Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Simulating Medical Situations Helps Students Learn, Retain Basic Science Concepts
Simulating medical scenarios helps medical students learn and retain vital information, according to a new study done by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Biological Warfare In Bacteria Offers Hope For New Antibiotics
Scientists are to study a group of proteins that are highly effective at killing bacteria and which could hold the key to developing new types of antibiotics.
News of the day
Drop In Access To Abortion Would Reward Antiabortion-Rights Violence, Opinion Piece Says
After the murder last month of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, "there is a very real danger" that the availability of abortion later in pregnancy "will end in this country -- not after public deliberation, legislative debate and majority vote, but because antiabortion absolutists on the fringe have intimidated and blacklisted doctors and successfully threatened violence against them," Jim Buie, author of the blog The Buie Knife, writes in a Newsweek.com opinion piece. Buie writes that his parents in the early 1950s chose to institutionalize his three-year-old-brother, who was born with severe Down syndrome, after their attempts to care for him left them with "severe emotional distress" and unable "to meet the needs of their healthy children."Buie continues that he "cannot say that the option of a late-term abortion would have been the right one for my parents." However, "some of the arguments advanced by pro-life forces disturb me," he says, especially a "tendency to romanticize, sentimentalize and idealize life with a cute, forever-young Down-syndrome "angel child."" Buie adds, "It"s an argument I find off-putting, especially when it"s espoused by people who have never been through the wringer trying to care for a child whose disability level is on the most severe end of the scale." He continues, "At the same time, it is very disturbing that until recently, the majority of Down-syndrome fetuses were aborted without expectant mothers receiving proper information or support."Because of Tiller"s murder, it is "possible there won"t be any doctors in the country willing to perform" abortion later in pregnancy, "even if prenatal tests indicate severe retardation," according to Buie, who adds that this would mean that "domestic terrorism could win." He concludes, "It would mean that parents like my own would no longer have a choice, and would instead be forced to endure the same harsh realities that were present in the 1950s" (Buie, Newsweek.com, 6/17).
Mental Health

Malpractice Suits, Other Factors Contribute To Rise In Caesarean Births, Experts Say

Many doctors believe that the increase in caesarean section births in the U.S. over the last decade has been fueled by three main factors -- fear of malpractice lawsuits, a decrease in vaginal births after c-sections and rising rates of obesity -- the St. Petersburg Times reports. According to the Times, 31.8% of U.S. births were c-sections in 2007, compared with 21% a decade earlier, making c-sections the most commonly performed procedure in the nation"s hospitals.A few decades ago, c-section births were relatively rare, representing only 4% of U.S. births in 1965. According to the Times, c-section rates began to increase when it was believed that many cerebral palsy cases were the result of infants being deprived of oxygen during traumatic vaginal deliveries, which led to malpractice suits against doctors. At the same time, advancements in neonatal care and electronic fetal monitoring in recent decades have helped make the procedure safer and therefore more common. Robert Yelverton, a physician and board member of the Florida Obstetric and Gynecologic Society, said that doctors "tend to opt for the method of childbirth most likely to withstand a legal challenge." Whereas doctors in the past were more likely to use techniques such as vacuum extraction or manually turning an infant during a difficult birth, doctors today automatically opt for a c-section, according to Yelverton. According to the Times, one study found that 76% of U.S. obstetricians reported at least one litigation event, with an average award of $2.3 million for negligence in childbirth.An increase in obesity and a decline in VBACs also have driven the rise in c-section births, the Times reports. VBACs have declined from nearly 30% in the 1990s to 7.9% in 2005, which some doctors say is a result of fear of litigation because of the chance for rare but serious complications during birth. Similarly, obesity puts women at an increased risk for gestational diabetes, delivering prematurely or having larger infants, which can make birth more risky, the Times reports. More than one-third of U.S. women of childbearing age are overweight or obese (Martin, St. Petersburg Times, 6/17). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009