Nationwide Nursing Shortage Prompts
Search For Long-Term Solutions
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS -- It's a number that still gives Beth Mancini pause: 4,200 people applied to nursing programs in Texas two years ago but were turned down. "We need every one of those nurses; they could be hired tomorrow," said Mancini, associate dean for undergraduate nursing at the University of Texas at Arlington, adding that last year's number was probably 5,000. The nationwide nursing shortage is reaching crisis proportions, yet prospective students are being turned away largely because of the increasingly lean corps of nursing faculty. It's a problem with few solutions, as more instructors reach retirement age and as the private sector and its high pay draw nurses away from academia.

Nursing Shortage Keeps Getting Worse
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago area hospitals are warning there's no end in sight to a six-year nursing shortage that could endanger patient care. "Imagine calling for a nurse and having no one respond because the staff is busy with other patients," the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council warns in a stark new report. The report noted that studies have documented that inadequate staffing can increase the risk of medical errors.

Doctor: Vioxx Use Can Cause Heart Attack
The Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Intermittent use of Vioxx or even a day's use of the painkiller could be enough to cause a heart attack, a prominent heart and medication expert testified Monday on behalf of a man who is suing the maker of the drug, claiming it caused his heart attack. Vioxx breaks down so slowly in the body that it takes about 85 hours to clear out of the blood, testified Dr. Benedict Lucchesi, a professor at the University of Michigan who helped develop the first pacemaker.

Merck Lawyer Tries to Block Medical Expert
The Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Merck & Co. attorneys unsuccessfully tried to block a plaintiff's medical expert from testifying Friday in the second product liability suit over Merck's withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. The renowned cardiologist, Dr. Benedict Lucchesi, was part of the team that originally developed the pacemaker. Lucchesi, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School, is expected to testify on the impact of medications on the heart.

First Federal Vioxx Trial Moved to Houston
The Associated Press
HOUSTON -- Yet another Hurricane Katrina "evacuee" has a home in Houston — the nation's first federal trial involving Merck & Co.'s withdrawn painkiller, Vioxx. U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, who is overseeing hundreds of federal civil lawsuits related to Vioxx, has ruled the first one will proceed as scheduled on Nov. 28 in Houston rather than in its original venue. According to a court filing, the judge and attorneys discussed the date and venue for the case and agreed Houston "was an appropriate and convenient forum for the trial."

Study: Medical Research Spending Jumps
New York Newsday
CHICAGO -- Total U.S. spending on medical research has doubled in the past decade to nearly $95 billion a year, though whether the money is being well spent needs much better scrutiny, a study has found. The report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association comes amid heightened public attention to medical research because of liability lawsuits over the painkiller Vioxx, political debate over stem cell research and the untapped potential of curing or preventing disease through mapping the human genome.

Bacteria, Lead Taint Water in New Orleans
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- New government tests show dangerous amounts of sewage-related bacteria and lead from unknown sources in the floodwaters in New Orleans, and high levels of chemicals such as hexavalent chromium, used in industrial plating, and arsenic, used in treating wood. Environmental Protection Agency officials are taking samples daily at sites around New Orleans for biological pathogens and more than 100 chemical pollutants, including pesticides, metals and industrial chemicals.

E.P.A. Struggles to Determine Extent of Hazards in Sludge
New York Times
WASHINGTON -- The magnitude and geographic sweep of the pollution left by Hurricane Katrina is so enormous that the Environmental Protection Agency is struggling to determine what the worst hazards are, where they are and what can be done about them, the agency's administrator said Wednesday. The difficulties could cast doubt on plans of the New Orleans mayor and other city officials to reopen drier neighborhoods within days. Late Wednesday, a day after raising the possibility of letting some residents return to their neighborhoods, Mayor C. Ray Nagin urged residents to stay out of the city because the water was undrinkable and remaining floodwaters posed what the health director called "significant health risks."

Federal Officials Urge Flu Shots for All
WASHINGTON -- Federal health officials are pressing forward with plans to ensure flu vaccinations for hurricane evacuees in shelters as well as all people in nursing homes, populations they say are particularly at risk while living in tight quarters. Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that elderly evacuees, as well as those of all ages at shelters, will be among the first to receive flu shots this fall.

Patient Dies of Sedative Overdose
The Associated Press
BOSTON -- An elderly man at Brockton Hospital died after he was given 60 times the recommended dose of a sedative, according to a report. State investigators say even after a nurse discovered the error, the hospital mistakenly gave the patient, who was not identified, other sedatives and antidepressants for two days as the man's blood pressure dropped. Nurses also administered two doses of antibiotics more than six hours late. The man, who was alert when he entered the hospital on April 9, died four days later on April 13.

California Whooping Cough Cases Surge
NBC San Diego
SAN DIEGO -- California health officials are reporting a rising number of whooping cough cases. More than 1,200 whooping cough cases have been reported this year, which is triple the number reported last year. Four resulted in deaths, whereas two deaths were reported last year. The state Department of Health Services said the higher numbers may be due to improved testing and diagnosis, rather than a surge in actual cases.