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brdgtHighlights from Harvard World Health News:
Let's Get Less Physical: Evaluating the Annual Checkup
Sara Solovitch (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 13, 2006)
"Study after study has found that the annual physical exam is almost worthless, a medical anachronism that should be buried alongside the iron lung and mercurochrome...Out of this debate, a more useful annual exam is taking shape. Instead of offering blood work and palpation to all comers, it provides something more pragmatic: discussion. About smoking, alcohol consumption, depression, eating habits, exercise, safe sex, even driving with seat belts."
Free registration required.
Placentas Taken, But Moms Not Told
(Feb. 12, 2006)
"The birth of McKenna Desbiens, now 6, was not a joyous occasion. She soon suffered a seizure, the first sign of a profound impairment that has left her unable to walk, talk or eat without a feeding tube...As the 23-year-old mother struggled with the devastating news, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center was quietly preparing for a potential court fight. Within days, the hospital sent [Angela Desbiens's] placenta to a Portland institute created and financed by the insurance industry, in part to help health care providers defend against birth-injury lawsuits...It wasn't until Desbiens sued Providence, four years after the birth, that she first read the report and learned what had become of her placenta, the organ that transports blood, oxygen and nutrients to a fetus."
Massachusetts Wal-Mart Must Stock Contraception
(Associated Press, Feb. 14, 2006)
"The state pharmacy board ordered Wal-Mart on Tuesday to stock emergency contraception pills at its stores in Massachusetts. Massachusetts becomes second state to require the world's largest retailer to carry the morning-after pill."
Let's Get Less Physical: Evaluating the Annual Checkup
Sara Solovitch (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 13, 2006)
"Study after study has found that the annual physical exam is almost worthless, a medical anachronism that should be buried alongside the iron lung and mercurochrome...Out of this debate, a more useful annual exam is taking shape. Instead of offering blood work and palpation to all comers, it provides something more pragmatic: discussion. About smoking, alcohol consumption, depression, eating habits, exercise, safe sex, even driving with seat belts."
Free registration required.
Placentas Taken, But Moms Not Told
(Feb. 12, 2006)
"The birth of McKenna Desbiens, now 6, was not a joyous occasion. She soon suffered a seizure, the first sign of a profound impairment that has left her unable to walk, talk or eat without a feeding tube...As the 23-year-old mother struggled with the devastating news, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center was quietly preparing for a potential court fight. Within days, the hospital sent [Angela Desbiens's] placenta to a Portland institute created and financed by the insurance industry, in part to help health care providers defend against birth-injury lawsuits...It wasn't until Desbiens sued Providence, four years after the birth, that she first read the report and learned what had become of her placenta, the organ that transports blood, oxygen and nutrients to a fetus."
Massachusetts Wal-Mart Must Stock Contraception
(Associated Press, Feb. 14, 2006)
"The state pharmacy board ordered Wal-Mart on Tuesday to stock emergency contraception pills at its stores in Massachusetts. Massachusetts becomes second state to require the world's largest retailer to carry the morning-after pill."
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Date: 2006-02-16 02:52 pm (UTC)with all the mistakes in that report the mom should be able to get the results tossed out pretty easily. one would hope.