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State loses case over special diet for PKU

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:16:56 +0000

A Nashville judge has ruled the state was wrong to refuse to pay for special foods for two young TennCare patients with a rare genetic disorder.
State officials fought the decision, fearing it could lead to a flood of requests from people who want TennCare to cover food for medical diets.
Chancellor Carol McCoy ruled Wednesday in favor of two Coffee County children.
The children have phenylketonuria, an incurable disease that can cause permanent mental retardation if patients don’t eat specially modified food.
McCoy found that PKU is different from other medical conditions because patients can’t consume ordinary food or modify their diets with everyday products. She said the state failed to take into account the serious harm to the children if they don’t eat the special diet.

Pine Ridge Reports Over $1.2 Million in 2008 Revenues

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:22:16 +0000

FORT WAYNE, IN, Dec 30, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) –
(PINKSHEETS: PINR) Kevin May, Pine Ridge Holdings CEO, is pleased to announce the consolidated, total revenues for the Pine Ridge Holdings companies totaled $1,214,122 (unaudited) through November 30, 2008. This number represents a 7% increase over the same period in 2007.
This total includes the revenues for Pine Ridge Racquet Club ($834,008), Pine Ridge Fitness Club ($250,228) and AcousTech, Inc. ($129,887).
ServeNation revenues were not included in the figure since the company began operations in May 2008.
Pine Ridge Fitness had a 12% increase in total revenues compared to 2007, while AcousTech, after a difficult 2007, experienced a 34.5% jump in revenues. At the same time, year over year expenses actually decreased modestly by 1%.
May stated, “I am pleased with these revenue numbers in light of the difficult economic climate we have been operating within this year. 2008 will go down as a truly significant year for us because we've shown investors the vast potential of our holdings while growing each of our businesses one strong step at a time. I anticipate solid, continued revenue growth in 2009. As we begin the new year, I look forward to sharing more with our investors precisely why our future looks even brighter. Our companies are real, our revenues are real, and our potential, especially that of ServeNation, is somewhat staggering.”
ServeNation has seen explosive growth since it began operations on May 15, 2008 with revenues topping $100,000 in December alone.
Shareholders are encouraged to visit http://www.pineridgeholdings.com for informational updates.
This press release contains certain “forward-looking” statements, as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Statements, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The Company, through its management, makes forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future operations, performance and other developments. Such forward-looking statements are necessary estimates reflecting the Company's best judgment based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the Company. They include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to develop operations, the Company's ability to consummate and complete the acquisition, the Company's access to future capital, the successful integration of acquired companies, government regulation, managing and maintaining growth, the effect of adverse publicity, litigation, competition, sales and other factors that may be identified from time to time in the Company's public announcements.
SOURCE: Pine Ridge Holdings, Inc.
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.

NJ hospital fined over discarded corpse

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:12:15 +0000

TRENTON, N.J. – A Jersey City hospital has been fined more
than $20,000 for violating state procedures after the remains of a
stillborn baby were mistakenly thrown out with its trash several
weeks ago.
Christ Hospital was notified of the penalty in a Jan. 20 letter
from the state Department of Health and Senior Services.
State officials said the body of Bashere Davon Moyd Jr. was put
in the hospital’s morgue after he was stillborn Dec. 21. It was
discarded sometime between then and Jan. 2, when a funeral home
employee came to pick up the body.
Investigators found the hospital didn’t keep a morgue log book
and that officials waited two days to report the missing remains.

Prison officers argue over fitness test

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:08:33 +0000

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) is so not impressed with proposals for existing staff to take annual fitness checks which involve running several times between bollards 20 metres apart that it is expected to vote against the idea, leading the Ministry of Justice to lose the £50m it had been given to ‘modernise’ the workforce in prisons.
Currently, new recruits have to take the test and only 10 out of 8000 have failed. And even if they fail that test, they can still be classified as fit enough if they get through a control and restraint exercise.
However, the row over the physical tests is thought to be masking the real issue, which is the plan to create a two tier workforce with existing officers stepping up to take on a new role designed to reduce prisoners’ offending behaviour (and being paid up to £29,500) and new ‘operational officers’ doing what existing prison officers do now for up to £25,000. According to Justice Secretary Jack Straw, this arrangement could save up to £100m over five years.
On the fitness test, Straw said: “We have to have a minimum level of fitness so officers can operate safely and protect other staff. Just as with the army or the police when you are dealing with the necessity to hold people with force you have to have people who are fit. It almost goes without saying.”
But POA general secretary Brian Caton said: “What we want to do, the same as the police, the same as the fire service, is to have an occupational health strategy that allows for prison officers to be tested to see if they are healthy enough to do the job, rather than whether they can run between two points x amount of times in a minute.”

States Sue Over Provider Conscience Rule

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:15:42 +0000

In three separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the states and groups sought an immediate court order preventing the regulation from going into effect Jan. 20 and a permanent decision voiding the rule.
“The Bush administration has left a ticking political time bomb that is set to go off,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who filed one of the suits on behalf of his state as well as California, Illinois, Massachusettts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. “This midnight rule is a nightmare for hospitals and clinics as well as women.”
Blumenthal’s lawsuit challenges the regulation on several grounds, including charging that it conflicts with other federal laws and many state laws and regulations. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a second suit on behalf of its affiliates, while the American Civil Liberties Union filed a third suit on behalf of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Helath Asssociation, which represents many state and county health departments among other providers.
“We filed this lawsuit today on behalf of the millions of women whose health care has been put in jeopardy by the Bush administration’s parting shot at women’s health,” said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.
The Health and Human Services Department, which issued the regulation in December, did not have any immediate comment on the lawsuits. But supporters defended the regulation.
“The regulation is important because we increasingly are seeing discrimination against health care personnel who hold religious beliefs having to do with abortion and contraception,” said David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association. “Unless these conscience rights are protected, people are going to be driven out of health care.”
The regulation empowers federal officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic or other entity that does not accomodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other employees who refuse to participate in any care they consider objectionable on ethical, moral or religious grounds.
Conservative groups, abortion opponents and others sought the rule to safeguard workers who refuse to provide such care from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways. Women’s health advocates, family planning proponents, abortion rights activists and others have condemned the regulation, saying it will create a major obstacle to provide many health services, including abortion, emergency contraception for rape victims, family planning, infertility treatment and end-of-life care, as well as possibly a range of scientific research.
Although President-elect Barack Obama has voiced objections to the regulation and could repeal it, and legislation has been introduced in Congress to block the rule, both of those steps could take months to complete
“We are seeking a court order as quickly as possible,” Blumenthal said. “We need this immediate order to prevent confusion and chaos. “

Local Fitness Boot Camp Collects over 200 Toys For Troops Families

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:58:44 +0000

In 2008, the NJ National Guard deployed the highest number of troops in it’s history. This information was given to Ryan Toth, the founder of Total Core Fitness Boot Camp, by a boot camper who is in the Guard. To help the families of the Guard, toys which are collected for the Annual Boot Camp For Toys workout, would be donated to them.
“When word got out that we were collecting for the families of our troops, people opened up their pockets and got toys.” Toth further explained, “We all know the economy isn’t great right now, but many want to help their fellow neighbor who is fighting for our country.”
The workout which was held on December 13, had 25 people participate who added to the donations being brought in by boot camp clients and friends. Toys ranging from footballs, books and games to scooters and bicycles will make their way to the children who will not have their loved one home, but will have a toy for this holiday season.
. To see the highlight video from the event go to

Controversy Over New 'Conscience' Rule

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:24:07 +0000

Dec. 19, 2008 — An 11th-hour ruling from the Bush administration gives health care workers, hospitals, and insurers more leeway to refuse health services for moral or religious reasons.
The rule, issued today, becomes effective in 30 days. Its main provisions widen the number of health workers and institutions that may refuse, based on “sincere religious belief or moral conviction,” to provide care or referrals to patients.
“This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience,” says Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt in a statement.
or sterilization services to which they are morally opposed. The new rulings give individuals and institutions much greater leeway in refusing to provide services to which they are morally opposed.
The ruling, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, covers an estimated 571,947 “entities” including doctors’ offices, pharmacies, hospitals, insurers, medical and nursing schools, diagnostic labs, nursing homes, and state governments.
Each of these entities is required to certify in writing that they will comply with the ruling. Failure to comply may be punished with loss of federal funding.
A wide number of medical groups strongly oppose the new ruling. These groups include the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and 27 state medical associations.
The focus of the new ruling is on protecting health care workers and institutions that oppose abortion and a broad interpretation of “sterilization.”
“Today’s regulation issued by HHS under the guise of ‘protecting’ the conscience of health care providers, is yet another reminder of the outgoing administration’s implicit contempt for women’s right to accurate and complete reproductive health information and legal medical procedures,” says a statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The Catholic Health Association, representing the Catholic hospitals that care for about a sixth of U.S. patients, strongly supports the conscience ruling. The group says it’s seen a number of efforts to force doctors to perform — or make referrals — for abortions and sterilizations.
“Ultimately, the central question is whether organizations and individuals should be required to participate in, pay for, provide coverage for, or refer for services that directly contradict their deeply held religious or moral beliefs and convictions,” the Catholic Health Association noted in a Sept. 24 letter supporting the rule.
The Family Research Council, which strongly opposes abortion, also supports the ruling.
“This is a victory for the right of patients to choose doctors who decline to engage in morally objectionable practice,” the FRC says in a statement.
A Sept. 24 letter signed by the AMA and many other medical groups says existing laws protect health care workers from having to participate in practices they find morally objectionable.

Doctors seek dismissal of suit over fatal Brockton Hospital crash

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:53:26 +0000

A local medical group, facing a lawsuit over a car crash into Brockton Hospital that killed two people, is seeking to have the case quashed by a special court-appointed tribunal.
Compass Medical and four of its doctors are accused of failing to warn the elderly driver in the crash, a patient of theirs, against driving while medicated.
In a Plymouth County Superior Court filing Monday, Compass Medical denied all accusations of negligence and fault in the crash, and asked for the suit to be dismissed.
The group, which has offices around the Brockton area, also said it wants the case handled as malpractice, not wrongful death. The filings requested a “medical malpractice tribunal” to review the case:
The tribunal — consisting of a judge, doctor and lawyer — considers the evidence in malpractice cases and screens out about 16 percent of them, according to the Massachusetts Medical Society. It wasn’t immediately clear if the tribunal could actually review the Compass Medical case, which involves a suit for wrongful death, not malpractice. A lawyer for the defendants, Joan Eldridge of Cambridge, declined to comment Tuesday.
The suit was filed on behalf of Kathleen Vasa of Norwell, the widow of victim Dr. Mark Vasa. Her lawyer, Brad Greenberg of Brockton, could not be reached Tuesday.
The October 2007 crash killed Vasa, 58, chief of radiation therapy at the hospital, and 59-year-old Susan Plante of East Bridgewater, a secretary.
The driver, Jane Berghold of Rockland, pleaded guilty to two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation in May and received probation. Police said she stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, crashing through the front doors of the radiation department.
Berghold, 77, had originally been sued by Vasa’s widow but settled out of court without making a payment.
The suit now accuses Drs. George Clairmont, Michelle Beaupre, Jonathan Ellis and Ersan Yalcin, all of Compass Medical, of negligence for prescribing powerful drugs to Berghold but failing to warn her against driving.
The case is the most recent to wade into new legal territory by holding a doctor responsible for a patient’s actions. It follows last year’s ruling from the state Supreme Judicial Court allowing a similar wrongful death suit, against Dr. Roland Florio of Brockton, to proceed.
Florio is being sued for failing to warn an elderly patient about the side effects of prescription medications. That patient was driving a car when he struck and killed a 10-year-old Stoughton boy in 2002. The case is scheduled to go to trial in March.

Over 10000 receive free checkups at Family Health Festival

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:52:05 +0000

An estimated 10,000 people across all ages received free health checks during the month long festival while the kiosks saw a many-fold footfall of visitors who went away well acquainted with common healthcare disorders through games, counseling and distribution of educational material.
‘The tremendous response received by Family Health Festival is indeed very encouraging. The enthusiastic participation in every activity has definitely contributed to creating enhanced health awareness amongst the residents. We can safely assume that collective societal purpose has been aptly served,’ says Dr. Prem Jagyasi, MD and CEO, ExHealth, the company which conceived and executed the festival.
The initiative was supported by Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), Dubai Health Care City (DHCC), Global Village while Green Crescent Insurance Company was the main sponsor. In addition, the event received an overwhelming assistance from several leading healthcare organizations such as Lifeline Healthcare, Dubai medical suites, Prime Medical Group, Karama Medical Centre, Kaya Skin Clinic, 800 Doctor, amongst others.

US group sues Coke over VitaminWater health claims

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:49:45 +0000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. consumer group said Thursday it filed a class action lawsuit against Coca-Cola Co, accusing the company of making deceptive health claims about its VitaminWater beverages.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said Coke made a range of claims that go beyond those allowed by the Food and Drug Administration.
“Coke markets VitaminWater as a healthful alternative to soda by labeling its several flavors with such health buzz words as ‘defense,’ ‘rescue,’ ‘energy,’ and ‘endurance,’” the group said in a statement.
The company also claims the drinks reduce the risk of chronic disease and eye disease, promote healthy joints and support immune function, CSPI said.
“In fact, according to CSPI nutritionists, the 33 grams of sugar in each bottle of VitaminWater do more to promote obesity, diabetes and other health problems than the vitamins in the drinks do to perform the advertised benefits listed on the bottles,” the consumer group said.
Coke officials were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Martinne Geller; editing by Gerald E. McCormick)