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The CEO of the Christian Medical Association says government-run healthcare will mean the end of right of conscience for physicians. The House promises a vote on healthcare reform by Saturday, although a version of the bill would still need to be approved by the Senate. Dr. David Stevens warns if that happens, many will feel inclined to leave the medical profession. "It's going to damage right of conscience for faith-based healthcare professionals. We actually surveyed 2,800 faith-based doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, and 95 percent of them said they will leave healthcare if it came down to violating their...

The American Society of Medical Doctors (ASMD) today released a nationwide, nonpartisan poll* of physicians showing that: 70 percent of specialty doctors oppose current Congressional and White House proposals for health-care reform; 66 percent believe that a government-run health insurance plan would restrict doctors' ability to give the best advice and offer the best care possible to their patients; and More than 60 percent would not accept new patients with government insurance (including 27% who would not accept any patients on the new government plan). Chairman of the ASMD, Alfred O. Bonati, M.D., said that, "As a physician, the results...

Analysis of the pending Obama Administration health care bill indicates that most taxpayers will end up paying more, yet get less medical care than they currently do under preexisting plans. This, however, is not a bad thing according to an Obama Administration spokesperson. “An estimated 90% of visits to the doctor are unnecessary,” observed Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. “By eliminating as many of these visits as we can, we will hold down the cost of care. We will also be reducing the frequency with which patients are injured by doctors. Most people aren’t aware that being...

Four men accused of planning to kidnap two Roanoke County women and hold them for ransom were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. Joshua Kasongo, 19, of Roanoke; Mohammed Hussein Guhad, 19, of Roanoke; Luke Musa Elbino, 19, of Vinton; and Anthony Eugene Muse, 18, of Roanoke are each charged with conspiring to kidnap and attempted kidnapping. Guhad and Muse are students at Patrick Henry High School. Elbino is a student at Virginia Western Community College.

State doc group fighting health care bills By Paul Merrion Nov. 02, 2009 (Crain’s) — The largest physicians’ group in Illinois, in a break with the American Medical Assn. on health care reform, is writing letters to Congress and running full-page ads in major newspapers across the state opposing legislation nearing critical House and Senate votes. “Our physician members are very concerned health reform is moving in the wrong direction,” the Illinois State Medical Society wrote in an “open letter to Illinois patients” posted on its Web site last week. Like the AMA, the Illinois State Medical Society has expressed...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Medicare has become a scary word to the doctors at the largest private group practice in Kansas City, Mo. It's so scary that most physicians at Kansas City Internal Medicine, with 65% of its nearly 70,000 active patients age 65 or older, have stopped accepting walk-in Medicare enrollees, said Dr. David Wilt, an internist at the group. Wilt and his colleagues say they are shunning the area's growing senior population because they believe Medicare doesn't reimburse physicians enough to cover the cost of care. "And if Medicare further cuts its reimbursement rates, then we'll be functioning...

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., center, flanked Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., left, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., discuss "the urgent need for health insurance reform". GRAND RAPIDS — Senior citizens will find it harder to find a doctor who accepts Medicare if Congress does not stop a 21.5 percent cut in payment rates, say physicians and hospitals. “We might as well start building bigger emergency rooms, because that’s where people will be if they don’t have access to a regular physician,” said Micki Benz, vice president of development for Saint Mary’s Health Care. “In the end, people’s care will suffer, and...

A boy of 10 died from meningitis after doctors wrongly diagnosed a migraine and told his mother to give him calpol, an inquest was told yesterday. William Cressey saw five doctors in three days before finally suffering 'catastrophic' brain damage. His mother, Cheryl, 48, repeatedly told doctors that she suspected meningitis but each time was ignored, she said. Just hours before he died the schoolboy begged one of those doctors: 'Please help me. I'm going to die.' By then his face was so swollen that he could barely see and he was drifting in and out of consciousness. Wiping tears...

9 hours ago WASHINGTON — In the special interest war over health care, the White House and congressional Democrats have the nation's drug makers and hospitals generally on their side; the insurance industry, not so much. Now the bill's supporters are making a play to lock in the American Medical Association, the organization that says it represents 250,000 doctors and medical students in every state and congressional district. The principal enticement, a $247 billion measure making its way to the Senate floor, aims to wipe out a scheduled 21 percent rate cut for doctors treating Medicare patients and replace it...

I know everybody here hates NPR, but I found this episode of "This American Life" focusing on healthcare, more specifically, why people often get too much un-necessary care, to be quite even-handed. What struck me is how the main problem with our system boils down to a problem with human nature, which to me is a very conservative point.

Details emerge of the scam job meeting on the White House lawn. Michelle Malkin tells Sean Hannity the greasy tactics of the Obama White House.

So Obama had to dress up a bunch of liberal doctors (most of whom are big democrat and Obama donors) and parade them in front of cameras to 'prove' doctors want Obamacare. Right. Remember, send these to your reps and senators along with your notes and emails. Let them know you're watching. Lit drop these in different places. Give to people who you know are on the fence and unsure. For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

Politics: The administration stages a photo-op with handpicked doctors who support its health care reform. Fortunately, most doctors still believe that the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. It would seem some doctors still make house calls. Some 150 of them made one at the White House Monday in an attempt to give a booster shot to the administration's chaotic and stalled health care reform drive. Rather than a grass-roots uprising of physicians, this was a classic case of AstroTurfing. Attendance was by invitation only, and 40 of the 150 were said to be members of Doctors...

Doctors from all 50 states come to support reform. White House Photo, Lawrence Jackson, 10/5/09 Love the lab coats. Adds just the right touch of staging, don't it? I actually first heard about this from a 6 year old I was driving to work, yesterday afternoon, after picking him up from his school along with his sister (I teach gymnastics, and they both take classes). He asked me why the president was with doctors (he must have seen this on tv at school, or something). I had no idea what he was referring to, but said it probably had to...

Is President Obama trying to score brownie points with the majority doctors out there? Ya just never know with the young president. One day you’re his enemy, the next day, your best friend. We’ve seen it all before. Today the president gathered doctors representing the AMA (and a variety of the medical organizations) to show how MDs support his health care plan. The lab coats are a nice touch, cause otherwise we would have to take his word for it that they are actually doctors. All style no substance.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 "TAKE A COAT...TAKE A SEAT!" Image via Wikipedia The President once again turns to the cameras of the media to push his bid for a public option in the health care bill. Yesterday he invited some 150 doctors to the White House to be with him when he faced the cameras. All of them were supposedly Obama supporters. There was however, a problem. It seems that not all the doctors got the memo reminding them to wear white coats. Not to worry though, the President's staff happened to find a supply of white coats in varying...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama yesterday rolled out the red carpet -- and handed out doctors' white coats as well, just so nobody missed his hard-sell health-care message. In a heavy-handed attempt at reviving support for health-care reform, the White House orchestrated a massive photo op to buttress its claim that front-line physicians support Obama. A sea of 150 white-coated doctors, all enthusiastically supportive of the president and representing all 50 states, looked as if they were at a costume party as they posed in the Rose Garden before hearing Obama's pitch for the Democratic overhaul bills moving through Congress. OOPS!...

The biggest phony photo op in the history of the Rose Garden, 2 more of the Doctors on stage with Obama...

Articles coming out in various media outlets such as the NYT states BHO (mmmmmm-mmmmm-mmmmm) had a Rose Garden press conference with a number of pro-health insurance reform doctors. The article touts the credentials of the docs and their organizations. Included in the NYT's article is a statement about a "new" organizaton called Doctor's for America. This AMAnews article gives some background on this org. It is the renamed activist group Doctors for Obama. I believe that this org is also closely aligned with Organizing for America.

If a rapist escapes justice for long enough, should the world hand him a get-out-of-jail-free card? If you're Roman Polanski, world-famous director, a lot of famous and gifted people think the answer is yes. Polanski, who drugged and anally raped a thirteen-year-old girl in 1977 in Los Angeles, pled guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor and fled to Europe before sentencing. Now, 32 years later, he's been arrested in Switzerland on his way to the Zurich film Festival, prompting outrage from international culture stars: Salman Rushdie, Milan Kundera, Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodavar, Woody Allen (insert...

New episode recorded at 5:00PM today is available here. The first topic they discuss is the upcoming dem version of the this show - like we steal shows from the Brits (and never seem to do them as well). We posted on the dem shwo here.

After World War II, the U.S. government invested an enormous amount of money in medicine; medical research, medical procedures and medical technologies. This investment made contemporary scientific medicine into American medicine, characterized by a continuing flow of new treatment possibilities. These advances raised all kinds of ethical questions. Some were personal and individual, others were social and political. Both type questions are addressed by a new academic discipline called bioethics. The first attempt to develop a scientific medicine took place in Greece in the 5th century B.C. It was called Hippocratic medicine. Closely linked with this first scientific medicine was...

Hey, physicians-in-training: Blabbing about patient care on Facebook and Twitter are Doctor No-Nos. A new survey of medical-school deans reveals that med students' unprofessional conduct on social networking sites and blogs is common, according to Time magazine. Many of the future doctors use YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook to discuss sexual misconduct, post discriminatory statements and talk about patient cases, according to the survey, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It's ongoing even though the students understand patient-confidentiality laws and have been instructed in the ethical standards of their chosen profession, according to the article...

Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 25, 2009 / 07:24 am (CNA).- The Mission Doctors Association will recognize a New York physician as the Catholic Doctor of 2009 for his significant volunteer work.The association will present its World of Difference Award to Michael A. Fitzgerald, M.D., at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ White Mass on October 18 at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, California.Dr. Fitzgerald, who is from Liverpool, New York, is being recognized for his commitment to his community, a Mission Doctors Association press release says. He is a volunteer with the Poverello Clinic, a free clinic for the uninsured,...

A physician grassroots movement to re-establish honor, dignity and worth to the medical profession. That its sole mission is to protect the relationship between the doctor and the patient... The MillionMedMarch will follow in October to remind our elected officials that we intend to keep coming back to Washington and keep marching until the doctors and the patients are the focus of the healthcare reform. We will be joined by the Docs4PatientCare group as well as others that will be coming from all across the US. Please join us on October 1 in DC and don't forget to sign the...

Who said that government ever made any logical sense? The State of Michigan has lighted upon a brilliant plan. It has been suggested that the state tax doctors so that it can pay doctors more via its Medicaid expenditures. Yes, the Badger State wants to tax doctors so it can pay doctors better. No logic need apply. This sounds like to sort of scam that normal people would get arrested for! And talk about an unfair tax. Doctors already pay personal income tax and taxes through their businesses. And now, if the State legislature in Lansing has its way, doctors...

Litigation: The Founding Fathers envisioned the states as laboratories for ideas and choices. If the administration needs a demonstration project for successful tort reform, it need look no further than Mississippi. When President Obama said during his health care speech to Congress that he would "look into" malpractice reform and support "demonstration projects" at the state level, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a Republican, responded: "If they want a demonstration project, come down to Mississippi. I'll show you a demonstration project." Mississippi enacted tort reform in 2004, including caps on medical malpractice awards. As a result, the number of medical...

"If there's a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that's going to make you well?" Sixty percent of doctors feel that if Obamacare is passed, patients will not have President Obama's famous choice of the red pill or the blue pill. They believe that the health care plans going through congress will stunt the development of new drugs, or as one physician said, "It will crush medical research because new and innovative treatments/technology cost money...

Doctors Warn Climate Change Will Threaten Public HealthMore than 100 doctors across the state of Michigan are calling on the U.S. Senate to combat climate change by passing Clean Energy Legislation. Reporter: Tiffany Teasley Updated: 6:58 PM Sep 17, 2009 "There's going to be more lung cancer, there's going to be more asthma," said Sherri Moore, of the SEIU Nurse Alliance. "It's a vicious cycle, one day our earth will not be a healthy place to live," said Sparrow Pediatric Pulmonologist, Dr. Autumn Clos. That's why local nurses and doctors are just a few of hundreds across the state calling...

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found. The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul. It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover...

One of the criticisms of Obamacare is how will doctors be able to handle the extra patients if all of a sudden all the uninsured become part of their case load. If he new study of doctors performed by IBD is to be believed, the problem will be worse than originally thought, as 45% of all doctors will consider leaving the profession if Obamacare is passed in its present form (take that American Medical Association). More than 800,000 doctors were practicing in 2006, the government says. Projecting the poll's finding onto that population, 360,000 doctors would consider quitting. YIKES, forget...

Health Costs: Lawyers are responsible for more unneeded procedures than "greedy" doctors. But instead of capping malpractice awards, bureaucrats will soon decide which treatments are OK and whether you're worth it.Health Costs: Lawyers are responsible for more unneeded procedures than "greedy" doctors. But instead of capping malpractice awards, bureaucrats will soon decide which treatments are OK and whether you're worth it.

Retail health clinics are adding treatments for chronic diseases such as asthma to their repertoire, hoping to find steadier revenue, but putting the clinics into greater competition with doctors' groups and hospitals. Walgreen Co.'s Take Care retail clinic recently started a pilot program in Tampa and Orlando offering injected and infused drugs for asthma and osteoporosis to Medicare patients. At some MinuteClinics run by CVS Caremark Corp., nurse practitioners now counsel teenagers about acne, recommend over-the-counter products and sometimes prescribe antibiotics. ... Walgreen, the second-largest pharmacy chain by stores, plans to start a pilot program for managing diabetes in coming...

My sister just reported back to me from the doctors' rally in DC this evening. She went with her husband and 3 teenaged daughters. Here is what she reported: It was a great, well-behaved crowd of about 1000 -- mostly doctors and some nurses. They came from across the country and all sorts of practices. She said the speakers were just folks ... that they did not appear to be professional speakers. They were just doctors, speaking from the heart. They told of personal experiences of government interference in individual care and practices and the consequences. There were a couple...

SIX cups of coffee - that's the State Government antidote to sleep-deprived doctors killing and harming their patients in a haze of exhaustion. The astonishing remedy forms part of Queensland Health's new doctor fatigue policy, currently being rolled out in public hospitals. The Courier-Mail yesterday reported the confessions of junior surgeons and medics whose exhaustion-induced errors had killed or hurt patients during "on-call" shifts of 30 to 80 hours. But a guidelines document underpinning QH's Fatigue Risk Management System claims "solutions such as 'we need more staff' might not be achievable or effective in managing a fatigue risk."

EXHAUSTED doctors have confessed to killing and harming patients, falling asleep during surgery and crashing their cars because of marathon shifts. The public hospital medicos claim to be so tired on the job that they are working "like drunks". More than 100 doctors vented guilt and anger in a confidential Queensland survey. Almost 60 per cent admitted to fatigue-induced errors while performing procedures.

Abortion advocates have got to be scratching their heads. For the first time in decades, they have staunch allies in the top echelons of government and the left-wing majorities needed to advance their agenda. No legislative roadblocks impede their way -- not a president's veto pen, not hostile committee chairs, not unfriendly leadership in the House and Senate. They also have a president who promised to make the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill that would overturn all state-level abortion restrictions, his first priority as the nation's chief executive. More importantly, with Obama the pro-abortion movement has the luxury of...

U.S. Soldiers from the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division participate in a medical conference at the Yarnouk Medical Center in Baghdad, Aug. 25. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Edwin Wriston, 1st Infantry Division. BAGHDAD — Medical forums in Baghdad's Yarnouk Medical Center bring U.S. Army and Iraqi medical experts together to keep the Iraqi medical world linked and informed. Medical professionals from the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division helped the Iraqi Ministry of Health host the 'Grand Rounds' forums; designed to help prevent future medical problems and offer solutions to existing ones."Conferences such...

Catholic Medical Association withholds support of end-of-life bill Fearing a new, if subtle, pressure to die, the Catholic Medical Association is withholding support for proposed federal legislation promoting discussion on end-of-life options between doctors and patients. Other groups — like the Catholic Health Association, Providence Health and Services and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization — are backing the idea, which is intended to improve care of the dying. Section 1233 of the House health reform package was originally introduced in April in a bill by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. It would require Medicare to reimburse doctors for addressing...

Obama Health Care leads to forced indenture. Can’t any one see where Obama Health Care is headed? The monetary costs are trivial compared to FORCED INDENTURE. Forced indenture will follow single payer healthcare, as night follows day. Do those who demand health care for all know what they are asking for? No, they don’t. If they did, they would be embarrassed. Read all

Half of GPs said they believe swine flu is too mild to justify taking a vaccine … a nurse prepares a syringe during a mass immunisation exercise at Bolton arena in 2006 to test procedures in case of a flu pandemic. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA Many GPs, as well as their patients, may be reluctant to be immunised against swine flu once a vaccine is developed, surveys suggest today. A survey of GPs published on Healthcare Republic, the website of GP magazine, found that up to 60% of GPs may decline vaccination. Although the numbers who responded were small – 216...

Health Care Reform: A study by the British Patients Association tells the true story about socialized medicine in Britain. It's one of willful and woeful neglect of millions, missed diagnoses, and elderly patients left in pain.BD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For FailureWhile reading this disturbing analysis of the pitiful state of medical care in Britain in the Daily Telegraph, the Vincent Price horror classic "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" came to mind. Price portrayed a man who used bizarre methods to dispatch his victims. The abominable British National Health Service, based on this report, is only slightly better. The...

Practicing US physicians uniting to represent the interests and concerns of both, patients and doctors in the healthcare reform debate. D4PC endorses the concept of needed healthcare reform, but we recognize it can only be accomplished by proceeding in a cautious and responsible manner. Our recommendations will enable us to reach this goal without requiring the nationalization of the entire American healthcare system. Docs4PatientCare Proposed Alternatives For Effective Healthcare Reform: There is no logical reason to hastily pass this legislation by a predetermined deadline. We have one chance to get this right. Bring "all" stakeholders together to help assure a...

Health Systems: Health care in France is often held up as a model the U.S. might follow. Yet the French have their own problems that show there's no such thing as a free lunch — or a free doctor's visit.Call it the grass-is-greener syndrome. Advocates of national health care, acknowledging the flaws in ObamaCare yet despising the current U.S. system that has the best medicines, the best medical equipment and the shortest waiting lists, have turned their eyes lovingly to places like France. As City Journal contributing editor Guy Sorman notes, the French would also love to have the low-cost,...

Reform: If Massachusetts is any guide, the passage of ObamaCare is almost certain to increase demand and worsen the shortage of doctors. Access to health care doesn't mean much if there's no doctor to provide it.Suppose health care reform passes and all are insured, by force or otherwise. The U.S. will be short 124,400 front-line physicians by 2025, according to the Association of Medical Colleges. That does not include the 15,585 new primary-care providers the administration plan is estimated to require. The Massachusetts reforms enacted in 2006, designed to provide universal coverage, provide an insight into what we might expect...

Yesterday, the Sunday papers announced that the White House is going to "retreat" on the so-called "public option" -- i.e., a government healthcare option to compete with the private insurers. Instead, they are getting bipartisan support for establishing a publicly funded healthcare "co-op." But this is no "retreat." The co-op arrangement is simply the public option by another name, and by a more circuitous, stealthy route -- with the same ultimate objective: nationalized healthcare. Understand that the "co-op" would be funded by the government (i.e., the taxpayers). More importantly, to get admission into the co-op, insurers would have to abide...

Healthcare IT Provider MedPlexus Offers Cash for Clunkers to U.S. PhysiciansPress Release Source: MedPlexus Thursday August 13, 2009, 11:23 am EDT SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MedPlexus, a leading provider of practice management and electronic health records (EHR) solutions to physician practices, today announced the creation of their “Cash for Clunkers” Program. The “stimulus package,” which is available September 1, 2009, grants cash payments of $3,000 to $5,000 to doctors who replace their previous EHR and/or practice management platforms with MedPlexus integrated platforms. "Most healthcare IT solutions in place at physician practices in the U.S. are dinosaurs compared to what is offered now,”...

"...The findings of a survey conducted by Doctor magazine sparked a fierce row last night, with the British Medical Association and campaign groups describing the recommendations from family and hospital doctors as "out­rageous" and "disgraceful". About one in 10 hospitals already deny some surgery to obese patients and smokers, with restrictions most common in hospitals battling debt. Managers defend the policies because of the higher risk of complications on the operating table for unfit patients. But critics believe that patients are being denied care simply to save money."

Should Obama have a plan to help with the ever increasing number of Doctors struggling with Stress and Obesity in America?

MIAMI — In 1991, Carlos Domínguez, a family doctor in one of Havana’s poorest neighborhoods, bought a boat for 12,000 pesos — the equivalent of saving his entire paycheck for three years — to escape the government that had trained him to be an international doctor. The boat was old and needed to be outfitted with the transmission from a 1952 Ford, one of the many American cars that still cruise the streets of Havana. The mechanic warned him there was no reverse gear. The boat could only go forward. “Perfect,” Dr. Domínguez, now 46, said he replied. “I don’t...