The FDA’s complaint-tracking system for medical devices allowed Philips to obscure when it knew about dangerous CPAPs. New reporting shows the regulatory lapses extend to many devices and companies.
Federal regulations require insurers to promptly hand over records to patients facing claim denials. Some insurers only turned over their files after ProPublica reached out.
The request comes after revelations the global company withheld thousands of warnings about popular breathing machines capable of spewing hazardous particles and fumes into the masks of patients
Pharmaceutical giant GSK turned away from its vaccine for tuberculosis, which kills 1.6 million mostly poor people each year, to go all in on a vaccine against shingles, a viral infection that comes with a painful rash
The devices included the popular DreamStation for sleep apnea. ProPublica's investigation included interviews with Oregon physicians Dr. Radhika Breaden and Dr. Robert Lowe, whose patients used the devices before the massive recall.
I spoke with more than 50 insurance experts, patients, lawyers, physicians and consumer advocates about building a tool anyone could use to navigate insurance appeals. Nearly everyone said the same thing: Great idea. But almost impossible to do.
A transplant program in Memphis took pride in replacing the livers of patients turned away by other hospitals. One patient’s liver transplant illustrates the promise and peril of operating on people with serious risk factors.