12/29/2017
A recent national news story called attention to an “epidemic” of unnecessary cancer screenings among senior citizens in the United States. Is it ethical medicine, for example, to advise an 89-year-...
01/18/2018
An advance directive, or living will, is routinely recommended for patients facing serious illness. Most health directives, however, fail to cover the common scenario of Alzheimer’s disease.
In the...
02/06/2018
If you were diagnosed with glioblastoma — a brain cancer that, with conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatment, is usually fatal within 12 to 15 months — would you try a novel therapy that...
03/23/2018
Dr. Mary-Claire King, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, sent 400 DNA samples to Color Genomics to see if its at-home saliva test could detect mutations. When the...
04/11/2018
Brain tumor patients and their families face uncertainty, a sense of feeling alone, and helplessness. To diminish that burden, the The National Brain Tumor Society recently announced a new effort to...
06/25/2018
Several years ago, during a time of stress, Seattle cabinet maker Michael Barton developed a case of shingles. [See related video.]
A sensitive area developed around his armpit and shoulder blade, ...
05/24/2018
The identity and history of a man who has spent months as a "John Doe" patient at UW Medical Center is now known. His identity is not being published, though, as a matter of patient privacy.
The man...
06/13/2018
UW Medicine’s heart-transplant team this month began giving all of its patients access to suitable donor hearts from decedents who tested positive for the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Previously, these...
08/31/2018
As of Aug. 31, 2018, UW Medicine’s heart transplant team had received eight patient referrals from Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) after the suspension of its heart-transplant program.
“Our...
09/24/2018
“4 get cancer from donated organ,” blared the headline above a news story last week. It described the case of a woman in Europe who died in 2007. Her undetected breast cancer was transmitted via...