June 29, 2012
The Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to uphold President Barack Obama’s historic overhaul is expected to be a boon to most of the health care industry by making coverage more affordable for millions of uninsured Americans. (Washington Post)
June 29, 2012
Doctors today rejected calls to take a neutral stance on assisted suicide. Medics at the British Medical Association’s (BMA) annual conference in Bournemouth reiterated their opposition to assisted dying, with one delegate likening it to murder. (Independent)
June 29, 2012
Efforts by health organizations to slow the spread of antibiotic resistance by reducing overuse of the drugs seem to be working, a new study says. (American Medical News)
June 29, 2012
One weekend about 10 years ago, when she was a nurse at a hospital in Cologne, Bettina Sorger volunteered to help the intensive care unit staff. One of her patients was still recovering from anesthesia after a surgery in which … Read More
June 28, 2012
The Supreme Court on Thursday left standing the basic provisions of the health care overhaul, ruling that the government may use its taxation powers to push people to buy health insurance. (NY Times)
June 28, 2012
Bedtime for 3-year-old Isabella Kruger now includes a bottle and a massage. This ritual has become possible again as the toddler recovers from surgery that transplanted cloned skin onto her body after 80 percent of it suffered burns in a … Read More
June 28, 2012
Grant Feusner, a 64-year-old security systems engineer, started having an odd constellation of health symptoms a year ago. (ABC News)
June 28, 2012
A German court in Cologne ruled on Tuesday that circumcising young boys represents grievous bodily harm, a decision that could have significant repercussions for religious groups. (NY Times)
June 28, 2012
Surgeons in Russia have successfully transplanted a completely synthetic chunk of the larynx. The operation, which has been performed in two patients, is the first step towards creating an entire synthetic voicebox. (New Scientist)
June 27, 2012
To take your own life in Oregon is a bureaucratic process replete with rules, forms and approvals. The main stipulation is that you are sane, 18, and have been given a prognosis of less than six months to live. (National … Read More
June 27, 2012
Like just about anywhere else in the world, India’s top-rated television shows tend towards the less cerebral end of the spectrum – soap operas, talent contests, gameshows and, of course, the cricket. (NY Daily News)
June 27, 2012
Certain bone marrow donors could soon be compensated for their life-saving stem cells after federal officials declined to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing a lower court order to become law. (MSNBC)
June 27, 2012
A woman who was forced by local officials to abort a seven-month-old fetus this month and whose case has spurred a national discussion about China’s one-child policy said on Tuesday that she was “under a lot of pressure†and was … Read More
June 27, 2012
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has audited Celltex Therapeutics Corporation, a stem-cell treatment purveyor based in Sugarland, Texas. The results aren’t pretty, and this is only the beginning. (Nature News)
June 27, 2012
The heart of a genetically modified pig has been successfully transplanted into a monkey, according to scientists in South Korea. (Daily Mail)
June 26, 2012
After months of tweaking, researchers are finally ready to show off a high-tech headband that can translate Stephen Hawking’s brain waves into speech — providing what could eventually become an easier avenue for the paralyzed British physicist and many others to … Read More
June 26, 2012
The 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine went, at least in part, to the victors in a battle of aesthetics. Roughly 10 years prior, during the race to uncover the structure of DNA — the molecule of life — researchers bickered … Read More
June 26, 2012
Meet Roxxi – a feisty and fully-armed virtual nanobot. Billed as “medicine’s mightiest warrior”, she’s fighting an epic battle deep inside the human body where she launches rapid-fire assaults on malignant cells. (Reuters)
June 26, 2012
In a move that could significantly expand insurance coverage of weight-loss treatments, a federal health advisory panel on Monday recommended that all obese adults receive intensive counseling in an effort to rein in a growing health crisis in America. (LA … Read More
June 26, 2012
Clare True had autism and periodic seizures, but nothing prepared her family for Christmas Eve in 2006, when the 26-year-old went to bed after watching a movie and stopped breathing. (NY Times)
June 26, 2012
Would you go to a drugstore to get tested for AIDS? Health officials want to know, and they’ve set up a pilot program to find out. (Washington Post)
June 26, 2012
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (Volume 15, Issue 3) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Human Rights in Bioethics–Theoretical and Applied” by John-Stewart Gordon, available on-line. “‘Sanctity-of-Life’—A Bioethical Principle for a Right to Life?” by Heike Baranzke, available … Read More
June 25, 2012
Europe’s drugs industry is urging European Union leaders to give it two major concessions to help keep medicine supplies flowing into crisis-hit countries such as Greece and Spain. (Wall Street Journal)
June 25, 2012
When Wendy Parris shattered her ankle, the emergency room put it in an air cast and sent her on her way. Because she had no insurance, doctors did not operate to fix it. A mother of six, Ms. Parris hobbled … Read More
June 25, 2012
Carmichael Griffin didn’t think anything of it when his face began to swell. He assumed he had just gained a couple of pounds. (CNN)
