Free Republic

LAST RESORTS COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lying on the operating table, his thin arms outstretched to either side, Ric Ray spoke little as doctors and nurses in masks and scrubs descended on him with needles, scalpels and intravenous lines. It was 7:35 a.m. Shaving Mr. Ray's chest with a few quick razor strokes, an anesthesiologist asked, "When was your heart attack?" "March 8, 1987," Mr. Ray replied. "How old were you?" "Thirty-five," Mr. Ray said softly. The heart attack did so much damage that Mr. Ray's heart never recovered, but weakened steadily over the years. In 1990, when his daughters were...

Federal health officials yesterday sharply reduced the desired levels of harmful cholesterol for Americans who are at moderate to high risk for heart disease. The new recommendations call for treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs for millions of Americans who had thought their cholesterol levels were fine. Already more than 10 million people take the drugs. But now, more should start, the recommendations say. For people at the highest risk, they suggest that the target level of L.D.L., the type of cholesterol that increases the likelihood of heart disease, should be less than 100. That is 30 points lower than previously recommended....

For years, doctors have been saying that to prevent heart disease, patients should pay attention to both the so-called bad cholesterol, or L.D.L., and the good cholesterol, or H.D.L. The good, they said, can counteract the bad. But now, some scientists say, new and continuing studies have called into question whether high levels of the good cholesterol are always good and, when they are beneficial, how much. While some heart experts are not ready to change their treatment advice, others have concluded that H.D.L. should play at most a minor role in deciding whether to prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs. In the...