Malpractice and Tort Reform Act of 2003, a class action suit filed in the Marshall court of the Eastern District of Texas argues that the state’s limits on non-economic damages are unconstitutional.

Texans overhauled the Texas civil justice system by adopting the comprehensive tort reform bill (House Bill 4)regarding health care liability claims in 2003, which includes limits on non-economic damages. Economic losses are not capped and include factors like medical costs and lost income.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/208641-class-action-challenges-texas-cap-on-medical-malpractice-damages

Women who discussed reconstruction with their surgeons were significantly more likely to undergo mastectomy than women who did not have such counsel.
Although surgical decision making about breast-conserving surgery (BCS) versus mastectomy has been studied extensively, we know less about the nature of guidance provided by clinicians regarding breast reconstruction and how such counsel affects the choices of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://womens-health.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2008/228/1?q=etoc_jwwomen

While the Democratic-majority Congress is considering an expanded Children’s Health Insurance Program bill – possibly for after the Nov. 4 election – it was good to have Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour speak up for kids’ health.

Barbour testified Tuesday before the House Health Subcommittee that poor states are suffering under the current federal formula, which has left Mississippi $50 million short this budget year.

CHIP generally is a good deal for the state, in that for every 17 cents Mississippi allocates, the federal government gives 83 cents toward the state-federal program.

About $5 billion has been spent on CHIP annually since it started in 1997 as a 10-year venture. But Bush vetoed it when it first came up for reauthorization last year.

copy and paste this link for full story:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/OPINION01/802280336/1008/OPINION

an excellent post recently appeared in the HealthBeat Blog–

http://www.healthbeatblog.org/

The author concludes that the high cost of medicine is greatly enhanced by the fact that consumers who spend their own money and make their own healthcare decisions are the ones who end up costing the system much more in the long run.

By 2017, consumers and taxpayers will spend more than $4 trillion on health care, accounting for one of every $5 spent, the federal government projects.

The 6.7 percent annual increase in spending — nearly three times the rate of inflation — will be largely driven by higher prices and an increased demand for care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday. But other factors in the mix include a growing and aging population. The first wave of baby boomers become eligible for Medicare beginning in 2011.

With the aging population, the federal government will be picking up the tab for a growing share of the nation’s medical expenses. Overall, federal and state governments accounted for about 46 percent of health expenditures in 2006. That percentage will increase to 49 percent over the next decade.

copy and paste this link for the full article:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5569497.html

On a brilliantly sunny February morning, Valarie McQueen and Nancy Cancel are walking down some of Hallandale Beach’s meanest streets. McQueen knocks on the door of an apartment. The building’s windows are boarded. There’s litter on the ground.

“We’re from Memorial Healthcare System,” McQueen tells the woman opening the door. “Do you have health coverage?” She says yes but that some of her family members do not. McQueen tells her about the hospital’s mobile health bus parked around the corner with doctors, nurses and a pharmacy on board, then gives the woman a phone number to call for more information.

copy and paste this link for full article:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2008/02/24/a1f_uninsured_0224.html

After more than 20 years of studying women’s health issues, psychologist Alice Domar has come to a grand conclusion: Women are just too hard on themselves.

There is no pill that will cure this self-imposed pressure – which Domar says creates harmful stress and makes dealing with everything from eating disorders to infertility more difficult.

People will take pills, Domar says. That’s easy. What’s hard is to get women to accept what she says is obvious to men: Perfection is not attainable.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/02/25/its_time_to_stop_trying_to_be_perfect_psychologist_says/

The defining difference between the Democratic presidential candidates on the top domestic issue in their recent debate and throughout the campaign has been their contrasting views on a seemingly simple question: Should the government require all Americans to have health insurance?

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/23/AR2008022302026.html

Dr. Jose Magana feels powerless.

The nation’s health-care system is controlled by insurance companies and pharmaceutical giants, not the doctors caring for patients, the internal medicine specialist told Democratic congressional candidate Bill Foster and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin Thursday. He wondered aloud how it could be reformed in the best interests of patients.

“Society in general needs to step up,” Magana said during a roundtable discussion among doctors and the two candidates at Dreyer Medical Clinic in Aurora.

Foster, who earned Durbin’s endorsement, supports a public-private hybrid health-care system and said federal lawmakers should examine the results from single-payer universal health-care systems like the one Massachusetts implemented in 2006

for full story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=139740&src=2

A Southern California woman who had her medical coverage canceled as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer was awarded more than $9 million Friday in a case against one of California’s largest health insurers.

Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood (Los Angeles County), had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004. The insurer contended Bates failed to disclose a heart condition and lied about her weight when she applied for the policy in July 2003.

But arbitration judge Sam Cianchetti ordered Health Net to pay her medical bills, plus $8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress.

for full story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/23/BU7NV7CSI.DTL