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Tainted China water sickens 450
About 450 people have fallen ill in southern China after drinking contaminated water, the Xinhua state news agency says.
Four of the sick, in two villages in Guangxi province, have arsenic poisoning. Industrial waste from a metal company has been blamed.
Residents began to show symptoms of facial swelling, vomiting and blurred vision on 3 October.
Last month, tainted milk left more than 50,000 children sick.
Plant closed
Ge Xianmin, head of the Guangxi regional occupational disease prevention and control institute, told Xinhua: "The villagers were slightly poisoned. They can be cured in nine to 15 days with timely treatment."
Health officials said 23 children under the age of seven and 32 people aged over 60 had been kept in hospital for observation, while others were receiving outpatient treatment.
According to local government officials, torrential rain caused waste water containing arsenic from the Jinhai Metallurgy Chemical company to overflow and pollute nearby ponds and wells.
The company - a branch of the state-owned Liuzhou China Tin Company - was closed after the contamination was discovered.
Xinhua said the local government and the company had agreed to share the medical costs of the villagers.
Last month, four children died and more than 50,000 were sickened after they were fed on baby milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.
The scandal resulted in a recall of many Chinese milk products. About 450 people have fallen ill in southern China after drinking contaminated water, the Xinhua state news agency says. ... more -
13 baby deaths in one hospital over 24 hour period
Turkish authorities are investigating the deaths of 13 newborn babies over a 24-hour period at a hospital in the western city of Izmir.
Mehmet Ozkan, head of the local health directorate, confirmed the deaths and said officials were "looking into" the situation at the hospital.The babies were all reported to have been born prematurely.
In addition, Turkish newspapers have suggested that a hospital infection may have been a factor in their deaths.
Speaking to a Turkish newspaper, the chief doctor at Tepecik hospital said he suspected an infection could have been the cause.
"Under normal conditions, we lose five or six babies in three days and less than 20 in a month," Professor Gazi Yigitbasi said, in remarks quoted by the AFP news agency.
A TV news channel said a team of doctors from various universities in Izmir would inspect the hospital and take samples from the unit where the babies died, AFP reported.
During July this year, 27 newborn babies died over 15 days at a state hospital in Turkey's capital, Ankara. The Ankara hospital said the deaths were caused by hypertension, heart failure and complications at birth.
But trade unions blamed an infection linked to poor sanitary conditions. Turkish authorities are investigating the deaths of 13 newborn babies over a 24-hour period at a hospital in the western city of Izmir... more -
Beautiful art can act as painkiller, research shows
Looking at a beautiful work of art has long been said to have the power to heal emotional distress but the new research also claims it offers a distraction from physical pain.
The research carried out by the University of Bari in Italy suggests a pleasant environment helps patients overcome discomfort and pain.
A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works. They were then asked to contemplate either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly painting, or a blank panel while the team zapped a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been pricked by a pin. The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when contemplating the ugly paintings or the blank panel. Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced response to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.
While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients, Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.
"Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their aesthetic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist. "Beauty obviously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. I think these results show that more research is needed into the how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering." Looking at a beautiful work of art has long been said to have the power to heal emotional distress but the new research also claims it... more -
China investigates baby formula
Chinese officials are investigating a brand of baby formula after more than a dozen babies who drank it developed kidney stones, state media has said.
Reports of the problem first emerged on Wednesday, when 14 babies in Gansu province were said to have become ill.
According to Xinhua news agency, similar cases have now appeared in northern, eastern and central China.
One baby has reportedly died, but officials have not yet drawn a clear link with the milk powder in this case.
The babies in Gansu had all been fed milk powder bearing the label of the Sanlu Group, but a spokesperson for Sanlu insisted that any substandard milk would have produced by counterfeiters.
Nationwide problem
"It is extremely rare for babies to get kidney stones, let alone so many getting them all at the same time," said Zhang Wei, chief urologist at the Gansu hospital where the 14 babies are being treated.
He told the China Daily newspaper that it was possible more babies in the area could have been taken ill, but high medical costs might have deterred parents from coming for treatment.
Xinhua reported on Thursday that other cases had emerged in the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Anhui and Hunan.
A fake milk powder scandal in 2004 killed at least 13 babies in the eastern province of Anhui.
Investigators found that the milk given to these babies had no nutritional value, and the resulting scandal triggered widespread investigations into food safety. Chinese officials are investigating a brand of baby formula after more than a dozen babies who drank it developed kidney stones, state... more -
Cord blood bank 'will save lives'
A scheme to store blood taken from the umbilical cords of newborns and use it to save lives has been launched.
Cord blood, like bone marrow, can help patients survive deadly diseases such as leukaemia.
For now, the Anthony Nolan Trust Cord Blood Bank can take cord blood at just one hospital, with plans for more UK collection centres.
Even so, the charity predicted the 50,000 expected donations over the next five years would prevent many deaths.
Cord blood provides a way to give a patient the ability to produce new blood cells after this has been lost through illness or aggressive treatment.
As well as patients with blood cancers, those with sickle cell disease and immune problems could benefit. A scheme to store blood taken from the umbilical cords of newborns and use it to save lives has been launched. ... more -
Mentally ill detained in police cells
Thousands of people with mental health problems are being held in police cells rather than being taken to hospital for assessment, a report reveals. Over a year, more than 11,500 people - double the number taken to hospital - were held in police custody for assessment under the Mental Health Act.
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act enables officers to take someone they believe is suffering from a mental disorder, and in need of immediate care or control, from a public place to a "place of safety" where they can be examined by a doctor and interviewed by an approved social worker.
IPCC commissioner Ian Bynoe said the situation was "intolerable". He stated: "Police custody is an unsuitable environment for someone with mental illness and may make their condition worse. The continued use of cells not only diverts police resources from fighting crime, but criminalises behaviour which is not a crime."
Dr Michele Hampson of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said: "Anecdotally, we have heard of new units which are unable to open for lack of staff, and others that expect the police to remain until the assessment has been completed. Sufficient staff must be available at short notice to enable these facilities to cope with all but the most disturbed individuals or those needing medical care. This must be given the priority it deserves."
Louis Appleby, the government's national director for mental health services in England, said the government had made clear that police stations should only be used as a place of safety in exceptional cases. Mr Appleby said that, since the IPCC survey was carried out, significant funding had been made available: "Primary care trusts should make sure they have local policies in place, jointly agreed with the police, to make sure that people with mental health problems are treated in appropriate settings." Thousands of people with mental health problems are being held in police cells rather than being taken to hospital for assessment, a r... more -
17-year-old gir dead as storms move across UK
Storms which left one person dead in mid-Wales and caused floods across Wales and south-west England are set to spread to other parts of the UK.
Persistent rain is forecast for north and north-east England and south-east Scotland, with the risk of flooding.
One severe flood warning and 52 flood warnings are in place.
On Friday afternoon, a 17-year-old girl died when a 4x4 vehicle overturned trying to cross a swollen river at a ford near Llyn Brianne in Powys.
Several rivers in Wales have already burst their banks
On the weather prospects for Saturday, BBC forecaster Jay Wynne said: "It's going to be pretty wet throughout northern England generally, and south-east Scotland too.
"The ground is already saturated so the water will run off pretty quickly into the rivers, so we could see some flooding problems in those areas.
"The rain won't be as heavy as it was in Wales and south-west England on Friday but it will be persistent, raining pretty much all day."
The Environment Agency's severe flood warning is for Cringle Brook in the Fallowfield, Withington and Burnage districts of Manchester. In addition to the warnings, the agency has 170 flood watches in place for England and Wales.
The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency has one flood watch, for across the Scottish Borders where up to 50mm (2ins) of rain are possible.
The teenager who was killed in Powys was airlifted to Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth - along with a male and another female both suffering from hypothermia - but died after arrival.
It's been atrocious here on the east coast of Ireland too, my garden here is basically a swimming pool. Storms which left one person dead in mid-Wales and caused floods across Wales and south-west England are set to spread to other parts ... more -
Lung specialist urges Automatic Organ Donation
A leading lung specialist has said Ireland should seriously consider automatic organ donation after death, to increase the number of transplant operations.
Mater Hospital consultant, Dr Jim Egan, said a change from the existing voluntary donation system to one of 'presumed consent' would save lives.
Currently around 600 patients are on the waiting list for an organ transplant here.
I've long been a supporter of this, It was pioneered in Argentina I believe and has saved many many lives
Remember that if you want to donate, an organ donor card isn't enough and isnt even that necessary as your next of kin decide. You MUST let you family know your decision. A leading lung specialist has said Ireland should seriously consider automatic organ donation after death, to increase the number of t... more -
Dalai Lama Hospitalized
From the report: The Dalai Lama was admitted to an Indian hospital on Thursday to undergo tests for abdominal discomfort, his spokesman said.
"Since tests haven't begun yet, we don't know what the ailment is," Tenzin Takla told The Associated Press. "Medical tests will begin on Friday."
The Dalai Lama's office in Dharmsala said Wednesday that the 73-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader was suffering from exhaustion and would cancel two planned international trips.
On Thursday, Takla said he was "admitted to hospital because of some abdominal discomfort."
The spokesman for Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital suggested the visit was an unscheduled one
"He comes every six months for a routine checkup. Around a month ago, a checkup was conducted and he was in perfect health," Mohan Rajan told The Associated Press.
The Dalai Lama will be under the care of senior surgeon Narendra Trivedi while at the hospital, Rajan said.
"There is no cause for concern," he added.
Takla said the Dalai Lama will spend some days in Mumbai, India's financial capital, to rest before returning to Dharmsala, where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after an abortive uprising against China.
The Dalai Lama had just returned to India from an 11-day visit to France, capping an intense few months since riots against Chinese rule broke out in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, and the subsequent government crackdown.
The spiritual leader spends several months a year traveling the globe to highlight the struggle of Tibetans for greater freedom in China and to teach Buddhism.
However, all of his appointments and visits for the coming three weeks have been canceled, including the trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, said Thupten Samphel, the spokesman of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile.
Since the March outbreak of violence in Tibet, China has stepped up its campaign to vilify him, blaming him for the recent unrest, which Beijing says was part of a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of China.
The Dalai Lama has denied the allegations, saying that he only seeks greater autonomy for the Himalayan region to protect its Buddhist culture. From the report: The Dalai Lama was admitted to an Indian hospital on Thursday to undergo tests for abdominal discomfort, his spokesma... more -
Deadly golden staph bacteria found in major hospitals
Fairfield, Westmead and Concord public hospitals were each found to have the bacteria, while Royal Prince Alfred and Royal North Shore hospitals were cleared, Channel Seven reported today. Infants, the elderly and patients with suppressed immune systems are commonly the most susceptible to picking up the bacteria. "It can increase the sickness and morbidity of the patient,'' University of NSW School of Public Health spokeswoman Mary-Louise McLaws told Seven. The bacteria can cause the disease Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA).
The network found that cases of MRSA occur more often in New South Wales than any other Australian state or territory and is twice as likely to occur in NSW than it is in South Australia or Western Australia. "It does cause people to die,'' College of Surgeons spokesman Richard West said. About 12 per cent of intensive care unit patients contract some kind of infection during their hospital stay, Dr West said. ''... A number of them will die from the infection,'' he said.
Stopping the spread of golden staph can be as easy as ensuring hospital staff wash their hands before making contact with patients. "Patients should insist that doctors and nurses in the hospitals who are attending to them wash their hands before they examine the patients,'' Dr West said. NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher declined network invitations to comment on the matter. Fairfield, Westmead and Concord public hospitals were each found to have the bacteria, while Royal Prince Alfred and Royal North Shore... more -
Elderly patients starve in UK hospitals
Elderly patients are going hungry in UK hospitals as staff fail to ensure they are fed properly.
A study carried out by Age Concern looked at 110 English and Welsh NHS trusts and found 43% did not run protected mealtimes - where non-urgent work stops to make sure patients eat. The study also found that one in three NHS Trusts had not yet introduced a so-called red tray system, where meal trays are colour-coded to indicate which patients need help with eating.
Age Concern's Patrick South said: "Tackling malnutrition should be a top priority for all NHS trusts."
He added: "Our evidence shows unacceptable inconsistencies across the country. It's shocking that many older people still find themselves trapped within a 'postcode lottery of commitment' to improve nutritional standards on hospital wards."
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) received more than 29,000 reports of incidents concerning patient nutrition in 2007. Elderly patients are going hungry in UK hospitals as staff fail to ensure they are fed properly. ... more -
Ten Best Health Facilities In the United States!
There are several such health facilities in the United States that provide specialized services to their patients. Here we look at a few top hospitals that have good reviews from the patients as well as from various hospital surveys done. They top the charts of the healthcare providers. There are several such health facilities in the United States that provide specialized services to their patients. Here we look at a f... more
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Leading hospital makes £4m selling 'inferior' livers from UK donors to f...
One of Britain's leading hospitals has made more than £4million by giving livers from UK donors to private foreign patients.
Over the past five years, surgeons from King's College Hospital in South London have performed 50 liver transplants, with each patient paying around £80,000.
Of these, 22 came from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. One of Britain's leading hospitals has made more than £4million by giving livers from UK donors to private foreign patients. ... more -
British doctors perform world first robot surgery
British doctors have carried out the world's first operation using a robot to repair a condition that kills 7,000 people a year.
The condition, called an abdominal aortic aneurysm, involves a key artery that pumps blood around the body from the heart weakening and swelling and can go undetected until the section bursts, which is often fatal.
Ministers have now announced a national screening programme for ruptured aneurysms to detect the condition and allow more people to have corrective surgery.
A team at St Mary's Hospital in central London, have carried out the first operation to repair an aneurysm using a £400,000 robot.
The new technique will reduce the operating time, add extra precision and allow more complex cases to be attempted.
If extended across the whole country the robotic repair would mean an extra 10,000 to 20,000 patients could have their aneurysm treated.
Grandfather James Arnold, 78, from Wembley, north London, became the first patient to have his aneurysm repaired using the Sensei robot on Tuesday.
Two days later he was out of bed and will be discharged from hospital within days.
He said: "I feel great, it has put my mind at rest. Knowing I had an aneurysm is like walking around with a time bomb inside you, every time I had a touch of belly ache I thought it was going to blow, but I can rest easy now."
New keyhole surgery means the repair can be carried out by passing a thin tube along the blood vessel from the groin into the swollen section and inserting a metal scaffold to reinforce the stretched section and stop it bursting.
Often several metal stents are needed and it can be impossible to match up the ends of each stent into one continuous artificial blood vessel by hand.
In the operation, observed by the Daily Telegraph, Dr Mo Hamady, Consultant Interventional Radiologist, used a monitor and joystick to control a robotic arm attached to the tube with a sensor on the end.
Using x-ray images constantly taken of the patient, the ends of the stents can be joined exactly.
The team also included Miss Celia Riga, Vascular Fellow and Robotics Vascular Research Lead, Mr Colin Bicknell, Vascular Surgeon and Professor Nick Cheshire, Consultant Vascular Surgeon and Clinical Programme Director of Circulation Sciences and Renal Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs St Mary's Hospital.
Earlier this year ministers announced a screening programme for all men aged 65 to detect aneurysms so they can be monitored or repaired.
It is offered only to men as the condition is much more common in men than in women.
There are only three Sensei robots in the UK, two at St Mary's being used to correct an irregular or fast heartbeat and one at Bart's Hospital also in central London. British doctors have carried out the world's first operation using a robot to repair a condition that kills 7,000 people a year. ... more -
US HEALTH SCARE: Patient dies after no care for 22 hours
Hospital staff chose to play cards and watch TV instead.
A hospital patient in the US state of North Carolina died after th staff neglected to care for the man.The 50-year-old mentally ill man sat on a chair and was completely ignored, as nobody brought him food or water, or helped him to the bathroom. Security camera footage showed hospital staff watching television or playing cards while the man was left to suffer alone.
It's not the first time a patient in an American hospital has been apallingly mistreated...
Will the next President fix the deplorable state of US health care? Hospital staff chose to play cards and watch TV instead. ... more -
Under weight and premature aborted baby lives
A newborn baby in Israel was born wieghing only 600 pounds, was aborted due tothe danger of her mother's internal bleeding and was placed in the Hospital of the event's morgue refridgerator for five hours after many hours after the tragic birth, has amazingly survived after being 'dead' for so long. Her mother went into labour when her baby was only five mounths old in the womb.
After being wrapped inside a freezer after her confirmed death, the newborn child was then taken back by her parents to be buried, as they walked off with who they were sure had been lost, they unwrapped her and found her mouth started moving after a few minutes.
'Motti Ravid, a professor of internal medicine, told Israel's Channel 10 that the low temperature inside the cooler had slowed down the baby's metabolism and likely helped her survive.'
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Does anyone else think that if this event is researched into, and if this little survivor has later been found to live a normal life with no or few health problems, this could be the solution to save un-wanted abortions or maybe even similar cases of still life birth? A newborn baby in Israel was born wieghing only 600 pounds, was aborted due tothe danger of her mother's internal bleeding and wa... more -
Blast hits Pakistan hospital, kills 23
A bomb has ripped through a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 23 people dead and 15 more wounded.
"Dozens of people had gathered inside the hospital to protest the death of an influential local man. Police were also there to control the mob when the blast occurred," police officer Habib Khan
told AFP.
"The bodies are being evacuated. The dead included civilians and policemen. It is not clear whether the blast was a suicide or sectarian attack," he added.
Recently, Dera Ismail Khan city bordering Afghanistan has been witness to a number of sectarian attacks.
Minority Shias and majority Sunnis generally live in peace in Pakistan, but extremists often target leaders, activists and mosques. A bomb has ripped through a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 23 people dead and 15 more wounded... more -
Prep for Bio-Terrorism
A brief look at some of the equipment used to detect acts of bio-terrorism.
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No Wonder Our Hospitals Are a Disaster -- People with Marketing Degrees Are Runnin...
Business school graduates have replaced doctors and public health experts as CEOs of hospitals, often at patients' expense.
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Hospital food goes green: pleasing patients and helping them heal
Despite a wealth of research over the past three decades showing that fresh, well-prepared food is packed with natural disease-fighting nutrients to speed healing and prevent illness, hospital food has hardly been a model of healthy eating. “There’s been a bit of a disconnect between what the medical literature says about nutrition and what you get served in the hospital,” says Carolyn Lammersfeld, director of nutrition at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Studies indicate that many hospitalized patients don’t eat enough of the food to adequately nourish their bodies. A 2003 article in the journal Nutrition, for example, showed that hospitalized patients worldwide are malnourished, and rates of undernourishment in some U.S. hospitals were as high as 41 percent.
Today, however, nutrition experts, doctors, hospital administrators, food service companies and patient advocates are working together to make hospital food healthier, better-tasting and a key part of the healing process. Ronald M. Davis, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, in an article for the AMA’s April newsletter, called on hospitals to “buy meat and poultry raised without nontherapeutic antibiotics, use milk produced without recombinant bovine growth hormones, and replace unhealthy snacks found in many vending machines with healthy choices.” Despite a wealth of research over the past three decades showing that fresh, well-prepared food is packed with natural disease-fightin... more
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Hospitals
