Texas medicine
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Nonradiologist health care providers have enjoyed the privilege of film interpretation without the assistance of radiologists. However, encroachment on the radiologist's turf of radiological image interpretation by nonradiologist physicians and radiographer technicians is reminiscent of recent antitrust battles between anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. Numerous antitrust issues are relevant to radiology; however, the scope of this article is limited to antitrust issues most relevant to radiology turf battles. Such battles often raise antitrust issues of group boycotts, tying arrangements, and exclusive contracts.
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Primary care physicians, surgeons, and anesthesiologists are all involved in assessing patients before surgery. The medical literature describes techniques to identify high-risk cardiac patients before elective surgery and strategies to reduce risk once these patients have been identified. Multifactorial indices can identify high-risk patients undergoing nonvascular surgery. ⋯ We have no convincing evidence that prophylactic revascularization benefits high-risk patients. Perioperative beta-blockade reduces perioperative myocardial ischemia, mortality, and the incidence of cardiovascular complications for up to 2 years. Therefore, perioperative beta-blockers are recommended for high-risk patients undergoing elective noncardiac surgery.
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This overview addresses the controversial practice of reuse and reprocessing of single-use medical devices and the issues this practice raises for physician liability. Specifically, we describe the health risks associated with medical device reprocessing, analyze the market costs arising from the reuse and reprocessing of single-use medical devices, and discuss physician liability for failure to obtain informed consent of the patient for the use of reprocessed single-use medical devices.