March 26, 2012
US Supreme Court hears challenge to Obama healthcare law
The US Supreme Court has finished the first day of a landmark hearing on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform. (BBC News)
Monthly Archives: March 2012
March 26, 2012
Generic Drugs Proving Resistant to Damage Suits
Debbie Schork, a deli worker at a supermarket in Indiana, had to have her hand amputated after an emergency room nurse injected her with an anti-nausea drug, causing gangrene. She sued the manufacturer named in the hospital’s records for failing … Read More
March 23, 2012
Could Human and Computer Viruses Merge, Leaving Both Realms Vulnerable?
Mark Gasson had caught a bad bug. Though he was not in pain, he was keenly aware of the infection raging in his left hand, knowing he could put others at risk by simply coming too close. (Scientific American)
March 23, 2012
FDA must act to remove antibiotics from animal feed: judge
A federal judge on Thursday ordered regulators to start proceedings to withdraw approval for the use of common antibiotics in animal feed, citing concerns that overuse is endangering human health by creating antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” (Reuters)
March 23, 2012
Insurers forge ahead to prepare for health care overhaul, despite law’s uncertain future
The nation’s big insurers are spending millions to carry out President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul even though there’s a chance the wide-reaching law won’t survive Supreme Court scrutiny. (Washington Post)
March 23, 2012
Robotic Device Helps Paraplegics Stand Tall
The  new  Tek Robotic Mobilization Device is designed to help people who have lost the use of their legs to stand up and move around in an upright position with seemingly little effort. (ABC News)
March 23, 2012
To go gently into that good night: When quality of death can enhance quality of life
Andrée Hoffman lay on a gurney, the outline of her body visible under a floral comforter. Her daughter Basia Hoffman, in her 50s, was a few feet away, playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the piano, hours after her 90-year-old mother’s … Read More
March 23, 2012
DNA donor rights affirmed
It is a familiar scenario in genetic research: a subject’s DNA is collected for one study, deposited in a database or biobank and then analysed by other researchers for separate studies. But what happens when a later study stumbles on … Read More
March 23, 2012
China to phase out prisoner organ donations over next 5 years; says other organs are healthier
China will abolish the transplanting of organs from executed prisoners within five years and try to spur more citizens to donate, a top health official says. (Washington Post)
March 22, 2012
When ICU beds are scarce, doctors’ goals change
When hospitals are short on beds in the intensive care unit, doctors are more likely to switch from life-saving care to end-of-life care, a new Canadian study shows. (Reuters)
March 22, 2012
Justices ponder whether babies born through artificial insemination should get benefits
Karen Capato used the frozen sperm of her deceased husband to conceive twins, but the government denied them Social Security benefits as their father’s survivors. Her situation, more common as reproductive technology advances, had a mostly unsympathetic Supreme Court grappling … Read More
March 22, 2012
Ten years after Belgian euthanasia law, opposition simmers
Against all odds, one 16-year-old Belgian teenager is still alive. Tikvah Roosemont was born with about half a brain. (UPI)
March 22, 2012
Surrogacy mother launches maternity leave challenge
The woman, who has been allowed to remain anonymous by judges, was refused the leave by her employer when she became a mother. (Telegraph)
March 22, 2012
Magic cells: babies who save lives
It is mid-morning in the delivery suite at King’s College hospital in London, and midwife Terie Duffy is cooing over the contents of a stainless-steel bowl. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she says. “This is what makes my job worthwhile … the … Read More
March 21, 2012
Where Could The Next Outbreak Of Measles Be?
Even as more American children are getting immunized against measles, diphtheria and other diseases, public-health officials are increasingly worried about potential outbreaks of these illnesses in certain pockets of the country where vaccination rates are dangerously low. (Wall Street Journal)
March 21, 2012
US Supreme Court upends diagnostics patents
In a unanimous ruling the US Supreme Court has rendered invalid two patents covering a method for determining proper drug dosage. The 20 March decision sent ripples through the medical diagnostics industry, which has been closely following the case. (Nature … Read More
March 21, 2012
Will we ever grow replacement hands?
It might seem unbelievable, but researchers can grow organs in the laboratory. There are patients walking around with body parts which have been designed and built by doctors out of a patient’s own cells. (BBC News)
March 21, 2012
Bias Can Exaggerate Drugs’ Effectiveness
Doctors — and patients — might not be getting all the information they need about the safety and effectiveness of certain drugs because of “publication bias,†the tendency of researchers and medical journals to favor positive results over negative ones. … Read More
March 21, 2012
The Dark Side of Military-Funded Neuroscience
By unlocking the mysteries of the mind, neuroscientists have opened the door to revolutionary technology — technology the American military hopes to harness. From keeping troops more alert during exhausting missions to engineering intelligent drones, some experts argue brain research … Read More
March 21, 2012
WHO’s Chan urges China to bolster tobacco controls in country with most smokers in the world
The head of the World Health Organization urged China on Tuesday to bolster controls on tobacco in a country where half of adult males smoke. (Washington Post)
March 21, 2012
Doctors asking out patients among unprofessional online conduct, medical boards survey finds
New research suggests doctors are contacting patients on Internet dating sites and engaging in other unprofessional online behavior — and sometimes getting caught. (Washington Post)
March 20, 2012
HEALTHBEAT: Doctors seek to wean kidney transplant patients off anti-rejection drugs for life
Lindsay Porter’s kidneys were failing rapidly when a friend offered to donate one of his. Then she made an unusual request: Would he donate part of his immune system, too? (Washington Post)
March 20, 2012
To Fix a Heart, Doctors Train Girl’s Body to Grow New Part
Four-year-old Angela Irizarry was born with a single pumping chamber in her heart, a potentially lethal defect. To fix the problem, Angela is growing a new blood vessel in her body in an experimental treatment that could advance the burgeoning … Read More
March 20, 2012
Inside America’s Drug Shortage
Lynn Divers thought she had heard the worst of it when doctors told her that her daughter Alyssa had cancer. But the diagnosis was only the first in a series of emotional bombshells: Alyssa’s cancer, osteosarcoma, is rare, and in her … Read More
March 20, 2012
Nokia patents a tattoo that vibrates when you get a call
Nokia is taking steps to make sure you never miss another phone call, text or email alert again: The company has filed a patent for a tattoo that would send “a perceivable impulse” to your skin whenever someone tried to … Read More
