Although medicine has made advances in treating strokes, more than 795,000 Americans suffer them annually, they kill 140,000 of us each year, and they’re a leading cause of disability. But medical experts, revising their care guidelines, say that patients with the most common kind of stroke — a clot blocking blood flow to the brain….
Continue ReadingArchives for January 2018
Politicians toss a CHIP at poor but ignore big woes like soaring medical costs
Let’s give the faintest cheer — maybe of the Bronx variety — to the Republican-controlled Congress for, finally, reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, aka CHIP. This means that months of high and needless anxiety will end for nine million or so youngsters who will get health insurance, coverage that their poor or working poor….
Continue ReadingRepeated, lesser head hits, and not just concussions, linked to brain harms
As the science keeps getting deeper, the news keeps getting worse about the harms that can be inflicted by repeated blows to the head in sports — and in life. The path-breaking medical scientists at Boston University and elsewhere, who have helped to establish how concussions, notably in football, may lead to the onset of….
Continue ReadingAs fatalities and wrecks rise, experts call for crackdown on booze and driving
Politicians and policy-makers can’t ignore the rising number of vehicular deaths, and they must crack down fast and hard on the increasing road toll associated with alcohol abuse. At the request of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a blue-ribbon expert group has examined not only the overall increase in road deaths — to 37,461….
Continue ReadingMedical devices are an unregulated ‘Wild, Wild West,’ investigator warns
Jeanne Lenzer, a seasoned medical investigative reporter, points out that 32 million Americans — about one in 10 of us — have at least one medical device implanted in our bodies. These include artificial joints, cardiac stents, surgical mesh, pacemakers, defibrillators, nerve stimulators, replacement lenses in eyes, heart valves and birth control devices. Most patients….
Continue ReadingSick of woes with Big Pharma, hospitals moving to make own generic drugs
Some big hospitals and hospital chains are on the brink of expanding into another aspect of health care. Let’s give them a rare cheer, because they’re taking on Big Pharma and its skyrocketing drug prices and too frequent supply shortages. Intermountain Healthcare, a nonprofit hospital chain based in Salt Lake City, is leading a well-publicized….
Continue ReadingDo D.C. smokers really want to toss away $1.9 million on an unhealthy habit?
If money really talks, could financial data persuade smokers, finally, to see the light and give up the habit, knowing that it racks up seven-figure lifetime costs per user in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia? WalletHub, a West Coast personal finance site, has posted its crunching of data from the U.S. Census Bureau,….
Continue ReadingSleep deaths and other evidence show U.S. has far to go on kids’ health
Many grown-ups may love to grin, coo, and snuggle with babies and little kids, telling themselves that they’d bust through walls for the sake of adorable youngsters’ well-being. But evidence indicates the nation has a far way to go to better children’s health. Although the U.S. spends more per capita than most wealthy, democratic nations….
Continue ReadingPresident O? Let’s first look hard at her role in hyping health humbug
Oprah Winfrey’s recent rousing broadcast speech — both in accepting an entertainment industry group’s lifetime achievement award and denouncing sexism and sexual harassment in Hollywood — also opened the door to a reconsideration of how this talented, smart, accomplished, powerful, and wealthy celebrity icon long has helped to foster a barrage of health and medical….
Continue ReadingAs flu season rages, please get vaccinated and take other precautions
The flu season’s roaring across the country. It’s a bad one, with the H3N2 strain afflicting millions with a severe form of illness — which also has been deadly, notably for the old and young. If you haven’t done so, consider getting a flu shot, asap. The flu shot this year may be less than….
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