A 41-year-old man presented to his optometrist because he had been experiencing blurred vision in his right eye for the previous three to four weeks. The optometrist examined the man’s eye. During the course of that exam, the optometrist employed five different diagnostic tests to determine the cause of the man’s blurred vision. The optometrist used an ophthalmoscope to examine the back of the man’s eye—including the retina, the macula, and the fovea—by performing what is known as a fundoscopy. At that point, the optometrist noticed that something was amiss: a “circumscribed elevation” in the macula of the man’s right eye that appeared to be filled with fluid. Click title to continue reading...
A woman underwent a successful laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery. The woman developed complications from the surgery. The day after surgery, she had hypoactive bowel sounds, abdominal pain, nausea, and an inability to pass gas, and complained of these conditions throughout the day. The results of an abdominal x-ray and upper GI study were negative for obstruction. When the doctor who provided postoperative observation and treatment visited the woman, she was doing well and denied having nausea. She began complaining of nausea again at around midnight. Click title to continue reading...
Two individual psychiatrists and three professional associations of psychiatrists sued four health insurance companies. The complaint alleged that the health insurers’ reimbursement practices discriminated against patients with mental health and substance use disorders in violation of the Mental Health Parity and Addition Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA), Pub.L. No. 110–343, Div. C §§ 511–12, 122 Stat. 3861, 3881, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 1185(a), and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001–1461, by systemically reimbursing providers of services to treat these disorders at a less favorable rate than for other healthcare services. Click title to continue reading...
