Medical News May 3rd, 2008
Is medical-marijuana use reason to deny someone an organ transplant?
The death this week of a musician who said he was denied a liver transplant because of his medical-marijuana use has highlighted a new ethical consideration: Should pot use with a doctor’s blessing be held against a dying patient who needs an organ transplant?
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Two women scientists share top U.S. medical prize
America’s top award in medicine, Albany Medical Center Prize, went Friday for the first time to two women scientists.
Elizabeth Blackburn of University of California, San Franciscoand and Joan Steitz of Yale University won the Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for their groundbreaking molecular research that “may lead to more effective treatments for a variety of diseases,” said the Albany Medical Center in a statement on Friday.
The two scientists will share 500,000 U.S. dollars in the world’s second largest prize award, next to the 1.4 million U.S. dollars Nobel Prize.
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Medical Properties Trust subsidiary buys Florida hospital for $25M
A subsidiary of Medical Properties Trust Inc. has purchased the HealthSouth Sunrise Rehabilitation Hospital in Florida for $25.7 million.
Long Beach, Calif.-based HCP, formerly known as Health Care Property Investors, sold the 89,968-square-foot building to MPT of Fort Lauderdale on April 25. MPT is a subsidiary of Birmingham-based Medical Properties Trust.
HealthSouth’s lease was transferred to MPT, according to court records. The hospital has 116 beds.
Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions
Taser International has fired a warning shot at medical examiners across the country.
The Scottsdale-based stun gun manufacturer increasingly is targeting state and county medical examiners with lawsuits and lobbying efforts to reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone’s death.
That effort on Friday helped lead an Ohio judge’s order to remove Taser’s name from three Summit County Medical Examiner autopsies that had ruled the stun gun contributed to three men’s deaths.
Technology in motion: Cincinnati hospitals buy top-of-line scanners
Doctors looking for greater image quality in less time are fueling a race among hospitals to get the most powerful computed tomography scanners in place.
The question is how good is good enough, as prices for the machines reach into the millions.
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California Court Posts SSNs, Medical Records
“California’s Riverside County Superior Court’s Web site is serving up document images containing SSNs and detailed medical records relating to civil cases, according to a couple of privacy advocates. All of the documents are free to anyone who knows where to look for them. ‘Searches done on the court’s Web site turned up various documents related to civil cases that contained sensitive information. Included were complete tax filings, medical reports pertaining to cases handled by the court, and images of checks complete with signatures as well as account and bank-routing numbers.’”
Dr. Catanzaro Named to Parkridge Medical Center Board Of Governors
Dr. Jim Catanzaro has been named to the Board of Governors of Parkridge Medical Center. Dr. Catanzaro serves as the president of Chattanooga State Community College and brings a wealth of leadership experience to his new role on the Parkridge board. The primary function of the Board of Governors is to assure that the Hospital and the medical staff provides quality medical care that meets the needs of the community.
Medical center appeals state’s denial for southern hospital
Rowan Regional Medical Center and Novant Health have appealed the state’s denial of their application to build a community hospital in the southern part of the county.
Michael C. Burton, director of corporate communications for Rowan Regional, said the appeal was filed last Thursday with the Certificate of Need Section of the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation, which announced the denial in a 119-page report released on April 8.
Vietnam-era Veterans Honored at VA Medical Center
The Missouri Army National Guard recently honored 26 Vietnam-era Veterans at the Kansas City VA Medical Center.
“The program was enacted to recognize every Veteran who honorably served on active duty in United States military service at any time beginning February 28, 1961 and ending May 7, 1975,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Davis. “We are here in recognition of their selfless service and the significant sacrifices made on behalf of their country during the Vietnam War.”
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Evidence That Stun Guns May Stimulate The Heart
On the eve of the British Columbia inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, a review of scientific data in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) finds that in some cases, stun guns may stimulate the heart in experimental models. This evidence is contrary to current views that stun guns only affect skeletal muscles.
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Medical experts say U.S. facing doctor shortage
Forty-four medical students from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria will graduate today, earning their degrees before heading off into America’s hospitals for years of more training.
And by some estimates, the field of medicine will need every one of them.
In the early 1980s, researchers predicted a glut of doctors would clog the profession and recommended shrinking class sizes at medical schools. As a result, enrollment levels remained flat or declined through most of the 1980s and 1990s.
