Latest California Healthline Stories
Hispanics Have Highest U.S. Death Rate Liver Cirrhosis
Hispanics have the highest death rate from cirrhosis of the liver according the a new study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the AP/Bergen Record reports.
Attorney General Cites Eight Moyle-Run Nursing Homes for Elder Abuse
Eight nursing homes run by Kensett Moyle III in four California counties have been cited for elderly abuse, and four have been closed or sold to new operators, the state Department of Justice said yesterday, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Massachusetts Hospitals Develop Program to Offer Online Second Opinions
Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital will enter the “controversial and legally tricky” area of offering second opinions over the Internet to patients across the country, the Boston Globe reports.
Dems Criticize Bush Changes for Medicaid HMO Patients
Democrats yesterday called the Bush administration’s plan to “streamline” regulations that would provide a host of patient protections for Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in managed care plans “inconsistent” with the protections that the president “touted” for those with private health insurance in patients’ rights legislation passed in the House earlier this month, CongressDaily reports.
Nursing Group Executive, Journalist Offer Opinions on Nursing Shortages
“A major battle is unfolding” in California over the state’s “historic law” that will establish minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, California Nurses Association Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro writes in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece.
Buddhist Charity to Sponsor Free One-Day Clinic in Fresno
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation, a worldwide charity organization, will hold a free medical clinic this Sunday in Fresno for uninsured and low-income individuals, the Fresno Bee reports.
Scientists ‘Divided’ Over Bush Decision
Scientists in the field of stem cell research are “divided” over President Bush’s decision to provide federal funding for research conducted on existing embryonic stem cell lines, with some stating that funding with limitations is preferable to no funding and others arguing that limiting funded research to approximately 60 existing lines “might impede progress,” the New York Times reports.
San Francisco Chronicle Profiles the Career of UCSF AIDS, Medical Marijuana Researcher Donald Abrams
The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine on Sunday profiled Dr. Donald Abrams, an oncologist with the University of California-San Francisco and co-director of the San Diego-based Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
House-Senate Patients’ Rights Meetings to Focus on Suits
House and Senate negotiators will face “thorny political strategy decisions and tense policy negotiations” when they meet next month to resolve differences between the patients’ rights bill passed in the House earlier this month and the bill that the Senate approved in June, CongressDaily reports.
Ventura County Advisory Panel Approves Tobacco Settlement Spending Plan
A Ventura County Board of Supervisors advisory panel yesterday unanimously approved a plan for spending part of the county’s share of the tobacco settlement next year, the Ventura County Star reports.