August 18 - August 24, 2002
Hollywood continues to pollute our airwaves with irresponsible violence. This time it's torture. In the 1999-2000 season, there were 32 instances of torture, in 2000-2001 there were 47, and in 2001-2002 there were 70. Comment: it is well documented that television programs affect behavior. This increase in torture scenes on television will undoubtedly increase the number of real people being tortured. Hollywood nevertheless continues to act irresponsibly and look the other way.[ Christian Science Monitor, 23-Aug-2002 ] Friday, August 23, 2002 Trawler Fisherman & Seafarers Most Dangerous Jobs In the United Kingdom, seafarers (seamen) and trawler fisterman have the most dangerous jobs. The fisherman are 50 times and seafarers more than 24 time more likely to die from a fatal accident ate work compared with other British workers. Comment: working in Alaska, I experienced up close the risks and dangers of this type of work. I especially admired the crab fishermen. A good movie about these risks, and the incredibly hard-working people who do this type of work, is The Perfect Storm.. [ article ] Thursday, August 22, 2002 HMO SEEKS OUT ASSISTED-SUICIDE DOCTORS PORTLAND, OREGON. Physicians for Compassionate Care, 17-August-2002- In an electronic memorandum dated August 6, 2002, Kaiser Permanente NW, an HMO in Oregon where assisted suicide has been legalized, claimed it is difficult to find doctors to give lethal overdoses to patients. So Janet P. Price, representing Northwest Permanente, sent a memorandum to 829 recipients requesting that all doctors willing to overdose patients give their name to Doctor Robert Richardson of the Ethics Service or to another Kaiser administrator. The memorandum complained that Richardson's Ethics Service could not find a doctor to give deadly drugs to a patient who was "suffering" and dying for three weeks. The communication did not explain why the patient's suffering was not adequately treated and relieved for three weeks or what Kaiser Permanente proposes to do to improve its pain treatment and palliative care. Doctor Richardson is the same doctor-administrator who approved the overdosing of HMO patient Kate Cheney, despite the fact that Mrs. Cheney had been determined to be demented, under pressure from her family, and therefore not eligible for assisted suicide. Some individuals have speculated that cost savings could be one motivating factor stimulating HMO administrators to provide so much support for assisted suicide. The entire contents of the original memorandum follow: "Kaiser Permanente Northwest Division, ELECTRONIC MEMORANDUM Sent: 06-Aug-2002 01:21pm PDT Subject: Oregon Death with Dignity Act: Physician Participation IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING PLEASE DISREGARD THIS E-MAIL OREGON DEATH WITH DIGNITY ACT: PHYSICIAN PARTICIPATION THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN ATTENDING PHYSICIAN:
QUESTIONS TO PHYSICIANS:
IF YOU ARE WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN EITHER # 1 AND/OR #2, Please e-mail or call Marcia L. Liberson, MPH (LIBERSONMA, 49-3781) or Robert H. Richardson, MD (503-904-7978), KPNW Ethics Service. For questions please contact either Marcia or Robert. Thank you. IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING PLEASE DISREGARD THIS E-MAIL. TO: 829 addressees CC: 2 addressees" Comment: physician assisted suicide remains hotly controversial. Better pain management frequently takes away any desire to die by chronically ill patients.Wednesday, August 21, 2002 Federal Authorities Predict Large Increase in West Nile Virus Infections NewsMax.com Wires. CHICAGO – A 67-year-old man died of West Nile encephalitis in August, the state public health director reported Friday. It is the first fatality from the virus this year outside of the South. Also, a Louisiana man died, raising the nationwide death toll to 11. Federal authorities predicted more than 1,000 human cases nationwide. Four new human cases of West Nile virus have been confirmed in Illinois. "Unfortunately, it is my duty to report the first fatality in our state due to West Nile virus illness," said Dr. John Lumpkin, state public health director. "The man, who had slipped into a coma after being admitted to the hospital, died on Aug. 10." The 67-year-old man was admitted to a suburban Chicago hospital Aug. 4 complaining of fever, stiff neck, and change in mental status and fell into a coma. He also had other health problems. The next day, a 42-year-old Will County woman reported similar symptoms. She and an 80-year-old Cook County man who fell ill on Aug. 8 remain hospitalized for West Nile encephalitis. A 39-year-old Chicago woman also is hospitalized with the virus. Lumpkin, who heads the statewide West Nile Task Force, said Illinois was doing all it can to monitor West Nile virus activity and urged communities to launch aggressive efforts to control mosquitoes. The death of a 78-year-old Livingston Parish man was the eighth in Louisiana, where the mosquito-borne disease has hit hardest. The state also reported 62 new human cases, bringing the total this year to 147 in easily the worst outbreak in U.S. history. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta confirmed at least 160 cases nationwide and nine additional deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi. Public health officials in Colorado, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and anxiously waited Friday for the first human cases of West Nile to appear in their states after the mosquito-borne virus infected horses. An 84-year-old New York man remained hospitalized in critical condition after developing encephalitis from the West Nile virus, the first human case in New York City this year. The virus first appeared in North American in New York three years ago. New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and Ohio were added to the CDC's list of states with confirmed and suspected human virus cases this week. "We can expect more cases, and potentially a lot more cases," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, an epidemiologist with the CDC. "We're still on the upslope of the epidemic curve ... the bottom line is we'll be seeing a lot more cases in the coming weeks." States that have no suspected human cases are monitoring animals. West Nile virus has sickened 67 horses in Minnesota, three in Colorado, two in Iowa and two in Wisconsin and has now killed one horse in Wyoming. The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services was investigating the possible death of a 10-year-old quarter horse on a farm near Newburg from West Nile virus. "Finding this disease in a horse tells us that there are mammal-biting mosquitoes in the area and that some are infected with West Nile virus," communicable disease expert Linda Glaser told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "These same mosquitoes could bite people." Mosquitoes can spread the virus from infected birds to horses, people and other mammals. There is a vaccine for horses but not people. Cataract Surgery Shown to Decrease Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents This study found that among patients with cataracts, those that underwent cataract surgery had fewer motor vehicle accidents. Comment: this study suggests that those with cataracts either aren't aware of the severity of their loss of vision, or continue to drive in spite of their known visual loss.[ JAMA. 2002;288:841-849 ] Tuesday, August 20, 2002 West Nile Virus Becoming Endemic in the United States The West Nile virus, spread by mosquitoes, has infected 135 people and killed 7 in the United States. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called it an emerging infectiou disease epidemic. Comment: there is speculation, backed up with fairly good evidence, that this is an intentional bioweapon attack on the United States from Iraq. Since this article was published in BMJ, the death toll has risen to 11. [ BMJ 2002;325:354 ( 17 August ) ] Monday, August 19, 2002 Dutch Doctors Boycott Novartis Over Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Stating that direct-to-consumer advertising threatens the efficiency of prescribing and focusses attention on unimportant health issues, Dutch doctors have called for a boycott of the pharmaceutical company Novartis. Comment: I have never seen any evidence that direct-to-consumer advertising improves healthcare. It has, however, effectively increased the sales of expensive, non-generic medications. [ BMJ 2002;325:355 ( 17 August ) ] Sunday, August 18, 2002 Tobacco Companies Intentionally Undermine Smoking Cessation Programs The tobacco company Philip Morris pressured at least two companies to water down their antismoking marketing campaigns during the 1980's and early 1990's. According to the editor of Tobacco Control, "Many in public health have observed that [pharmaceutical companies] are strangely reticent in adding their weight to prevention efforts and are shy about running hard-hitting advertisements that are known to work best." Comment: for more interesting reading about tobacco, the book Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization is rated 4-1/2 stars on Amazon.com. It is interesting to note that tobacco wasn't abused as a drug until the advent of the cigarette. [ BMJ 2002;325:353 ( 17 August ) ] |
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