· If your spouse has a separate plan, act quickly to get on it.
· Ask about your COBRA rights. With some exceptions, laid-off workers can continue their coverage for 18 months by paying its full cost. (Congress is considering a temporary, 65 percent premium subsidy.)
· If COBRA coverage isn’t an affordable option, explore non-group plans. Make sure that any coverage meets the requirements to protect you against preexisting condition exclusions Read the rest of this entry »

A health worker lost a memory stick containing medical information of more than 6,000 prisoners and ex-prisoners from HMP Preston, an NHS Trust said.
Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust said the USB stick was being used to back up clinical databases at the prison when it was lost on 30 December.
The data was encrypted but the password had been written on a note which was attached when it was misplaced.
The trust said the member of staff concerned Read the rest of this entry »

Though the famous have personal trainers and access to every “It” nutrition plan, some are human, with hunger pangs, hankerings for all things caloric and aversions to exercise like the rest of us.
Here’s a few examples of women who lost weight in 2008 and how.
–GWYNETH PALTROW: The normally pin-thin star admitted she packed on some holiday pounds (too many canapes at the Fontainebleau, perhaps?).
How she did it: The 36-year-old mother of two Read the rest of this entry »

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Inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. E-mail addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Your e-mail address is what makes your comments unique, not your user name. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or e-mail address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to three URLs in your comments. Line Read the rest of this entry »

Brooklyn mom who lost limbs, sight in hospital stands tall again
Friday, December 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
Four months after losing her hands and feet, a brave
mother Thursday took her first real steps on the road to recovery.
“I can’t believe I just walked!” said
, who is suing
for malpractice.
“This is the first time. I felt great! Great! Great!”
are amazed by the woman’s determination in the face of an enormous tragedy that also left Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve come a long way from “I didn’t inhale,” former President Clinton’s rather lame attempt to explain away a marijuana toke. President Obama has been candid about his use of marijuana and cocaine as a young man, when he was grappling with his identity. In his autobiographical Dreams From My Father, he wrote, “I got high (to) push questions of who I was out of my mind.”
The revelation barely caused a ripple during the campaign.
Maybe America Read the rest of this entry »

But Dr. Terry Mason, Daley’s health commissioner, said Hoffman’s assertions about missing medicine and poor record-keeping were “not quite true.”
“It’s not my belief that anything has been stolen,” Mason said. “Every dose of vaccine, we know where it went, so none of that was wasted.”The city last year lost its license to handle powerful drugs that are regulated by the federal government, such as the generic equivalent of Valium, in part because Read the rest of this entry »

A landmark study shows that people can lose weight on a variety of diets — including low-fat plans and low-carb ones — as long as they consume fewer calories.
Yes, it does seem like common sense, but weight loss has become a big business. Diet programs and best-selling books offer a banquet of different approaches, including cutting fats or cutting carbohydrates.
To get to the heart of the matter, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Read the rest of this entry »

Tue, 24 Feb ‘09
Children who have lost a parent in an air medical accident may
now be eligible for financial assistance through a scholarship fund
developed by the Foundation for Air-Medical Research &
Education (FARE), the charitable arm of the Association of Air
Medical Services (AAMS).
Beginning this year, the FARE Children’s Scholarship Fund will
award two scholarships, of $2,500 each, to deserving high school
seniors entering a college, university Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday, January 3rd 2009, 11:36 PM
family to relive one of the darkest moments of their lives.
, 45, of
disease when he was just 5 years old.
Vincent, now 13, battled a fever for more than a week. The boy’s eyes were bloodshot and his skin was covered in a rash. His lymph nodes were swollen and his tongue was puffy and red like a strawberry.
“My husband was taking him to the ER every day because he was so sick,” the Long Island mom recalled.
Read the rest of this entry »