straight years (2009, 2010, and 2011). Discover why Corepoint Health is The Standard in Healthcare Integration.

Learn more at corepointhealth.com.

The incident occurred in 2010, when eight people were infected with the potentially deadly form of pneumonia. A recently published study found that that all eight people had been infected after simply walking by the decorative water wall-style fountain in a hospital lobby. (None of the people had been admitted to the hospital at the time of their exposure.) All of the patients were workers, visitors or outpatients who were simply passing through the building. But all eight did have pre-existing medical conditions or other factors that made them more prone to infection.

Legionnaires’ is transmitted through inhalation near contaminated water sources.

Water walls and similar decorative touches are popular in hospitals because they’re soothing and calming for patients and their families. But this incident, the second time a water wall has been the vector for disease transmission, is raising questions about how safe these particular decorative flourishes are in a health care setting where people with already compromised immune systems are at additional risk of contracting a variety of illnesses.

The hospital in question, Aurora St. Luke’s South Shore near Milwaukee, shut down the water wall as soon as it was suspected of being involved in the outbreak. It has since been turned into a planter. Although the water wall was cleaned frequently, the fountains make an ideal breeding ground for bacteria since they’re generally at room temperature or slightly higher. In addition, the walls often feature decorative touches such as rocks that provide nooks and crannies that allow bacteria to thrive — and are notoriously hard to keep clean.

The study was published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

Of course, since Hernandez is reportedly thriving after the procedure, she may not be too concerned about the details of how the heart got to her.

The heart was donated by the relatives of a man who died in a car accident. It traveled nearly 300 miles by ambulance, plane and helicopter to get to Hernandez’s hospital, while national news reported on the case. Traffic was stopped to allow the helicopter to land near the hospital. After disembarking, one of the staffers wheeling the heart’s cooler stumbled. The cooler’s lid flew off and the heart landed in the street.

The medics quickly grabbed the heart, which fortunately had been wrapped in plastic, put it back in the cooler and continued on their way.

A Florida woman credits her recent breast implants with saving her life.

The woman said she was stabbed repeatedly in the chest by her former fiancé’s current girlfriend.

Doctors say the saline implant — a procedure which she had had performed just three months earlier — protected her from serious injury, because the walls of the implant and the saline kept the knife from piercing deeper into her chest or damaging her heart

The implant did not survive the attack.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is finding itself on the wrong end of the Internet outrage machine after a patient’s mother wrote a blog posting that claims the hospital turned the child down for a kidney transplant solely because the child is intellectually disabled.

The child, two-year-old Amelia Rivera, was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, which commonly causes severe mental and physical delays, seizures and heart damage. Kidney damage is a less common, but known, symptom.

In her emotional post, Rivera’s mother claimed that a doctor at CHOP said her daughter wouldn’t qualify for a transplant solely because of her developmental delays and “quality of life.” Rivera also painted a picture of stunning callousness. According to her post, “I said [to the doctor] so you’re saying in six months to a year when her kidneys fail you want us to let her die? And he said yes.”

The information we have is one-sided, as HIPAA regs don’t allow the hospital to give its version of the conversation, or the reasons behind the decision.

But in the wake of emails and Facebook postings criticizing the hospital, CHOP released a statement that it didn’t discriminate in any way against Rivera and that mental and physical disabilities aren’t considerations in transplant decisions. The hospital also noted that it has in the past performed many transplants on many children with a variety of disabilities.

Medical reasons ignored by community?

But even with medical details unavailable, there are hints even in Rivera’s post that there are valid medical reasons for denying the transplant. The necessity of the transplant itself isn’t clear: Rivera claims the transplant is “life-saving,” and insists repeatedly in her post that she will stop at nothing to make sure her daughter receives a transplant. But she didn’t mention in her post or subsequent media interviews why dialysis isn’t even being considered.

Additionally, the family planned to use a privately donated kidney, so qualifying for the organ transplant wait list wasn’t an issue.

Most importantly, Rivera acknowledges that her daughter has had prior heart surgery and has seizures. Both of which make the complicated and intense regimen of medications post-transplant both hard to manage and potentially dangerous.

Those key details are being routinely skipped over by the family’s supporters, who have launched a social media campaign to urge CHOP to change its ruling. CHOP has agreed to meet with the family later this week to discuss the matter further.

It’s hard not to empathize with a very sick two-year-old girl and the parents who clearly love her. But not every treatment is a viable option for every patient. The case highlights the on-going need for health care professionals at all levels to improve their ability to communicate the pros and cons of specific treatments and to relay that information in a way that doesn’t upset patients and their families who may already be emotionally frayed.

A Maryland hospital is under fire after a patient and her family alleged that the hospital wouldn’t allow her same-sex partner to visit her. Last November, Kathryn Wilderotter had a seizure while driving and crashed her car. She was taken to Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park for treatment.

Linda Cole, Wilderotter’s partner of 11 years and her legal spouse, arrived at the hospital, identified herself as Wilderotter’s partner …  and wasn’t allowed to see her. Only after Wilderotter’s sister also arrived was Cole given access to her partner.

Such a denial is a violation of both federal hospital visitation rights and Maryland law.

A hospital representative called the couple six weeks later to apologize, blaming poor communication and a new employee’s misunderstanding of the law for the denial. The hospital said the incident was not an example of discrimination and that it’s reviewing patient rights training to make sure no one on staff makes such an error in the future.

Wilderotter and Cole weren’t satisfied. Cole has filed a complaint with the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over the incident.

Click here to read the free whitepaper!   

A new study seems to indicate that perfluorinated compounds (PFCs)  keep childrens’ immune systems from getting the full benefit of their vaccines. The chemicals are used to coat the popcorn bags, and are also part of many other products such as non-stick cookware and stain repellants.

Previous studies have demonstrated that PFCs don’t break down easily and can build up to toxic levels in mammals’ blood.

The most recent study, conducted by a research team at Harvard, found that mothers with higher amounts of PFC in their blood had children with less protection from diphtheria at age five. (Specifically, a doubling of PFC levels in the mother’s blood correlated to a 39% reduction in diphtheria antibodies in their children.)

Among the children themselves, those with double the PFC levels were found to be two to four times more likely to have an immune response that was too low to effectively fight off the disease.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Click here to read the free whitepaper!   

She said that while she wasn’t planning to make any major lifestyle changes in the wake of the diagnosis, she did make changes “in” her life, including taking more walks and taking a drug called Victoza. Other than drinking less sweet tea she didn’t mention any dietary changes. Diet, of course, plays a huge part in both preventing and managing Type 2 diabetes.

Deen’s mention of the drug she takes is no accident: She also announced she’s a paid spokesperson for the drug.

And that admission, along with her lack of acknowledgement that her high-fat recipes could contribute to the disease, is drawing fire from many nutritional experts, health care professionals and some fans. When asked if the diagnosis would cause her to re-examine her recipes, she said “I’m your cook, I’m not your doctor. You are going to have to be responsible for yourself.” (Her son, incidentally, recently landed his own show, “Not My Mamma’s Meals” which focus on lighter versions of the same kind of foods Deen makes.)

No doubt, people are responsible for what they put in their own mouths. But the average American’s nutritional ignorance is well-documented. It’s easy to believe that many people treat recipes touted by someone as popular as Deen as a normal and healthy way to eat — not as the type of high-carb fat-bomb they should treat as an occasional indulgence.

Even other chefs have been critical of Deen’s position. Chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain once said of her cuisine (before the announcement of her diabetes), “If I were on at seven at night and loved by millions of people at every age, I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it’s OK to eat food that is killing us.” After her announcement he tweeted a response that likened her stance to “getting into the leg-breaking business” in order to sell a lot of crutches.

Does Deen have a responsibility to model healthier eating patterns to her audience? Or is it up to grown adults to figure out their own path to healthy eating? Sound off in the comments.