Health Policy InsightHealthcare management online analysis and intelligence
Health Policy InsightJudge grants payments between $5,000 and $104,000 after second world war-era tank leak contaminated water supply
A federal judge has awarded more than $680,000 to 17 families who say they were sickened by a leak from a second-world-war era fuel tank into a US navy drinking water system in Hawaii in 2021.
The bellwether cases set the legal tone for another 7,500 military family members, civilians and service members whose lawsuits are still awaiting resolution.
Continue reading...My grandmother Eve Thompson, who has died aged 95, was variously a theatre stage manager, a secretary and a nursery nurse – until later in life she became involved in voluntary work and advocacy, particularly in relation to mental health.
After Eve’s son Ben was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the early 1980s, she volunteered for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (now Rethink Mental Illness), working with service users, carers and professionals to improve services, establish supported housing and ensure families received the help they needed.
Continue reading...Researchers link suspected cases in New Brunswick to known diseases, suggesting ‘misdiagnosis and misinformation’
A new peer-reviewed scientific study has found no evidence of a mystery brain disease in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, suggesting instead a troubling combination of “misdiagnosis and misinformation”.
The research comes as the Maritime province prepares its own assessment of more than 220 suspected cases in the hope of giving families some answers to a medical mystery that has gripped the region for years.
Continue reading...The Glasgow variant of the Brompton proved alarmingly effective, writes Peter Waterson. Plus letters from John Garforth and Brian Sandall
Regarding the Brompton cocktail, a mixture of heroin and cocaine that was used for severe pain in terminally ill patients (Letters, 6 May), the Glasgow recipe was heroin, cocaine, gin, Largactil and honey. It could be alarmingly effective. Many years ago, my late partner, faced with a patient in intractable pain, issued a prescription for the cocktail.
In the middle of evening surgery, my partner was called to an emergency at the local pub. The patient had felt so much better, he decided to go for a drink, and the combination of the Brompton plus the traditional “hauf an’ a hauf” (whisky and ale), had proved too much. He was carried home and told to stick to soft drinks.
Peter Waterson
Glasgow
The court of appeal said even those found guilty should be treated with compassion, not punished. Her ordeal proves no one was listening
As Nicola Packer lay down in shock having just delivered a foetus at home, she had no idea that her life was about to be torn apart. She had suffered a rare complication in her abortion treatment, but what followed would be far more traumatic and unexpected. Every agency she needed turned against her, treating her not as a victim but as a criminal. Compassion was replaced by cruelty.
NHS staff come to work because they want to care, and Packer did find most staff at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London “amazing”. What she didn’t know is that after the matter was passed up the chain of seniority, the police were alerted.
Jonathan Lord is an NHS consultant gynaecologist and co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists abortion taskforce
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Continue reading...Nicola Packer, 45, was prescribed medication but was accused of believing she was more than 10 weeks pregnant
A woman has been cleared of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills during lockdown.
Nicola Packer took the pills at home in November 2020. She had been prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol after a remote consultation.
Continue reading...Number of child deaths is highest in 15 years and cumulative hospitalization rate is highest since 2010-2011
At least 216 children have died of influenza in the US during the last flu season in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said was classified as the first high severity season overall and for all age groups since 2017-2018.
That number marks the highest pediatric death toll in 15 years; the previous high reported for a regular (non-pandemic) season was 236 pediatric deaths in the 2009-2010 season, according to the CDC. More recently, 207 pediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season.
Continue reading...Sports advisory group says outdoor activity is vital for health and calls for bylaws to be changed to silence moaning neighbours
Residents in one of Europe’s most densely populated cities who complain about the noise of children playing should be ignored, according to a sports advisory group which says outdoor activity is vital for their health.
In new outdoor play advice, Sportraad Amsterdam (Sports Council Amsterdam) said local bylaws should be changed so that the sound of children playing was no longer a valid reason for complaint by vexed neighbours.
Continue reading...Eric Topol says we can prevent age-related disease and live fuller lives – but only if we reject anti-science ‘malarkey’
Dr Eric Topol’s new book examines the best evidence-based approaches to longevity, and seeks to challenge the “malarkey” of the bio-hacking, age-reversal and anti-science movements – all of which have found new purchase in American society amid scientific distrust stoked during the Covid pandemic.
“This book is trying to set the record straight, get rid of the pseudoscience, and paint an incredibly optimistic picture of how we are so well-positioned to prevent the three age-related diseases that compromise our health span,” says Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and a practicing cardiologist, in an interview with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Fast and unplanned growth of cities providing ideal conditions for the creatures to thrive, say researchers
Scorpions are “taking over” Brazilian cities, researchers have warned in a paper that said rapid urbanisation and climate breakdown were driving an increase in the number of people being stung.
More than 1.1m stings were reported between 2014 and 2023, according to data from the Brazilian notifiable diseases information system. There was a 155% increase in reports of stings from 2014 to 2023, according to research published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.
Continue reading...President taps wellness influencer after withdrawing initial pick, former Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat
Donald Trump has tapped Dr Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, as nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post.
The US president said in a social media post on Wednesday that Means has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” – referring to the “make America healthy again” slogan – and that she will work to eradicate chronic disease and improve the health and wellbeing of Americans.
Continue reading...It is shocking that while illnesses specific to men are studied, those affecting women are ignored
Six years after Caroline Criado Perez’s bestselling book Invisible Women drew a mass readership’s attention to the long history of sexist bias in medical research, it is shocking that women and their illnesses are still underrepresented in clinical trials. Analysis by the Guardian of data gathered for a new study showed that from 2019 to 2023, 282 trials involving only male subjects were submitted for regulatory approval in the UK – compared with 169 focused on women.
Health inequality is a complex and multifaceted problem. There are massive socioeconomic differences in life expectancy and infant mortality, as well as race inequalities – for example, in maternity and mental illnesses. These and other disparities, along with those relating to disability, can also be mapped geographically.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Matthew Butte on how taking small steps to do something can be transformational
I loved Emily Bratt’s article (The one change that worked, I could never get fit – until I tried a 40-second plank every day, 5 May) because it served as a reminder that small changes can have a transformative impact.
A year ago, at the age of 52, I started taking guitar lessons. I had always wanted to learn and had tried a few times over the years, but practising was a challenge. It always seemed too difficult and would take too much time. However, my approach this time was similar to Emily’s. My guitar was always out and I committed to practise a minimum of five minutes every day. I easily had time for that, I reasoned. Over the year, five minutes has frequently become a lot more. But five minutes is my minimum.
Continue reading...Groceries, fitness classes and therapy all go under the wide umbrella of health expenses – and it all costs money
What does it take to be well? The answer varies from person to person. For some, it may require prescription medication and yoga classes; for others, it could be a vegetarian diet and regular doctor visits. One thing is certain: it costs money.
Americans spend more than $6,000 (£4,500) per person a year on wellness, according to the Global Wellness Institute. This makes the US “the largest wellness economy by far”. In the UK, per capita average wellness spending is $3,342 (£2,505).
$280 for employer-sponsored healthcare
$80 on psychotherapy
$10 on a prescription medication
$360 on personal training
$20 on my gym membership (discounted with the personal training), and $45 on a protein-powder subscription
I’m also part of a run club and rec sports league, which have an upfront cost for multiple months, but combined are about $75 per month. It’s funny, I don’t consider myself very athletic, but it sure doesn’t look that way from my spending.
$35 on a prescription skincare subscription for a two-month supply (but I’m planning to cancel)
$15 average on moisturizer/cleanser that will last multiple months
£500 for groceries
£400 for a ready-meal delivery subscription
£40 for protein shakes
Continue reading...Slowdown will deepen concerns Denmark’s biggest company is losing market share to US rival Eli Lilly
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk has cut its annual revenue and profit forecasts after disappointingly “flabby” sales of its weight loss drug Wegovy, as US prescriptions tailed off.
A boom in sales of Wegovy and the diabetes medication Ozempic helped to turn the drugmaker into Europe’s most valuable listed company, worth $615bn (£461bn) at its peak last year.
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