by: Alex Smith, @AlexSmithMD What is this term "palliative chemotherapy"? Are the words "palliative" and "chemotherapy" so incompatible that their combination is an oxymoron? Is this term a useful term?…
Attention all Geriatric, Palliative Medicine, and Primary Care Providers: Act now to prevent the adoption of strict, punitive regulations impacting opioid prescribing. The proposed Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services…
by: Alex Smith, @alexsmithMD Journal of Palliative Medicine recently published a nice exploratory open label study of daily oral ketamine for depression and anxiety in hospice patients. We discussed this…
In April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved florbetapir F-18 (Amyvid) PET scans to identify areas of accumulation of amyloid plaques. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) though…
We have written a lot about POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) in previous GeriPal posts. Mostly, with great admiration for the entire program and for the amazing efforts…
It’s no news to most GeriPal readers that a cadre of anti-choice forces targets end-of-life care. In their sights are common end-of-life decisions and palliative support for those decisions. They…
"What is the difference between 20 and 23? If you said three, you are off by millions—of dollars in sales, that is—at least from the perspective of Eisai, the manufacturer…
There are days I hate the POLST form (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment). In concept, it’s significantly better than the pre-hospital DNR and a generic Advanced Directive. But here…
Recently, a group of distinguished neuroscientists commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging updated guidelines for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The new guidelines view the…
As reported in The Carlat Psychiatry Blog, the American Medical Association recently approved a report that may have substantial impacts on industry funding of continuing medical education. This report, authored…