Tagcloud

abortion, absenteeism, addiction, advocacy, ageing, AIDS, alcohol, allergy, alternative medicine, Alzheimer's disease, ambulance, An Bord Pleanála, anaesthetist, arthritis, assaults, asthma, autism, bacteria, beds, bedside manner, Bertie Ahern, biomedicine, blogs, Boston v Berlin, breast cancer, Brendan Drumm, Brian Cowen, budget, bureaucracy, cance, cancer, cannabis, capacity, cardiovascular, castration, Central Statistics Office (CSO), cervical cancer, charity, chemotherapy, children, children's hospice, Chlamydia, chronic disease management, chronic fatigue syndrome, Cigarettes, clinical trials, Clostridium difficile, co-location, colon cancer, colorectal surgery, community care, Competence Assurance, condoms, consent, consultants, contraception, contract negotiations, contracts, cosmetic surgery, courts, Crohn's disease, Crumlin Hospital, CSO, cystic fibrosis, data, death, dementia, denial, dentists, Department of Health, depression, developers, diabetes, diagnosis, diet, disability, doctors, Down's Syndrome, drugs, Drumm, Dáil, EDs, education, elderly, election, elective surgery, electronic patient record, embryo, emergency medicine, Enda Kenny, erectile dysfunction, ethics, euthanasia, evolution, exercise, FDA, Fertility, fertility, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Freedom of Information, fun, funding, GAA, gastrointestinal surgery, genetics, golf, GPs, haematology, health, health & safety, health boards, health insurance, Health Service Executive, health tourism, healthcare, heart, hepatitis, hiccups, HIQA, HIV/AIDS, holistic, homicide, hospital, hospitals, HPSC, HPV, HSE, hse, hygiene, ICGP, ICT, IHCA, immunisation, imo, IMO, industrial action, influenza, insomnia, intensive care, Irish Healthcare Awards, IT, IVD, IVF, JAMA, James Reilly, kidney, Labour Party, laparoscopy, Lisbon Treaty, lung cancer, management, Mary Harney, ME, media, Medical Council, medical press, medical profession, medicine, medico-legal, men's health, meningitis, mental health, mind, Minister for Finance, miscarriage, mortality, MRI, MRSA, MS, MSF, National Cancer Control Programme, NCCP, NCHDs, neonatal care, neuroscience, New England Journal of Medicine, NHS, nicotine, Nobel Prize, non-EU, Northeast, northern ireland, nurses, nursing, nursing homes, obesity, obstetrics, Oireachtas, oncology, ophthalmology, organs, orgasm, osteoporosis, Padraig Harrington, paediatics, pain relief, palliative care, pandemic, paramedic, pathology, patients, PCRS, PDs, personalised medicine, PET, pharmaceuticals, pharmacists, physicians, placebo, plastic surgery, politicians, politics, PPARS, PPR, PR, PR speak, pregnancy, premature birth, prescribing, press releases, prevention, primary care, primary care teams, privatisation, Professional Practice Review, Progressive Democrats, prostate cancer, psychiatry, psychology, Public Accounts Committee, public health, radiology, radiotherapy, RCPI, RCSI, recession, recruitment, regulation, research, risk equalisation, RTAs, RTE, safety, screening, SDLP, self-harm, sex, sexual assault, sick notes, Sinn Féin, Six Counties, sleep, smoking, Spinal injury, sport, stem cells, STI, stress, strike, stroke, subvention, suicide, sun, sunblock, sunburn, surgeon general, surgery, swine flu update, Taoiseach, tenders, testicles, the Greens, The Irish News, Tim O'Malley, tobacco, trade unions, traffic accidents, transplantation, trivia, UCC, UK, Ulster, underweight, urology, US, vaccine, Vhi, viagra, Vincent Sheridan, virology, virus, vodka, waiting lists, Well Woman centre, whiskey, wine, women

The Irish Medical Times Blog: Overseas News

All entries for Overseas News

Get updates from MSF on the Haiti disaster

From www.msf.ie, the latest update on doctors working in Haiti: "On the fifth day on their response to the disaster in Haiti, the MSF teams remain focused on trying to cope with the huge demand for life-saving surgery from those... Read more

Child obesity rates indicate a class divide

Research in England suggests that child obesity trends suggest that there will soon be a class divide: wealthier, skinnier children and poorer, fatter children, according to the BBC. From the website: Currently 6.9% of boys and 7.4% of girls are... Read more

Is it ethical to perform a 43-hour operation, even one that is life-saving?

Dr Tomoaki Kato, a trailblazing surgeon in the US, performed a 43-hour ex vivo surgery to remove a tumor from a 59-year-old man who said it was too early to die, the New York Times has reported. A massive tumor... Read more

British hypnotherapists challenge BNP leader Nick Griffin to seek a 'cure' for racism

The National Council for Hypnotherapy in the UK has challenged BNP leader Nick Griffin to see if hypnotherapy can 'cure' his 'racism'. A press release from the Council states: The ongoing furore over the appearance by British National Party leader... Read more

Death followed HPV vaccine in UK: statement by GSK

A fatality has been reported in the UK HPV vaccine immunisation programme, and pharma giant GSK has issued a statement. GSK makes the cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix, which is used in the programme. IMT understands that the girl, a 14-year-old,... Read more

New WHO Regional Director for Europe nominated

The Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has been nominated as the new WHO Regional Director for Europe at a meeting in Copenhagen. Hungarian Zsuzsanna Jakab was one of five candidates for the post; the... Read more

Hope for those who have failed on repeated IVF attempts?

The BBC has reported that the first baby conceived with the help of a new egg screening technique has been born to a 41-year-old woman who had had 13 failed IVF treatments. The new screening method, developed in Nottingham, allows... Read more

Who cares if Professor Stephen Hawking lives or dies?

An editorial on Investor's Business Daily argued that the NHS would consider Stephen Hawking's life "worthless." The editorial was changed to reflect the fact that Hawking actually lived in the UK and received treatment under the NHS. The Guardian... Read more

Swine flu vaccine trials underway in UK

The University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust are carrying out Britain's first swine flu vaccine trials. From the press release: Dr Iain Stephenson, a consultant in infectious diseases at the hospital and clinical senior lecturer at... Read more

UCD grad wins prestigious chair in Psychiatry

Dr Peter F. Buckley, chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior and associate dean for leadership development in the MCG School of Medicine, has been elected chair of the PanAmerican Division of the... Read more

New automated patient arrival system to be installed in King’s College Hospital, UK

A new system - NCR MediKiosk - is designed to reduce queuing, increase the immediacy and privacy of patient communications, cut down on paperwork and free up staff to focus on providing the highest standards of clinical care. From... Read more

Saving money in healthcare: doing less and doing it better

A health system in the US has bucked the trend of making money by offering more services, the Washington Post has reported. Geisinger Health System tries to show that you can make money by offering elective heart surgery for a... Read more

Bionic eye gives man back his sight

Ron, 73, lost his sight 30 years ago from retinitis pigmentosa. He was fitted with a bionic eye seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital, and he "can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks,... Read more

Surgical castration for sex offenders under debate

"More countries in Europe are considering mandating or allowing chemical castration for violent sex offenders. There is intense debate over whose rights take precedence: those of violent sex offenders, who could be subjected to a punishment that many consider cruel,... Read more

Yoga for rockers. And yoga for people who use rockers.

Hot yoga. Cold yoga. Stone yoga. Yoga for moms and babies and yoga for guys too stiff to stretch. Even as the economy twists us all in knots, this mind-body discipline created millennia ago in India appears to be thriving,... Read more

Woman gives birth to octuplets

A California woman shocked doctors by giving birth on Monday to octuplets, believed to be only the second set of eight babies born in the United States.... Read more

Dieting woman dies from drinking water

A woman died after consuming four litres of water in under two hours as part of diet. The diet involves dieters consuming just 500 calories a day for 12 weeks by replacing meals with shakes, soups, bars, and drinking water.... Read more

Is ME an illness in its own right, or a form of depression?

Kay Gilderdale, 54, has been arrested on suspicion of killing their 31-year-old daughter, who had suffered from myalgic encephalopathy (ME) – or chronic fatigue syndrome – for 16 years, according to the Times Online.... Read more

MSF doctor in Congo performs life-saving surgery by text message

Médecins Sans Frontières has reported that one of its surgeons performed life-saving surgery on a teenage boy in the Congo using text message instructions from a colleague in London. According to MSF, Dr David Nott, while working in Rutshuru hospital,... Read more

Obama's first crisis: the White House dog

US president elect Barack Obama has decreed that one of the top criteria for a new White House dog was that it would have to be hypoallergenic, the Pet Care Examiner reports. His daughter, Malia Obama, is susceptible to allergies... Read more

Three Europeans share Nobel Prize in medicine

A German and two French scientists snagged the Nobel Prize in medicine this year. Germany's Harald zur Hausen was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi... Read more

Dr Death shows off world's most stylish comb-over

There's no excuse for cheapshots about comb-overs, unless you're talking about a man who's allegedly preyed on the insecurities of thousands of women by promising to make them beautiful at a discount for 14 years, and who's been being charged... Read more

Mindless compulsive pleasure seeking

Gambling, shopping, hypersexuality, pornography, overeating. According to Brain Stimulant: "Mindless compulsive pleasure seeking sounds like it's kind of fun, but in reality it has completely destroyed some people's lives." The case against pharmaceutical companies over the link between gambling and... Read more

Raw footage of woman's last minutes in NY hospital

ABC News is providing raw footage of a woman who collapsed in a waiting area in a New York Hospital as was left for 45 minutes before a medical professional came to her aid. Warning: the video is disturbing. The... Read more

UK moves to one-egg IVF strategy

Fertility experts in the UK have recommended that a one-egg approach to IVF be used in order to reduce multiple births, the BBC is reporting.... Read more

US life expectancy hits record

Great, more Americans. (I'm an American; no need to be offended).... Read more

The woman who cannot forget

A woman in the US claims she can't forget any experience from her life (though she can't memorise a poem), and doctors have diagnosed her with hyperthymesic syndrome, after scans showed that parts of her brain are three times as... Read more

The world's happiest retirement community

The mayor of a working-class suburb of Santiago, Chile, has offered free Viagra to men over 60 who can prove they have erectile dysfunction and no heart problems. He says he came up with the idea because "an active sexuality... Read more

Attack of the cancer-sniffing clone dogs

A black lab in Japan that can (allegedly) sniff cancer is being cloned in a Korean biotech lab, according to the Discovery Channel. If the experiment is successful, the company plans to make clones of the dog available for "worldwide... Read more

Study could result in relaxed UK abortion guidelines

Abortions could soon be more accessible for Irish women travelling to the UK, under plans by the Government to reduce waiting times for early medical abortions (EMAs). The British Department of Health have published the results of a pilot study... Read more

What do your keyboard and toilet seat have in common?

A new study by UK consumer group Which? has found that many keyboards carry more harmful bacteria than a toilet, and can cause food poisoning and gastroenteritis. Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson, from University College London, on behalf of Which?, swabbed... Read more

One small step for pathological monster, one giant leap for a lawyer

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her children, may not be responsible for his actions, his lawyer said. Fritzl's lawyer said he will undergo a battery of psychological and psychiatric... Read more

Look into my eyes!

A hypnotist in Britain has hypnotised himself and undergone an operation without any other anaesthetic, according to the BBC. Could this be the start of a trend that results in long lines of anaesthetists queueing up to claim the dole,... Read more

Digital mammograms mean more callbacks in US

An increasing number of radiologists in the US are switching from traditional X-ray film to digital mammograms, and many of them have found they have to call more women back, according to the New York Times. Doctors say recall rates... Read more

NZ patients think Irish docs sound honest

A New Zealand study has revealed that people there consider the "lolling Irish brogue" the second-most honest accent for doctors. The Irish accent followed the East Coast Scottish accents (Edinburgh and Inverness) as the most honest of 30 different accents,... Read more

So you think you're a child prodigy?

Meet Akrit Jaswal, a 14-year-old medical student from India who performed his first operation at the age of seven, has an IQ of 146, and is (or was two years ago) working on a cure for cancer. TV3 will be... Read more

US drinkers find loophole in no-smoking law

The recently introduced smoking ban in Minnesota does not apply to performers in theatrical productions. This loophole has turned bars into theatres and drinkers into actors (as if that weren't already the case), according to the BBC.... Read more

New contract good for (UK) GPs, bad for everybody else - UK audit body

The new GP contract in the UK has led to a dip in productivity, with fewer consultations taking place, according to the findings of the UK's National Audit Office. As reported in the Times, GPs who run their own practices... Read more

Indian doctor gets life for nude vids of patients

An Indian doctor who secretly filmed patients and broadcast videos of them naked on the Internet was sentenced to life in jail yesterday, according to Yahoo! News. The story, which revealed a relatively sprawling internet porn racket, leaves me wondering:... Read more

Greek doctor convicted of manslaughter by trolley-wait

A Greek junior doctor has been sentenced to 15 months in prison (suspended for three months) following a conviction of manslaughter by neglect, the BBC and others are reporting. The finding, rightly or wrongly, might unnerve some Irish NCHDs manning... Read more

Health in Iraq

When we think of the destructiveness of war, it's easy to forget the damage done beyond the body count and the injuries. But for the record, a recent new study from the World Health Organisation puts the death toll in... Read more

You can't spell success without UCC

Reading the medical press is an education in itself on many levels - there are some interesting columnists out there. One of them is UCC graduate Dr John Ryan who now lives in Boston. In his latest column for one... Read more

Vodka saves man from certain death

How often have we seen the evils of alcohol condemned in the general and medical media? Do-gooders calling for all sorts of controls and regulations on the demon drink, bordering just this side of prohibition. Well I am here to... Read more

Not here kitty kitty, please not here...

A feline Grim Reaper (but not Oscar) We are all aware of the long-standing superstition of bad luck being visited upon a person who has their path crossed by a black cat. Well in the US things have taken... Read more

Thinking ahead - and forward

The UK government has agreed in principle to begin vaccinating 12- and 13-year-old girls against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer - human papillomavirus (HPV). Here's the BBC on just how controversial teenage sex - implied at... Read more

The fertile lands of England

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the UK's fertility rate has hit its highest level since 1980, with women now having 1.87 children (on average). Experts have said the number is not likely to reach the... Read more

I suppose you think that's funny?

Well, I don't know about you but we certainly fell for it. Full of righteous indignation, we ranted and raved about the depravities of the modern world and how far we, as a society, have fallen. Big Brother is bad... Read more