Hospitals lower-performing

Foot ulcers and related infections are among the most common, severe, and costly complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). Fifteen percent of all patients with DM develop at least one foot ulcer, resulting in direct health care expenditures of approximately 9 billion annually in the United States.26,27 Diabetic foot ulcers and wounds are highly susceptible to infection. Related skin, soft tissue, and bone infections account for 25% of all diabetes-related hospitalizations.28 More than half of all nontraumatic lower extremity amputations (LEAs) performed each year in Western nations are linked to diabetic foot infection 80,000 LEAs are performed annually in the United States alone.29,30... 

We have acquired our own experience with 318 outpatient biopsies, included in our total number of 4,124 biopsies - we observed no complications whatsoever in these 318 patients, (s. tab. 7.7) Evaluation of the publications quoted and our own experience show that the frequency of complications tends to be even lower than in hospitalized patients. This is probably due to the fact that only very experienced physicians perform outpatient biopsies and that indications and contraindications are heeded with greater stringency. 

Disorders of the foot are among the most common complications of diabetes, accounting for as many as 20% of all hospitalizations in diabetic patients at an annual cost of 200 to 350 million. Approximately 25% of diabetic patients experience significant soft tissue infection at some time during the course of their lifetime. Approximately 55,000 lower extremity amputations, often sequelae of uncontrolled infection, are performed each year on diabetic patients this represents 50% of all nontraumatic amputations in the United States. Between 10% and 20% of diabetics will undergo additional surgery or amputation of a second limb within 12 months of the initial amputation. By 5 years, this increases to 25% to 50%, with death reported in as much as two-thirds of patients. ... 

The Court s interpretation of the BFOQ standard also would seem to preclude considerations of privacy as a basis for sex-based discrimination, since those considerations do not relate directly to an employee s physical ability to perform the duties of the job. The lower federal courts, however, have consistently recognized that privacy interests may justify sex-based requirements for certain jobs. See, e.g., Fesel v. Masonic Home of Delaware, Inc., 447 F.Supp. 1346 (Del. 1978), aff d, 591 F.2d 1334 (CA3 1979) (nurse s aide in retirement home) Jones v. Hinds General Hospital, 666 F.Supp. 933 (SD Miss.1987)... 

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