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Global Post Articles Examine Malaria Worldwide
Global Post examines the quest for an effective vaccine to fight malaria. According to Global Post, "epidemiologists are pinning their hopes on a malaria vaccine" because "[k]illing mosquitoes, or avoiding bites, is an imprecise solution to malaria."

Blogs Comment On Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings, Health Reform, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women"s health-related blog entries.~ "Judge Sotomayor Provides Important Testimony on the Constitutional Right to Privacy and Its Application to Reproductive Rights," Marcia Greenberger, Womenstake: "One major line of questions, asked repeatedly throughout the hearings" for President Obama"s Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was her "views on the constitutional right to privacy," Greenberger writes, adding, "Given that this right is central to women"s lives, protecting" such "decisions involving whether to bear children ... and having consensual adult sexual relations, it is important to analyze Judge Sotomayor"s answers carefully." According to Greenberger, because Sotomayor "had not ruled directly on the right to privacy as a federal judge, her testimony in this area warrants particular attention." Following questions from senators such as Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sotomayor portrayed a "clear agreement with the right to privacy and strong description of the court"s current precedents regarding Roe and women"s health," which "lend[s] further support to the view from her legal record that she would not undermine Roe v. Wade if confirmed to the Supreme Court" (Greenberger, Womenstake, 7/16). ~ "Major Steps Forward for Health Care Reform," Thao Nguyen, Womenstake: Nguyen, outreach manager for the National Women"s Law Center, reports that the health care reform legislation passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is "particularly important for women because of the critical headway it makes towards women"s ability to secure access to quality, affordable health care throughout their lives." The bill "works towards confronting many of the particular obstacles faced by women in our current health care system," such as banning the "discriminatory" practice of basing insurance premiums on gender, even when maternity benefits are excluded, Nguyen writes. The bill also bans insurance companies from rejecting patients based on medical history, which has prevented many domestic violence survivors and women who have had caesarean sections from obtaining coverage. Nguyen concludes that "the momentum for health care reform could not have come at a more needed time" because women and their families "need quality, affordable and comprehensive health more than ever" (Nguyen, Womenstake, 7/15).~ "Democrats for Life of America Ousts Member Who Supports Contraception," Feministing: Feministing reports that Democrats for Life of America removed Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) from its advisory board because he supports efforts to improve access to contraception. According to Ryan, he was dismissed from the board after four years after attempting to persuade the group to support contraceptive use as a way to avoid unintended pregnancies. According to the blog, "This is why we call anti-choicers "anti-choice": because they"re not just about making abortion illegal." It adds, "They don"t want women to have access to contraception either -- something that 98% of American women will use at some point in their lives" (Feministing, 7/15). ~ "Umpires, Perspective and the Supreme Court," Jim Wallis, Sojourners" "God"s Politics": "During his opening remarks for his own confirmation hearing in 2005, Chief Justice [John] Roberts made" an analogy between judges and umpires "that has gotten a lot of play in the media and has already been used quite a few times during" Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing, Wallis writes. He adds that "nothing in the world would frustrate me more than an umpire who would call the game differently based upon the color of the jersey that" players were wearing. "But I haven"t seen that happen," Wallis writes, adding, "In fact, the biggest problem we face isn"t an umpire that has favored one team over the other, but umpires who make mistakes in their rulings and judgment because of their lack of perspective." He adds that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and "others w
News of the day
Microbial Analysis, Micropatterning Methods Featured In Cold Spring Harbor Protocols
Microbial populations have traditionally been studied in carefully controlled, laboratory-grown cultures. New metagenomic approaches are being developed to study these organisms in environmental or medical samples. The July issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols presents a method developed by Holger Daims from the University of Vienna for quantifying populations of microorganisms in a variety of naturally occurring conditions such as plankton samples or biofilms. Use of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization and the daime Image Analysis Program for the Cultivation-Independent Quantification of Microorganisms in Environmental and Medical Samples combines fluorescent in situ hybridization using rRNA-targeted probes with digital image analysis. The results show an organism"s "biovolume fraction" in a given sample; this indicates the share of biochemical reaction space occupied by the quantified population and can be more relevant ecologically than absolute cell numbers. The article is freely available on the website for Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.
Health Insurance

Medical Defence Union Supports Apologies To Patients But Says No Need For Duty Of Candour

Doctors already have a professional duty to provide patients with an explanation and apology when something goes wrong and the Medical Defence Union"s experience is that doctors do raise concerns and there is no need for a legal duty of candour. Each month the Medical Defence Union (MDU), takes several calls to its 24-hour advice line on the subject and opens files to assist medical members who want to raise concerns about patient safety. Responding to today"s Health Select Committee"s report on improving patient safety*, the MDU, the UK"s leading medical defence organisation, also said it welcomed proposals to "banish the blame culture" and improve the reporting of patient safety incidents by NHS staff. Dr James Armstrong, MDU medico-legal adviser, said: "We support the recommendation that patients who are harmed and their relatives deserve a full explanation, unequivocal apology and an undertaking that the harm done will not be repeated. In our experience, doctors are ready to apologise when something goes wrong. The MDU has advised members to do so for over 50 years. We were happy to sign our name to the recent guidance to NHS chief executives from the NHS Litigation Authority because it is so important to get this message across.** "The Committee"s report states that the failure to be open when a patient complains is partly due to a fear of litigation. That is not our experience and we advise our members there are no legal concerns about taking this course of action. Section 2 of the Compensation Act 2006 makes it clear that an apology is not an admission of negligence. "We do not support the Committee"s recommendation that the CMO"s proposal for a statutory duty of candour be considered. The inference of the recommendation is that no effective duty of candour currently exists, but this is not the case for doctors who already have an ethical duty and our experience is that doctors do raise concerns. We do not know what the sanction would be if such a legal duty were introduced, but doctors can already be erased from the medical register if their fitness to practise is impaired because they have not complied with GMC guidance. Surely that is sanction enough? "Our experience is that many adverse clinical incidents arise because of system and equipment failures, which are not the responsibility of the individual. Doctors and other healthcare staff need to feel supported and to know they will not be unfairly blamed if they report such incidents so that lessons can be learned and necessary improvements to services can be made in the interests of patient safety. " References * Patient Safety, Health Committee, Friday 3 July 2009 http://www.parliament.uk/healthcom/. ** Apologies and Explanations, guidance from the National Health Service Litigation Authority, This Week, Thursday 14 May 2009 http://www.nhsla.com. The MDU is a mutual, not for profit, organisation owned by our members who include over 50 per cent of the UK"s hospital doctors and GPs. Established in 1885, we were the world"s first medical defence organisation. We defend the professional reputations of our members when their clinical performance is called into question. Our benefits of membership include insurance for claims of clinical negligence and a wide range of medico-legal advisory services. Medical Defence Union


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