Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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BP reaches $7.8 billion deal over Gulf of Mexico spill
Fri,2 Mar 2012 10:27 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - BP PLC has reached an estimated $7.8 billion deal with plaintiffs suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the company said on Friday, but the oil giant still faces claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and drilling partners. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is overseeing the litigation, said in a court order that the proposed terms of the class settlement would be submitted to court for approval. He also adjourned the first phase of the trial over the spill, which had been scheduled to begin on March 5. ...
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Venezuela publishes photos of Chavez with Fidel
Fri,2 Mar 2012 07:51 PM PST
Reuters - CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela published photographs on Friday of President Hugo Chavez chatting with Cuba's Fidel Castro and walking in a hospital as he recovers from cancer surgery on the Communist-led island. Stung by criticism it has shrouded the 57-year-old Chavez's condition in secrecy and put out misleading information in the past, Venezuela's government insists he is recovering quickly and will be ready to contest a presidential election on October 7. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama calls student as contraception fight turns nasty
Fri,2 Mar 2012 06:28 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called a law student on Friday to express his support after she was branded a "slut" by controversial right-wing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for her outspoken support of Obama's new policy on contraception coverage. Sandra Fluke, a 30-year old student and women's rights activist at Georgetown University in Washington, has been caught in the middle of a contentious election-year fight between Obama and Republicans over the policy, which requires health insurance plans to cover contraception. ...
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Meaning-based therapy may aid terminal patients
Fri,2 Mar 2012 06:03 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Psychotherapy focused on spirituality and finding meaning may help improve quality of life and well-being in terminally ill cancer patients, suggests a new study from a large cancer treatment center. The talk therapy sessions only seemed to provide a short-term benefit -- though researchers said that was reasonable given that many of the study participants were near the end of their lives, with progressively worsening disease. ... Full Story | Top |
Unnecessary cancer treatment in men on the rise
Fri,2 Mar 2012 05:53 PM PST
Reuters - By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new review of U.S. data on prostate cancer finds that despite established guidelines, a growing number of men who should not be getting aggressive treatment are getting it anyway. Men with low-risk tumors and a life-expectancy of less than 10 years -- for instance, men in their 80s or 90s -- are not candidates for so-called curative therapies like radiation or prostate surgery because there's little evidence it would benefit them. ... Full Story | Top |
Too few ICU beds may up patient deaths
Fri,2 Mar 2012 05:48 PM PST
Reuters - By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A shortage of beds in hospital intensive care units may mean that more seriously ill patients die, according to a study from France. Researchers focused on 10 hospitals in western France, where there's a known shortage of ICU beds. They found that of 1,332 patients referred to the hospitals' ICUs over three months, almost 15 percent were turned away (at least temporarily) because there were no open beds. And those patients had a higher risk of dying than patients who got into the ICU right away. ... Full Story | Top |
Disney closes controversial fat-fighting exhibit
Fri,2 Mar 2012 04:42 PM PST
Reuters - ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Obesity experts on Friday applauded Walt Disney World for shuttering a new attraction that drew fierce criticism for its potential to shame overweight children and misrepresent the causes of the global obesity crisis. "I think they (Disney) likely subscribed to that common misconception that this is something we should just be able to push away from the table and cure," said Ottawa bariatric surgeon Yoni Freedhoff, whose blog post sparked a public outcry over the attraction at Walt Disney Co's world-famous Florida theme park. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama calls student as contraception fight turns nasty
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:48 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called a law student on Friday to express his support after she was branded a "slut" by controversial right-wing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for her outspoken support of Obama's new policy on contraception coverage. Sandra Fluke, a student at Georgetown University in Washington, has been caught in the middle of a contentious election-year fight between Obama and Republicans over the policy, which requires health insurance plans to cover contraception. ...
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States slash birth control subsidies as federal debate rages
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:45 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Even as a national debate rages over contraception insurance, tens of thousands of low-income women and teenagers across the United States have lost access to subsidized birth control as states slash and restructure family planning funds. Montana and New Jersey have eliminated altogether their state family planning programs. New Hampshire cut its funding by 57 percent and five other states made more modest program trims. But the biggest impact, by far, has been in Texas. State lawmakers last fall cut family-planning funds by two-thirds, or nearly $74 million over two years. ... Full Story | Top |
TSX slides to 10-day low on oil, gold
Fri,2 Mar 2012 01:58 PM PST
Reuters -  TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian stocks hit a 10-day low on Friday as resource issues slumped on weaker oil and gold prices and as optimism over progress in Europe's debt crisis faded after Spain set a deficit target bigger than allowed by the euro zone's new fiscal pact. Six of the TSX's 10 main sectors were lower, led by the heavyweight materials and energy groups, which both slid more than 1 percent. "Oil is reversing course a little this week so that's driving a little bit of the weakness in the TSX," said Craig Fehr, Canadian market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, Missouri. U.S. ...
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Robotic surgeries costlier but safer: study
Fri,2 Mar 2012 01:54 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients who undergo robot-assisted surgeries on the kidneys or prostate have shorter hospital stays, a lower risk of getting a blood transfusion or dying, and a significantly higher bill compared to those who get older surgical procedures, a new study finds. The analysis compared robotic surgery with two other techniques for performing the same sorts of surgery, and found that direct costs can run up to several thousand dollars higher for the robotic version. ... Full Story | Top |
I would not have survived in Baba Amro: MSF surgeon
Fri,2 Mar 2012 11:17 AM PST
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - For two weeks French surgeon Jacques Bares watched civilians die in a candle-lit operating room from wounds which would have been easily treatable in peacetime, while mortar rounds rained down on the besieged Syrian city of Homs. Beres, co-founder of Doctors Without Borders, worked alongside Syrian surgeons in a makeshift hospital near the Baba Amro neighborhood where journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were killed by shellfire on February 22. Rebels withdrew from the district on Thursday after being pounded by shell and mortar fire for weeks. ... Full Story | Top |
Broad anti-smoking vaccination not worth cost: study
Fri,2 Mar 2012 11:11 AM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A vaccination campaign to prevent teenagers from taking up smoking would be too expensive to recommend, according to Australian researchers who looked at the costs and benefits of anti-nicotine shots in development. Taking into account the effectiveness demonstrated so far by experimental vaccines designed to help smokers quit, the team concluded the drugs would need to be cheaper, require fewer doses and get better results for widespread preventive vaccination of teens to be worthwhile. ...
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EU regulator drops GSK antitrust investigation
Fri,2 Mar 2012 10:06 AM PST
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union regulators have scrapped an investigation into alleged antitrust infringements by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline after U.S. rival Synthon withdrew its complaint, the European Commission said on Friday. The EU executive, which acts as the competition regulator across the 27-country EU, said the complaint related to agreements to delay the entry of cheaper medicines to the market -- so-called pay-for-delay deals. ... Full Story | Top |
Joint action on HIV and TB saved 900,000 lives: WHO
Fri,2 Mar 2012 09:52 AM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - An estimated 910,000 lives were saved worldwide over six years thanks to better collaboration between health services to protect people with the AIDS virus from tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday. The WHO said there had been a sharp rise in the numbers of HIV positive people tested for tuberculosis (TB) and vice versa from 2005 to 2010. That allowed doctors to treat people more quickly and prevent the spread of TB to other patients, it added. ... Full Story | Top |
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