The video shows a disheveled, unshaven CNN Headline News host talking about a hemorrhoid operation gone wrong. The video of Glenn Beck has rapidly became an Internet sensation, fueling his new crusade against healthcare practitioners who don't care.
Milford (MA) Regional Medical Center will open a treatment center in collaboration with Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. The Milford facility is part of a growing trend among city hospitals to expand their reach, bringing their services to more convenient locations for patients. The new cancer center will provide comprehensive services and progressive technology for residents in 20 communities.
Two community hospitals in working class Newark, NJ, neighborhoods will be shuttered by a Pennsylvania-based healthcare company that is also absorbing the larger St. Michael's Medical Center in the city's downtown. The three hospitals have been losing $6 million a month, but city officials described the closings as a betrayal.
Britain prime minister Gordon Brown is lobbying for overhauling the country's organ donation system to make it easier for doctors to remove body parts from deceased patients without prior consent. Brown noted in an opinion piece that more than a thousand people die in Britain each year waiting for organ transplants, and switching to a different system could save thousands of lives. Patients' rights groups are skeptical about the plan.
New Orleans Medical centers devastated by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters remain closed, with the number of beds available to the sick in cut in half. But a house in the city is open for business, dispensing free health care to anyone in need. The clinic is part of healthcare delivery in post-Katrina New Orleans, where clinics have cropped up in corner groceries and old department stores, and Good Samaritans are stepping in to help.
A large group of private-practice doctors and Summa Health System have announced their intention to build a 100-bed, full-service hospital somewhere in northern Summit County, OH. Summa and the Western Reserve Hospital Partners have signed a letter of intent to have a site, an ownership agreement, architectural plans and a builder for the new hospital within six months.