New research suggests 1 in 8 people who undergo an elective colonoscopy (hey, is it ever really elective?) might get an unpleasant surprise even if their doctor finds nothing untoward, colonically speaking.

A study of colonoscopy insurance claims between 2012-2017 found that 12% of more than 1.1 million procedures included out-of-network costs, mostly involving anesthesiologists. There was also an increased likelihood of additional out-of-network billing if doctors performed an intervention, such as a biopsy.

Median cost for a colonoscopy: $418.

Air Pollution on the Brain

Scientists are increasingly finding possible links between air quality and neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and other dementias. Examining 17 years of data on 63 million Medicare enrollees hospitalized with those conditions and sorted by ZIP codes, they found that for each annual increase of five micrograms per cubic meter of particulate matter in the air, the risk for first-time hospital admissions for Parkinson's and other dementias increased by 13%.

Women and white people were at higher risk, perhaps reflecting their longer life expectancies.

Get Me That, Stat!

According to a University of Michigan poll, a third of parents say they do not intend to vaccinate their children for the flu this year. The biggest cited reason: fear of contracting COVID-19 at a health site, followed by worries about side effects and concerns about effectiveness.

Counts

1 in 7: ratio of U.S. youth, ages 10 to 17, who have obesity

Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Doc Talk

B.O.N.: Big Old Needle

Mania of the Week

Lypemania: extreme pathological mournfulness

Best Medicine

Pharmacist: "Can I help you, sir?"

Customer: "Yes. I, uh, well, this is sort of embarrassing, but I'm going out on a date tonight, and I need, you know, some ..."

Pharmacist: "Protection?"

Customer: "Yes, I need some protection."

Pharmacist: "OK. Small, medium or large?"

Customer: "Uh, let's go medium."

Pharmacist: "OK, that will be $4.75 including tax."

Customer: "Tacks! I thought they stayed on by themselves."

Observation

"He has been a doctor a year now and has had two patients — no, three, I think. Yes, it was three; I attended their funerals." — American humorist Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Medical History

This week in 2001, Robert Tools, 59, the first person in the world to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart, died in Louisville, Kentucky. Five months earlier, doctors at Jewish Hospital in Louisville had implanted the AbioCor heart replacement. Tools died of internal bleeding and organ failure after living with the device whirring in his chest for 151 days. Doctors said the death was not caused by problems with the AbioCor heart device but rather severe abdominal bleeding related to longstanding health problems.

Self-Exam

Q: How many different scents can humans detect?

a) 100,000

b) 1 million

c) 1 billion

d) 1 trillion

A: d) 1 trillion. That's not bad, but we don't really measure up to many animals. Dogs, for example, have 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses. Humans have 6 million. Canines are capable of analyzing 40 times more smells.

Curtain Calls

In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes suffered a fatal heart attack in the middle of a race at Belmont Park in New York. Despite being dead, he remained in the saddle and his mount crossed the finish line first — a 20-1 bet.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: whitesession at Pixabay