Does this smack of preserving the ultimate race, keeping quality control of babies, or a smart thing to do? Well, regardless of how you feel about it, it’s already happening in the United States, thanks to Project Prevention.

Project Prevention’s mission statement:

Project Prevention offers cash incentives to women that are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol to use long-term or permanent birth control.

Project Prevention is a national, 501 (C) 3 organization that has paid clients in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

Our mission is to reduce the number of substance exposed births to zero.

Because every baby deserves a sober start!

The organization has been subject to many criticisms, from accusations of racism to social engineering and yet, it is still here and still receiving donations from people who believe in the cause.

According to an article that appeared last year in the LA Times, the organization, created and directed by Barbara Harris, pays 300.00 for a tubal ligation (sterilization). However, women may get an IUD and receive 75.00 when the device is inserted, another 100.00 when she goes for a 6-month check up, and an additional 125.00 at the end of each year the IUD is in place.

At first glance, it’s easy to look at it through different angles. Drug-addicted mothers who get pregnant often give birth to babies who are also addicted to drugs. The babies are often underweight and sickly. Many end up having medical needs that may not have been present had the child been born of a non-addicted mother. The economic cost of caring for such babies in the “system” is astronomical, but the social cost even more so. Many of these babies end up in a foster system that is ill-equipped to deal with them. The babies grow into older children and often end up being bounced from foster home to foster home, for a variety of reasons. The life can be a horrible one for many who aren’t lucky enough to end up in foster homes that love and nurture them as a child should be loved and nurtured.

By keeping the mothers from getting pregnant in the first place, these babies wouldn’t be born. But that brings the other argument. Who are we to say who should and shouldn’t be born? What if so many of the adults who make an enormous impact on the lives of others now weren’t born because someone else made the decision that their mother shouldn’t become pregnant?

The option does seem to be attractive to many women. According to the organization’s website, over 3,000 women have been paid for either sterilization or long-term birth control.

So, what do you think about it? Good idea? Bad idea?

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Image: iStock.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Now, if you go to the Reynold’s website for the product, www.cameldissolvables.com, you will see that you can’t get in without a huge song-and-dance. You either have to have a special code from one of their products, or go through a lengthy inquisition to determine (and prove) that you are over 18 years old. But, seriously, do we really believe that dissolvable, flavored tobacco strips are for the over-18 year old market?

Star Scientific’s products are available in wintergreen, coffee and tobacco flavors, while Reynolds is is test-marketing dissolvable tablets, strips and a toothpick shape called Camel Orbs, Camel Strips and Camel Sticks in mint and other flavors.

Well, let’s say that FDA has its doubts too. In their letter to the company, they wrote:

Section 907(f) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) to study “the nature and impact of the use of dissolvable tobacco products on the public health, including such use among children” and provide us with a report and recommendations. CTP is concerned that children and adolescents may find dissolvable tobacco products particularly appealing, given the brightly colored packaging, candy-like appearance and easily concealable size of many of these products. We are also concerned about the extent to which the high nicotine content and rapid dissolution of dissolvable tobacco products may facilitate initiation of tobacco use, nicotine dependence and addiction in adolescents, and may serve as a mechanism for inadvertent toxicity in children. The report and recommendations developed by the TPSAC should help CTP better understand these issues.

What is particularly interesting is the “brightly colored packaging, candy-like appearance and easily concealable size of many of these products.” Who are they trying to kid (no pun intended? Is this product really geared towards baby boomers? People in their 40s? 30s? Hardly likely.

In this article, FDA: Dissolvable Tobacco Appeals To Kids, a representative from Star Scientific is quoted as saying that the goal of flavoring of the product is to make the products taste “less harsh.” It seems that if it tastes harsh and people don’t want to use it, that may be a good thing, no?

What do you think? Is there a place for this type of product?

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

The researchers conducted a survey of patients who underwent colonoscopies to see if they would like a video and if they would be willing to pay for one. Currently, videos are done if a procedure is going to be used as a teaching tool, but otherwise, recording is not done. However, since the effectiveness of colonoscopies are one of the tests that depend on the skill of the practitioner, a number of suspicious lesions may be missed during the procedure if it is not recorded.

It turned out that a majority of the respondents said that they would like to have a video recording of their colonoscopy, but the survey didn’t say why they would want it, curiosity? For a second opinion? For future law suits? The researchers also found that it was younger patients who would be more willing to pay for a video recording. Patients who had already had colorectal cancer and/or a family history of colorectal cancer were among those most willing.

What do you think? Would you want a video?

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

On January 11, I posted this piece, Surgery for Hiccups… (and Contest!). I invited people to submit their solution for curing hiccups or to tell a hiccup story. The most common solution offered was to swallow a spoonful of sugar. Interesting – I wonder why that one is so popular? The next most popular one was to be scared by someone.

So, we received 260 ideas and I used the system at randomizer.org to come up with number at random. that number was 256, which means the winner of the Amazon.com/.ca or iTunes certificate is Tracey Hoey.

Congratulations Tracey! If you don’t receive an email from me within a few days, you can contact me through the site. Sometimes the emails from here get blocked.

I hope that others who visited the site for the first time in order to enter the contest liked what they saw and come back to visit again. And you just never know when we’ll have another contest.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

While the actual health issues, such as diabetes, cancer or hypertension, don’t differ from straights, all too often, medical professionals, from doctors and nurses to physiotherapists and nutritionists, don’t understand the cultural issues that affect LGBT patients. In some cases, the professionals may rely on misinformation or myths, or they don’t know where to turn for the information they need. Regardless of the problem, these barriers to adequate healthcare access for their LGBT patients.

According to a press release issued by PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays),

“For many healthcare providers, it isn’t a case of not wanting to be inclusive of GLBT patients, but rather a sense that it isn’t an issue – or, when it is, confusion around how to talk about it – that gets in the way,” said Jody M. Huckaby, Executive Director of Parents, [PFLAG]. To help counter this problem, the organization began a project in 2007 that addressed the issues and has now published the results in a publications called Straight for Equality in Healthcare.

“Making the case for inclusive and competent healthcare for LGBT patients is critical and by providing simple and accessible information to healthcare professionals, we can transform the experiences of LGBT people in the healthcare system,” said Huckaby.  “This guide will create more effective relationships between straight healthcare providers and their LGBT patients and can radically improve healthcare for our community.”

The new Straight for Equality in Healthcare guide was created with the assistance of a diverse committee if healthcare professionals in fields such as primary care, mental health, nursing, and allied health disciplines. Topics include:

•       Why should I care about gay people in my practice?: The case for inclusion.
•       Making a diagnosis: Understanding and identifying personal barriers around LGBT issues and specific steps on how to overcome them.
•       Lidocane for your nerves: Being supportive need not be nerve-wracking. Simple, nonpolitical ways to start signaling acceptance of LGBT people in your practice are outlined.
•       Resources: Basic terminology, sample inclusive intake forms, nondiscrimination policies, and connections to other resources.

For those of you in health care who read this blog, have you considered your care of LGBT patients and their families? I know it’s an issue in many parts of medicine, including obstetrics and palliative care – two opposite ends of the health care spectrum, but very affected.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

It seems that Caroline Cartwright, a woman who lives in that town, has been making so much noise during her sexual activity that not only have her neighbors complained, she was given an eight-week prison term suspended for 12 months. What for? Disturbing the peace. Actually, it wasn’t just the neighbors who complained – according to news reports, even people passing by – and the letter carrier – complained, saying that it sounded like someone was in extreme pain.

Ms Cartwright had already been called before a judge earlier last year when she was served with an anti-social behavior order, although she broke the order almost right away. She even admitted that, saying that she was trying to be quiet, but she couldn’t help what came naturally.

If she does have to go to jail, what will happen if she’s into self-pleasuring?

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Post from: Healthbolt

I started using it for half an hour, the first two days on 50% strength, the next few on 60% and starting today at 70%. The first two days, I used it within the first hour of being up and then again for 15 minutes in the late afternoon. Since then, I’ve only done it in the morning, again within the first hour of being up, always for half an hour.

This is the one I have; image from promotional material

I had a few concerns before starting with it. The biggest one was that I was worried the light would give me a migraine. In particular. because the light is a bit off to the side so you’re not looking directly into it – so I braced myself. I am very happy to say: no migraine!

I am also happy to say that after a week, I do feel more energy both in the morning and in the early afternoon – times when I just really begin to fade and *have* to nap. I still get very drowsy in the early evening, but I’m not going to do anything about that right now. I’m more concerned about feeling better during the day.

I do feel better overall; I don’t feel as fuzzy, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I’m going to keep using it as it is still only the end of January and there’s a lot more darkness to come. I’ll keep upping the intensity if I feel I need to, but overall, I am pleased with what I think is happening.

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Post from: Healthbolt

apple.com

According to a Yahoo.com story, American film-maker Dan Woolley, who was in Haiti to make a documentary on poverty in that country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was trapped beneath rubble after the hotel he was staying in collapsed. Unable to get help, Woolley was trapped with a broken leg and a bleeding head wound.

Although a fractured leg is serious, a head wound can be much more so. Just remember actress Natasha Richardson’s death after she fell and struck her head while on a ski hill. The bleeding also needed to be stopped. So, what to do?

Using the Jive Media Pocket First Aid and CPR apps on his iPhone, Woolley was able to stop the bleeding from his head wound and treat his leg. Using the alarm function, he made sure to wake himself up regularly.

Now rescued, after 66 hours of being trapped, Woolley likely has some interesting stories to tell.

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Post from: Healthbolt

Click on the paper to see.

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Image: iStock.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Actually, it just may be inevitable but not for the reasons you may be thinking. To me, drive-throughs are the height of excess and laziness. Not that I don’t use them myself, I do use drive-through fast food restaurants when they’re available. I don’t use drive-through banking. I do see how that could have its place with people with limited mobility or who have a sleeping infant in the back seat, but really, do we really need it? No. But, we may need the drive-through clinics.

According to a study published in the online version of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, paramedics and nurses working in a drive-through could help speed up care in a pandemic situation or other emergency and limit cross-contamination between patients.

The study was designed to determine if such a medical clinic was feasible. Mock patients were presented to the staff and carbon monoxide levels in the garage were measured. Researchers also assessed how doctors perceived the drive-through triaged patients.

The patients drove into the garage that had three stations set up for triage. Emergency equipment, including a crash cart and resuscitation equipment for cardiac or respiratory arrests, was available throughout the garage. Nurses screened the patients and if the nurses felt the patients were stable, they were directed to a special lane for the drive-through clinic. If the nurses found that the patients were severely ill, they were sent to the emergency department. At two of the stations, the nurses measured vital signs. At the third station, which was in a heated and draped off area, patients stepped out of the car for a complete physical examination.

If it was determined that the mock patients needed medications, mock drugs and prescriptions were distributed.

The results were positive. The doctors who took part in the exercise were 100% accurate in identifying patients who had to be admitted and those who could be discharged. Carbon monoxide measurements showed that the environment was safe for both staff and patients. Also positive was the amount of time it took to be seen and processed: an average of 26 minutes.

Another thing that weighed in on the positive side was the use of the patients’ vehicles, which acted like private rooms, preventing cross-contamination of contagious illnesses.

There are, of course, some drawbacks to such a set up, including the lack of public bathrooms and the temperature of the environment as air conditioning may not be the norm in indoor parking lots.

What do you think? Is this a good idea?

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Images: PhotoXpress.com, MorgueFile.com

Post from: Healthbolt