Medical stories of 2007

MINNEAPOLIS, December 26, 2007-American Medical News has compiled a list of the year's strangest medical news items, from which we have cobbled a Top 10 Weird Stories for 2007.

1. A third of practices have partners who refuse to use an EMR system already installed.
   
   
2. 60% to 70% of patients do not read or understand informed-consent documents.
   
   
3. 92% of adults say they always wash their hands after using a public restroom but only 77% actually do.
   
   
4. Statins are the best-selling drugs in the history of medicine.
   
   
5. 5% to 10% of patients diagnosed with MS don't have the disease.
   
   
6. 75% of emerging human diseases originated in animals.
   
   
7. 78% of patients want doctors to shake hands in the first meeting.
   
   
8. 10 states still have eugenic sterilization laws.
   
   
9. In the first second of an ischemic stroke, 32,000 brain cells die.
   
   
10. Risks are about equal for taking an aspirin a day, driving a car and being a firefighter.

Author: Michael Finley