Healthy dose of news
F rom Florida's efforts to dethrone itself as the pill mill capital of the nation, to new questions about old drugs, 2011 was a big year in health news. Among the year's most significant health headlines:
PILL NATION: In its fight against prescription drug abuse, Florida launched a statewide drug database, banned doctors from dispensing drugs such as oxycodone directly from their offices, and saw a major law enforcement initiative called "Pill Nation" yield more than 100 arrests and the closure of more than 40 pain clinics.
HOSPITALS GROW AND CHANGE: All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg became part of the prestigious Johns Hopkins Health System; BayCare Health System acquired Suncoast Medical Clinic, while also expanding its facilities at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital in Tampa and St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg; and Adventist renamed the University Community Health System as Florida Hospital.
OH, THE TRAUMA: For-profit Hospital Corporation of America opened new trauma centers at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson and Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, though existing centers continue to dispute the provisional approvals as unneeded and potentially harmful to patient care.
NEW IDENTITY AND DOLLARS FOR USF: The University of South Florida renamed its medical school as the Morsani College of Medicine, after philanthropists Frank and Carol Morsani made a $20 million donation. USF also added to an already impressive tally of diabetes research dollars with two grants totaling $60 million. It also opened a new center for Alzheimer's care.
BIG GOVERNMENT OR GOOD PUBLIC HEALTH? Pinellas commissioners voted to end the fluoridation of its drinking water to about 700,000 residents of the county and most Pinellas cities on Dec. 31. Dentists and other health advocates vowed to fight back against a ruling that drew national attention and bewilderment.
British Medical Journal Balance - News
ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES, KIDS: The British Medical Journal published evidence that Dr. Andrew Wakefield deliberately faked results in his long-discredited "research'' linking childhood vaccines with autism. Still, many parents refuse the vaccines,
The request, to Science (an American publication) and Nature (a British one), is unusual. But so is the research in question. Two separate teams, led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ron Fouchier at Erasmus Medical
Last week, an editorial in the Student British Medical Journal asked whether it's a trend that's gone too far. Not me. I think we need to get past the obvious gender politics and ask how this phenomenal trend will shape health care in the years to come
The 76-year-old woman, whose story was reported in the British Medical Journal Case Reports, was seeing a gastrointestinal specialist for stomach-related problems, including weight loss and diarrhea. She was diagnosed with severe diverticulosis,
Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), they said 'fractions' of adult doses are calculated instead of basing the dose on the weight of the child who needs treatment. The article said: "The widely used doses are still based on the original dosing
