That actually is a hard one to answer. The Bhopal disaster happened on terra firma and the exact number of deaths attributed to it is still a subject of discussion. Many estimate that the number killed from the immediate explosion as more than died in the Twin Towers 9/11 attack, many sources also claim that as many as 16,000 people have died as a direct consequence of the Bhopal disaster. Death is not always immediate, sometimes it can occur long after the event. There is no finer example of that than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the case of BP and the disaster in the Gulf the number of[....]
Archive
Tag: Medical News
As a book reviewer I am always on the hunt for what I class as an expert. I found not one, but two experts in the husband and wife team of Mannie Barling and Ashley Brooks. At first glance their books may not sound like best sellers. Who wants to hear about yet another diet? The world is awash in diets! From all you can eat cabbage soup, to a staple of pounds of fried bacon at every opportunity. The word ‘diet’ itself has also changed its meaning over the past several decades. Today it invariably is used in conjunction with ‘weight loss’, but that is not the true[....]
Ah, the wonders of organic farming and living in a rural tropical paradise. Right now, we are in the middle of rice growing season (which started later than usual because the rains came late). So time to make the fertilizer. To grow organic rice, it means more preparation of the fields (plowing under and flooding the fields so weeds won’t grow) before planting rice seedlings by hand. But we need fertilizer, which we “make” by mixing carbonized rice husks, good bacteria, chicken manure, and the minerals according to the analysis of the soil. As a result, when we sit out in[....]
I was born in 1955 and during the past 55 years I have been stunned by the huge advances in the field of medicine. At the age of 12 I watched a TV news report about a South African surgeon named Christiaan Barnard, he had performed an operation thought impossible, a heart transplant. Today, while hardly a trivial procedure, (there are thousands of Heart Transplants performed every year) it is no longer a newsworthy story. There have been many other great advances in that time that have had a profound impact on the world. Global killers such as Smallpox and Polio have all but disappeared,[....]
I have to admit that I am rapidly becoming a believer that every time a see a BP or government official spew forth the latest update, I see their nose’s grow. BP had to remove Tony Hayward, his nose would no longer fit on the CNN TV set! The well is capped, well sort of. Oil is no longer spewing out from the sea floor. And low and behold, the shrimping season has started. Of course there are no safe places to go fishing. The crab industry is in equal disarray. One set of ‘experts’ claims that 75% of the oil has magically disappeared. Another set of experts claims that 75%[....]
I’m old enough to remember when a doc took two dollars to see you in his office, and the entire staff was his wife (when I became a doctor, only 6 percent of docs were women, so yes, the doc was a “he). In the 1980’s, I had one secretary, one nurse.and a part time typist to help me. In 2000 I worked for the government, and we had three nurses for two doctors (and yet often I was left trying to find one to help me…this was a government clinic, after all, so coffee breaks tended to be long). Then we had 6 folks in medical records, and another four in the office [....]
The Taliban did it again. Killed a medical team whose only crime was to travel into isolated areas to treat eye disease. Their “crime”? They were supposedly being “spies”, even though only a few of the medical team were Americans. Oh yes: And they were (gasp) Christians. Can’t have that, can we. Kill the infidel. Never mind that the lead optometrist was well known in Afghanistan, fluent in local dialects and working there for over 20 years. So what were this team of eye doctors doing there? From the BBC: Dr Woo gave up a well-paid job with private healthcare[....]
Up popped a comment on my Facebook page: American Medical News Do you think your practice is, or will be, ready for meaningful use? Uh, silly me. True, I’m now retired, but I though that seeing 20 plus patients a day, diagnosing their ills, ordering their treatment, and (often) listening to their woes and advising them on what to do was meaningful. Or maybe not. You see, under Obama’s medical experts, the word “meaningful” means spending time, money, and energy to obey government dictates on electronic medical records, whether or not you want to do it, and whether or[....]
The Washington Post had an AP scare headline: Medical device problems hurt 70,000+ kids annually. Oh Heavens, another headline for doctor haters to point fingers at hard working docs. So ignore the headline, and let’s go to the Journal Pediatrics to see what the real story is. First of all, the definition of “medical devices” is quite broad. If you ever scratched your eye putting on your glasses or eye protectors, you’re on their list. If your 8 year old got Grandmom’s wheelchair or scooter and raced it down the corridor of her apartment building, and[....]
Dr. Berwick, now appointed to a US panel to shape US heath care, is an admirer of the UK system of health care, which includes limiting or rationing of it’s care. So this week, two stories are coming out of the UK on health care. One is a report that more autonomy will be given to GP’s in deciding their patient’s care. But the second, if true, is ominous. The UK Telegraph reports: An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered widespread cuts planned across the NHS, many of which have already been agreed by senior health service officials. They include: *[....]
There is a minor kerfuffle in the right wing blogs about Michael Bellesiles being caught publishing fiction as truth. The right wing has it in for Bellesiles, since he once faked data on gun ownership in early America, trying to prove no one owned guns then (and ergo the second amendment was meant to refer to the National Guard, not to private ownership of guns). So there are a lot of people out there to “get” him when he writes. What is interesting is that, when he wrote a very nice essay published in the Chronicles of Higher Education, that no one at that magazine bothered to[....]
The CDC has released their schedule telling us docs what shot to give our patients. Most of the recommendations are about the same. A lot of the shots are the same as we have given for years. But there is one difference for elders: Now older adults will get a shot to stop “Zoster”. AKA HERPES Zoster (no, not that Herpes). AKA Chicken pox. You see, the chicken pox virus hides in the cells of nerve roots, and breaks out when you get sick, overworked, develop cancer, etc. Voila, Shingles. Shingles is a painful rash along the line of the nerve that was infected. The pain can be[....]
(London,UK) British autism campaigner have formed a new autism partnership urging the UK Government to act on autism. The campaigners have launched a new website urging people in the United Kingdom to support the petition on autism – for further information on how UK citizens can support the ACT NOW Petition, please access the ACT NOW website: http://actnow01.web.officelive.com/default.aspx According to the Act Now website: ‘Autism campaigners are working together to ‘ACT NOW!’ about the proposed benefit cuts and assessments and have launched a petition which we intend to[....]
Most of the sharks are out attacking Mel Gibson’s shocking behavior. Well, it’s better reading that the other stories in the news, such as the oil spill or that suffering Haitians still need help. And it allows lots of folks to wax self righteous. Ironically, it is Whoopie Goldberg, a celebrity who also defended Roman Polanski, who came to his defense. Drunks say stupid stuff to people all the time because they’re drunk. They’re out of control. They are not thinking they are idiotic. That’s why I don’t like alcohol. I can’t say anything about that because I know [....]
A couple weeks ago, I ran across a strange story about Zimbabwe: a couple of known terrorists were caught crossing the border from Zimbabwe into South Africa at Beitbridge. 33 year-old Imran Muhammad…was arrested last Sunday while trying to get through Beitbridge border post to South Africa on what officials believe was a fake Kenyan passport. He was traveling together with another Pakistani national. The Herald newspaper says that man is 39-year old Chaudry Parvez Ahmed. They are reported to have come to Zimbabwe from Saudi Arabia, via Tanzania . The paper says that an Imran[....]
President Obama pulled a fast one last week. While the public was entranced by trivial stories on Hollywood celebrities gone mad, or repeated laments about the oil spill, the President appointed Dr. Donald Berwick as head of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). His appointment is a triumph for “scientific medicine”, because Berwick has spent his career trying to implement studies showing physicians the most cost effective way to treat our patient. Presumably I should be pleased, except that I am old enough to know that caring for patients is[....]
I can see the outrage by animals lovers everywhere after they read the AP headline: Baghdad kills 58,000 stray dogs in 3-month span It’s all about rabies. One reason that Islam says that dogs are “unclean” was because stray dogs carry rabies and other diseases. (These edicts did not go against hunting or watch dogs, by the way). The AP article notes that with the security problems in Baghdad, the dog control program was discontinued, while at the same time the increase in security and prosperity meant that there was more food for stray dogs to eat. This resulted in a[....]
I have recently been made aware of a little known disease that tens of thousands may be suffering from, and not even know it. It is a very difficult to diagnose disorder that effects brain function, and causes it’s victims to say and/or do incredibly irresponsible, often idiotic things. This disorder is known quite simply as douchebaggery, or “DB”. Long term this disorder can lead to an inability to function normally in society, and may cause a more serious condition known as Misfortune Due to Douchebaggery Syndrome, or “MDTD”. Those that suffer from DB and/or MDTD may experience[....]
Reporters are busy reporting the story of the day, but often they miss the big picture, preferring to report stories as a race horse betting game. Example: Michael Steele said that Afghanistan is the President’s war. What will Rush say? Will that make Obama’s popularity poll go up or down? Time out, fellahs. Because a lot of the blame for the Obama administration (for example, on the oil spill) has more to do with a big bulky government bureaucracy than it does with his competency. On the other hand, a good burocracy has “contingency plans” for everything. So maybe[....]
Background: According to a report in the National Review, the ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists) originally opposed the procedure the select ACOG panel “could identify no circumstances under which this procedure . . . would be the only option to save the life or preserve the health of the woman.” But Kagan wrote them a memo instructing them to change the language: So Kagan set about solving the problem. … On a document [PDF] captioned “Suggested Options” — which she apparently faxed to the legislative director at ACOG — Kagan proposed that[....]