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First Specialist Dementia Advisors Start Work
People with dementia and their families will get more support throughout the course of the illness as the first dementia advisors started work on Wednesday.

Obama Says He Supports 'Robust' Protections For Health Workers With Moral, Religious Objections
President Obama on Friday said that although he intends to reverse the Bush administration"s provider "conscience" rule, he still favors a "robust" federal policy that would enhance the rights of health care workers to refuse to perform certain procedures because of moral or religious objections, the Washington Post reports. In a session with reporters one week before his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, Obama said that he is a "believer in conscience clauses." He added that a new policy from his administration "may not meet the criteria of every possible critic of our approach, but it certainly will not be weaker than what existed before the changes were made." According to the Post, Obama"s comments aimed to reassure Roman Catholic health care workers that they would still be able to refuse to perform abortions and other procedures that go against the Church"s teachings. Several federal laws in place since the 1970s protect the rights of health care workers with moral or religious objections (Salmon, Washington Post, 7/3). Nancy Berlinger, deputy director of the Hastings Center, said that conscience laws also "are on the books in almost every state." She added, "The idea was that when abortion moved from being an illegal procedure, therefore something that you did not offer in a hospital, to being a legal procedure, therefore something that you might offer in a hospital, there was a move to protect providers ... from having to participate in abortions." However, not all conscience laws are specific to abortion, NPR"s "Morning Edition" reports. For example, some allow providers to refuse to provide birth control, in vitro fertilization or end-of-life care (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/6).The Bush administration said its 2008 policy was designed to ensure that the federal laws are enforced. The policy would cut off federal funding to health care facilities and other entities that did not accommodate workers who refused to participate in certain procedures (Washington Post, 7/3). Joxel Garcia, the assistant secretary for health in the Bush administration who helped write the policy, said that it is necessary because few health care workers are aware of the protections. He added that the policy gives health workers "a mechanism to seek help" through HHS.However, critics of the Bush administration"s policy contend that it would widely expand the scope of health care covered by the policy and the type of health care workers who could object to procedures. Berlinger said, "Words like belief, when you talk about them in the context of health care, aren"t just anything you might think of." She noted that a "false belief about science or the promotion of ambiguity where things can be disambiguated," such as the claim that birth control is equivalent to abortion, "is not ethical" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 7/6).Obama"s plan to replace the policy has stoked concern from Catholic health care providers that they would be forced to perform abortions, sterilizations and other procedures that go against Catholic teachings (Washington Post, 7/3). A recent survey conducted for the Christian Medical Association found that 90% of doctors surveyed said that "they will quit their practices before violating their conscience," according to David Stevens, executive director of CMA. Stevens said that repealing the Bush administration"s rule "sends a clear message: It"s open season on health care professionals of conscience -- discriminate at will" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 7/6).Obama on Friday also said that although he and the pope have areas of "deep agreement ... there are going to be some areas where we"ve got some disagreements," such as abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. The president will meet with the pope on July 10, while he is in Europe for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. Obama Addresses Catholic Concerns on Pregnancy PreventionObama also discussed opposition to the inclusion of comprehensive sex education and contraception in any legislative pac
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Major Liberal Groups Will Back Obama On Health Reform
Several of the country"s largest liberal groups said they were prepared to spend $82 million to promote President Obama"s health care reform agenda, the Boston Globe reports. "Joining the effort are two major labor organizations, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win; Health Care for America Now, a coalition of healthcare providers, consumer groups, and activists; MoveOn.org, the massive online activist organization; and other groups that claim a total of 30 million members."
Endocrinology

Renowned Surgeon Examines Our Most Significant Contributions To Surgery - From Crude Procedures To Precision Operations

As a result of the scientific advances and medical innovations made in the twentieth century, the United States today occupies an established and unchallenged leading role in the field of surgery. Renowned surgeon Seymour I. Schwartz, MD, gives a sweeping history of American surgical practice in "Gifted Hands: America"s Most Significant Contributions To Surgery" (Prometheus Books). He describes how surgery in the United States has advanced from the comparatively crude practices of pioneering physicians in the pre-Columbian and colonial eras to its current level of preeminence in scientific surgery today. Dr. Schwartz brilliantly describes centuries of the trial and error of some of the most significant medical breakthroughs, making "Gifted Hands: America"s Most Significant Contributions To Surgery" easily accessible for both laypeople and professionals. His engrossing narrative brings to life the personalities and sometimes dramatic conflicts that have revolutionized surgical science. "[Schwartz] examines the very genesis of our field and takes readers on a historical yet dramatic ride through life-and-death decisions that set the tone for what has become modern-day surgery," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, faculty neurosurgeon at Emory Clinic; chief medical correspondent, CNN; and author of New York Times bestseller "Chasing Life." "There is no question that this is a book about heroes...compassionate intellectuals who forever changed the course of our medical history...Make no mistake; Seymour Schwartz is one of them." Dr. Schwartz recounts some of the first surgical innovations of the nineteenth century, including the first successful abdominal surgery, the development of ether anesthesia, and the first successful gallbladder operation. He also highlights the evolution of vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and organ transplantation of the twentieth century. In addition, some of medicine"s great innovators - such as Nobel Prize winners Alexis Carrel, who developed a method to sew vessels together, and Joseph Murray, who worked on kidney transplantation in Boston - are honored in Dr. Schwartz"s compelling descriptions. "The lay readers of Gifted Hands will be fascinated with these stories of surgical progress," said Clyde F. Barker, MD, Guthrie professor of surgery, University of Pennsylvania; past chairman of surgery, University of Pennsylvania; and past president, American Surgical Association. "Students of surgical history will be equally rewarded with the completeness of Schwartz"s research." Complete with an array of intriguing illustrations, this definitive work will captivate general readers with its engaging narrative and will inform medical professionals through its solid historical research and medical expertise. About the Author: Seymour I. Schwartz, MD (Rochester, NY), a world-renowned surgeon, is the author of "Schwartz"s Principles of Surgery," which in its seven editions and translations has sold more than 500,000 copies. Dr. Schwartz is equally renowned as a cartographic historian and is the author of many books on historical maps, including "Putting "America" on the Map: The Story of the Most Important Graphic Document in the History of the United States." Jill Maxick Prometheus Books

Breast Enhancement commented:

With the advancement of new technologies there is the method of surgery is getting advanced day by day. Thanks for sharing such a knowledgable post with us.

25.04.2012


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