Category: Medicine

Pence Promises Kentucky Its Obamacare `Nightmare’ About to End

Vice President Mike Pence said the “nightmare” of Obamacare will soon end as he visited Kentucky in hopes of drumming up some good publicity for a contentious health bill that’s united many conservatives and liberals — as well as doctors, seniors and “Obamacare has failed the people of Kentucky it has failed the people of America and Obamacare must go,” Pence told told an invited audience of about 100 mostly small business owners and Republican backers in Louisville.

Donald Trump and the Flouting of the Goldwater Rule

In 1964, Fact Magazine produced a special issue entitled “The Unconscious of a Conservative: A Special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater,” specifically addressing the mental health of then-Republican presidential candidate Sen. Barry Goldwater. As would be expected, the magazine did not pronounce Goldwater with a clean bill of mental health.

Bird flu found at commercial chicken farm in Tennessee, USDA says

A strain of bird flu has been found in a commercial chicken farm in Tennessee, the US Department of Agriculture and state government agencies said Sunday. The H7 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, was found in a flock of 73,500 chickens in Lincoln County, in the central part of the state on the border with Alabama, the USDA said.

Nolan hears ACA repeal concerns32 min ago

Nathan Moracco , assistant commissioner of Health Care at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, speaks as Head of the Lakes United Way president Matt Hunter and Sarah Wovcha with Children’s Health Services listens during a healthcare forum organized by the Head of the Lakes United Way in the Underground at the Depot in Duluth on Friday … (more)

Tenet CEO welcomes delays in Republican changes to Obamacare

The delays in Republican plans to overhaul Obamacare are helpful to hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp, the company’s chief executive officer said on Tuesday, as the timeline shifts further out for any changes to government healthcare payments. Trevor Fetter, CEO of Tenet Healthcare, speaks at the Reuters Health Summit in New York, May 7, 2013.

Sen. Bill Cassidy’s town hall: Fractious and furious constituents shout down the senator

Town halls around the country are fractious affairs these days for Republican members of Congress, but the crowd of hundreds that showed up at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library in Metairie today for a town hall with U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy was so raucous and furious that CNN began carrying it live. People began arriving around noon to line up and hold a parking lot rally before the doors opened at 3 p.m., so attendees already were tired of waiting when Cassidy arrived 22 minutes late to the 3:30 p.m. town hall.

Scientists Identify Chain Reaction That Shields Breast Cancer Stem Cells From Chemotherapy

Working with human breast cancer cells and mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have identified a biochemical pathway that triggers the regrowth of breast cancer stem cells after chemotherapy. The regrowth of cancer stem cells is responsible for the drug resistance that develops in many breast tumors and the reason that for many patients, the benefits of chemo are short-lived.

Court considers constitutionality of Ohio execution process

A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday over the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection process as the state tries to start carrying out executions once again. At issue is whether a contested sedative, midazolam, is powerful enough to put inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before two subsequent drugs paralyze them and stop their hearts.

Senator: VA retaliating against whistleblower

A Wisconsin senator has accused the Department of Veterans of Affairs of firing a doctor for speaking out about alleged shortcomings at a Missouri VA hospital and then thwarting his efforts to get hired at another VA site. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who heads the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, wrote in a recent letter to the VA’s acting secretary the department should “cease all retaliatory actions” against Dr. Dale Klein.

New reports suggests La. could be doing more to help smokers quit

According to the recent State of Tobacco Control 2017 report from the American Lung Association, Louisiana received an F grade in several categories when it comes to helping smokers in the state. “While the report states that the State of Louisiana’s Tobacco Control programs are failing Louisiana smokers, it does not adequately reflect the service made available for no charge to Louisiana residents by the New Orleans-based Smoking Cessation Trust , that are successfully helping smokers quit.

Women could take big hit if ACA is tossed

From a return to higher premiums based on gender, to gaps in coverage for birth control and breast pumps, experts say women could end up paying more for less if the Obama-era health care law is repealed. The 2010 law ended a common industry practice of charging women more than men for policies purchased directly from an insurer.

The Latest: Trump looking to ‘re-doing’ NAFTA

President Donald Trump says he’s looking at “re-doing” the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he says has been a “catastrophe for our county.” The president made the comments in a pair of meetings Thursday with lawmakers and employees from the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company.

Doctor’s FMLA retaliation claim reinstated

A federal appeals court has reinstated a retaliation charged filed by a physician who hired an attorney after her vacation was denied and was put on probation a month later. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld the dismissal of other charges filed by Dr. Chinwe Offor, a neonatologist who is an African-American of Nigerian descent, against Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, New York, including race and national origin discrimination, according to last week’s ruling in Dr. Chinwe Offor v.

Kids will fall through the cracks with Obamacare repeal – what’s Trump’s Plan B?: Joan Benso and Denise Salerno

Kids will fall through the cracks with Obamacare repeal – what’s Trump’s Plan B?: Joan Benso and Denise Salerno Molly Brechtel, at left, and Daniel Doubet join about 15 protestors gathered at the Federal Courthouse in Erie, Pa., on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, to deliver signatures to U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who has an office at the courthouse. The protestors urged Toomey not to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement.

Israeli army has a smoking problem, new study finds

Nearly 40 percent of Israelis are smokers by the time they finish their compulsory army service, according to a new study. That is twice as high as the overall national rate and dramatically higher than among American soldiers, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Trump Is Giving A Beleaguered Vaping Industry Renewed Hope

Leaders in the vaping industry are hopeful President Donald Trump will help slash regulations threatening to put electronic cigarette vendors across the country out of business. E-cigarette manufacturers and vendors faced a brutal year of new rules and regulations from the federal government and localities throughout many states.

Well Wishes Pour In For Ex-President, First Lady

Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, remain hospitalized in Houston, where he was in intensive care for pneumonia and she was being watched after complaining of fatigue and coughing. The 92-year-old former president went into the ICU on Wednesday and underwent a procedure “to protect and clear his airway that required sedation,” family spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement.

Former President George H.W. Bush and wife hospitalized

In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 file photo, former President George H. W. Bush, right, and his wife, Barbara, are greeted before a Republican presidential primary debate at The University of Houston in Houston. On Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, the former president was admitted to an intensive care unit, and Barbara was hospitalized as a precaution, according to his spokesman.

Drug company fined $150 million for not reporting suspicious orders

A prescription drug wholesale company was handed a record fine Tuesday on allegations from U.S. regulators for not reporting suspicious orders of painkillers. McKesson Corporation will pay a $150 million fine and stop selling certain drugs in Colorado, Ohio, Florida and Michigan after it avoided its own internal systems to avoid inconsistent or outsize orders of drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone that are linked to the national opioid epidemic, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

Editorial: Bad bug

Forget fake news and the Russian influence on the U.S. election. Forget about ripping up trade deals and building walls and deporting illegal immigrants.

Wolf faces tough second-half fight

For about 45 minutes, the scene at Highlands Hospital on Friday looked like a textbook illustration on how government should work. There was Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in a conference room, flanked by three local Republican state legislators, listening to doctors, local officials, and a grieving mother discuss how to address the plague of opioid abuse.