Condition Critical: What Doctors Think About Health Reform

White coats—and the doctors who wear them—may unwittingly spread infectious germs. Physicians are in continuous contact with sick people, and they often wear the same coats for days before washing them. Bacteria can survive for at least 24 hours on the cotton-polyester fabric from which the coats are made. That means disease-bearing microbes can get passed along to other patients and infect them. Caption & Image Credit: Parade Magazine