October 6th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in News, Opinion
Tags: Awareness, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Death, Diagnosis, Disease, Katherine O'Brien, MBC, Metastasis, Metastatic, Month, October, Recurrence Rate, Screening, Spread of Cancer, Stage IV, Treatable
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Some breast cancer voices raise questions about simply raising “awareness” about breast cancer in October.
Some of them believe that raising awareness about screening, for example, should not be the only message or even the main message of the month.
Katherine O’Brien, who has metastatic breast cancer (MBC), and who publishes the ihatebreastcancer blog refers to being caught in “October’s pink undertow.”
Plunked down in the middle of breast cancer awareness month is National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day on October 13.
O’Brien says that people like her with MBC have different concerns from those with early stage cancer. She wrote to me: “The day is not about general cancer awareness; it’s about acknowledging the distinct needs of people who have the advanced, incurable form of breast cancer.
She quotes Ellen Moskowitz, past president of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBCN): Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
October 5th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in News
Tags: Bacteria, Cantaloupe, CDC, Contamination, Death, Deli Meat, Fever, food, Illness, Infection, Jensen Farms, Listeria, Outbreak, Recall, Undercooked
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If you have watched any news over the past week you know there is a listeria outbreak from contaminated cantaloupes that has been traced to Jensen Farms in Colorado. The CDC has confirmed 72 illnesses, including 13 deaths linked to the melons and three other deaths may be involved. By now most of the cantaloupes should be gone as they usually last only a couple of weeks. The recalled cantaloupes were shipped between July 29 and Sept 10.
Listeriosis is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It causes fever, muscle aching and sometimes diarrhea. It feels like a bad flu with headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and in severe cases, convulsions. As with many infections; babies, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and older adults are more likely to have severe illness. There are about Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
October 4th, 2011 by GruntDoc in News
Tags: Albuterol, Asthma, CFCs, Cost, Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epinephrine, FDA, Inhaler, Inhaler Manufacturers, Medical, Obama, OTC, Over-The-Counter, Ozone, Policy, Prescription
2 Comments »
This underestimates the increased cost by a huge factor…
Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer:
Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government’s latest attempt to protect the Earth’s atmosphere.
…But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
October 3rd, 2011 by Medgadget in News
Tags: Android, Cell Phone, Deep Sleep, iOS, Light Sleep, Medical Technology, Mobile Device, REM, Sleep Management, Sleep Metrics, Sleep Monitoring, Sleep Patterns, Sleep Tracking, Zeo
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Sleep tracking company Zeo has announced today that they’ll soon be selling a mobile version of their product, compatible with both iOS and Android. The company previously only offered what amounted to a base-station clock with a sleep monitoring headband. Together they tracked your sleep patterns, including Light, Deep, and REM, but in the process the data got a bit trapped in their clock. To upload sleep data to the web for easier analysis, users had to pull an SD card out of the clock, plug it to a computer, and complete the upload. This step presented a pretty high barrier to learning about your personal sleep.
The mobile version solves this Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
October 3rd, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in News
Tags: accreditation, Competency, Complications, Death, Doctors, Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway, Ethics, Fatal, healthcare, Hospitals, Liposuction, Medical Errors, Medical Mistakes, Mothers, Patient Care, Plastic Surgery, Primary Care, Surgery, Training, USA Today, Women
1 Comment »
Three young mothers under the age of 40 are dead because they wanted to be beautiful. Kellee Lee-Howard wanted a slimmer body. Ditto Maria Shortall and Rohie Kah-Orukatan. Shortall worked as a housekeeper; Lee-Howard was the mother of six kids and Kah-Orukotan died at the same place where she received manicures. What do these women have in common besides being minorities? They had liposuction procedures performed by men who offered a discounted price for an elective surgical procedure. These men professed to be competent in performing the procedures but never had accredited training.
I knew this day was coming. I saw the storm long before the clouds emerged. As the insurance payments for professional medical services decreased and declined, physicians began to look for alternative ways to earn money. But was it ethical? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
