Antidote on TV, MRSA Paint, and Too Much Knee Surgery? The ReportingonHealth Daily Briefing

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August 17, 2010

Here's what we're reading (and watching) today:

Community Health: We're digging into a new community health blog from KQED's California Report public affairs program: "Our State of Health" has contributions from citizen bloggers from around the state. Some interesting posts so far: post-traumatic stress disorder in Oakland, living with asthma in Wilmington and health in Calexico.

MRSA Paint: Scientists apparently have figured out a way to make paint for hospitals that can kill the superbug MRSA, ScienceDaily reports. The paint contains lysostaphin, an enzyme other bacteria use to fight off the superbug.

Drug Costs: Slate has a nice explainer looking at why some prescription drugs cost so much in the wake of the Avastin controversy.

Doc-Owned Hospitals: Next time you "need" knee surgery, you might want to check out whether your doctor has an ownership interest in a hospital: more patients are scheduled for orthopedic procedures by doctors who own a facility than by those who don't, according to a new study covered by MedPage Today.

Doctors Behaving Badly: Be sure to check out our very own Antidote blogger William Heisel's appearance today on Fox Business News! He's talking about doctor oversight and his recent Google Map of troubled doctors, which has received nearly 64,000 views since it was posted last week.