Pill and HRT Drugs Cause Cancer, Say Researchers
Health Sentinel
Oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy drugs have been classified as carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation. WHO's cancer research group - the International Agency for Research on Cancer - announced yesterday that it had reclassified the pill and hormone replacement therapy from "possibly carcinogenic to humans" to "carcinogenic to humans". The reclassification concerns combined eostrogen-progestogen treatments and places the compounds used in the drugs in the same classification as tobacco and asbestos.
Review Finds Pill Increases Cancer Risks
ABC Online
Women who take the birth control pill increase their risk of cervical and breast cancer, scientists say. A review of research by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has concluded that oral contraceptives protect against some types of cancer but might trigger others. Previously, liver cancer was indicated as a risk for women who take the pill, IARC said. But the latest research shows cervical and breast cancer are also possible risks.
House Passes Medical Malpractice Caps Bill
The Washington Times
The House yesterday approved a bill that caps noneconomic, or "pain and suffering," awards at $250,000 for plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases. The bill, which was passed 230-194, faces a tougher battle in the Senate. Two similar versions of the bill passed the House in 2003 and 2004, but both died in the Senate.
Impostor Nurses Infecting Arizona
High demand exacerbates problem
The Arizona Republic
The number of people caught posing as nurses in Arizona has doubled over the past two years and continues to rise in the midst of a national nursing shortage. Impostor nurses are applying for jobs all over the state, from a senior-living home in Tucson to a Phoenix hospital. Some impostors have no nursing credentials. Others overstate their credentials. The potential for harm is significant, say nursing managers as nurses provide critical care.
Criminal Charges Filed Against Impostor Nurse
WNDU-TV
St. Joseph County, IN -- Criminal charges have been filed against a woman who was fired by the St. Joseph County Health Department last month. It turns out, the former prenatal care coordinator wasn't the licensed nurse she claimed to be, and needed to be to hold that position. The woman faces two misdemeanors; one for allegedly lying about her credentials, and another, for taking a nursing job, without a nursing license.
Testimony Bares Cover-Up In Nursing Home Death
2 officials urged lies, grand jury was told
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A nursing assistant at the defunct Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center told a federal grand jury that the center's former administrator and former treasurer urged him to lie in court about a resident's death, according to evidence presented yesterday in U.S. District Court. Harold Whipkey also told the grand jury that Warren Mason, the former treasurer, coached him last year on explaining contradictions between investigators' findings and his statement about the death of resident Mabel Taylor in 2001, according to a grand jury transcript read during a trial for the nursing home and its former administrator, Martha Bell.
Weight-Loss Surgeon Accused of Negligence
New York Newsday
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A weight-loss surgeon was accused by state regulators of gross negligence and incompetence in the treatment of 11 gastric-bypass patients, including six who died. Dr. Terry L. Sanderfer allegedly delayed treatment or failed to act promptly when problems arose, failed to adequately evaluate patients before and after surgery, abdicated patient care to others and kept medical notes that were incomplete or illegible, said the Medical Board of California.
Law to Restrict Cold Medicines on It's Way
News-Medical.Net
A bill that would limit access to common cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, an ingredient that can be used to make the highly addictive drug methamphetamine, has been unanimously approved by the Senate judiciary committee. The Combat Meth Bill has been forwarded to the full Senate by the committee, and a similar bill in the House of Representatives has been referred to a subcommittee for consideration.
Pesticides May Be Sickening Public School Kids
USA Today
CHICAGO -- Pesticide use in or near U.S. schools sickened more than 2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period, and though most illnesses were mild, their numbers have increased, a nationwide report found. Sources include chemicals to kill insects and weeds on school grounds, disinfectants, and farming pesticides that drift over nearby schools, according to the report by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and their colleagues.
Congress Blocks EPA on Pesticide Testing
ABC News
WASHINGTON -- Congress is blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from relying on tests that expose pregnant women, infants and children to pesticides when the agency considers permits for pest killers. Environmentalists and the pesticide industry claimed victory on the measure. It was a compromise from versions passed last month by the House and Senate that would have banned the EPA's use of all data from human pesticide testing for a year.
