DMS in the News
March 2005

National/International Media

The Washington Post – March 30, 2005
How We Die: Choice and Chance
Yet another study, conducted by the Dartmouth Medical School, found no correlation between the amount of treatment given to dying patients in particular regions and that region's overall mortality rate: Just because you see more specialists doesn't mean you'll live longer. This article also appeared in The Record, The New York Sun.

NPR – March 29, 2005
Marketplace
Patients are used to drug company advertising - but a new study shows that most prestigious academic medical hospitals drum up business in much the same way. The study's lead author, Robin Larson says the reputations of top medical centers like Johns Hopkins, Stanford, or Columbia give the ads their power. "They contribute to the public's perceptions that more and higher-tech medicine is better, and in doing so, they certainly contribute to the higher cost of health care." (quote from Robin Larson).

AP Newswire – March 29, 2005
D.C. Response Slow in Life-And-Death Cases
"Our best estimate is that about 15,000 Americans die each year from ruptured aneurysms, and I grew up in a town in central Connecticut where the entire population was about 30,000, so that's about half my town keeling over," said Dr. Robert Zwolak, chairman of the alliance and a surgery professor at Dartmouth Medical School.

National Geographic – March 28, 2005
Schiavo to Die Painlessly, Neurologists Say
James Bernat is a professor of neurology at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. He said PVS patients suffer damage to the parts of the brain involved in awareness—the cerebral cortex, the thalamus, and the connections between them.

Forbes – March 28, 2005
For Dying, Geography Can Be Destiny
A full 30% of Medicare patients in Newark, N.J., die in intensive care units, where the most extreme measures can be taken to extend life, according to a Dartmouth study.

NPR – March 25, 2005
Analysis: Persistent vegetative states and the Terri Schiavo case
James Bernat is a professor of neurology at Dartmouth Medical School. He joins us by phone from the campus.
Dr. BERNAT: Sure. I think to best understand these disorders of consciousness, it might be worth briefly reviewing how consciousness is produced in the brain in an oversimplified way.

USA Today – March 24, 2005
Schiavo unlikely to experience pain, neurologists say
Patients in such a state don't get better because the body is unable to repair such a massive injury to the brain, says James Bernat, a neurologist at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H.

The Wall Street Journal – March 23, 2005
Hospitals Aim to Curb Injuries From Falling; Risk for Young Patients
Surgical patients can be at special risk, notes Suzanne Beyea, director of nursing research at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. In cases she studied, falls occurred moving patients onto operating beds or when staffers weren't clear on who was supposed to be watching the patient after safety straps are removed.

The Los Angeles Times – March 23, 2005
Ceasing Food and Fluid Can Be Painless
"The cessation of eating and drinking is the dominant way that mammals die," said Dr. Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. "It is a very gentle way that nature has provided for animals to leave this life." This article also appeared in Newsday (NY), The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN), The Kansas City Star (MO), The Pittsburgh Post Gazette (PA), WorldNetDaily, Foster's Daily Democrat (NH).

The Los Angeles Times – March 22, 2005
Time Robs Hope for Recovery
Dr. James Bernat, professor of neurology at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., agreed. "There is no scientific evidence that it helps," he saidÉ "When you are talking about what is currently regarded as irreversible neuronal damage, I don't know what kind of treatment in the future could bring those back to life," Bernat said. "It sounds like science fiction to me."

NPR – March 22, 2005
Defining a "Persistent Vegetative State"
NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Dr. James Bernat, a professor of neurology at Dartmouth Medical School, about the medical definition of a "persistent vegetative state," how people are diagnosed and treated, and the state of research into this area.

The Boston Globe – March 21, 2005
Persistent vegetative state- wakefulness without awareness- can give families false hope, expert says
But in Schiavo's condition, described as a persistent vegetative state, family members can be deceived by things like eye movements and reflexes, experts say. "It creates this ironic combination of wakefulness without awareness," said Dr. James Bernat, a neurology professor at Dartmouth Medical School. This article also appeared in The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN), The Scotsman (Scotland), The Cape Cod Times (MA), The Springfield News-Leader (MS), The Hawaii Reporter (HI).

USA Today – March 21, 2005
Doctors work to understand vegetative states
Part of the problem, says Dartmouth neurology professor James Bernat, is that the average person is unfamiliar with the features of a persistent vegetative stateÉ"Just looking at a videotape of someone propped up in bed, with their eyes blinking and so on, it looks like they're aware," Bernat, co-chairman of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said Sunday.

The Los Angeles Times – March 21, 2005
Drug treatment may help as much as bypass
"While [heart attack] survival has improved compared with 30 years ago, invasive treatment and medical management are not optimal as practiced in the United States," wrote study author Therese Stukel of Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H.

The Chicago Tribune – March 20, 2005
Stresses of battle hit female GIs hard
"The speculation is that many of them are joining the military to get away from adverse environments," said Dr. Paula Schnurr, also a professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth College, speaking of the nearly 216,000 U.S. women on active duty and the nearly 151,000 who are part of the reserves and National Guard. This article also appeared in The Bradenton Herald (FL), The Centre Daily Times (PA), The Pioneer Press (MN), The Duluth News Tribune (MN), The Charlotte Observer (NC), The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA), The San Luis Obispo Tribune (CA), The Monterey County Herald (CA), The Biloxi Sun Herald (MS), The Grand Forks Herald (ND), The Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), The Detroit Free Press (MI).

The Chicago Tribune – March 19, 2005
Mind's mysteries leave issue murky
"For all that medicine can do, we have no way of looking into another person's mind and understanding what is there," said Dr. James Bernat, professor of neurology at Dartmouth Medical School. This article also appeared in The Billings Gazette (MT), The Cape Cod Times (MA), The Spokesman Review (WA), The Bradenton Herald (FL), The Centre Daily Times (PA), The Pioneer Press (MN), The Duluth News Tribune (MN), The Charlotte Observer (NC), The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA), The Macon Telegraph (GA), The San Luis Obispo Tribune (CA), The Monterey County Herald (CA), The Biloxi Sun Herald (MS), The Grand Forks Herald (ND), The Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), The Kansas City Star (MO), The National Ledger (AZ), Chron Watch (CA).

Financial Times (UK) – March 18, 2005
A drug stuck in the lab
When Lloyd Kasper and his colleague Randolph Noelle set out in the 1990s to invent a new drug, they were exploring the frontier between research and businessÉ Mr Kasper, director of the multiple sclerosis clinic at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in New Hampshire, is a veteran of academic medicine and pioneer in an enterprise the US federal government is pushing strongly: "translational research", which aims to move basic findings into clinical practice. This article also appeared in Science Magazine (UK).

New Zealand Herald (New Zealand) – March 17, 2005
Aspirin "as effective as heart bypass surgery"
"While survival has improved [over] 30 years, invasive treatment and medical management are not optimal as practiced in the US," wrote author Therese Stukel of Dartmouth Medical School.

The New York Times – March 16, 2005
An Overnight Infirmary Is a Campus Luxury
When home is in another state, it can be tough to keep up academically. Dr. John Turco said that at Dartmouth's infirmary, the staff was highly aware of both the academic calendar and the college culture, and worked with deans to help patients in the infirmary remain active students. This story also appeared in The Wilmington Morning Star (NC).

MSN.com – March 16, 2005
Little Habits that Heal
Numerous studies show that optimism boosts health. For example, researchers at Dartmouth Medical School, in Hanover, NH, found that elderly cardiac-surgery patients who had an outlook filled with positive spiritual meaning had significantly better survival rates than people who didn't.

Pravda (Russia) – March 16, 2005
Don't go too far with vitamin E, it's bad for your heart
Encouraging results from studies in the 1990s have helped make vitamin E the most popular supplement, taken by 22% of adults over 55, according an editorial by E. Robert Greenberg of Dartmouth Medicine School published in January in Annals of Internal Medicine.

USA Today – March 15, 2005
High-dose vitamin E gets more bad news
Encouraging results from studies in the 1990s have helped make vitamin E the most popular supplement, taken by 22% of adults over 55, according an editorial by E. Robert Greenberg of Dartmouth Medicine School published in January in Annals of Internal Medicine. Nutritional supplements had estimated sales of $19 billion in 2003.

The New York Times – March 13, 2005
The Quality Cure?
Dr. John Wennberg, a health-care expert at Dartmouth, and his colleague Jonathan Skinner point out that some areas of the United States, like Boston and Miami, spend far more than others, like Minneapolis, without any noticeable improvement in mortality.

The New York Times – March 2, 2005
Digital Rx: Take Two Aspirins and E-Mail Me in the Morning
"Patients love this stuff; I love this stuff; the staff loves this stuff," said Dr. Barbara Walters, a senior medical director at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. This article also appeared in The Tuscaloosa News (AL), The Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL), The Spartanburg Herald-Journal (SC), The Ledger (FL), The Register Guard (OR), The Ledger (FL), The Contra Costa Times (CA).

Other Media

The Valley News – March 29, 2005
Study Finds Fault With Medical Ads
"What really surprised us was how often, and it wasn't the bulk of the ads, but they were really promoting services that were of unclear value," said Dr. Robin Larson, instructor in medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and lead author of the study, published in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution – March 29, 2005
Study Questions Practice of Hospital Advertising
"We're not looking for huge regulation of medical centers and we don't necessarily think they shouldn't advertise at all," said Dr. Robin Larson, lead author of the study and a clinical researcher with the VA Outcomes Group at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt. This article also appeared in Forbes (Online), WFIE-TV Channel 14 (IN), LEX Channel 18 (KY), KLAS-TV (NV), HealthCentral (Online).

Fort Worth Star Telegram - March 28, 2005
Dying of Dehydration is Gentle, Natural Process, Doctors Say
"Nature has given us a wonderfully peaceful way to exit this life," said Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

Newsday (NY) – March 27, 2005
So many questions for guidance at the end
The question of whether to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is grabbing daily headlines, but half a world away an even more significant story on care at the end of life is unfolding.

The Philadelphia Inquirer – March 27, 2005
Dehydration death seen as peaceful
"Nature has given us a wonderfully peaceful way to exit this life," said Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

The Valley News – March 27, 2005
Advance Directives Now the Hot Topic
"Both patients and staff, everybody is talking about it," added Dr. Ira Byock, DHMC's director of palliative medicine. "People all of a sudden know about them, want to talk about them, and recognize that these are not abstract issues."

The Union Leader – March 27, 2005
A look at end-of-life laws in NH
Dr. Ira Byock is director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and professor of anesthesiology and community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. "It's important that your family, and possibly your doctor, know how to get access to it," Byock said. "Make sure your proxy (your agent for the living will) knows where your doctor is and can produce it when needed."

The Record – March 27, 2005
Preparing for death makes it easier to face
Leaving nothing important unsaid to loved ones goes a long way toward accepting death, said Dr. Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire and the author of "Dying Well: Peace and Possibilities at the End of Life."

Foster's Daily Democrat – March 26, 2005
N.H. Senate considers making it easier to create living wills
"Preparation makes all the difference," Dr. Ira Byock wrote in a letter to the committee. Byock is director of palliative care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and author of "Dying Well."

NHPR – March 25, 2005
The Exchange
Laura's guests are Dr. Ira Byock, Director of Palliative Medicine at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and author of two books on end of life care,. Rev. Benedict Guevin, Professor of Theology at St. Anselm College. Phyllis Woods, former State representative from Dover.

The Concord Monitor – March 24, 2005
School critics don't plan to quit
Art Maerlender, a neurophsycologist with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said studies show schools best serve students' needswhen they are small and embedded in a communityÉ "The issues need to be more clearly articulated, and if people then decide they don't care, they still want their big, new school in the country, then I guess they have a right to that," he said.

Knight Ridder (DC) – March 24, 2005
Views split on "minimally conscious"
"I'm very skeptical,'' said Dr. James Bernat, a Dartmouth Medical School expert in vegetative states. "The courts, who very carefully assessed the medical testimony over and over again, all accepted that she was in a persistent vegetative state. It would be astonishing if they were all wrong.''

The Burlington Free Press – March 24, 2005
Slashing budgets doesn't solve health care dilemma
But as Elliott Fisher, M.D., of Dartmouth Medical School and other health policy experts have pointed out, finding and applying savings is a one-time, short-term solutionÉThomas Colacchio, M.D., is a surgeon and president of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic, the physician practice component of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. This article also appeared in The Rutland Herald.

The Union Leader – March 23, 2005
NH Senate considers making it easier to create living wills
"Preparation makes all the difference," Dr. Ira Byock wrote in a letter to the committee. Byock is director of palliative care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and author of "Dying Well."

The Nashua Telegraph – March 21, 2005
City doctor offers easier, effective contraception
For the almost 25 years Dr. David Deifik has practiced obstetrics and gynecology, he has marveled at the advances in contraception for womenÉ "To be able to take sterilization out of the operating room, out of the realm of invasive surgery, is almost revolutionary," Deifik said during an interview last week in his office at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinic on East Hollis Street.

The Miami Herald – March 18, 2005
Medical issues in the case
"It looks like the person's aware, but they're not,'' said Dr. James Bernat, a Dartmouth neurologist who is an expert in vegetative states. "In people in persistent vegetative states, the damage is so profound that there's no awareness, even though there's wakefulness.''

WCAX Channel 3 News – March 17, 2005
Tsunami Doc
A doctor from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is back home in Norwich, after spending a month treating victims of the Asian tsunami. Dr. Dean Seibert says the medical crisis appears to be over. But rebuilding the devastated region may prove just as challenging.

The Nashua Telegraph – March 16, 2005
Cut alters HIV/AIDS funding
Dr. Bryan Marsh is HIV program medical director at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon that cares for 500 mostly in-state residents. "There is a very immediate risk that we will lose money for these crucial services provided by AIDS service organizations," he said.

The Grand Junction Sentinel (CO) – March 16, 2005
Drug Therapy as Good as Invasive Procedures After Heart Attacks
"We found that cardiologists often are not doing the things that work," said Therese A. Stukel, who led the study while at Dartmouth Medical School and now is vice president for research at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto. "We are doing things that are more invasive and more costly." This article also appeared in Lufkin News (TX), Marshall News Messenger (TX), Austin American-Statesman (TX), Longview News-Journal (TX), Waco Tribune-Herald (TX), Atlanta Journal Constitution (GA), Dayton Daily News (OH), Greenville Reflector (NC), Daily Advance (NC), Palm Beach Post (FL), Health Scout, Heart Center Online.

Health and Age – March 16, 2005
Comparing treatment approaches in elderly patients with heart attack
A team at Dartmouth Medical School now reports on nearly 160,000 elderly patients with heart attack, the kind of treatment they received, and how they fared during seven years of follow up. In general, younger and healthier patients were more likely to receive intensive treatment and medical therapy.

The Union Leader – March 16, 2005
Status grim in medical malpractice reform
"That particular model will get us all where we need to go," said Dr. John Butterly, executive medical director at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. This story also appeared in The Concord Monitor, Portsmouth Herald News, Foster's Daily Democrat, The Boston Globe (Online).

The Macon Daily (GA) – March 16, 2005
Heart Patients May Fare as Well with Drugs
While (heart attack) survival has improved compared with 30 years ago, invasive treatment and medical management are not optimal as practiced in the United States," wrote study author Therese Stukel of Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. This article also appeared in Reuters News, Reuters Health E-Line, InfoZine (KS).

The Union Leader – March 13, 2005
Report: An approaching health care crisis
Dr. Elliott Fisher, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School's Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, served as a resource partner to the citizens roundtable...
"The problem, I believe, is we confuse quantity with quality. We confuse unlimited accessibility with high quality. If I can get anything I want, that is judged by the American public to be high-quality health care."

Phoenix Business Journal – March 11, 2005
More not always better when it comes to health care
Meanwhile, over the past 30 years, Dr. John Wennberg, who directs the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School, has continued to report on the wide variations in care received by patients in different parts of the country.

Macleans (Canada)– March 9, 2005
Shots protect against cervical cancer
In another study, researchers led by Dr. Diane Harper of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H., randomly assigned more than 1,100 women ages 15 to 25 years to receive a vaccine against HPV-16 and HPV-18, or inactive shots. The vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective in preventing infections.

The Brattleboro Reformer – March 9, 2005
Health reform hammered out
"I think we need to start immediately to reform health care, but it's going to take a major investment to develop an ongoing system of reform," said Dr. Elliott Fisher of Dartmouth.

North Jersey Herald and News – March 8, 2005
Biological insurance
"It's growing for sure,'' said Dr. Zbigniew M. Szczepiorkowski, a Dartmouth Medical School assistant professor and chairman of the standards committee for the American Association of Blood Banks. This story also appeared in the Bergen County Record (NJ).

Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX) – March 6, 2005
How do we see our returning warriors?
"I'm not sure we have a crisis. Most people with PTSD function very well, and if anything they are over-controlled," says Matthew J. Friedman, executive director of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School.

Science Daily – March 6, 2005
An Aspirin A Day May Keep Colon Cancer Away, Researchers Find
Dr. John Baron was lead author of the article, and co-author of another report in the NEJM that also found that aspirin protected against adenomas of the colon and rectum.

The Valley News – March 2, 2005
Universal Care Could Cramp System at First
"I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that we don't have the resources to care for those people," said Elliot Fisher, a physician, researcher and professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.

Senior Journal (TX) – March 3, 2005
Seniors with late-life depression might not get right drug
"As a psychologist working in primary care I am particularly pleased that this collaborative treatment model was also able to make an effective counseling intervention available to older patients who preferred this approach over medication," said Dr. Mark Hegel, associate professor of psychiatry and community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.

Science Daily – March 2, 2005
Critical Role in Programmed Cell Death Identified
The new work, led by Dr. Barbara Conradt, assistant professor of genetics at Dartmouth Medical School, reveals the importance of mitochondria in cell death in the roundworm C. elegans, enhancing the view of how cell death is conserved from worms to humans.

The LaCrosse Tribune (WI) – March 2, 2005
Doctors prescribe specific exercises to fight the fat
"The idea is to make a more specific explanation," said Dr. Charles Brackett, director of the program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. "You can say, 'Walk this trail near your house twice a day,' as opposed to, 'You're supposed to exercise more.'" This story also appeared in The Maryville Daily Times (TN).

Report on Patient Privacy – March 1, 2005
Hospitals Treat Medical Students as Workforce Members Rather Than BAs
"We are clear our medical students are a different population, and we want to address that," says Andrew Gettinger, associate medical director of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

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