June 13th, 2011 by Elaine Schattner, M.D. in Health Tips, Opinion
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The June issue of Wired carries a feature on the Booming Market for Human Breast Milk. You can read about the under-the-counter and over-the-Internet sale of “liquid gold” with a typical asking price in the range of $1 to $2.50 an ounce.
Here’s a taste, from the article:
…“rich, creamy breast milk!” “fresh and fatty!”… Some ship coolers of frozen milk packed in dry ice. Others deal locally, meeting in cafés to exchange cash for commodity…
Late last year, the FDA issued a warning about feeding your child human milk from strangers. Still, the stuff’s barely regulated.
milk containers, Wired Magazine, June 2011
As much as I think it’s a good idea for women to breast feed their babies as best they can, I was pretty shocked to learn about this unregulated industry. Mainly because if a woman who donates milk is infected with a virus, like HIV or HTLV-1, the milk often contains the virus. The infant can absorb the virus and become infected. Feeding human breast milk from an unknown donor is kind of like giving a child a blood transfusion from a stranger, unchecked by any blood bank.
I’m not sure why Wired ran this story, which is admittedly interesting. Maybe it’ll push the FDA to take a more aggressive stance on this matter, as it should.
*This blog post was originally published at Medical Lessons*
June 8th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Tips
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NPR is running a typical media hype story on oocyte preservation (egg freezing), featuring the standard happy family photo with their “miracle” baby born after thawing and fertilizing a cryopreserved egg.
It’s a heartwarming story and a pretty photo, but far from a complete picture of what women need to know about this still experimental fertility preserving procedure. Nowhere does the article tell women the actual success rates of occyte cryo-preservation.
So before you run out to freeze your eggs, know this – the chance of having a pregnancy after egg freezing is less than a 50/50 shot – at most about 39%, according to the latest data. That’s about the same odds you’d have if you just wait till 40 to try to get pregnant on your own. In addition, while somewhere between 1 and 2 thousand infants have been born using the technology, we do not yet have data on their long term outcomes. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
June 6th, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in Health Tips
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Of the 4 million babies born in the U.S. each year, approximately 12.3 percent of them will be premature and 3.56 percent will occur before 34 weeks. Premature birth is one of the leading causes of severe handicaps and has an annual cost of approximately $26 billion dollars. Although risk factors for preterm labor have been identified, there is still no cure. As stated in a previous blog post, when the cervix becomes weak (a condition called cervical insufficiency), the patient is at risk for second trimester miscarriages and preterm labor. Also, if a patient has a previous history of premature birth then she needs her cervix measured in a future pregnancy. If her cervix is short and measures between 16 mm and 25 mm before 23 weeks, she is at risk for premature labor and delivery. The recommended treatment for a short cervix is either progesterone suppositories or injections. A few months ago, there was profound controversy over an FDA approved injection that would cost approximately $1500.00 if purchased by the manufacturer, K-V Pharmaceuticals. Bending under political pressure, K-V reduced their price to $690.00.
The more options that are available for treatment of premature labor, the greater the chances are of achieving a full term baby. In the past two months, a new study has emerged which describes a progesterone gel that reduced birth rates before 33 weeks by 45 percent and improved newborn outcomes. This is a significant result. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
May 31st, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in Opinion
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How does one teach compassion? Either you have it or you don’t. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times made me cringe. In South Florida, fifteen ob-gyn practices out of 105 polled said that would not take care of a pregnant woman who weighed more than 200 to 250 pounds. The article goes on to describe two ob-gyn business partners who cited malpractice issues and fear of being sued as a reason for excluding obese women in their practice. So, what’s next? Will pregnant women be denied access to care based on bank accounts or zip codes? Where their children attend school? Whether they own a pet? Where do we draw the proverbial line?
One of my most frustrated moments in clinical practice was dealing with an imaging center who had cancelled my patient’s ultrasound procedure because they were “afraid she was going to break their table.” The patient was excited about her first pregnancy and wanted to do everything in her power to have a healthy baby. The first time I met her, she was almost apologetic about her weight. Most obese patients are. My staff had to locate an imaging center that was not only willing to accept the patient but her Medicaid insurance as well. No one should not have to endure that level of humiliation.
Whether we like it or not, Americans are obese and as physicians, we have done very little to reverse that process. I learned more about nutrition from Weight Watchers® then I did in medical school. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
May 24th, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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“But for the grace of God go I.” My late aunt drilled that value into my six-year old head and it has never left. An article regarding a New York politician recently caught my attention. When New York State enacted a bill to ban the shackling of pregnant prisoners, a New York State Assemblywoman objected. The article goes on to discuss the case of Jeanna M. Graves, who, in 2002 was arrested on a drug charge and began a three year sentence. Graves was pregnant with twins and while in labor, was handcuffed during her entire C. Section. How utterly ridiculous.
Before a C. Section begins, a patient is usually given either an epidural or spinal anesthesia. On rare occasions, she is put to sleep with general anesthesia if the baby must be delivered emergently. On all accounts, the patient’s legs will either be numb from anesthesia or she will be sleeping. Why then does she need shackles? She’s certainly not in a position to run. Although I addressed this issue last August, it needs to be revisited again. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
