The number of young adults without health insurance rose again in 2006, according to a report released by the Commonwealth Fund. As a result, 38% of high school graduates and 34% of college graduates will spend some time uninsured in the year after graduation, the report found. There were 13.7 million Americans aged 19 to 29 without health insurance in 2006, up from 13.3 million in 2005. Some action is being taken to remedy the situation—20 states have passed legislation requiring insurance companies to extend coverage of minors after age 18 or 19, said Commonwealth Fund representatives.
A pilot and a passenger escaped serious injury Thursday when the medical helicopter they were in crashed and burst into flames atop the 11-story Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in downtown Grand Rapids. No patients were aboard the Aero-Med helicopter when the accident occurred, and the pilot and his passenger escaped.
With the downturn in Michigan's economy, the role the healthcare industry plays as the state's leading employer has never been more important, a new study shows. Michigan's hospitals directly employ 515,700 people, generate $36.7 billion in annual taxes, and pay out $26.3 billion a year in salaries and benefits, according to the fourth annual health survey by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association and the state's two leading physician organizations.
Atlanta policy arrested a man for impersonating a doctor at Piedmont Hospital. In a statement, Piedmont officials say they've concluded an internal investigation and there is no evidence the trespasser ever had any patient contact. A hospital spokeswoman said emergency room nurses had noticed the imposter on the night of his arrest.
A Los Angeles Times investigation found that UCLA Medical Center and its most accomplished liver surgeon provided a life-saving transplant to one of Japan's most powerful gang bosses. The Times also uncovered that the surgeon performed liver transplants at UCLA on three other men who are now barred from entering the United States because of their criminal records or suspected affiliation with Japanese organized crime groups. The four surgeries were done between 2000 and 2004 at a time of pronounced organ scarcity. In each of those years, more than 100 patients died awaiting liver transplants in the Greater Los Angeles region. There is no evidence that UCLA or Busuttil knew at the time of the transplants that any of the patients had ties to Japanese gangs.
The former owner of the bankrupt Edgewater Medical Center has been charged with trying to obstruct the government's efforts to collect $64 million in civil penalties he owes related to his involvement in a healthcare fraud scheme that federal attorneys say led to the North Side hospital's collapse. If convicted, Peter Rogan could face 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Under a new program, the fiercely competitive Harvard teaching hospitals have agreed to pool some of their research efforts to shorten the time it takes to turn discoveries into treatments. The individual hospitals now receive separate grants worth a total of more than $20 million a year for their own clinical research centers, but now the money, $117.7 million over the next five years, will go to Harvard Medical School, which will award the money to teams of researchers spread among its various affiliated hospitals.
Rising healthcare costs have forced hundreds of hospitals out of business, mostly in poorer areas. Those that remain are racing to trim costs, and there's little incentive to focus on ERs, which are not money-makers. So the sickest patients are endangered, and communities are left unprepared for disasters, whether a bus crash, a hurricane or a terror attack.
Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that scientists can conduct embryonic stem cell research, which holds the promise of curing Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and other diseases, but raises ethical concerns about the limits on human life. Advocates have said that a favorable Supreme Court ruling could make Brazil Latin America's leader in stem cell research.
Sudden infant death syndrome is one of the leading causes of death for children under age 1. British researchers say bacteria might be a contributing factor. A recent study in the medical journal The Lancet found potentially dangerous bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus and E coli in nearly half of all babies who died suddenly and unexpectedly at a London hospital between 1996 and 2005. A SIDS diagnosis means that no other cause of death can be found in an otherwise healthy infant who dies suddenly while sleeping. In the United States, SIDS kills more than 2,000 infants every year. In Britain, more than 200 children die every year of the syndrome.
