Guide to Medical Labor Laws

With the great medical innovations happening the past decades, it is now possible to transplant organs such as heart, intestine, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas. But did you know that undergoing organ transplant would actually give you a higher risk of cancer? One can get skin cancer because of the immune suppressing drugs that people who underwent organ transplant takes. The risk for lymphoma is higher during the first year after the organ transplant as it is this stage that the immune system is most suppressed. Doctors should match carefully and closely the donors to its recipient as to reduce the risk for certain cancers and transplant rejection.

Source: http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v89/n7/full/6601219a.html
Image source: www.aimshospital.org

The Big C doesn�t choose its next victim. It can be a friend, a loved one or yourself. While early detection can save life, it is still healthy lifestyle that can guarantee low risk. Cancer prevention is now an advocacy being pushed forward by concerned physicians, health organizations and cancer survivors and their families.

Technology has made it easier for cancer prevention advocates to spread the word. Websites dealing with cancer treatment and prevention continue to grow in number which only shows how the world values life. Recently, a cancer website got an award for its outstanding health/healthcare content.

With information on more than 120 types of cancer and cancer-related syndromes, the People Living with Cancer website�s efforts to reach out to as many people as possible was recognized by Strategic Healthcare Communications.

PWIC.org is run by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

MedicalNewsToday.com reports that the Office of Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a new analysis on government spending on national health.

It shows that the US government will be using 20% of its GDP (around one fifth) in healthcare spending alone by 2017.

Presently, government spending on national health is steadily increasing and the trend is expected to continue in the years ahead. If the report by the CMS materializes, it will surely outpace economic growth and inflation.

I will have to agree that this is good news for Americans as health care remains a number one priority in every sector of the population, regardless of age groups and finances.

MedicalNewsToday.com reports that the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) appeals to the Senate to consider the Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2007 recently issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as it debates on patent reform legislation. BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood has expressed concern regarding the need for �the U.S. patent system to continue to provide the framework required to maintain America’s global leadership in innovation.�

As we all know, the US patent system capitalizes on American ingenuity and innovations. Thus, any proposal that could weaken patent certainty and discourage investment in the biotechnology industry should be rejected.

BIO is composed of more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and allied organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. They work focuses on healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology, among others.

A report from the last week’s issue of CongressDaily reveals that the US Congress got a pleading from several state governors to include funding for Medicaid in a second stimulus package.
It also shares that some state governors met with President Bush and other administration officials Monday morning to ask some help on the second package but the US President seemed to decline supporting the effort.

On the other hand, Congress are being encouraged by governors to place a moratorium on a Bush administration regulation on health insurance. The regulation is seen to make it doubly hard for states to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) eligibility to children in families with incomes greater than 250% of the federal poverty level.

The second stimulus package seeks to provide $6 billion in Medicaid assistance, among other measures. As I see it, this additional Medicaid funding will benefit more people and thus, deserve full support from the government. I hope President Bush tries to be more generous and changes his mind on this matter.

An article from HealthLaw360.Com reports that the Food and Drug Administration advised Cephalon, Inc., maker of sleep disorder drug Provigil, to provide stronger warning label that would tell doctors not to recommend the drug to kids.

Provigil is one of the best-selling products of the drug company and is currently approved by the FDA for prescription by doctors to patients suffering from narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder and sleep apnea. This is in view of the cases reported that the drug causes side effects like skin rush to children under 16 years of age.

This move by the FDA is laudable as it clearly shows that children safety is one of their priorities.

For the link to the article, click here.

In the February 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a survey was made on selected US medical schools about conflicts of interests. It was focused primarily on financial interests of institutional officials.

The survey found out that only a minority of US medical schools have adopted policies to address conflicts of interests, particularly financial interests. This is due to the fact that most senior officials have a financial relationship with or financial interest in a public or private company. These relationships are found to affect institutional processes and compromise the integrity of the institution so careful considerations and measures should be implemented.

I think that in every institution, conflicts of interests arise which make it rational for them to create policies that will set limitations and priorities as a way of correcting these problems.