After the economy, healthcare is the biggest domestic issue influencing voters in the US presidential election.
Both candidates have ambitious plans to reform the health system to expand the group covered by health insurance, and to control costs.
But the scale of the financial bail-out and the growing size of the US budget deficit could limit any attempt at reform, whichever candidate is elected.
“Do we have the money to be our brothers’ and Read the rest of this entry »
“G'DAY Mum,” were the first words Hannah Mighall uttered, in a surprisingly cheery tone, when she was stretchered out of an ambulance at the St Helens District Hospital.
The 13-year-old's mother Flossie, father Malcolm and sister Kitty, 11, had been pacing around the hospital, trying desperately to hold back tears as they waited for her to arrive.
“She'll be okay – she's tough, remember,” Mrs Mighall told Kitty, who was almost Read the rest of this entry »
Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, a federal judge in St. Paul on Monday dismissed a series of lawsuits filed by hundreds of patients who claimed they were injured by a heart device made by Medtronic Inc.
The patients were implanted with a lead, or insulated wire, used in an implantable cardioverter defibrillator system made by the Fridley-based medical technology company.
In October 2007, the Sprint Fidelis lead was recalled by the Read the rest of this entry »
-(Dow Jones)- The Food and Drug Administration Thursday approved
the first implantable device designed to deliver electrical therapy to the brain
to suppress symptoms associated with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The device, known as Reclaim DBS [deep brain stimulation] Therapy, is made by
Medtronic Inc.
(MDT). The product was approved to treat patients with OCD in
cases where drug and psychotherapy have failed. It’s expected the device Read the rest of this entry »
- The Statewide Narcotics Task Force raided a Norwich residence Thursday and came away with a variety of drugs, paraphernalia, cash and an arrest.
Troopers from the task force's eastern squad entered 133 Rockwell Ave. about 7:30. They arrested John Dugan, 29, and took from his home 1,744 grams – nearly 4 pounds – of marijuana, 760 “hits” of LSD, a cache of 240 pills including Vicodin, Xanax and Adderall. Police also confiscated Read the rest of this entry »
For more than a dozen years, advocates have fought to lift restrictions on mental health coverage in insurance policies.
On Friday, they won an enormous victory when Congress passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
The law doesn’t require health insurers to cover mental health care. But if they do, they’ll have to treat psychological and addictive disorders just as they do other medical Read the rest of this entry »
The prison bought 10 tricycles for inmates and three for staff at a cost of $560 each. Anderson said the prison is saving $1,500 to $2,000 a year in fuel and maintenance costs with the tricycles, which are used instead of staff vehicles.
The tricycles also are good exercise for inmates and gives a better public impression when inmates are cycling rather than riding in vehicles on government property, he said.
Inmates who are close to release use Read the rest of this entry »
“A major concern of consumers considering medical tourism is the
in-depth research required on all the intricacies involved,” suggests
Look. “That’s why new businesses have sprung up to assist consumers in
this task.” Look notes five such new businesses in her recently
published white paper. She says many of these companies will perform the
entire planning process for the consumer … do all the necessary Read the rest of this entry »
RARITAN, N.J.
,
Oct. 24
/PRNewswire/ — Ortho Clinical Diagnostics today announced 510(k) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its VITROS(R) 5600 Integrated System. This next generation system is uniquely designed to integrate clinical chemistry and immunoassay testing to increase laboratory productivity and will be able to perform more than 100 different chemistry, immunoassay and infectious disease assays Read the rest of this entry »