Could pediatricians accomplish what many parents cannot? Can they talk to rebellious youths about the body adornments that are all the rage now, and get kids to consider the health risks and long-term issues surrounding trendy tattoos, piercings, and body scarring? In case you’ve fallen like Rip Van Winkle into a long doze or you’re….
Continue ReadingArchives for September 2017
Sound sleep for young could be an economic boon and helpful with ADHD
Although grown-ups may struggle with health woes caused by a lack of a good night’s sleep, a long and sound slumber, without early rising, may be even more crucial for middle- and high-schoolers. Their restful sleep may have economic benefits for us all, as well as surprising effects on attention disorders, which are one of….
Continue ReadingBig Insurance ripped for fueling opioid drug epidemic
The epidemic of opioid drug abuse, which increasingly is claiming children’s lives, has plenty of blameworthy causes. Here’s a new one: health insurers which steer patients to cheaper, more addictive painkillers while playing Scrooge for less addictive but pricier alternatives. Pro Publica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism site, and the New York Times get credit for….
Continue ReadingSunday pro football games aren’t the place to serve up genetic screening malarkey
Let’s give a hurrah for Maryland health officials — they threw a red flag at a high-tech startup that planned with the Baltimore Ravens football team to serve up a mass genetic screening test at a recent game. The blunt reality is this would have been genetic malarkey. This incident should serve as a reminder, caveat emptor,….
Continue ReadingNew questions on safety, for old and young, about medications for the mind
Psychiatric medications, which doctors have prescribed freely and patients have taken dutifully, not only may have demonstrated risks for the young but also under-considered problems for adults older than 40 — 1 in 7 of whom has filled a script, for example, for an antidepressant. The New York Times has done a service by bringing….
Continue ReadingRegulators probing sanitary & staffing woes at leading D.C. hospital
MedStar Washington Hospital Center, described by its chief medical officer as “the most important hospital in the most important city in the most important country in the world,” is under investigation by regulators in the District of Columbia due to maintenance failures that allowed sewage to seep down walls and onto operating room floors. USA….
Continue ReadingIn hurricanes’ wake, new concerns about elderly and tainted waters
Although Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have stormed off into the record books, their harms, particularly to health, persist for Texans, Floridians, and residents of the Caribbean. Recovery and return to normalcy will take the ravaged areas longer than many Americans realize, experts say. And they already are uncovering systemic woes, some fatal, with which planners….
Continue Reading‘Poor me’ cries from Big Pharma, medical device makers? They’re bunk
Big Pharma and medical device makers have mastered the art of crying “Poor me!” complaining without end about the time and costs of getting products to the market and the need for regulators to lighten up. New information, however, undercuts this industry whine—and it reminds that the nation’s watchdogs need, if anything, to be tougher….
Continue ReadingGOP senators trying to sneak in one more push to repeal, replace Obamacare
As the 40th President of the United States used to mutter, well, there they go again. The Republicans in the 115th Congress apparently will make another go at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, what may be their 70-something such try. It may come in the form of legislation advanced by GOP Senators Lindsay….
Continue ReadingDr. Watson? IBM’s super computer may not be such a medical whiz, after all
Technology is transforming medicine without a doubt, but its proponents—including one of the computing industry’s titans—may be getting ahead of themselves in boasting about their devices’ capacities. Stat, the online health information news site that had a rocky week of its own, deserves credit for reporting that IBM at present is overselling the medical capacities….
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