Health & Medical

Media Nearly Silent as ObamaCare Proponents Drop Deficit, Cost Savings Claims

Posted by Stephen on August 24, 2010 at 5:33 pm

It has now been five days since Politico’s Ben Smith published a powerpoint presentation created by an amalgamation of powerful left wing interest groups, conceding that two of the central arguments for passing ObamaCare – that it will lower the deficit and will reduce health care costs – have failed.
For a group of organizations integral [...]

Cancer cure likely found, big pharma won’t fund it though

Posted by Stephen on July 12, 2010 at 3:43 pm

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Not Just A High

Posted by Stephen on June 8, 2010 at 11:18 am

In science’s struggle to keep up with life on the streets, smoking cannabis for medical purposes stands as Exhibit A.
Medical use of cannabis has taken on momentum of its own, surging ahead of scientists’ ability to measure the drug’s benefits. The pace has been a little too quick for some, who see medicinal joints as [...]

FDA defeated in federal court over censorship of truthful health claims

Posted by Stephen on June 4, 2010 at 3:48 pm

Health freedom has just been handed a significant victory by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which ruled last week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated the First Amendment rights of a nutritional supplement company when it censored truthful, scientifically-backed claims about how selenium can help reduce the [...]

What’s Really Wrong with the Healthcare Industry

Posted by Stephen on May 30, 2010 at 7:37 pm

On May 3, 2010, I gave a talk to a class of students studying public health policy at the University of Washington. I began the talk by asking the students how many of them believed that the current healthcare system in America was flawed; everyone in the class raised their hand. I then asked how [...]

VA Docs Prohibited From Recommending Medical Marijuana to Returning Vets

Posted by Stephen on May 27, 2010 at 11:18 am

The U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) recently adopted a policy prohibiting VA physicians from recommending medical marijuana to their patients, even if marijuana is the safest and most effective medicine to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other service-related conditions.
No doubt the policy stems, in part, from the VA’s efforts to address the serious problem of [...]

Huge, Legal Cannabis Farm Study Surprises Industry, Officials

Posted by Stephen on May 27, 2010 at 10:39 am

The groundbreaking study showing how the City of Oakland could make $2 million per year licensing a medical cannabis growing warehouse caught many locals by surprise this week. Even though city officials and the cannabis industry are looking toward licensing large-scale grows allowed under state law SB 420, the hard numbers appear to be the [...]

How Medical Boards Nationalized Health Care

Posted by Stephen on May 17, 2010 at 9:28 pm

The negative impact of high healthcare costs on the national economy may not be fully recognized. At over $1.4 trillion a year, healthcare costs represent 15%—approximately a seventh—of our total gross domestic product. Our annual cost per capita, $4,662.00, is nearly double that of health care in other countries. This excessive and constantly increasing cost [...]

Marijuana’s Social Costs Are Far Less Than Those Of Legal Intoxicants

Posted by Stephen on May 14, 2010 at 12:05 pm

By Paul Armentano
Critics of a proposal to legalize marijuana in California argue that pot’s health and social costs would not be offset by the taxes generated were its adult use regulated. Opponents make this charge because the retail and excise taxes presently levied on the production and sale of alcohol and tobacco do not adequately [...]

Why We Sigh

Posted by Stephen on May 10, 2010 at 3:20 pm

Scientists studying breathing patterns think they have found the reason we sigh: To reset breathing patterns that are getting out of whack and keep our respiratory system flexible.
The study entailed rigging up eight men and 34 women with sensor-equipped shirts that record their breathing, heart rates and blood carbon dioxide levels over 20 minutes of [...]

Drew Carey on Medical Marijuana

Posted by Stephen on April 25, 2010 at 10:59 pm

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Naps boost memory, but only if you dream

Posted by Stephen on April 25, 2010 at 10:38 pm

Sleep has long been known to improve performance on memory tests. Now, a new study suggests that an afternoon power nap may boost your ability to process and store information tenfold — but only if you dream while you’re asleep.
“When you dream, your brain is trying to look at connections that you might not think [...]

100 Years of US Medical Fascism

Posted by Stephen on April 21, 2010 at 9:11 pm

One hundred years ago today, on April 16, 1910, Henry Pritchett, president of the Carnegie Foundation, put the finishing touches on the Flexner Report. No other document would have such a profound effect on American medicine, starting it on its path to destruction up to and beyond the recently passed (and laughably titled) Patient Protection [...]

How Not to Raise a Bully: The Early Roots of Empathy

Posted by Stephen on April 20, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Since the Jan. 14 death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old in South Hadley, Mass., who committed suicide after being bullied by fellow students, many onlookers have meditated on whether the circumstances that led to her after-school hanging might have been avoided.
Could teachers have stepped in and stopped the bullying? Could parents have done more to [...]

VA Claims Office Takes SNAFU to a New Level

Posted by Stephen on April 20, 2010 at 12:14 pm

Last month, a decorated Gulf War hero received a letter from the Veterans Affairs Administration that said: We are working on your claim for menstrual disorder.
There was just one problem: The claim was submitted for fibromyalgia.
Make that two problems: The claim was submitted by Glenn McBride, a 40-year-old man from Roanoke, Va., who most definitely [...]