Bioethics & Health News
December 5

December 5, 2005

Transplant Recipient Hid Disfigured Face

The woman who received the world’s first face transplant generally kept to herself and wore a surgical mask to hide her disfigured face when she walked her dog on the pathways of her housing estate, neighbors said.
(AP)

Infertility Boosts Testicular Cancer Risk

Compared to males in the general population, infertile men, or men with abnormal sperm counts, are 20 times more likely to develop testicular cancer, a new study finds.
(HealthDay)

Push to Loosen Abortion Laws in Latin America

In this tradition-bound Roman Catholic town one day in April, two young women did what many here consider unthinkable: pregnant and scared, they took a cheap ulcer medication known to induce abortions. When the drug left them bleeding, they were treated at a local emergency room – then promptly arrested.
(New York Times)

Telephone Doctors Worry Medical Industry

Peter Beasley is a busy man who currently has no health insurance.
(MSNBC)

Cancer Group Lists Top Treatment Advances for 2005

Science’s slow but relentless advance against cancer continued in 2005 with breakthroughs in the treatment of breast, lung, stomach and other killer malignancies.
(HealthDay)

Newspaper Raises Concerns About Home Care

A lengthy emergency waiting list for residential services means that some mentally retarded people are being cared for in personal care homes where monitoring is lax, a newspaper found.
(AP)