Clipmarks | wiccantexan's 'medical' clips

Doctors Can't Deny Lesbians Care on Religious Grounds

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:56:45 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

The California Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that doctors cannot cite their religious beliefs as grounds to deny gay and lesbian patients medical care.

Justice Joyce Kennard ruled that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian couple cannot claim a free speech or religious exemption from California's anti-discrimination law.

The ruling extends a state law barring sexual orientation-based discrimination to the medical profession.

In 1999, after a year of surgeries and hormone treatments — all covered by insurance — Benitez was finally ready to get pregnant. But at the crucial moment, her doctor refused to do the procedure for "religious" reasons.

Benitez is a lesbian and sued her doctors under California's civil rights laws, charging that they discriminated against her because of her sexual orientation.

Tags: medical, gay, lesbian, religion, belief, discrimination

Babe Ruth was cancer research guinea pig

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:39:36 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: nbcsports.msnbc.com

The story of Babe Ruth's bittersweet farewell at Yankee Stadium has been part of sports lore for generations. Shockingly stooped and frail, the slugger came to the Bronx ballpark on June 13, 1948, to put on the pinstriped uniform a last time and hear the roar of the faithful once more.

He died only two months later, on August 16, at age 53, by most accounts of throat cancer, brought on at least in part by a well-chronicled fondness for tobacco and liquor. But that's all wrong, says a Westchester County, N.Y., dentist with a passion for baseball history. And he's trying to set the record straight.

Maloney uncovered little-known information about the experimental treatment that the doomed baseball titan agreed to take part in, the kindness Ruth showed toward medical staff during his difficult final days and the rare form of cancer he actually died from, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (it causes less than 1 percent of the cancer deaths in the U.S. today).

Tags: sports, cancer, celebrity, baseball, babe ruth, history, medical

Insurance pays for death, not life

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:45:51 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

The news from Barbara Wagner's doctor was bad, but the rejection letter from her insurance company was crushing.

The 64-year-old Oregon woman, whose lung cancer had been in remission, learned the disease had returned and would likely kill her. Her last hope was a $4,000-a-month drug that her doctor prescribed for her, but the insurance company refused to pay.

What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.

"It was horrible," Wagner told ABCNews.com. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."

Critics of Oregon's decade-old Death With Dignity Law -- the only one of its kind in the nation -- have been up in arms over the indignity of her unsigned rejection letter. Even those who support Oregon's liberal law were upset.

Tags: death, drugs, cancer, life, medical, health

Dozens blinded in India looking for Virgin Mary in the sun

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:47:42 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports.

Alarmed health authorities in India's Kottayam district have set up a sign dispelling rumours of a miraculous image in the sky and warning of the dangers of looking into direct sunlight.

Forty-eight cases of sight-loss, allegedly caused by photochemical burns on the retina, have been recorded at St Joseph's ENT and Eye hospital in the region since Friday.

Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier's house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared.

The hotelier, who has since moved, had claimed that statues of the Virgin Mary in his house have been crying honey and bleeding oils and perfumes.

Tags: india, christian, health, sun, medical

World's oldest mom age now 72

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:21:15 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

A 72-year-old woman who has two children and five grandchildren has given birth to twins, making her the world's oldest mother.

Omkari Panwar delivered twins, a boy and a girl, by Caesarean section last week.

Singh was reluctant to speak because he has received negative publicity for his wife's having children at such an advanced age.

"The desire for a male child has always been there, but God did not bless us with a male child," he said of the son who is a product of in vitro fertilization. "Now, we are very grateful to God, who has answered our prayers."

The septuagenarian couple spent their life savings and took out a loan from the bank for Panwar to undergo in vitro treatments. For the couple, the desire to have a son was most important because they wanted to carry on the family name. They know that their son may never be able to care for them in the traditional way because of the age gap.

Tags: children, elderly, pregnancy, old, woman, twins, medical, health

'I've fallen asleep and I can't get up!'

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:24:21 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com

You’re lying in bed, just starting to wake up, when you realize you can’t move. Your chest is heavy — like somebody’s sitting on it — and you’re overwhelmed with a feeling of dread.

Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see something move. It’s a spider. No, two spiders. No three, four, a dozen or more. They’re big as walnuts and slowly crawling up the bed posts of your bed and onto the blankets, scuttling ever closer towards your paralyzed body.

Sound like a cross between “Fear Factor” and “The Twilight Zone?”

It’s not. It’s the sort of thing people with sleep paralysis have experienced for centuries. Back in the day, the vivid hallucinations that sometimes occur with this disorder were often attributed to supernatural forces.

Unfortunately, some people — about 5 percent of the population, including singer Sheryl Crow (and her mom) — get stuck between the gears either going in or coming out of REM sleep. Their muscles remain paralyzed while their mind is awake.

Tags: sleep, disorder, dream, health, medical

Russian Spa Opens Monument To The Enema

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:46:34 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

A monument to the enema, a procedure many people would rather not think about, has been unveiled at a spa in the southern Russian city of Zheleznovodsk. The bronze syringe bulb, which weighs 800 pounds and is held by three angels, was unveiled at the Mashuk-Akva Term spa, the spa's director said Thursday.

"There is no kitsch or obscenity, it is a successful work of art," Alexander Kharchenko told The Associated Press. "An enema is almost a symbol of our region."

The Caucasus Mountains region is known for dozens of spas where enemas with water from mineral springs are routinely administered to treat digestive and other complaints.

Kharchenko, 50, said the monument cost $42,000 and was installed in a square in front of his spa on Wednesday. A banner declaring: "Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas" _ an allusion to a line from "The Twelve Chairs," a famous Soviet film comedy _ was posted on one of the spa's walls.

Tags: medical, health, strange, art

Brain Implants May Let 'Locked-In' Patients Speak

Fri, 23 May 2008 04:51:31 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Imagine being trapped in your own body, aware of what's going on around you but unable to move or even speak.

Thanks to a modern technological innovation known as a neural interface — a direct link between the human brain and a computer — there may be hope for sufferers of what's commonly known as "locked-in syndrome."

As portrayed in the 2007 movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," locked-in patients are conscious, but fully paralyzed except for their eyes.

A major breakthrough for these patients occurred in December 2004, when a neural interface consisting of a few thin electrodes was implanted in the brain of 24-year-old Erik Ramsey, who was "locked in" at age 16 when a car crash triggered a brain-stem stroke.

Dr. Frank Guenther and his team put the device, developed by Neural Signals Inc. near Atlanta, into Ramsey's speech-motor cortex, allowing him a chance to communicate for the first time in nine years.

Tags: medical, health, brain, technology

Bush Signs Genetics Anti-Discrimination Law

Sun, 25 May 2008 04:40:41 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed a law that prohibits discrimination against anyone whose genetic information shows a predisposition to illnesses such as cancer or heart disease.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, passed by overwhelming majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, bans health insurers and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information.

As he signed the legislation in the Oval Office, Bush praised Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was instrumental in pushing the legislation through Congress. The Massachusetts Democrat was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor this week.

The law bars health insurers from rejecting coverage or raising premiums for healthy people based on personal or familial genetic predisposition to develop a particular disease such as cancer, diabetes, heart ailments or others.

Tags: genetics, health, discrimination, medical

‘Miracle’ Marine dies

Sat, 03 May 2008 02:52:35 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

A Marine sergeant who became a symbol of resilience as he strove to recover from a roadside bomb blast in Iraq that blanketed 97 percent of his body with burns has died, the Defense Department said. He was 22.

Sgt. Merlin German died April 11 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he was continuing treatment for the injuries he suffered in combat on Feb. 22, 2005, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The former turret gunner was dubbed the "Miracle Man" for his determination in facing his wounds, which cost the former saxophone player his fingers and rippled his face with scars. He endured more than 40 surgeries, spent 17 months in a hospital and had to learn to walk again.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the state Capitol's flags would be flown at half-staff in German's honor, saying the sergeant's "courage and unfailing loyalty serve as an inspiration to Americans everywhere."

Tags: military, iraq, marine, burn, hero, medical

Clinton drops false hospital story from stump speech

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 17:14:04 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

Hillary Clinton’s campaign says the candidate will stop telling the story of an uninsured pregnant woman who lost the baby and died after being denied medical care, following a hospital raising questions over its accuracy.

Clinton has frequently told the emotional story of the woman from rural Ohio since late February. In the speech, Clinton said the woman made minimum wage working at a local pizza restaurant, without insurance, when she became pregnant. Clinton said the woman ran into trouble and went to a hospital in a nearby county but was denied treatment because she couldn’t afford a $100 payment.

In the speech, Clinton said the woman later was taken to the hospital by ambulance and lost the baby. The young woman was then taken by helicopter to a Columbus hospital where she died of complications.

But an Athens, Ohio hospital is questioning the accuracy of the story.

The hospital said the woman did indeed have insurance, and at least at their hospital was never turned away.

Tags: politics, clinton, lies, medical, controversy

Odor tyrants: Those sensitive to scent fight back

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:39:03 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Karen Kraig has been known to raise a stink about strong smells.

The Sept. 11 attacks caused the Manhattan financial consultant’s already acute sense of smell to go both ballistic and bronchial, leaving her wheezing whenever she encounters a whiff of perfume, laundry detergent, fabric softener or window cleaner.

As a result, Kraig instructs clients to show up for their appointments fragrance-free — or else.

Kraig is not alone in her sensitivity to strong smells. Fragrances were named “allergen of the year” for 2007 by the American Contact Dermatitis Society. And a 2003 study of more than 10,000 mothers and their infants in England found air fresheners, deodorants and aerosols were “significantly associated” with headaches in moms and earache, vomiting and diarrhea in their babies.

The problem is that what some consider ambient aromas, others perceive as a relentless chemical assault on their respiratory system.

Tags: medical, health, human, body, scent, smell, odor

Baby Girl Born With Two Faces Worshipped as Reincarnated God

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:51:57 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

She's only a few days old and already a baby girl in Northern India is being worshipped as a reincarnated god.

• Click here to watch a video of the girl

The newborn is unlike any other child villagers have seen before — she has two faces.

The parents are hoping the government will help with medical treatments needed for their baby girl in the future.

Tags: baby, religion, belief, india, god, deity, medical

Born-again virgins claim to rewrite the past

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:03:29 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Victoria Watts, a 23-year-old single mother of two small children who lives in Canton, Ohio, lost her virginity at 16 with her high school boyfriend.

She was the granddaughter of a Pentecostalist pastor and the daughter of an assistant pastor, and she believed sex outside marriage was wrong. “I felt really bad from a religious standpoint,” she recalls of the experience. “My thoughts were really clouded because I was so emotionally bonded with my boyfriend. That overshadowed my religious world.”

So Watts engaged in a lot of prayer and thought, and now declares herself a virgin once again. “The most important thing was to realize what my values were and what I want in the future and the bigger goals in my life," she says. "That’s why I can call myself a renewed virgin.”

Across the country, "revirginization" appears to be gaining steam.

Tags: medical, sexuality, women, religion, virgin, belief

Man tells off comatose wife, rouses her from coma

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:00:03 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A mother who fell into a coma during labour came back from the brink of death after her husband gave her "a bloody good rollicking".

Yvonne Sullivan, 28, suffered blood poisoning and blacked out after being told her newborn son had died during a traumatic birth.

When doctors told him they might have to switch off her lifesupport machine, he sprang into action.

Holding his wife's hand, he told her: "You start fighting, don't you dare give up on me now. I've had enough, stop mucking around and start breathing. Come back to me."

Two hours later she started breathing on her own.

Within five days Mrs Sullivan's ventilator was switched off and she regained consciousness.

Yesterday she said she remembered her husband berating her.

"I can't remember exactly what he said but I never liked getting told off by Dom," she recalled.

"Something inside me just clicked and I began to fight again.

Tags: health, medical, marriage, death