Home > News

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

AMA Supports Nonprescription Contraceptive

The American Medical Association (AMA) has announced its support for over-the-counter sales of the so-called morning-after pill, and criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for not allowing the move.

The Associated Press reported that the nation's largest organization of doctors passed a resolution Monday supporting nonprescription sales of the pill. The resolution passed without debate, and drew applause during a committee meeting, according to the AP.

The drug, when taken within three days of unprotected intercourse, can prevent pregnancy in nearly nine out of 10 cases. Supporters say women need quick access because they can't always find a doctor in time.

But Dr. Steven Galson, the FDA's acting drug chief, overruled his staff and FDA advisors last month and rejected such sales. The agency said it was concerned that young teenagers would use the pill.

-----

Bush Concedes Problems With Medicare Drug Cards

President Bush on Monday addressed the political controversy surrounding the just-released Medicare drug discount cards.

"We've got some problems" with the cards, Bush acknowledged during a trip to a Kansas City, Mo., suburb. Many seniors are shying away from the cards because they consider the cards too difficult to acquire, reported the Washington Post.

Far from completely dismissing the cards' merits, however, Bush accompanied a 74-year-old woman as she went to use her card at a local pharmacy. "This discount card is going to save our seniors a lot of money," the President insisted during the photo opportunity, as the woman wound up saving $17 on her blood pressure medication.

The cards are only meant as a stopgap until 2006, when the full Medicare prescription drug benefit is scheduled to kick in. However, since Bush signed the landmark law revising Medicare six months ago, opinion polls have found widespread public dissatisfaction with the law, including the discount cards. AARP -- the nation's largest group representing seniors -- says enrollment is running below expectations, the Post reported.

Bush administration officials had predicted that 7 million people would sign up for the cards by year's end. So far, 3.3 million have enrolled, according to the newspaper.

-----

White House Nixes Reagan Call for Looser Stem Cell Rules

The White House is rejecting calls from the family of the late President Ronald Reagan to relax three-year-old restrictions Bush signed that govern researchers' use of stem cells, according to the Associated Press.

Many researchers believe that stem cells, which are harvested from human embryos, could lead to cures for diseases like Alzheimer's, which claimed the life of the former President June 5. President Bush, noting that the harvesting process requires that the embryos be destroyed, signed an executive order in August 2001 that limited federally funded research to the 78 stem cell lines then in existence.

"The president came up with a policy that will allow us to explore the promise of stem-cell research, and do so in a way that doesn't cross a certain moral threshold that he set," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday. "That is his position, and that remains his position."

The White House responded to an article in the current issue of Newsweek by Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, in which she said her mother planned to become an even stronger advocate for stem-cell research, the AP reported. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan has "only recently" found her voice on the issue, Davis' article said.

McClellan would not comment on a reporter's query about whether the White House would amend its position if stem-cell research began to show promise, the AP reported.

-----

Many Patients Negate Effect of New Painkillers

New research finds that many people taking the painkillers Celebrex and Vioxx may be negating the effectiveness of those medications because they're taking aspirin at the same time.

The research letter, appearing in the June 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, says that more than half the retirees on Celebrex and Vioxx, known as cox-2 inhibitors, were also taking aspirin because of its protective effects on the heart.

Previous research has found that aspirin can nullify the gastrointestinal benefits of cox-2 inhibitors, which is why patients are on those drugs in the first place.

Moreover, researchers at the pharmacy benefits company Express Scripts found, many of the retirees were taking dosages of aspirin that are much too high.

"Patients should ask their physician about changing to another equally effective lower cost nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) instead of a COX-2 agent," the study's lead author, Emily Cox, said in a statement.

-----

Experts See Surge in Teen Breast Implants

The number of 18-year-old girls getting breast implants has tripled in the last two years, according to experts, and their parents seemingly approve because they give the implants as graduation presents.

The New York Post, citing figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, reported that the number of girls that age who got cosmetic implants went from 3,872 in 2002 to 11,326 last year.

"There is a trend in which parents are giving implants as a gift, including as a graduation present," Dr. Stephen Greenberg, who practices in Woodbury, L.I., and New York City, told the Post.

Experts said that girls are swayed into changing their looks by reality TV shows like "Extreme Makeover" and curvaceous young stars like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

"The media and fashion industries emphasize breasts and a curvaceous figure," the paper quoted Dr. Leroy Young, co-chair of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's breast-surgery committee, as saying. "There's no advertising [for implants] targeting that age group, but the images are all around them."

-----

Doc's Proposal to Not Treat Lawyers Draws Outrage

Colleagues expressed outrage over a doctor's proposal that the American Medical Association (AMA) endorse withholding care from lawyers involved in medical malpractice cases.

Dr. J. Chris Hawk, a South Carolina surgeon, put forward the proposal Sunday at the annual meeting of the AMA, the nation's largest physicians group, the Associated Press reported.

Hawk said he put forward the resolution in order to draw attention to increasing medical malpractice costs. He proposed that the AMA inform doctors that, unless it's an emergency, it would not be unethical to refuse to give medical care to lawyers (and their spouses) representing people suing doctors for malpractice.

After his resolution was roundly denounced, Hawk asked that it be withdrawn.

Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.