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The boogeyman will get you!" parents sometimes tell misbehaving children. With about 40% of parents saying "no!" to vaccinating their kids for swine flu, apparently health officials think turnabout is fair play. And the media seem happy to help. You see it in such headlines as "CDC Shocker: Swine Flu Killing Young People at Record Rate!" And in lines of panicked parents queued outside vaccine clinics like fans trying to score tickets to a Paul McCartney concert. And in schools closing willy-nilly, which could cost the nation tens of billions, according to a recent Brookings Institute study. Which is so...

The latest airport security trend is the backscatter x-ray machine, touted as a powerful way to virtually frisk a traveler for contraband without the embarassment of a strip search. Though touted as completely safe because the level of radiation is so low, travelers have been nervous about the devices -- and not just because it shows off a nice outline of their privates to the people manning the machines -- but because they remain scared of the health problems they might propose. Looks like a little healthy paranoia might have been a good thing. While the conventional wisdom has held...

**** IMPORTANT UPDATE, 07/05/07: Please read my 07/03/07 updated list of terrorist doctors and information on the scary Oath of Muslim Doctors. **** Sometimes–so many times–diversity is not what it’s cracked up to be. Just ask Joseph Applebaum. Well, you could ask him. But you won’t get an answer. He’s dead. And he’s dead because he was a Jew, and his doctor is a Muslim and grad of “Ayman Al-Zawahiri” Medical School. But Applebaum wasn’t denied treatment for being a Jew in Egypt. Or elsewhere in the Muslim world. It happened right here on U.S. soil. In Chicago. As Muslim...

WASHINGTON – Those tax-free spending accounts that you and your co-workers use to help pay for dental work, insurance copayments or over-the-counter drugs face a hit under the health overhaul bills in Congress — unless a coalition that includes a powerful union, insurers and others can stop it.

By Marge FenelonClinics use innovative model to treat uninsured people Patients act as benefactors to pay for costs of those without coverage What started with tranquil contemplation of a pine tree in the woods surrounding Lake Tahoe may be a creative solution to the growing number of people who lack basic health care in the United States.Dr. Robert Forester was on vacation with his family in Lake Tahoe, Calif., in the summer of 2000. While relaxing on the cabin's porch and enjoying the beauty of the nature around him, a particular pine tree caught his attention and suddenly an idea...

Have you ever had a migraine? Are you headache prone and sometimes have head splitting pain that causes severe medical symptoms? Migraines and other types of headache -- such as tension headache and sinus headache -- are painful and can rob you of quality of life...

TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson executives said Tuesday a proposed tax on medical device makers, part of the health care reform package moving in the Senate, is too high and could cost jobs in the industry. "We think that the $4 billion tax that they're referring to is unreasonable," J&J Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso told The Associated Press in an interview. "We believe it's at least twice what it ought to be." Caruso spoke after New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J reported its third-quarter earnings, which included a tiny profit increase and sales declines in every division except medical devices,...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2009 – Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 17th Fires Brigade and the 14th Iraqi Army Division conducted their first joint medical military-civic operations clinic at Basra Operations Center Oct. 8, drawing about 150 people. Army Sgt. 1st Class Maryfaith B. Payne soothes a child as his mother is seen during a medical engagement in Basra, Iraq, Oct. 7, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Maurice A. Galloway  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The purpose of an event such as this is to provide treatment for minor illnesses and teach these people how...

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.

A former employee of the Smosska company and a job applicant, are expressing their concerns when it comes to the company and its legitimacy. Smosska officials say the company makes medical identification cards. The company held a job fair in Florence in July, and charged applicants a $40.00 fee for an assessment test. Smosska officials said the fee covered things like background and drug testing. Smosska officials said they planned to eventually employ up to 3,000 people in the Florence area and were renovating a large facility. The company was working out of a temporary office on Hoffmeyer Road in...

Cpl. Marc Strickland, of Boone, N.C., (left), and Sgt. Derrick Smith, of Sanford, N.C., both serving with Company D, 252nd Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, hand medical supplies to a Son's of Iraq member at a clinic in the Radwaniyah Community Center, south of Baghdad, Oct. 8. American Soldiers brought a cargo truck full of supplies to the recently-built clinic so it can be opened soon. Photo by Mary Phillips, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. BAGHDAD — A new medical clinic here in Radwaniyah, south of the Iraqi capital, received a truck-load of medical supplies from U.S. Soldiers...

The New York State Health Commissioner's new mandate that all health care workers be vaccinated against both the seasonal and the swine flu this fall could qualify as the major public health blunder of the year, because it is likely to backfire. Flu has been rightly characterized as a "slippery disease" that can mutate quickly and unpredictably, which means that planning for flu epidemics must be flexible and should be reviewed regularly as evidence of disease spread and severity accumulates. We are already experiencing the beginning of a second wave of swine flu, the 2009 H1N1 influenza. Effective response will...

A provision in the Democrats' proposal to partially fund health care reform would tax medical devices and replacement parts like pacemakers, hearing aids and porcelain teeth, worrying critics who say the higher costs will be passed on to consumers. Tucked into the Democrats' proposal to partially fund health care reform is a provision to tax medical appliances -- including some manufactured replacement parts for your body. Under pressure, the Senate recently exempted medical items that cost under $100 -- such as tampons and condoms. But the tax, expected to raise about $40 billion over the next decade, is still in...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2009 – The medical support situation in American Samoa has stabilized amid ongoing U.S. relief efforts after a massive tsunami devastated the area this week, a Defense Department official said today. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kimo McKee, Hawaii Air National Guard loadmaster, directs the loading of humanitarian aid supplies into a C-17 Globemaster III bound for American Samoa to assist in relief efforts in the wake of tsunamis triggered by Sept. 29, 2009, undersea earthquake. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Medical triage, casualty care, shelter and bedding...

WASHINGTON — The government on Wednesday awarded $5 billion in grants that President Barack Obama said would pay for research into cures for cancer and other diseases, and create tens of thousands of jobs. Obama made the announcement at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Md., with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Before making remarks about the grants, Obama and Sebelius toured a NIH oncology laboratory. "That's a pretty spiffy microscope," Obama remarked as he walked through the lab. Researchers allowed the president take a look at the brain cells they're studying, explaining the difference between...

This article focuses on health care issues when going on vacation. Everyone loves a vacation. Americans are known to for going on vacation during various times of the year, and usually those times coordinate with work schedules or school calendars. Spring break, summer time, and major holidays are the most frequent times. You can spend a little or a lot, and you can have tons of activities or do nothing at all--just relax. Vacations are what you make them, and many times can be the best way to get time away from work, school, or the hectic pace of everyday...

BOSTON – When Dr. Robert Flaherty launched a private practice in 2001, he soon found himself cramming in as many patients as possible to make ends meet, leaving little time to discuss with them the steps they could take to prevent future health troubles. "I constantly felt that conflict of going faster than I should," said Flaherty, 40, of Mashpee, who gave up his practice after four years for a hospital post. "Everyone knows if you want to make a decent living, become a specialist; if you want to be banging your head, go into primary care." Among the many...

U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare speech Wednesday earned a big bump in support for his reform plans, a poll indicated. Among Americans who watched the address to a joint session of Congress, the percentage favoring his plans rose from 53 percent before the speech to 67 percent after, a national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found. Whether the bump will last remains a big unknown, said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Bill Clinton got similar numbers after his 1993 (healthcare) address to Congress, but five months later, a majority of the country no longer supported his plan," Holland said. CNN...

9/8/2009 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- Air Force mentors are developing Afghan hematology knowledge and practices every day at the Kabul national military hospital. "The (medical embed training team) mission strengthens the (Afghan national army's) healthcare system's ability to improve medical care with trained and experienced medical staff," said Army Capt. Kenneth Chapman, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan METT administrative oversight. "Our goal is to bring Afghanistan a higher standard of medical care," he said. This increased training will enhance capabilities the Afghan national army is able to provide their soldiers. The current class of 20 medical laboratory technicians is a...

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jennifer Ybarra, a hospital corpsman with Combat Logistics Battalion 7, observes as a member of the 7th Iraqi Army Division's medical staff practices wrapping an ankle sprain aboard Camp Mejid, Aug. 24. Photo by Lance Cpl. Melissa Latty, 2nd Marine Logistic Group. AL ASAD AIR BASE — U.S. Navy corpsmen here have been conducting medical training with the Iraqi Army (IA) since their battalion arrived to this base in February. Once a week, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jennifer Ybarra and Petty Officer 3rd Class Vincent Hernandez, two hospital corpsmen with Combat Logistics Battalion-7’s Battalion Aid Station...

Submitted by LiveScience Staff This video (scroll down) is making the rounds the past week on respected science sites like New Scientist as well as geek blogs and YouTube. It's based on not-brand-new research that involved a video that is said to be of interest to scientists who study these things and, perhaps, to anyone in the general public interested in sexual anatomy. Dr. Pek Van Andel and colleagues, in 1999, made the first MRI images of male and female sex organs while couples were having sex under, as it was put, cloistered conditions. MRI machines are said by some...

3 TV commericals which aired in 1976.

A "pandemic response bill" currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance. If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.

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...

There is no "Crisis" . . . Throughout medical history, the concept of medical insurance was unknown. Nor does the present availability of insurance, create an inalienable right to be provided with same... What is any form of insurance, but an expense incurred to narrow the parameters of future risk. Health insurance does not reduce the amount of money Americans spend on "health care"; in a macro sense, it actually increases such. The benefit to an individual is simply in narrowing parameters of what he or she might have to spend in some future contingency. . . To suggest taxing...

(Posted 08/28/09 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long. But “they can remember,” reports Jennifer Harper of The Washington Times (July 16, 2009): The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation – or about two months before they are born. "In addition, results indicated that 34-week-old fetuses are able to store information and retrieve it four weeks later," said the research, which was released Wednesday. These findings were obtained...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HUNTER, Iraq, Aug. 28, 2009 – Soldiers of 2nd Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment’s Task Force “Saber” and Iraqi security forces worked together to provide advanced medical training to Iraqi forces in southern Iraq’s Maysan province. An Iraqi police officer practices applying an intravenous needle on Army medic Spc. Justin Keeling while Army medic Sgt. James Thompson looks on during combat lifesaver training at Forward Operating Base Hunter, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Juan Torres Jr.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Members of the Majaar al Kabir District Police and 1st Battalion, 41st Iraqi Army...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Iraq, Aug. 26, 2009 – U.S. soldiers taught Iraqi nursing students how to handle the medical side of a mass-casualty situation Aug. 18. Army 1st Lt. Teresa Weber, a physician assistant with the 1st Cavalry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, along with several brigade medics, taught a class on trauma assessment for nursing students at the Azadi Hospital in Iraq’s Kirkuk province. “This is a vital skill for nurses to know, because if a mass casualty situation happens, there are always going to be more nurses than there are doctors,” Weber said. “Nurses are going to...

Allah Hallaf (left), a Soldier with the 3rd Battalion, 47th Iraqi Army Brigade, practices applying bandages on Hussam Nathum, also with the 3rd Bn., 47th IA Bde., during a training event at the brigade's headquarters in Kirkuk province, Aug. 15. This is the second time Soldiers from this battalion have received medical training from the U.S. Army in the last six months, and future training events are planned. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor. FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR — Iraqi Army Soldiers gathered around a simulated combat casualty as one of their own used newly acquired techniques to assist his breathing....

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Aug. 19, 2009 – Military patients are used to having officers or civilians with doctorates of medicine as their primary care providers; however, patients sometimes take a second or third look when they see enlisted airmen performing diagnosis and providing treatment, functions normally performed by doctors. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Julianne Cacal checks a patient's blood pressure July 27, 2009, at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Cacal is a 95th Aerospace Medicine Squadron independent duty medical technician who diagnoses and treats servicemembers under the license of a supervising doctor. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior...

A $20 million lawsuit against the government has been filed by a North Miami Army vetA North Miami man feels it's about time the Veteran Administrations Hospital pay for their potentially deadly mistake that has impacted the lives of potentially thousands of clients. Juan Rivera, 55, claims he was one of the hospital's patients who contracted HIV during colonoscopies where unclean and possibly infected medical instruments were used in the procedure. Rivera is a 13-year Army vet and has a wife and five children, according to the Miami Herald. He is the first to file a lawsuit against the government....

While Barack Obama continues to hail Canada’s health-care system as a model for the US to follow, its own constituencies warn that it’s nearing a collapse. Saying that a “health care revolution has passed us by,” the president of the Canadian Medical Association wants a major change to eliminate long wait times and inject creativity back into the hidebound system. Dr. Robert Ouellette wants to use competition to do it:

In the 1990s, significant delays for radiation therapy treatment were becoming increasingly recognized in Canada 11,12. Because of increasing waiting times for breast irradiation in Ontario in early 1999, a process of re-referral to other centres was developed to expedite care. At the time of consultation, eligible patients were made aware of extended wait times and offered referral to another centre, primarily across the border in the United States. Consenting patients were referred for a second radiation oncology consultation at a U.S. centre, where treatment was given.This program provided a unique opportunity to compare patterns of treatment at various centres...

Alarmist language sparking fears of mandatory vaccinations, quarantines Alarmist language over possible outbreaks of swine flu as well as a series of moves by the federal government are fueling fears federal agents will soon be forcing citizens to be vaccinated – prompting one political party to launch a pre-emptive defense against any such effort. The Constitution Party, a fast-growing alternative to the dominant Democratic and Republican parties in many elections, has come out strongly in opposition to any "mandatory injections" of "potential toxic (H1N1) 'swine flu' vaccine." Citing the Fourth Amendment, which says, "The right of the people to be...

LINCOLN, Neb., Aug. 11, 2009 – The Nebraska National Guard and the Afghan army and national police kicked off a new bilateral relationship last week when two Afghan surgeons general traveled here for talks about ways Nebraska can help Afghanistan develop its medical infrastructure. Maj. Gen. Ahmad Zia Yaftali, Afghan National Army surgeon general, and Brig. Gen. Qandahar Shinwari, Afghan National Police surgeon general, tour the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Lincoln as part of new bilateral relationship with the Nebraska National Guard, Aug. 3, 2009. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Aug. 2-5 visit...

Middle-aged men who strongly idealize masculinity are almost 50 percent less likely than other men to seek preventative healthcare services, according to a study—the first population-based analysis of men's masculinity beliefs and preventative healthcare compliance—to be presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. "This research strongly suggests that deep-seated masculinity beliefs are one core cause of men's poor health, inasmuch as they reduce compliance with recommended preventative health services," said Kristen W. Springer, the study's primary investigator. Springer is an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, as well as a...

8/10/2009 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- The Iraqi deputy governor of the Salah Ad Din Province visited the Air Force Theater Hospital and Sgt. Ivory L. Phipps Clinic here Aug. 5 to develop ideas for improving health care within his district. Ahmed al-Krayem toured units within the facility and talked to several members of the hospital. Maj. David Carnahan, the hospital's chief of medical staff, tailored the tour to trace the progress of a seriously injured patient through admission, emergency room care, the intensive care unit, and the intermediate care ward. "The way the hospital staff welcomed us...

Public options don't create more competition. They eliminate competition by seizing scarce resources...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2009 – Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq officials are working to create a unified, sustainable medical service in Iraq, a senior medical advisor there said. “[We are] trying to create a unity of medical effort between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health within the government of Iraq,” Army Col. (Dr.) Bernard L. DeKoning, advisor to Iraq’s defense and interior ministries, told bloggers and online journalists during an Aug. 3 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable. “We are seeing some very positive results in terms of trying to foster a unity of effort...

HILLAH, Iraq, Aug. 5, 2009 – In the United States, patients typically see a nurse or technician first at a doctor’s appointment, but the same does not hold true in Iraq. Army Lt. Col. Lori L. Trego, department director for the 10th Combat Support Hospital’s deployed combat casualty research team, uses a mannequin to teach an Iraqi nurse how to resuscitate an infant at Babil Maternity Hospital in Iraq’s Babil province, July 28, 2009. American nurses are mentoring Iraqi nurses so they can assume more responsibilities. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Bethany L. Little  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Here is video from a few days ago where ABC's John Stossel was on with Glenn Beck to talk about a segment he did for 20/20 on what Government Health Care (Socialized Medicine) has done to Canada. We posted Stossel's outstanding report a couple of days ago, and it absolutely devastates the idea that the Health Care of Americans will be better under a Government system. Stossel and Beck cover much of what is in the report in their discussion together. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Rationing: In the recesses of the House health care "reform" bill is a provision for end-of-life counseling for seniors. Don't worry, granny, they're from the government and they're here to help.At a town hall meeting at AARP headquarters in Washington, D.C., President Obama was asked by a woman from North Carolina if it was true "that everyone that's Medicare age will be visited and told they have to decide how they wish to die." At first, the president joked that not enough government workers existed to ask the elderly how they wanted to die. The idea, he said, was to...

Experts debate proposed 'big brother' medical councilFrom Kevin Bohn and Jessica Yellin CNN updated 10:04 p.m. EDT, Thu July 23, 2009 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Obama administration is touting a provocative proposal to give a medical advisory council the power to help decide the scope of coverage that would be eligible for reimbursement under Medicare. Administration officials say the proposed council would improve health care quality and control costs. But some health care industry groups object to the proposal, saying such a council would not be qualified to make those judgments. This council would consist of doctors and health care...

Spc. Adam Rieker and Spc. Andrew Phipps with the Washington Army National Guard act as patients during recent medical evacuation training in Joint Base Balad. Photo courtesy of 3rd Sustainment Command. JOINT BASE BALAD — Two Pacific Northwest-based Army National Guard units recently partnered for medical evacuation training here at the Air Force Theater Hospital. Soldiers from the Seattle-based Washington Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment and the Salem-based Oregon Army National Guard's Charlie Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment met far from their evergreen home stations in the sandy Iraqi desert to conduct the training.Sgt. Brandon Names,...

Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd has been going around talking up KennedyDoddCare by claiming "62 percent of all personal bankruptcies were caused by medical problems." His source was so-called research by Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), hardly a disinterested bystander. To achieve that lofty number, it had to distort the definition of medical bankruptcy while failing to control for household overspending, the No. 1 cause of personal bankruptcies in the aftermath of illness or injury. But when medical bankruptcies are more accurately defined as those attributable solely to medical-related costs beyond a household's control, the rate plummets to just...

California currently collects $18 million in sales taxes from marijuana dispensaries, and Yee said a regulated pot trade would bring in $1.3 billion... Valid for one year, it is all that California law requires to purchase and smoke eight ounces legally. …Oakland allows anyone with a medical card to cultivate 72 plants — 12 times the number the state legislature suggested in SB 420, which passed in 2003... This bill would impose a fee of fifty dollars ($50) per ounce for the sale of marijuana sold at retail...to include all marijuana, concentrated cannabis, and their derivatives, except that marijuana containing...

Mischa Barton hospitalized under psych hold Police reportedly respond to star’s L.A. home to assist with ‘medical issue’ A rep for Mischa Barton confirmed to Access Hollywood that the actress will not attend the world premiere of her new film, “Homecoming,” Thursday night in New York. July 16, 2009 LOS ANGELES - Mischa Barton was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold (also known as a 5150) by the Los Angeles Police Department and transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday evening, a source close to the situation claimed to Access Hollywood. On Wednesday, Access broke the news that authorities had...

They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long. But they can remember. The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation - or about two months before they are born.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, July 15, 2009 – I left the USNS Comfort July 13 after a little more than three days aboard the hospital ship. It was not long enough. I underestimated the time I would need to gather the stories I wanted to tell. It is truly an amazing ship, with a crew of physicians, dentists, optometrists, nurses and a host of other staff who perform incredible work in difficult conditions. Hundreds of health care professionals from around the world, many of them volunteers, gathered to deliver basic care that most of us in the United States take for granted....