"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

Toni Cordell’s surgery would be “an easy repair,” her doctor said. Embarrassed at being a slow reader, she signed the informed-consent papers she was given without understanding them.

She said no one, including her doctor, explained the procedure in detail beforehand or uttered the word “hysterectomy.” Cordell didn’t discover the nature of her operation until months after surgery when an office nurse inquired about her recovery.

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From:
PIRE (Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation)
11720 Beltsville Drive, Suite 900, Calverton Office Park
Calverton, MD 20705-3102
Tel: 301-755-2738 | Fax: 301-755-2799
Email: info@pire.org | Web: www.pire.org

Albuquerque, N.M. - Cultural stereotypes about Hispanics could impede Latino youth from seeking help for drug and alcohol abuse. In turn, substance-abuse treatment providers must better understand how their own attitudes toward culture can affect the provision of sufficient behavioral health services, according to a new study. To do this, providers must first assess their own notions of culture and address any hidden biases.

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By Bob Curley

New Mexico’s chronic problems with alcohol were never more brutally clear than on Nov. 11, 2006, when a drunk driver speeding the wrong way down Interstate 25 slammed into a minivan, killing six members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family.

Dana Papst, 44, had been drinking on a US Airways flight and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.32 percent — four times the legal limit – when the head-on collision occurred. The crash killed Paul Gonzales, 36; his wife, Renee Collins-Gonzales, 39; their daughters Jacqueline Gonzales, 11, and Selena Gonzales, 11; and Alisha Garcia, 17, who was Paul Gonzales’ stepdaughter.

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Its great to see a generally conservative business magazine discussing positive, successful global health efforts in Africa. Forbes has 3 very recent pieces that are worth skimming. Again, this is yet another indication of increasing convergence of the social and business sectors that we had previously profiled (trends in global health coverage by the business press).

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The House Committee on Education and Labor heard emotional testimony about abuses at so-called boot-camp programs for troubled youth, and members vowed to step up regulation of the programs, USA Today reported Oct. 11.

A Florida jury last week acquitted guards and a nurse of manslaughter charges over the death of a 14-year-old boot-camp resident, but Congress heard many other stories about children who died while enrolled in similar programs. “I can’t think of any testimony that we have heard in this committee that has caused a greater sense of anger and sorrow,” said committee chairman Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).

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Guards and a nurse involved in the death of a 14-year-old resident of a Florida boot camp for young offenders have been cleared of manslaughter charges by a state jury, the Associated Press reported Oct. 12.

The case centered on the question of whether boot-camp employees acted properly in their treatment of Martin Anderson, who was physically restrained after refusing to run laps around an exercise field. Anderson collapsed after he was held and forced to inhale ammonia fumes in an incident captured on surveillance video. The incident took place on Anderson’s first day at the camp.

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Author Doris Lessing on Thursday won the Nobel Literature Prize for her epic literary works that cover feminism, politics and her youth in Zimbabwe. The Nobel Prize jury describes her as “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”.
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Information on fitness, health, relationships, nutrition HEALTH: DOCTORS & HOSPITALS Alternative Treatments to Keep You Healthy

MedlinePlus: Alternative Medicine
Standard care is what medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy and allied health professionals, such as registered nurses and physical therapists, practice. Alternative medicine means treatments that

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California bill will prod national decision makers, serve in lieu of federal policy if Congress fails to act

SACRAMENTO—The California Assembly Health Committee passed the Pharmaceutical Drug Information and Safety Act, SB 606 (Scott), today with all members present voting in favor of the bill. The measure will require pharmaceutical companies to disclose the results of clinical studies, meaning that doctors, patients, researchers and even industry competitors will gain access to information on the side effects and effectiveness of medicine currently on the market.

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A survey of nearly 700 surgical residents in 17 U.S. medical centers finds that more than half failed to report needle-stick injuries involving patients whose blood could be a source of HIV, hepatitis and other infections.

Authors of the report — appearing in the June 28 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine — say most residents in the survey falsely believe that reporting and getting timely medical attention won’t prevent infection. Residents also say reporting takes “too much time” and interrupts their work.

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