'Both are venomous snakes': Surgeon who performed 1st lung transplant on terminally-ill vaper says it's as bad as cigs
rt.com | 2019-12-22
A teen athlete terminally ill from vaping has been saved with a double lung transplant, the first of the epidemic's victims to receive the procedure. The doctor who did the surgery tells RT that vaping is as deadly as smoking. | "Both of them are a type of venomous snake," Dr. Hassan Nemeh, surgical director of thoracic organ transplant at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit told RT. "I don't know if a snake is more venomous than the other — if a bite kills someone by a mamba or a cobra I'm not sure which is worse. I think both of them are bad for you, though." | Nemeh performed a life-saving double-lung tr…
rt.com/usa/476496-vaping-kills-lung-tran…
Medical Opinion, Torture, and Julian Assange
Binoy Kampmark | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-21
On November 27 this year, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, delivered an address to the German Bundestag outlining his approach to understanding the mental health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. These comprised two parts, the initial stage covering his diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy, the second dealing with his formal detention in …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/medical-opini…
Steelworkers sue Alcoa to keep retiree life insurance benefits
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-12-21
Washington, DC – The United Steelworkers (USW) filed a lawsuit, December 19, in the Southern District of Indiana to protest Alcoa USA Corporation's terminating life insurance benefits for approximately 8900 union-represented retirees. | Alcoa informed the retirees by letter on December 4 that it would eliminate life insurance coverage effective December 31, 2019. The company included with the letter a check equal to a fraction of the face value of their life insurance coverage and a federal 1099 tax form, since the payment would be taxable. | The lawsuit was filed as a class action, and three Alcoa retirees have…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/12/21/steelwo…
Buttigieg Leads 2020 Rivals in Wall Street Contributions
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-12-21
WASHINGTON — The financial sector, blamed by progressives for spawning the 2008 economic collapse, is lining up behind Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign. | The mayor of South Bend, Ind., has collected more campaign cash from donors and political action committees tied to the financial, insurance and real estate sector than any other White House hopeful, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. | The $3.06 million in contributions compares to $2.8 million directed toward former Vice President Joe Biden and $2.03 million for Sen. Cory Booker, whose home state of New Jersey has st…
truthdig.com/articles/buttigieg-leads-20…
Doctors Prescribe More of a Drug If They Receive Money From Company Tied to It
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-21
The financial interactions include payments for delivering promotional talks, consulting and receiving sponsored meals and travel. | The 50 drugs in our analysis include many popular and expensive ones. Thirty-eight of the drugs have yearly costs exceeding $1,000 per patient, and many topped the list that are most costly for the Medicare Part D drug program. | Take Linzess, a drug to treat irritable bowel syndrome and severe constipation. From 2014 to 2018, the drug's makers, Allergan and I…
truthout.org/articles/doctors-prescribe-…
We Must Address the Roots of Inequality to Keep It From Killing Us
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-21
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau confirms that the gap between the richest and poorest households in the U.S. is the largest it has been in over 50 years, and that economic power is more concentrated than ever before. Democrats and Republicans may have different interpretations of these facts, but in public health, decades of research are coming to a consensus: Inequality kills. | Over the past five years, I have worke…
truthout.org/articles/we-must-address-th…
Lesotho: Tens of thousands 'one step away from famine' as drought impacts harvests and UN launches flash appeal
news.un.org | 2019-12-20
Devastating drought in the southern African nation of Lesotho has left more than half a million people facing severe food shortages and tens of thousands "one step away from famine", UN humanitarians said on Friday, in an appeal for funds.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…
Friday's Daily Brief: Pope Francis, Lesotho, Iran, world corruption
news.un.org | 2019-12-20
Our top stories for Friday include: Pope Francis receives the UN chief in Rome, Lesotho famine threat, concern for jailed Iranian protestors, and strengthened global action to prevent corruption.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…
Cuban Lawmakers Approve 2020 Budget Law
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-20
Lawmakers approved unanimously the budget law for 2020 which will guarantee basic services for the population, including health, education and social security, during the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Ninth Legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power (Cuban Parliament, ANPP), conducted by its President, Esteban Lazo. | RELATED: | Cuba Denounces New OAS Attack Against Medical Collaboration | The law also plans state investments in different sectors of the economy, accor…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuban-Lawmakers-…
Sanders, Warren keep class central to debate; raise opponents' reliance on billionaires
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2019-12-20
LOS ANGELES–It took an hour and a half for them to warm up and stop being too polite, but seven Democratic presidential hopefuls spent the last half of their Dec. 19 debate in Los Angeles mixing it up over campaign financing and health care, while one–Tom Steyer, the richest–made an unexpected (and unconvincing) bid for …
peoplesworld.org/article/sanders-warren-…
The Police are Bad for Your Health
Michael Pappas | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-20
Police are bad for our health. It is up to all those who strive to improve societal well being to oppose the violence the institution of "law enforcement "continues to perpetrate on us all. APHA members rally in front of the conference center before the APHA vote on the policy statement (Image from Medium) I …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/the-police-ar…
Schumer Revealed as Key Industry Ally in Defeat of Effort to Curb Surprise Billing
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-12-20
It was one of a series of lobbying victories by the healthcare industry in 2019 bolstered by top Democrats. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2019/12/20/schumer…
World Health Organization reports 60 per cent drop in cholera in 2018
news.un.org | 2019-12-19
International action to drive down cholera led to a 60 per cent decrease in cases in 2018, compared with the previous year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…
Thursday's Daily Brief: tobacco burn-out, cholera cases down, 'shifting the needle' on climate
news.un.org | 2019-12-19
Among today's stories: more men are quitting nicotine than ever before, a big drop in cholera cases was recorded between 2017 and 2018, and the UN calls on developed countries to raise their climate ambitions, following the disappointment of COP25.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…
'Like tobacco companies' : Coca Cola blasted for telling teens its soda is 'healthy lifestyle' choice in new study
rt.com | 2019-12-19
Internal emails from Coca Cola have shown the carbonated-beverage giant is trying to change the unhealthy image of their brand by specifically targeting active teenagers. | A new report from The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) is blasting the Atlanta-based corporation for advertising its sugary drinks to teenagers and trying to convince them that soda is part of a healthy lifestyle. | "The large number of children targeted and reached by Coke as part of their PR campaigns is a serious c…
rt.com/usa/476447-coca-cola-teens-advert…
A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court
Melissa Grant | aclu.org | 2019-12-18
For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/a-ten…
Low cost breast cancer medicine move good news for women: UN health agency
news.un.org | 2019-12-18
More women could soon have access to an affordable version of an expensive life-saving breast cancer treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…
UN health agency signals tobacco might be reaching burn-out among men
news.un.org | 2019-12-18
Two decades of increasing tobacco use around the world are set to go into reverse, UN health experts have predicted, after revealing data indicating that fewer men and boys are smoking than before.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/12/1…
Wisconsin: Medicaid to cover gender-confirming medical procedures
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-12-17
Kenosha, WI – As of December 10, Wisconsin is now one of the 20 states that cover medically necessary gender-confirming surgeries. People in need of these procedures will receive coverage under the state's Medicaid healthcare plan. This development comes after state officials allowed the time frame to lapse for an appeal of the 2018 lawsuit that initiated the whole process. | This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysp…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/12/17/wiscons…
Teaching assistants in Decatur, Il. struggle for better healthcare
Nick Goodell | liberationnews.org | 2019-12-12
"DFTA all the way!"
liberationnews.org/teaching-assistants-i…
On Human Rights Day, Let's Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Martin Fleck | progressive.org | 2019-12-09
A nuclear war would create one of the worst humanitarian crises imaginable, one for which no nation would have an adequate emergency or health response.
progressive.org/op-eds/human-rights-day-…
Bronx speakout demands closure of fake abortion clinic
Liberation staff | liberationnews.org | 2019-12-04
Dozens stopped to listen and speak with the protesters about reproductive justice and the need for affordable public healthcare.
liberationnews.org/bronx-speakout-demand…