Relatives and supporters of political prisoners decried what they called “special treatment” accorded to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as they demanded anew the release of political prisoners in the country, especially the sick and the elderly.
According to Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda), there are 360 political prisoners in the country, including the 78 who were arrested under the Aquino administration. Eleven of them are elderly, while there are 43 who are sick. The group said these political prisoners should be released on humanitarian grounds.
“The political prisoners who have been languishing in jails for years don’t have money to buy for their medicines. And yet, the Aquino government will use people’s money for a human rights violator like Arroyo,” Fr. Dionito Cabillas of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), said.
Arroyo, now representative of Pampanga’s second district, has been under hospital arrest for charges of electoral sabotage. The local court recently issued a ruling ordering her transfer to the government-run Veterans Memorial Medical Center. Malacanang expressed willingness to shoulder the costs of Arroyo’s hospitalization.
In the same vein, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casio said, “It is ironic that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the one responsible for so many human rights violations, is being given special treatment and even pampered by the Aquino administration while her victims have to go on a hunger strike just to air their demands that should and can readily be granted by the authorities.”
Since Dec. 3, political prisoners in various detention facilities have launched hunger strike and other forms of protest.
“Arroyo should be nowhere but in jail,” said Angie Ipong, Selda secretary general.
“This [special treatment to Arroyo] is unacceptable for the 360 political prisoners who are charged with trumped up charges and imprisoned because of political beliefs, who are now languishing in jails in dire conditions,” Ipong said.
“She has no life-threatening illness, but is very comfortable in the hospital. Political prisoners, on the other hand, do not receive proper medical treatment for their grave illnesses,” Ipong said.
The group cited the case of Crisanto Tomarse Fat who died of heart ailment while in jail at the Negros Provincial Jail on Sept. 20. Fat, a peasant leader in Moises Padilla town in Negros Occidental, was falsely charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Rolando Paamogan, 47, arrested in January 2002, is suffering from diabetes, toxic goiter and congestive heart disease. Paamogan, a leader of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Ponpunan, Baybay, Leyte, is now detained at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. He has been confined at the NBP hospital, where facilities and attending medical personnel are scarce. On several occasions, he had been rushed to the clinic for shortness of breath and convulsive seizure. “He, who is not guilty of the trumped-up charges the government filed against him, has no money to buy for his medicines,” Cabillas said.
Another political prisoner detained at the NBP, Rogelio Natividad, 61, has been in jail for the last 20 years. “Compounding his long years of imprisonment are the inhumane conditions in jail where there is meager food ration and poor hygiene which has resulted in his kidney infection, ulcer and hypertension. He has been found to have kidney stones, which is currently causing him pain,” Selda said.
Bernardo Andrade, 61, a fisherman from Old Sagay, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, and who has been detained for ten years already, has diabetes, asthma and hypertension. Since his arrest in 2001, his family had never visited him for lack of financial and material support.
Cresenciano Inocerta, 64, has contracted tuberculosis while inside the jail in NBP. He underwent treatment for six months. He has been considered healed of tuberculosis but he continues to suffer from asthma, arthritis and constant cough. Like Andrade, Inocerta has never been visited by his family from Valencia, Negros Oriental due to lack of finances.
Manolito Matricio, 60, from Mamburao, Mindoro Occidental, has been suffering from arthritis, diabetes and hypertension. He is one of the “Mamburao 6” who were convicted of killing the two sons of a local land lord in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.
Ernesto Dumlao, detained at the Quezon City Jail, has asthma and has been sleeping on the floor of the Quezon City Jail because he cannot pay for a “tarima” (cot) that costs P3,000.
Antonino Roda, detained at the Misamis Occidental Provincial Reformatory Jail, has severe kidney infection, urinating with blood for several times already.
2011年12月5日星期一
Diets, salts and the benefits of an alkaline diet
Our blood is slightly alkaline. The theory behind the alkaline diet is that our diet should reflect this pH level and be slightly alkaline. An alkaline diet is a diet that is predominantly made up of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans and lentils. As a general guideline, our diet should consist of 60pc alkaline-forming foods and 40pc acid-forming foods to maintain good health.
Almost all foods that we eat, after being digested, absorbed and metabolised, release either an acid or an alkaline base into the blood. Meat, poultry, fish, grains, cheese, milk, salt and sugar all produce acid, so the rise in our consumption of these foods means that the typical western diet has became more acid-producing than ever.
Also, consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables has decreased over the years, which means we are consuming fewer alkalising foods which can further contribute to an imbalance.
Advocates of alkaline diets believe that a diet high in acid-producing foods disrupts our pH balance and promotes the loss of essential minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium as the body tries to restore equilibrium. This imbalance is thought to make people more prone to illness. For example, recent medical research suggests that alkaline diets may help prevent the formation of calcium kidney stones and osteoporosis. In addition, respiratory issues such as excessive mucous production or frequent colds and flu respond well to alkaline diets.
I've been told to cut down on salt but I'm confused about how to gauge salt content in food items. Should I be watching the sodium or salt content?
AMany people confuse sodium with salt. In fact, sodium only makes up a small portion of salt. Most labels only list sodium content which makes it difficult to know how much salt is in our food. Where sodium is listed, we need to multiply the figure for sodium by 2.5 to get the amount of salt. This is especially important for people who are trying to keep their blood pressure down.
A high salt intake is responsible for about one in three new cases of high blood pressure. It also increase a person's risk of developing kidney disease, stomach cancer and osteoporosis.
The average daily salt intake in Ireland is high -- approximately 10g in adults. For optimum health, adults should ideally consume no more than 4g of salt per day, however, 6g (1 teaspoon) is generally accepted as a realistic target.
The easiest way to cut down on your salt intake is to reduce the amount of processed foods you eat. Processed foods that typically have high salt levels include condiments, soups, sauces, crisps, bread, pizza, ready-made meals and lunch meats.
Almost all foods that we eat, after being digested, absorbed and metabolised, release either an acid or an alkaline base into the blood. Meat, poultry, fish, grains, cheese, milk, salt and sugar all produce acid, so the rise in our consumption of these foods means that the typical western diet has became more acid-producing than ever.
Also, consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables has decreased over the years, which means we are consuming fewer alkalising foods which can further contribute to an imbalance.
Advocates of alkaline diets believe that a diet high in acid-producing foods disrupts our pH balance and promotes the loss of essential minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium as the body tries to restore equilibrium. This imbalance is thought to make people more prone to illness. For example, recent medical research suggests that alkaline diets may help prevent the formation of calcium kidney stones and osteoporosis. In addition, respiratory issues such as excessive mucous production or frequent colds and flu respond well to alkaline diets.
I've been told to cut down on salt but I'm confused about how to gauge salt content in food items. Should I be watching the sodium or salt content?
AMany people confuse sodium with salt. In fact, sodium only makes up a small portion of salt. Most labels only list sodium content which makes it difficult to know how much salt is in our food. Where sodium is listed, we need to multiply the figure for sodium by 2.5 to get the amount of salt. This is especially important for people who are trying to keep their blood pressure down.
A high salt intake is responsible for about one in three new cases of high blood pressure. It also increase a person's risk of developing kidney disease, stomach cancer and osteoporosis.
The average daily salt intake in Ireland is high -- approximately 10g in adults. For optimum health, adults should ideally consume no more than 4g of salt per day, however, 6g (1 teaspoon) is generally accepted as a realistic target.
The easiest way to cut down on your salt intake is to reduce the amount of processed foods you eat. Processed foods that typically have high salt levels include condiments, soups, sauces, crisps, bread, pizza, ready-made meals and lunch meats.
2011年11月13日星期日
Concerns raised over €400,000 machine lying idle at Galway hospital
A €400,000 machine purchased for the urology department at University Hospital Galway over 18 months ago has “never been put into service”, consultants at the hospital have said.
Five consultants have written to Minister for Health James Reilly to raise their concerns about an extracorporeal shockwave lithotriptor (ESWL), bought for the hospital in February 2010 to treat patients with conditions such as kidney stones.
In a letter sent to the Minister at the end of last month, consultant urologists Michael Corcoran, Eamon Rogers, Killian Walsh, Syed Jaffry and Garrett Durkan said the machine had never been put into service as radiographers to facilitate the treatments were never allocated by management.
“This decision has been to the detriment of patients with stone disease in the region,” they said.
The doctors said because the ESWL treatment was not being provided, there has been an “over-reliance on invasive procedures” at the hospital, as well as delayed treatment for those in chronic pain and increased admissions to the emergency department. Some patients were also having to travel to Tallaght hospital for ESWL treatment there.
“In the meantime, an ESWL machine purchased at taxpayers’ expense, lies idle and depreciates,” they said.
The hospital is a tertiary referral centre for people with complex urological diseases and it receives referrals from Letterkenny, Sligo, Castlebar, Roscommon and Portiuncula hospitals.
The doctors said the machine had now been “cannibalised and allocated without discussion” to Merlin Park Regional Hospital for “exclusive use” by its radiology department, which already had sufficient equipment. “The background to this event is such that it warrants full investigation and due consideration,” the doctors said.
They said the decision had been made by Health Service Executive Galway clinical director David O’Keeffe, who is also a director of a private imaging company on the grounds of Merlin Park.
“It is nothing short of scandalous in the current financial times that the HSE would waste €400,000 on a piece of equipment and then render it unusable by cannibalising it for the use of a department which clearly doesn’t need it,” the doctors said.
In a statement, the HSE said the machine cost €265,000 excluding VAT. It said by the time the machine was procured, staffing at the hospital had changed, with significant reductions nursing and radiology staff numbers.
“It was not possible to provide the service from the existing staff resources as originally planned,” the statement said.
“The equipment is currently being used for interventional radiology at the Merlin Park site and the intention is to provide lithotripsy as soon as resources allow.”
Five consultants have written to Minister for Health James Reilly to raise their concerns about an extracorporeal shockwave lithotriptor (ESWL), bought for the hospital in February 2010 to treat patients with conditions such as kidney stones.
In a letter sent to the Minister at the end of last month, consultant urologists Michael Corcoran, Eamon Rogers, Killian Walsh, Syed Jaffry and Garrett Durkan said the machine had never been put into service as radiographers to facilitate the treatments were never allocated by management.
“This decision has been to the detriment of patients with stone disease in the region,” they said.
The doctors said because the ESWL treatment was not being provided, there has been an “over-reliance on invasive procedures” at the hospital, as well as delayed treatment for those in chronic pain and increased admissions to the emergency department. Some patients were also having to travel to Tallaght hospital for ESWL treatment there.
“In the meantime, an ESWL machine purchased at taxpayers’ expense, lies idle and depreciates,” they said.
The hospital is a tertiary referral centre for people with complex urological diseases and it receives referrals from Letterkenny, Sligo, Castlebar, Roscommon and Portiuncula hospitals.
The doctors said the machine had now been “cannibalised and allocated without discussion” to Merlin Park Regional Hospital for “exclusive use” by its radiology department, which already had sufficient equipment. “The background to this event is such that it warrants full investigation and due consideration,” the doctors said.
They said the decision had been made by Health Service Executive Galway clinical director David O’Keeffe, who is also a director of a private imaging company on the grounds of Merlin Park.
“It is nothing short of scandalous in the current financial times that the HSE would waste €400,000 on a piece of equipment and then render it unusable by cannibalising it for the use of a department which clearly doesn’t need it,” the doctors said.
In a statement, the HSE said the machine cost €265,000 excluding VAT. It said by the time the machine was procured, staffing at the hospital had changed, with significant reductions nursing and radiology staff numbers.
“It was not possible to provide the service from the existing staff resources as originally planned,” the statement said.
“The equipment is currently being used for interventional radiology at the Merlin Park site and the intention is to provide lithotripsy as soon as resources allow.”
2011年11月8日星期二
Bowman earns offensive player of week
A 226-yard, 10-catch receiving performance - the best of any receiver in the Canadian Football League this season - made Edmonton Eskimos slotback Adarius Bowman a nobrainer for the league's offensive player of the week.
Bowman made big plays every time he was called upon in the Eskimos' 23-20 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Friday night's regular-season finale. He scored two touchdowns for the Eskimos to lead them to victory.
On Monday, Bowman said that he had moved past the best game of his CFL career.
"We're just focused on Calgary right now," he said, anticipating the Eskimos' playoff opponent on Sunday. "It was a great week and I enjoyed everything, but we've got to stay focused, man, it's just win. That's the only way we can stay up here now. That's the only thing we're focused on."
"He stepped up and played a big game for us," Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray said of Bowman. "Really, those first two touchdowns, to catch that long one really got the team going.
"We just weren't really doing much offensively and that was a big play for us. That (second) one where he broke a couple of tackles and got it into the end zone, that just really fires you up as a football team and you could see the momentum kind of going in our favour then. That's what you need to have. You have to have those plays to get guys excited."
When Damon Duval told Derek Schiavone the news, Schiavone thought he was being told a joke.
"Showing up 20 minutes before the game it hit. Derek, we were on the drive (to Commonwealth Stadium) and I looked at him and kind of laughed and said, 'You're not going to like this right now but you might have to play today,'" Duval recalled. "He asked what was wrong and I said, 'I think I'm getting a kidney stone.' "
Schiavone filled in well, making all three of his field goals against the Riders on Friday night, including a game-winning 27-yarder in the final minute of play to lift Edmonton to a 23-20 win. The victory secured the Eskimos their first home playoff game in seven years.
"I thought he was just joking because it was a little cold out," Schiavone said of how he handled Duval's news. "You could tell he was in pain the moment he got in here. At that instant, I started to get ready, just in case."
Duval has a history of kidney stones. The stone he passed at 4: 30 a.m. on Saturday morning was the fifth he's dealt with.
"Thanks, Dad," Duval said. "Unfortunately, these things can be hereditary and he's had over 40 in his life so far."
Duval said the pain of passing the stones is as bad as advertised.
"Have you ever been on a long trip where you had to pee so bad and they won't pull over and let you pee and it starts hurting?" Duval asked. "Well, imagine that magnified by about 100 and that's how it feels.
"There's just no letup. It's just a constant writhing that starts in the lower back and you can feel it as it starts going from the kidneys, making its way through your bladder. The good thing is once it gets in your bladder, for the most part, the pain kind of alleviates and then a lot of pressure and then just, ploop - out comes the stone.
"They give you a little strainer and you just urinate in the strainer and when you hear the ding, you know you're a lucky guy and you've won the game."
The 30-year-old father of two young boys has kept the stones he's passed to teach them what was happening with him.
"They didn't understand," he said. "I kept it so they could see what it was. The reality, it really looks like a little BB and unfortunately that little thing can bring that much pain."
Bowman made big plays every time he was called upon in the Eskimos' 23-20 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Friday night's regular-season finale. He scored two touchdowns for the Eskimos to lead them to victory.
On Monday, Bowman said that he had moved past the best game of his CFL career.
"We're just focused on Calgary right now," he said, anticipating the Eskimos' playoff opponent on Sunday. "It was a great week and I enjoyed everything, but we've got to stay focused, man, it's just win. That's the only way we can stay up here now. That's the only thing we're focused on."
"He stepped up and played a big game for us," Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray said of Bowman. "Really, those first two touchdowns, to catch that long one really got the team going.
"We just weren't really doing much offensively and that was a big play for us. That (second) one where he broke a couple of tackles and got it into the end zone, that just really fires you up as a football team and you could see the momentum kind of going in our favour then. That's what you need to have. You have to have those plays to get guys excited."
When Damon Duval told Derek Schiavone the news, Schiavone thought he was being told a joke.
"Showing up 20 minutes before the game it hit. Derek, we were on the drive (to Commonwealth Stadium) and I looked at him and kind of laughed and said, 'You're not going to like this right now but you might have to play today,'" Duval recalled. "He asked what was wrong and I said, 'I think I'm getting a kidney stone.' "
Schiavone filled in well, making all three of his field goals against the Riders on Friday night, including a game-winning 27-yarder in the final minute of play to lift Edmonton to a 23-20 win. The victory secured the Eskimos their first home playoff game in seven years.
"I thought he was just joking because it was a little cold out," Schiavone said of how he handled Duval's news. "You could tell he was in pain the moment he got in here. At that instant, I started to get ready, just in case."
Duval has a history of kidney stones. The stone he passed at 4: 30 a.m. on Saturday morning was the fifth he's dealt with.
"Thanks, Dad," Duval said. "Unfortunately, these things can be hereditary and he's had over 40 in his life so far."
Duval said the pain of passing the stones is as bad as advertised.
"Have you ever been on a long trip where you had to pee so bad and they won't pull over and let you pee and it starts hurting?" Duval asked. "Well, imagine that magnified by about 100 and that's how it feels.
"There's just no letup. It's just a constant writhing that starts in the lower back and you can feel it as it starts going from the kidneys, making its way through your bladder. The good thing is once it gets in your bladder, for the most part, the pain kind of alleviates and then a lot of pressure and then just, ploop - out comes the stone.
"They give you a little strainer and you just urinate in the strainer and when you hear the ding, you know you're a lucky guy and you've won the game."
The 30-year-old father of two young boys has kept the stones he's passed to teach them what was happening with him.
"They didn't understand," he said. "I kept it so they could see what it was. The reality, it really looks like a little BB and unfortunately that little thing can bring that much pain."
2011年10月31日星期一
Can sound waves cure impotence?
Sound waves could significantly improve sexual activity in men whose severe erectile dysfunction has not responded well to drug treatments, a new study has found.
Researchers employed a technique similar to that used to break up kidney stones to shock the penis into life with low-intensity waves.
So-called 'extracorporeal shock wave therapy' has been found to improve blood flow to the heart by inducing blood vessel growth, so experts speculated that such waves might also improve circulation to the penis.
An earlier study showed shock wave therapy benefited men with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction (ED).
But the new study's findings suggest the therapy could also be used to treat ED patients who don't respond well to conventional treatment.
However, the study was small, involving only 29 men, and the results may have been due to a placebo effect, so more work is needed to validate the findings, the researchers said.
Participants filled out a questionnaire to assess their sexual function.
Scores ranged from six to 30 - with ratings lower than 10 indicating severe ED and those from 26 to 30 indicating normal erectile function.
The men, whose average age was 61, were given 300 shocks over a period of three minutes on five points along the shaft of the penis during each session.
There were two sessions per week for three weeks, then three weeks off, and then another three-week treatment period. No men reported pain or adverse side-effects during treatment.
Participants began taking ED drugs one month after the last treatment.
The average score at the beginning of the study was 8.8. Two months after the treatment stopped, the average increased 10 points.
For many men, this means the difference between being able and being unable to have sex said study researcher Ilan Gruenwald, associate director of the neuro-urology unit at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.
Eight men achieved normal sexual function.
On average, men started to see a benefit three weeks after treatment.
Dr Andrew Kramer, a urologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, said the results were counter-intuitive given that sound waves used in kidney stone treatments are designed to be destructive.
'It's like saying, take your penis and hit it with a hammer a couple of times,' Kramer said.
The researchers acknowledged their work is preliminary, but, given their results, they said they hope others in their field remain open-minded about the therapy.
The study was published online October 18 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Researchers employed a technique similar to that used to break up kidney stones to shock the penis into life with low-intensity waves.
So-called 'extracorporeal shock wave therapy' has been found to improve blood flow to the heart by inducing blood vessel growth, so experts speculated that such waves might also improve circulation to the penis.
An earlier study showed shock wave therapy benefited men with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction (ED).
But the new study's findings suggest the therapy could also be used to treat ED patients who don't respond well to conventional treatment.
However, the study was small, involving only 29 men, and the results may have been due to a placebo effect, so more work is needed to validate the findings, the researchers said.
Participants filled out a questionnaire to assess their sexual function.
Scores ranged from six to 30 - with ratings lower than 10 indicating severe ED and those from 26 to 30 indicating normal erectile function.
The men, whose average age was 61, were given 300 shocks over a period of three minutes on five points along the shaft of the penis during each session.
There were two sessions per week for three weeks, then three weeks off, and then another three-week treatment period. No men reported pain or adverse side-effects during treatment.
Participants began taking ED drugs one month after the last treatment.
The average score at the beginning of the study was 8.8. Two months after the treatment stopped, the average increased 10 points.
For many men, this means the difference between being able and being unable to have sex said study researcher Ilan Gruenwald, associate director of the neuro-urology unit at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.
Eight men achieved normal sexual function.
On average, men started to see a benefit three weeks after treatment.
Dr Andrew Kramer, a urologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, said the results were counter-intuitive given that sound waves used in kidney stone treatments are designed to be destructive.
'It's like saying, take your penis and hit it with a hammer a couple of times,' Kramer said.
The researchers acknowledged their work is preliminary, but, given their results, they said they hope others in their field remain open-minded about the therapy.
The study was published online October 18 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
2011年10月17日星期一
Your paper probably saved my life
By avidly reading the Grimsby Lincoln News an Orange County man not only has his life but a killer idea for a Halloween costume.
Jim Gauderman has been reading The News for the past five years after he became acquainted with someone from the area. Wanting to learn more about the area, he started subscribing to the paper and has been an avid reader ever since. After becoming ill after a hospital stay to treat a kidney stone, Gauderman was unable to grab the paper, which was piling up in his P.O. box. Having learned about Gauderman’s plight, a friend from Smithville (who Gauderman wanted to remain anonymous) sent him a story from The News on the outbreak of Clostridium difficile at some of Niagara’s hospitals.
Gauderman received the e-mail while in his doctor’s office. He showed his doctor, demanded a stool sample be taken and awaited a diagnosis. Fifteen hours later, Gauderman was diagnosed with C. difficile.
“Your paper probably saved my life,” said Gauderman from California. “That article described exactly what I was experiencing — abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever. The bottom line is, if I hadn’t gotten that e-mail, and I had already lost 20 pounds by then, I was on my way out, I absolutely was. And to the person who sent it to me, by sending that they probably saved my life.”
C. difficile is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and other serious intestinal conditions. It is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients in the industrialized world.
Gauderman first went to hospital July 26 to pass a kidney stone. He was there for four days and at some point came down with an infection. His time at home was spent dealing with extreme stomach pain, aches and diarrhea. Four days after he left hospital he was right back there, diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. Doctors began pumping him full of antibiotics. The diarrhea was getting worse, up to 15 times a day, and he was getting weaker. The normally active 70-year-old Gauderman was rapidly losing weight.
Doctors tested him for diverticulitis, appendicitis and colon cancer all the while pumping his body with antibiotics. Finally, on Aug. 11, Gauderman was tested for C. difficile and the diagnosis came. An infectious disease doctor was called in and he ordered Gauderman taken off antibiotics immediately.
“They just kept giving me antibiotics, which is like throwing gasoline on a raging fire,” he said. “It’s the worse possible thing. I saw the infectious disease doctor yesterday and he told me from now on I can’t take any antibiotics without first talking to an infectious disease specialist or I will have this again.”
He was then given medication to treat the bacterial infection and after three days, things finally began to improve. He stayed on the medication for 10 days and all was well, for two weeks.
Then the symptoms started to return. He was on medication for another 10 days, only to have C. difficile return for a third time. Gauderman is now taking a double-dose of the medication, which costs $62.50 a pill which is luckily covered by insurance, for 14 days.
“It’s really bad when you have to get diagnosed from a newspaper article 3,000 miles away,” said Gauderman. “But the bottom line is, it’s what made the difference and thanks to you guys, I’m still alive.”
Gauderman also credits the newspaper with his Halloween costume for this year. He plans to dress up in Night of the Living Dead style with a T-shirt reading “Got C. diff?” and “The Diffinator” on the back.
“That story, and the person who sent it to me through your paper, probably saved my life,” he said. “And you know how serious it is, you’ve had death there.”
The Niagara Health System declared an outbreak of Clostridium difficile in May at its St. Catharines General site and in June at Greater Niagara General Hospital in Niagara Falls and its Welland Hospital site. In total, 36 people have died.
Jim Gauderman has been reading The News for the past five years after he became acquainted with someone from the area. Wanting to learn more about the area, he started subscribing to the paper and has been an avid reader ever since. After becoming ill after a hospital stay to treat a kidney stone, Gauderman was unable to grab the paper, which was piling up in his P.O. box. Having learned about Gauderman’s plight, a friend from Smithville (who Gauderman wanted to remain anonymous) sent him a story from The News on the outbreak of Clostridium difficile at some of Niagara’s hospitals.
Gauderman received the e-mail while in his doctor’s office. He showed his doctor, demanded a stool sample be taken and awaited a diagnosis. Fifteen hours later, Gauderman was diagnosed with C. difficile.
“Your paper probably saved my life,” said Gauderman from California. “That article described exactly what I was experiencing — abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever. The bottom line is, if I hadn’t gotten that e-mail, and I had already lost 20 pounds by then, I was on my way out, I absolutely was. And to the person who sent it to me, by sending that they probably saved my life.”
C. difficile is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and other serious intestinal conditions. It is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients in the industrialized world.
Gauderman first went to hospital July 26 to pass a kidney stone. He was there for four days and at some point came down with an infection. His time at home was spent dealing with extreme stomach pain, aches and diarrhea. Four days after he left hospital he was right back there, diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. Doctors began pumping him full of antibiotics. The diarrhea was getting worse, up to 15 times a day, and he was getting weaker. The normally active 70-year-old Gauderman was rapidly losing weight.
Doctors tested him for diverticulitis, appendicitis and colon cancer all the while pumping his body with antibiotics. Finally, on Aug. 11, Gauderman was tested for C. difficile and the diagnosis came. An infectious disease doctor was called in and he ordered Gauderman taken off antibiotics immediately.
“They just kept giving me antibiotics, which is like throwing gasoline on a raging fire,” he said. “It’s the worse possible thing. I saw the infectious disease doctor yesterday and he told me from now on I can’t take any antibiotics without first talking to an infectious disease specialist or I will have this again.”
He was then given medication to treat the bacterial infection and after three days, things finally began to improve. He stayed on the medication for 10 days and all was well, for two weeks.
Then the symptoms started to return. He was on medication for another 10 days, only to have C. difficile return for a third time. Gauderman is now taking a double-dose of the medication, which costs $62.50 a pill which is luckily covered by insurance, for 14 days.
“It’s really bad when you have to get diagnosed from a newspaper article 3,000 miles away,” said Gauderman. “But the bottom line is, it’s what made the difference and thanks to you guys, I’m still alive.”
Gauderman also credits the newspaper with his Halloween costume for this year. He plans to dress up in Night of the Living Dead style with a T-shirt reading “Got C. diff?” and “The Diffinator” on the back.
“That story, and the person who sent it to me through your paper, probably saved my life,” he said. “And you know how serious it is, you’ve had death there.”
The Niagara Health System declared an outbreak of Clostridium difficile in May at its St. Catharines General site and in June at Greater Niagara General Hospital in Niagara Falls and its Welland Hospital site. In total, 36 people have died.
2011年10月13日星期四
Cancelled op prolongs woman's pain
A GRIEVING widow was seconds away from being anaesthetised and wheeled into theatre when she was told her operation was cancelled.
Pauline Vuyk, of Van Diemans Road, Chelmsford, was looking forward to feeling like “a new person” before her operation to remove three kidney stones was called off at the last minute because of an equipment fault.
The 60-year-old petrol station worker, who has suffered with the painful stones on and off for six years, had been referred to a specialist at Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, as an urgent case and was due to have an operation on Friday (OCT7).
“I was thinking today’s the day I’m going to be out of pain,” she said.
“I was in theatre laying on a trolley, they put me on a heart monitor and a needle was put in the back of my hand ready for the anaesthetic.
“A woman came out and I thought ‘this is it’ only to be told my operation was cancelled, it was like a smack in the face.”
The bad news was a double snub for Pauline, who is still coming to terms with the death of her husband two years ago, as she had an identical procedure cancelled in 2007.
She added: “I just sit and cry sometimes when I think what I’m going through yet again.
“It’s not acceptable, they can afford to have the hospital done up looking glamorous but can’t have equipment ready for an urgent case.”
Jo Triggs, spokeswoman for the Mid Essex Hospital Trust, which runs Broomfield, said: “The Trust would like to apologise to Mrs Vuyk for cancelling her procedure at short notice, but this was due to an unforeseeable problem with the laser machine.
“Stringent safety procedures are followed when using this machine so after the problem was discovered an immediate decision was taken not to use it until it was safe to do so. The problem has been rectified and all patient appointments are being rescheduled.”
Pauline Vuyk, of Van Diemans Road, Chelmsford, was looking forward to feeling like “a new person” before her operation to remove three kidney stones was called off at the last minute because of an equipment fault.
The 60-year-old petrol station worker, who has suffered with the painful stones on and off for six years, had been referred to a specialist at Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, as an urgent case and was due to have an operation on Friday (OCT7).
“I was thinking today’s the day I’m going to be out of pain,” she said.
“I was in theatre laying on a trolley, they put me on a heart monitor and a needle was put in the back of my hand ready for the anaesthetic.
“A woman came out and I thought ‘this is it’ only to be told my operation was cancelled, it was like a smack in the face.”
The bad news was a double snub for Pauline, who is still coming to terms with the death of her husband two years ago, as she had an identical procedure cancelled in 2007.
She added: “I just sit and cry sometimes when I think what I’m going through yet again.
“It’s not acceptable, they can afford to have the hospital done up looking glamorous but can’t have equipment ready for an urgent case.”
Jo Triggs, spokeswoman for the Mid Essex Hospital Trust, which runs Broomfield, said: “The Trust would like to apologise to Mrs Vuyk for cancelling her procedure at short notice, but this was due to an unforeseeable problem with the laser machine.
“Stringent safety procedures are followed when using this machine so after the problem was discovered an immediate decision was taken not to use it until it was safe to do so. The problem has been rectified and all patient appointments are being rescheduled.”
2011年6月22日星期三
Why Climate-Related Heat Waves Will Be Bad for Your Health
The start of summer officially kicked off on Tuesday at 1.16 pm ET with the beginning of the summer solstice and the Northern Hemisphere's longest day of the year. That day, the Northern Hemisphere absorbed more sunlight than it has or will have on any other day of 2011. Our planet will release that sunlight in the coming weeks in what will hopefully not be a repeat of summer 2010 – the year of record-high summer temperatures in the Northeast – because if this forthcoming study in Climatic Change is anything to go by, scorching temperatures this summer could bring a lot worse than sweaty brows and frizzy hair.
The study, conducted by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University and the National Center for Climatic Research, identifies a number of illnesses and health conditions exacerbated by unrelenting heat, including diabetes, urinary tract and renal diseases such as kidney stones, respiratory conditions, accidents and even suicide attempts. For every 2 degrees the mercury in your thermometer rises over 85 Fahrenheit, hospital admissions for conditions such as diabetes and kidney disorders are predicted to rise by 13 percent.
“Unlike previous studies, we identified threshold temperatures for several health outcomes beyond which disease rates will increase rapidly,” Bo Li, the lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The researchers also forecast increased incidence of heat-sensitive illnesses and conditions in tandem with predicted warming and its accompanying intense and frequent heat waves for the years between 2059-2070. Hospital admissions for heat-related conditions under one well-studied climate change scenario will increase by seven percent over time, according to the study's senior author Jonathan Patz, and hospitals and public agencies will need to plan accordingly. And stay inside with the air-conditioning on if you're under five or over 85 – the study found that the very young and the very old are at the biggest risk for hospitalization during heat waves.
The study, conducted by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University and the National Center for Climatic Research, identifies a number of illnesses and health conditions exacerbated by unrelenting heat, including diabetes, urinary tract and renal diseases such as kidney stones, respiratory conditions, accidents and even suicide attempts. For every 2 degrees the mercury in your thermometer rises over 85 Fahrenheit, hospital admissions for conditions such as diabetes and kidney disorders are predicted to rise by 13 percent.
“Unlike previous studies, we identified threshold temperatures for several health outcomes beyond which disease rates will increase rapidly,” Bo Li, the lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The researchers also forecast increased incidence of heat-sensitive illnesses and conditions in tandem with predicted warming and its accompanying intense and frequent heat waves for the years between 2059-2070. Hospital admissions for heat-related conditions under one well-studied climate change scenario will increase by seven percent over time, according to the study's senior author Jonathan Patz, and hospitals and public agencies will need to plan accordingly. And stay inside with the air-conditioning on if you're under five or over 85 – the study found that the very young and the very old are at the biggest risk for hospitalization during heat waves.
2011年5月29日星期日
After drug thefts from patients, hospitals are working to prevent such crimes, improve safety
Over six months last year, nearly 1,500 pills prescribed to 35 residents of a Sauk Rapids health care facility went missing under nurse Lora Asfeld's watch.
Asfeld later admitted to stealing the drugs, mostly painkillers. She was fired, reported to police and had her license suspended in February by the Minnesota Board of Nursing — one of 13 licensees to be disciplined over a roughly four-month period for stealing pain medication.
While drug thefts have long been an issue in hospitals and nursing homes, top health officials are taking new steps to address the problem. The Minnesota Hospital Association and state Health Department are organizing a coalition of hospitals and licensing boards to identify and close loopholes in drug-handling protocols that make it easier to steal.
"People are starting to realize that this is a serious and ongoing problem," said Keith Berge, who chairs Mayo Clinic's medication diversion prevention committee. "They're starting to recognize what they've been seeing. I think we've been seeing this all along and not recognizing it for what it is."
In perhaps the most dramatic recent case, a nurse anesthetist in Minneapolis was accused of taking most of the painkiller intended for a patient undergoing kidney stone surgery in November. A criminal complaint said the nurse told the patient to "man up" as he endured the worst pain.
Opioid pain relievers like fentanyl or oxycodone are the most commonly stolen prescription drugs, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Hospital workers have stolen them by replacing a patient's prescription with ibuprofen, siphoning medication from IV bags, taking leftovers meant for the trash, falsifying patient records and forging prescriptions.
Once someone is addicted to prescription drugs, they'll go to great lengths to get their fix, said Ron Buzzeo, who was deputy director of the DEA's Office of Diversion Control for more than two decades before retiring in 1990. He now consults for hospitals.
"People who are abusing drugs are extremely creative," Buzzeo said. "It's difficult to stay one step ahead of them."
There is no central tracking system for drug theft by medical personnel in Minnesota, and since facilities report incidents to a variety of entities, it's difficult to tell how often it happens. Many facilities don't report all drug thefts to the DEA, despite a federal law requiring that they do, said Jack Henderson, supervisor of the DEA's local diversion group.
Hospitals can be vulnerable if they don't have a thorough tracking system for their medications, ideally an electronic one. Since many drugs stolen are bound for the trash, hospitals should also have a disposal system that includes safeguards such as requiring half-empty bottles or syringes be returned to the pharmacy.
Tracking is generally done through software linked to password-protected medication cabinets called automated dispensing units. That lets facilities check for high-use patterns by a certain employee, or for more complaints of pain than usual from patients who should've received enough medication.
In the past decade, most hospitals in Minnesota have gotten automated dispensing machines. At Hennepin County Medical Center, they look like short, wide vending machines. When a nurse enters his or her password, a list of patients pops up, along with the medications for each. Once a medication is selected, a drawer pops open.
If a drug is packaged in a quantity larger than the patient's dose, the remainder must be thrown away. If it's a narcotic, many hospitals require nurses to have a co-worker verify they watched by typing their password into the machine.
After a 2008 incident in a Mayo hospital in Mankato in which a nurse replaced fentanyl with saline, Mayo Clinic in Rochester formed a committee to improve their protocols. All leftover medication from operating rooms is now collected in a locked drop box that's returned to the pharmacy, which randomly tests them to ensure they weren't diluted, Berge said. That method will soon include all high-use areas.
"This system is expensive, labor-intensive and somewhat cumbersome," Berge said, "but it's the only way you can close the loop on dealing with this problem.'"
In March, St. Cloud Hospital found itself dealing with a rash of unusual infections that it ultimately concluded were caused by a nurse using a syringe to steal painkiller from IV bags. The hospital has taken steps to make that harder, including placing tamper-resistant plastic caps over the ports where medication is added. Plastic bags are placed over the IV bags that can only be removed by perforating them.
High-tech systems such as dispensing machines are expensive. HCMC spent more than $2.5 million on its 80 machines. Smaller hospitals and nursing homes may rely on paper records to spot thefts.
Benedictine Health Systems, a long-term care provider with headquarters in Duluth and Cambridge, typically uses bound notebooks with numbered pages to document medication, and it'd be obvious if a page was missing, said Howard Juni, who provides medications to Benedictine facilities.
Some nursing homes use video cameras. That's how a Burnsville assisted living center caught a health care aide in 2009 stealing OxyContin from an 89-year-old resident and replacing it with ibuprofen. But Juni said placing video cameras in residents' rooms raises privacy issues and can be done only with permission and when there's reason to believe the employee is stealing.
Despite hospitals' best efforts, most experts say it's impossible to eliminate drug theft entirely.
"We could spend an infinite amount of money creating electric fences around these things, and we would still never completely stop the problem," Berge said.
Asfeld later admitted to stealing the drugs, mostly painkillers. She was fired, reported to police and had her license suspended in February by the Minnesota Board of Nursing — one of 13 licensees to be disciplined over a roughly four-month period for stealing pain medication.
While drug thefts have long been an issue in hospitals and nursing homes, top health officials are taking new steps to address the problem. The Minnesota Hospital Association and state Health Department are organizing a coalition of hospitals and licensing boards to identify and close loopholes in drug-handling protocols that make it easier to steal.
"People are starting to realize that this is a serious and ongoing problem," said Keith Berge, who chairs Mayo Clinic's medication diversion prevention committee. "They're starting to recognize what they've been seeing. I think we've been seeing this all along and not recognizing it for what it is."
In perhaps the most dramatic recent case, a nurse anesthetist in Minneapolis was accused of taking most of the painkiller intended for a patient undergoing kidney stone surgery in November. A criminal complaint said the nurse told the patient to "man up" as he endured the worst pain.
Opioid pain relievers like fentanyl or oxycodone are the most commonly stolen prescription drugs, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Hospital workers have stolen them by replacing a patient's prescription with ibuprofen, siphoning medication from IV bags, taking leftovers meant for the trash, falsifying patient records and forging prescriptions.
Once someone is addicted to prescription drugs, they'll go to great lengths to get their fix, said Ron Buzzeo, who was deputy director of the DEA's Office of Diversion Control for more than two decades before retiring in 1990. He now consults for hospitals.
"People who are abusing drugs are extremely creative," Buzzeo said. "It's difficult to stay one step ahead of them."
There is no central tracking system for drug theft by medical personnel in Minnesota, and since facilities report incidents to a variety of entities, it's difficult to tell how often it happens. Many facilities don't report all drug thefts to the DEA, despite a federal law requiring that they do, said Jack Henderson, supervisor of the DEA's local diversion group.
Hospitals can be vulnerable if they don't have a thorough tracking system for their medications, ideally an electronic one. Since many drugs stolen are bound for the trash, hospitals should also have a disposal system that includes safeguards such as requiring half-empty bottles or syringes be returned to the pharmacy.
Tracking is generally done through software linked to password-protected medication cabinets called automated dispensing units. That lets facilities check for high-use patterns by a certain employee, or for more complaints of pain than usual from patients who should've received enough medication.
In the past decade, most hospitals in Minnesota have gotten automated dispensing machines. At Hennepin County Medical Center, they look like short, wide vending machines. When a nurse enters his or her password, a list of patients pops up, along with the medications for each. Once a medication is selected, a drawer pops open.
If a drug is packaged in a quantity larger than the patient's dose, the remainder must be thrown away. If it's a narcotic, many hospitals require nurses to have a co-worker verify they watched by typing their password into the machine.
After a 2008 incident in a Mayo hospital in Mankato in which a nurse replaced fentanyl with saline, Mayo Clinic in Rochester formed a committee to improve their protocols. All leftover medication from operating rooms is now collected in a locked drop box that's returned to the pharmacy, which randomly tests them to ensure they weren't diluted, Berge said. That method will soon include all high-use areas.
"This system is expensive, labor-intensive and somewhat cumbersome," Berge said, "but it's the only way you can close the loop on dealing with this problem.'"
In March, St. Cloud Hospital found itself dealing with a rash of unusual infections that it ultimately concluded were caused by a nurse using a syringe to steal painkiller from IV bags. The hospital has taken steps to make that harder, including placing tamper-resistant plastic caps over the ports where medication is added. Plastic bags are placed over the IV bags that can only be removed by perforating them.
High-tech systems such as dispensing machines are expensive. HCMC spent more than $2.5 million on its 80 machines. Smaller hospitals and nursing homes may rely on paper records to spot thefts.
Benedictine Health Systems, a long-term care provider with headquarters in Duluth and Cambridge, typically uses bound notebooks with numbered pages to document medication, and it'd be obvious if a page was missing, said Howard Juni, who provides medications to Benedictine facilities.
Some nursing homes use video cameras. That's how a Burnsville assisted living center caught a health care aide in 2009 stealing OxyContin from an 89-year-old resident and replacing it with ibuprofen. But Juni said placing video cameras in residents' rooms raises privacy issues and can be done only with permission and when there's reason to believe the employee is stealing.
Despite hospitals' best efforts, most experts say it's impossible to eliminate drug theft entirely.
"We could spend an infinite amount of money creating electric fences around these things, and we would still never completely stop the problem," Berge said.
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