July 31, 2012
Slowly, but surely, Norman Dunitz, MD, discovered the limitations that age placed on his ability to safely practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Tulsa, Okla. As he neared 70, he took fewer cases as a lead surgeon and started assisting … Read More
July 31, 2012
Nearly two-thirds of surgeons are unwilling to honor a patient’s request to end life support after operating on that patient, and they are less willing to do so when a surgical error occurs, said a study in Annals of Surgery … Read More
July 31, 2012
Marc Buoniconti has been paralyzed from the neck down for 27 years after a college football injury at South Carolina’s The Citadel. (ABC News)
July 31, 2012
Take a close look at the athletes competing in this year’s Summer Olympic Games in London—their musculature will tell you a lot about how they achieved their elite status. (Scientific American)
July 31, 2012
A 10,000 volt 3D electric sprayer, which fires out a stream of heart cells, could be the latest tool in mending broken hearts. (BBC News)
July 31, 2012
Arizona’s ban on abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy is poised to take effect this week as scheduled after a federal judge ruled Monday that the new law is constitutional. (Washington Post)
July 30, 2012
Genetic test maker 23andMe is asking the Food and Drug Administration to approve its personalized DNA test in a move that, if successful, could boost acceptance of technology that is viewed skeptically by leading scientists who question its usefulness. (Washington … Read More
July 30, 2012
Two University of California at Davis surgeons have been banned from doing human research after they injected bacteria into the head wounds of consenting terminally ill patients without university authorization, according to a letter sent from the school to the … Read More
July 30, 2012
A court decision on 23 July could help to tame the largely unregulated field of adult stem-cell treatments. The US District Court in Washington DC affirmed the right of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate therapies made from … Read More
July 30, 2012
Of all the obstacles athletes have had to overcome to compete in the Olympics, perhaps the most controversial has been the gender test. (LA Times)
July 30, 2012
In the Inland Empire, an economically depressed region in Southern California, President Obama’s health care law is expected to extend insurance coverage to more than 300,000 people by 2014. But coverage will not necessarily translate into care: Local health experts … Read More
July 30, 2012
Pan Chunyan was grabbed from her grocery store when she was almost eight months pregnant with her third child. Men working for a local official locked her up with two other women, and four days later brought her to a … Read More
July 27, 2012
Only a quarter of Americans infected with the AIDS virus are getting effective treatment, according to a U.S. government report released Friday — and the youngest patients are the worst off.  The numbers could worsen if states don’t broaden health care as called … Read More
July 27, 2012
Despite all the training, sweat, dedication and sacrifice that goes into becoming an Olympic competitor, these elite athletes also tend to have an advantage that average sports lovers lack: superior DNA. Just like eye color or a keen intellect, a … Read More
July 27, 2012
People “locked in” by paralyzing disorders such as Lou Gehrig’s disease have long relied on blinks or facial twitches to build sentences one letter at a time. (ScienceNow)
July 26, 2012
Your cell phone rings, and your brow furrows as you glance down at the caller ID. (CNN)
July 26, 2012
It’s official: stem cells are drugs. At least, that’s the opinion of the US district court in Washington DC, which has ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the authority to regulate clinics offering controversial stem cell therapies. … Read More
July 26, 2012
Thirty-seven health care workers signed and submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday, urging officials to change labels on prescription opioids, such as OxyContin, morphine or Vicodin, all part of an effort to curb prescription drug abuse. … Read More
July 26, 2012
The first child in history to receive a trachea fashioned by his own stem cells has shown remarkable progress since the initial transplant two years ago, marking a new record for the novel procedure. (ABC News)
July 26, 2012
Each year hundreds of people in England sign on to body donor registers. (BBC News)
July 25, 2012
Renee Mosier was one of an estimated half-million patients in the United States who were unable to get the drugs they needed because of shortages. (CNN)
July 25, 2012
Martha* had decided to undergo a breast augmentation. She researched doctors and found one she thought was well-qualified; ads in magazines touted him as board-certified and a top plastic surgeon in the area. (CNN)
July 25, 2012
In 1976, as a 24-year-old grad student, Samira Beckwith was diagnosed with the thing people still whispered about: cancer. (Washington Post)
July 25, 2012
A group of Orthodox rabbis warned Wednesday that the ancient Jewish practice of infant male circumcision could face further restrictions in Europe after some hospitals in Austria and Switzerland suspended the procedure by citing a German court ruling that it … Read More
July 25, 2012
In the Dominican Republic, a ban on abortion is preventing a teenage girl from receiving treatment for a life-threatening disease. (CNN)
