JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Although the use of feeding tubes among older individuals stirs considerable controversy, population-based descriptive data regarding patient outcomes are scarce. ⋯ Gastrostomies are frequently placed in older individuals and more often in blacks; mortality rates following placement are substantial.
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Behaviors that result in potential exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) usually begin in adolescence or young adulthood, but trends in HIV incidence in young people remain unclear. ⋯ In young persons, HIV incidence in homosexual men and injection drug users was slowing by 1993; this favorable trend was offset by increasing heterosexual transmission, especially in minorities.
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State medical boards discipline several thousand physicians each year. Although certain subgroups, such as those disciplined for malpractice, substance use, or sexual abuse, have been studied, little is known about disciplined physicians as a group. ⋯ A small but substantial proportion of physicians is disciplined each year for a variety of offenses. Further study of disciplined physicians is necessary to identify physicians at high risk for offenses leading to disciplinary action and to develop effective interventions to prevent these offenses.
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Physicians who abuse their patients sexually cause immense harm, and, therefore, the discipline of physicians who commit any sex-related offenses is an important public health issue that should be examined. ⋯ Discipline against physicians for sex-related offenses is increasing over time and is relatively severe, although few physicians are disciplined for sexual offenses each year. In addition, a substantial proportion of physicians disciplined for these offenses are allowed to either continue to practice or return to practice.