Fetal Tissue Heals Burns
Tests Show Treatment Led to Normal Skin Regrowth
The Washington Post
An experimental therapy that uses skin cells grown from an aborted fetus successfully healed severe burns in eight children, sparing them the need for skin grafts, according to a study published today. The treatment led to the regrowth of essentially normal skin on second- and third-degree burns in about two weeks, according to the report by a Swiss research team.
Nurses, Hospital Workers Hit The Picket Line
KING5.com
SEATTLE -- Nurses and hospital workers at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, who are members of the Service Employees International Union, picketed the hospital Tuesday to protest proposed changes in retirement and health care benefits. Swedish officials say the current pension plan is outdated and expensive. They want to move to a 401k plan where employees choose how much they want to contribute to their retirement. Under the proposed changes, employees would also have to pay a monthly premium on health care, something they haven't done in the past.
Doctor, Nurse Shortages Could Mean Longer Waits For Care
Detroit Free Press
LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan faces a shortage of doctors and nurses in the next several years, prompting a push by state health and education officials to promote the medical profession and head off an already disturbing predicament for some people.
APA Urges Less Violent Video Games
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Violence in video games is bad for children's health. So says the American Psychological Association, which is calling on the industry to cut it back. The statement said that studies of video games and interactive media show the perpetrators of violence go unpunished 73 percent of the time.
Hospital Develops Programs To Aid Nurse Retention
Benton Courier
While a nationwide nursing shortage continues, Saline Memorial Hospital is taking steps to reward nurses on staff at the hospital in Benton. The SMH Board of Directors has approved a recommendation from the Nurse Recruitment and Retention Committee to establish a reward program. The program involves awarding a $500 bonus to nurses who achieve certification status in their particular fields.
Jury Gets Case in First Vioxx Trial
The Associated Press
ANGLETON, Texas -- Merck & Co. should have told doctors and consumers "the good, the bad and the ugly" about Vioxx long before pulling it from the market last year, a plaintiff's attorney said Wednesday in closing arguments in the nation's first civil trial involving the once-popular painkiller. Mark Lanier, who represents the widow of a Texas man who died in 2001, accused the New Jersey pharmaceutical company of practicing denial and deception for the last decade, minimizing safety concerns about Vioxx to reap billions in annual profits.
FDA Won't Ban Diet Drug Meridia
New York Newsday
WASHINGTON -- The government won't ban the prescription diet drug Meridia but, faced with reports of deaths, says it will closely monitor a European study designed to better assess the pill's heart risks. The consumer group Public Citizen had petitioned the Food and Drug Administration for a ban, citing Meridia users who died of heart problems as young as their 20s and 30s. Even before Meridia was approved for sale, the FDA knew it could increase users' blood pressure, the group contended.
Panel: N.H. Ritalin Ranking Is Misleading
TimesLeader.com
CONCORD, N.H. -- Despite its No. 1 ranking in Ritalin distribution, New Hampshire is not out of line in diagnosing and treating children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, according to a committee that spent a year studying the issue. Kevin Hall, New England director of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, whose group was created by the Church of Scientology, doesn't believe there is any circumstance in which it would be appropriate to prescribe Ritalin or the other drugs to children. He called the guidelines for doctors "horrific," he said they will lead to more unnecessary drugging of children. Hall said the committee was made up of people who created the problem and spent most of their time trying to show it doesn't exist.
AARP: Wholesale Drug Prices Top Inflation
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Wholesale prices for the brand-name prescription drugs widely used by older Americans rose at more than twice the rate of inflation during the year that ended March 31, the AARP says. The price charged by manufacturers climbed 6.6 percent for a sample of 195 drugs. That's down from the 7.1 percent increase in the year that ended Dec. 31 but still well ahead of the 3 percent general inflation rate, the organization said in a report for release Tuesday.
Racial Gap Shrinks for Some Medical Care
ABC News
BOSTON -- The health care gap between blacks and whites is closing on many simple, cheap medical treatments, but deeper disparities stubbornly persist for more complex and costly procedures, new research suggests. The findings from three large federally funded studies indicate it's possible to equalize health care between races, but it won't happen quickly or easily.
Rohm and Haas Lawsuit Targets Brain Cancer
SanLuisObispo.com
PHILADELPHIA -- Thousands of Rohm and Haas Co. employees should be tested for brain tumors because of a cluster of deadly cases among scientists and others at a research campus, a worker argued in a class-action lawsuit. The chemical company conducted its own study in 2004 and found no significant links among 15 workers who developed brain tumors at its Montgomery County campus since 1973. All but one of those people died.
