FOOT ULCERS ARE THE MAJOR REASON WHY DIABETIC PATIENTS END UP IN THE HOSPITAL
posted: Mar. 29, 2019.
Major diabetes complications include heart disease, kidney failure, eye problems and foot problems, "but of all the things that can go wrong with diabetes, what puts you in the hospital most often is a foot infection," said Dr. Peter Joseph, chairman of the Allegheny General Hospital podiatry department.
Dr. Peter Joseph |
Treating a foot ulcer -- beginning with seeing a podiatrist, then proceeding to a lengthy hospital stay and ultimately ending with amputation -- averages about $300,000, with additional costs for sophisticated and costly prosthetic devices, Dr. Joseph said. Eighty percent of amputations start with a foot ulcer. "You want to stop the little red spot before it becomes an ulcer."
Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News.
Brought to you by Doctor John A. Hardy, owner of Toronto's foot clinic, Academy Foot and Orthotic Clinics.