Clinician's Roundtable

Guest: Helen Darling Host: Bruce Japsen Employers are finding it tougher and tougher to provide increasingly expensive health benefits. So when President Barack Obama makes healthcare reform a priority this year, what would employers like to see in this proposal? Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, discusses with the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen what employers are looking for in healthcare reform.

Guest: Tarun Jain, MD Host: Lisa Mazzullo, MD The issue of embryo management has come to the forefront recently with the birth of octuplets in California. More than 400 thousand embryos are currently in storage across the United States. Many couples decide to use their embryos at a later date. But what about the embryos that are not used by fertility patients? Dr. Tarun Jain, in vitro fertilization director of IVF at Chicago IVF, talks with host Dr. Lisa Mazzullo about the potential uses for extra embryos, including stem cell research, donation to other couples and whether or not they should be sold.

Guest: Lisa Ishii, MD Host: Lisa Mazzullo, MD Hair loss can be a troubling situation for women. More than 30 percent of women of all ages suffer from some type of hair loss, either due to medication or medical issues. Dr. Lisa Ishii, an assistant professor of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, talks with host Dr. Lisa Mazzullo about how to evaluate and treat hair loss for women.

Guest: Greg Brown Host: Bruce Japsen For breast cancer patients, there is often an untold story after mastectomy and treatment. Greg Brown, chief executive officer of ImpediMed, tells host Bruce Japsen about how women can suffer a debilitating complication known as lymphedema and how test makers are moving to help diagnose the problem early.

Guest: Amy Hendel, R-PA Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA The obesity epidemic causes numerous health problems but it's hard for one person to change their ways when the rest of the family continues old patterns. Amy Hendel joins host Lisa Dandrea Lenell to discuss how to help the group change their eating habits and take on a healthy lifestyle. The two discuss how families can work together as a team as well as how medical professionals can tackle the overweight issue with their patients.

Guest: Caroline Hall, MD Host: Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a well-known cause of hospitalization in infants, but new research suggests the burden of illness may be more substantial than previously recognized in healthy, older children as well. Investigators estimate over two million children under the age of five require medical treatment for RSV each year. Because it can be difficult to prevent and treat RSV infections, is there a role for a vaccine against the illness? Host Dr. Jennifer Shu welcomes Dr. Caroline Hall, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, to explore these questions. Dr. Hall also explains how the characteristics of the virus and its mechanisms of transmission contribute to its proliferation.

Guest: Jian Han, MD Host: Bruce Japsen The 'superbug' methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a top concern for hospitals and doctors nationwide. So what are we doing to combat this? Dr. Gian Han, director of Diatherix Laboratories, tells host Bruce Japsen about molecular diagnostic technologies being developed for doctors to detect MRSA and prevent infection in patients.

Guest: Alex Haynes, MD Host: Mary Leuchars, MD The annual number of surgeries performed worldwide outnumbers even childbirth. What do the latest studies examining surgical checklists tell us about their impact on reducing global morbidity and mortality? Sharing insights on this subject is Dr. Alex Haynes, surgical research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital, and lead author of a recent study evaluating the WHO surgical safety checklist. Dr. Haynes and colleagues successfully demonstrated that the use of a simple surgical checklist during major operations can lower the incidence of deaths and complications by more than one-third. Dr. Mary Leuchars hosts.

Guest: Steven I. Kern, JD Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Will openness and honesty about medical errors help you avoid medical litigation? By quickly disclosing errors, offering apologies and, when necessary, providing fair compensation, some medical centers around the country are trying to get out in front of their medical mistakes. Yet, this may not be the best approach for all practitioners. Host Dr. Larry Kaskel reviews your options and a few specific cases with Steven Kern, a health law attorney with Kern, Augustine, Conroy & Schoppmann, a firm representing physicians and other health professionals.

Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Guest: Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD How is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) distinguished from chronic or phantom limb pain? Can something as simple as a fracture or blood drawing trigger this condition? Dr. Anne-Louise Oaklander, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, joins host Dr. Michael Greenberg to discuss the intricacies of neuropathic pain. Since CRPS is rare, at what point should a physician suspect CRPS, and can this condition be treated?