CEO and founder of the French Poly Beast Implant Prothese Wanted by Interpol

The implants are filled with an unapproved non-medical grade material said to be made for mattresses?  The article goes on to say around 40,000 women in the UK have the implants.  You wonder how does this go without notice for so long.  France stated that all women should have them removed and the UK was not as aggressive; however plastic surgeons in the UK felt a little different and said the suggestion from France was not at all out of line. 

The company has been liquidated and the use of the PIP implants has been banned but when women have them removed I would definitely have the silicon tested to see exactly what is in there for sure.  In the meantime the former CEO appears to be in hiding.  We didn’t have the implants in the US but South America was also affected with having used the product.  BD  

Interpol is seeking the arrest of Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of a French company whose breast implants are at the centre of a global health scare.

The international police agency has issued a red notice for Mas. His firm Poly Implant Protheses (PIP), which went into administration last year, supplied implants to tens of thousands of women in Europe and South America.

Interpol's website says the 72-year-old is wanted by Costa Rican authorities for crimes involving "life and health" but gives no further details. France has offered to pay for an estimated 30,000 women in the country to have their PIP implants removed because of risks the products could rupture and leak industrial-grade silicone.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/24/french-breast-implant-chief-interpol

Technorati Tags: Interpol,breast implants,France,Britian,Prostheses PIP,Europe,women,silicone

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FDA Recalls St. Jude’s Riata Defibrillator Leads–Estimated 79,000 Patients in the US Implanted with the Device/Leads

Apparently they found the silicon covering on the leads is the issue and it could shock patients when they don’t need it or not work at all and have a higher failure rate than first anticipated.  St. Jude last year stopped selling the leads.  BD 

St. Jude Medical Inc.’s Riata defibrillator leads, which the company stopped selling last year, were recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because of their potential to injure or kill patients

The devices remain implanted in an estimated 79,000 U.S. patients. The company voluntarily sent a letter to doctors on November 28 informing them that the wires used to connect the devices to the heart have a higher failure rate than was previously known.

Leads with externalized conductors may develop electrical dysfunction and not work as intended. In the event the device does not work as intended, should a life-threatening heart rhythm occur, pacing or defibrillation therapy may not be delivered as intended. This may result in serious adverse events, including death.
The recall includes the following model numbers:
Riata (8F) Silicone Endocardial Defibrillation Leads
Models: 1560, 1561, 1562, 1570, 1571, 1572, 1580, 1581, 1582, 1590, 1591, 1592
Riata ST (7Fr) Silicone Endocardial Defibrillation Leads
Models: 7000, 7001, 7002, 7010, 7011, 7040, 7041, 7042

http://fortworth.injuryboard.com/medical-devices-and-implants/fda-recalls-st-judes-riata-lead-based-on-risk-of-death.aspx?googleid=296998

Technorati Tags: St. Jude Defibrillator Lawsuits,Cardiac Tamponade Perforates Heart Tissue,Heart Damage,Irregular Beating,St Jude Defective Lead Wires,Riata Perforation Problems

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Nurses Hold One Day Strike at Long Beach Memorial and Miller’s Children’s Hospital

The nurses have been without a contract for a few months now and are also talking about working conditions and other items needing attention.  One thing I know about the hospital is that “its is busy” like all the time.  They did remodeling and shifting things around in the last couple of years to ease people waiting in the hallways that existed a couple years ago in the ER area. 

What is odd here is that over 75% of the nurses showed for work though.  The Children’s Hospital is new and state of the art and I did a walk through interview with the CFO just before it opened a while back.  BD 

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach – Brand New Pavilion Carries Focus on Patients and “Green”

Hundreds of nurses from Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children's Hospital staged a one-day strike Thursday over failed contract negotiations and staffing issues.
Equipped with bullhorns and whistles, the nurses stood by the main entrance of the hospitals on Patterson Street and Atlantic Avenue. Many waved picket signs that read: "If nurses are outside, something's wrong inside" and "Safe staffing at all times."
Amid the yelling and cheering for every car horn honk they got, the nurses sang out chants.
The California Nurses Assn. has been working without a contract since Sept. 30 and has been at odds with hospital management over staffing conditions and rising costs of healthcare premiums.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nurses-20111223,0,6707464.story

Technorati Tags: nurses,strike,Long Beach Memorial Hospital,healthcare,Miller's Childrens Hospital,California Nurses Association

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US Senator Doesn’t Want Us Ingesting Caffeine With Aeroshot Breathable Caffeine

The product says you get the same amount of caffeine as you would in a Starbucks cup of coffee which seems harmless enough.  Ok so you take 3 or 4 snorts, some like me drink that many cups daily anyway.  If you really like caffeine, you can bathe in it, suck it down in lollypops and more.  There are geek sites all over the web that sell caffeine in different types of products.   The product doesn’t need FDA approval the article indicates as it has some vitamin supplements included as well.

Caffeine: Shower Shock Caffeinated Body Wash, Javapops

Who can figure out what gets priorities today in Congress?  From reading the web page it sounds like it goes to your stomach actually.  This was invented by a professor at Harvard.  The website also says no caffeine goes to your lungs.  This will be interesting when it comes out in January in Boston and New York and the Senator can certainly find more important issues to address by all means.  BD 

According to the senator’s office, the product is not reviewed by the FDA — it apparently skirts regulation by claiming it contains a vitamin supplement.

According to its website, Aeroshot lets the user inhale caffeine in powdered form. It dispenses 100 milligrams of caffeine in a just few puffs. The jolt is equivalent to a large cup of Starbucks coffee.

The product is apparently being marketed to consumers ages 12 and up with the emphasis on helping students stay awake and study.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/12/22/schumer-fights-sale-of-inhalable-caffeine-product/

Technorati Tags: Aeroshot,caffeine,Congress,FDA,energy,healthcare,drugs,coffee

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Feed The Wards Video From ZDoggMD–His Christmas Wish Granted-Not On Call This Year!

The doctor no problem here with working on a second career!  This so funny and I think one of his best as he an entire collection.  Use the link at the bottom to go his site and see more of the rapping hospitalist.  Pumpkin colored ensure…Santa pulled his central line…<grin>.  BD

Feed the Wards!

But it is the Holidays, so we should probably take a moment to think of those less fortunate than ourselves. People who go hungry while others feast. People without a single shred of hope remaining. I’m talking about healthcare workers taking call during the Holidays.

http://zdoggmd.com/2011/12/feed-the-wards/

Technorati Tags: Need a laugh,holidays,Christmas,healthcare,humor,wards,feed,hospital

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Shell Practices that Defraud Medicare–One Good Reason to Clean Up The Flawed Data on the Internet-Hunting Ground for Thieves

If you read the Medical Quack often enough this is fairly common topic that comes up for me to write about as it is such a big problem.  The “shell” practices as they are called can sometimes find provider IDs online, for “dead” doctors and then they go to work billing.  It really makes for a huge problem all the way around without some decent audit trails and checking.  It’s funny we have all the data being sold out there and they grab stuff for free and use it for all kinds of intelligence, but when it comes to simple verification we have little.  Chapter 7 of the Attack of the Killer Algorithms shows how flawed data hurts us from the consumer side. 

Flawed Data–Mined by Corporations Online Provides Background Checks Riddled With Errors–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 7

The thieves know how to mine data too unfortunately and run the gambit as I wrote about over a year ago.  As a consumer you may be using the doctor sites to find a doctor, but the other side is looking for flawed data, dead, retired doctors, what ever they can get with folks not updating records. 

Dead Doctors and Inaccurate MD Listings On the Web Can Be a Real Hunting Ground of Information to Mine For Crooks Relative to Fraudulent Medical Billing

Here’s an interesting article from 2010, obviously one of the so called shell companies.

Biggest Prescriber of Medicaid Drugs In New Jersey Charged with Fraud–Only Had 3 Employees

How many women received penis pumps?  Again it’s an auditing algorithm that can be used to catch some of this and HHS is moving in this direction with new auditing software and I would be surprise if one woman received one <grin>. 

Two Florida Business Men–Medicare Fraud For Billing for Penis Pumps for Female and Male Patients–Lot of Transaction Money Made And Who’s Running the Algorithms for Profit?

The key here is though to use the math and queries wisely so legitimate practices don’t get caught in “false positives” as that happens too.  Most of the time though as this investigative article indicated it’s a matter of a few queries, like business licenses and names that can be researched but if nobody looks at the obvious the claims fly.  One of the biggest fraud stories with this well known oncologist in the OC and he got caught twice and in court his attorney said he had a compulsive disorder where he couldn’t help himself as it was so easy, go figure that one out.

Prominent Orange County Oncologist Pleads Guilty to Medicare/Insurance Fraud – Over $1 Million

A few queries and auditing algorithms can help out a lot.  The new algorithms used by CMS should help identify a lot of the obvious before anyone has to step a foot outside a door to investigate.

Medicare Federal Investigators Getting Algorithms to Analyze And Find Fraud-Good Move as Contractors Efforts Are Weak With Risking Loss Of Transaction Revenue

Again as mentioned, there is a downside with the formulas wrenched down too tight for false positives.  Here’s a story from 2010 from San Diego to where the Ingenix algorithms said the dermatologists practices were billing fraudulently and this was ugly and I don’t know the outcome but it was bad the way it was handled and some doctors had to close as there was no money in the way that it was handled and law suits are on going with this one so we went from “shells to skins” in this case.  BD

Skins game With Dermatology Offices in California – All Insurance Carriers Quit Paying For Treatment Within a 5 Day Period

MIAMI/ATLANTA (Reuters) - By the time authorities busted a fake AIDS clinic in Miami, it had bilked Medicare of more than $4.5 million. Still, the man behind the scheme remained far ahead of the agents pursuing him.

Michel De Jesus Huarte, a 40-year-old Cuban-American, hadn't simply avoided arrest. He had hatched a plan to steal millions more from Medicare by forming at least 29 other shell companies - paper-only firms with no real operations. Each time, he would keep his name out of any corporate records. Other people - some paid by Huarte, some whose identities had been stolen - would be listed in incorporation papers.

The shells functioned as a vital tool to hide the Medicare deceit - and not only for Huarte. Hundreds of others have used the veil of corporate secrecy to help steal hundreds of millions of dollars from one of the nation's largest social service programs, a Reuters investigation has found.

Huarte is now behind bars and did not respond to requests for comment. But basic checks by Reuters of Medicare providers in one city - Miami - suggest shell companies remain prime tools in perpetrating fraud. Simply by reviewing the incorporation records of Medicare providers in two buildings there, reporters uncovered information that one government official said could prompt "a serious criminal investigation" of some of the companies.

The fraud rings merge stolen doctor and patient data under the auspices of a shell company and then bill Medicare as rapidly as possible. Other shell companies are often layered on top to camouflage the fraud, law enforcement officials say.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/21/us-shellcompanies-medicare-idUSTRE7BK0PY20111221

Technorati Tags: HealthGrades,data bases,health insurance,human resources,tech denial,infrastrucure,lazy,employer insurance HealthGrades,employer insurance

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One more Johnson and Johnson Recall-Motrin That May Not Work-Where’s the BarCodes to Help Consumers, Drug Chains, Pharmacists, the FDA and So On…

Well they did do a trial on bar codes for baby wipes which give product information but in case of a recall, they information could be updated quickly.  I realize the company is delving deep into quality control but gee look at the other side with consumers and everyone else involved.  A collaborated effort with the FDA could work very well and make it easier for compliance too with a synchronized data base, but we just don’t seem to want to go there.

Johnson and Johnson Puts Microsoft Tag Bar Codes on Baby Wipes But Can’t Do the Same to Give Consumers the Chance to Find Their FDA Recalls - BarCode Baby Steps?

Here’s an image of what the barcodes on the baby wipes look like below:

Furthermore I have seen millions spent on trying to engage consumers with mHealth and they just don’t get as far as needing a vehicle and creating value for the consumer, this is the vehicle to drive it as this is VALUE shown immediately.  People would much rather have this than see that Facebook HHS contest for an emergency app and all the geeks on the web kind of laughed at it with all the privacy issues on the forefront.  So let’s use this tweet below…J and J are you listening…I’ll just keep posting this tweet from a Mom that wanted to be able to scan bottles…I have a few more of them too on the Quack. 

The Milwaukee Journal interviewed me on my thoughts on the barcodes earlier this year as another company with wipes had a huge recall too.  You can read that at the link below…technology is here but we are not using it.

Triad Group Taints Smith and Nephew Device Company With Recalled Wipes How Many More Are Out There Under Private Labels?

Of all the recalls and situations that could be fixed, the stinking drugs was one that could easily be fixed with coatings the pallets outdoors!  I was in logistics for many years and watched that routine occur all over the place with treated pallets indoors.  I used to do business with a J and J distribution center many years ago, was happening then and sure it’s what the stink is all about.  Other companies did it too as I also called on Pfizer distribution centers and few others as well. 

Johnson and Johnson Recalls Stinky Topamax Drug Used for Epilepsy-The Cold Weather Stench That Stole Topamax

How the CEO Bill Weldon goes unscathed over all of this is beyond me as yesterday it was in the news that the former head of the consumer division was set to face charges on all of this.  BD

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), the health-care company beset by product recalls the last two years, said it was asking retailers to return about 12 million bottles of Motrin over concerns the painkiller may dissolve too slowly.

Tests of product samples showed some caplets may not dissolve as quickly as intended when near their expiration date, J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit said in a statement on its website today. While consumers don’t have to return any bottles, it’s possible there may be “a delay in relief” after taking the drug, Bonnie Jacobs, a spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview. J&J is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

McNeil agreed in March to give U.S. regulators stepped-up oversight at three manufacturing plants, after the division had to pull tens of millions of packages of over-the-counter drugs for quality concerns. Today’s recall covers Motrin distributed in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Fiji, Belize, the Bahamas, St. Lucia and Jamaica, according to the statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-21/j-j-recalls-12-million-bottles-of-motrin-that-may-not-dissolve.html?cmpid=yhoo

Technorati Tags: Recall,FDA,Johnson and Johnson,healthcare,drugs,chemical,odor,Topamax,Bill Weldon,epilepsy,pallets,shipments,recalls,bar codes,Baby Wipes,charity,Motrin

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Massachusetts Nurses Association Protesting Private Equity Company Cerberus Who Operates Steward Healthcare With More Concern for Profits Than Care

Many nurses made the trip to the Cerberus offices in New York to promote an “Occupy” type demonstration with discontent over many working and pension conditions since Steward, who is owned by Cerberus took over and purchased several hospitals in Massachusetts. One item in particular pointed out was the skimping on bread and juice used to stabilize patients at Norwood Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital.  There have been a greater number of private investments in healthcare and apparently it has become so large in number they had to create a “non profit” group to talk about how to “profit”…kind of an oxymoron?  BD 

How Big Are Private Equity Investments in Healthcare – Large Enough to Create a “Non-Profit” Trade Association To Talk About How to “Profit”

From the Website:

“Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., along with its affiliates, is one of the world's leading private investment firms. Through its team of investment and operations professionals, Cerberus specializes in providing both financial resources and operational expertise to help transform undervalued companies into industry leaders for long-term success and value creation. Cerberus holds controlling or significant minority interests in companies around the world.
Cerberus is headquartered in New York City with affiliate and/or advisory offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”

Janet DeMoranville is standing up against a private equity investment firm that now owns Morton Hospital, where she has worked for 13 years, saying the company is more concerned about profits than patients.

“They are just out to make money,” said DeMoranville, describing the motives of Cerberus, which has bought 10 hospitals in Massachusetts, including Morton, as part of Steward Health Care.

“They don’t care how they do it, or what cuts they have to make to get it. They have to realize that health care is not a money-making business. It’s a patient care industry. That’s what it needs to be about.”

DeMoranville was one of five Morton nurses who joined more than 100 other nurses from the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and hundreds from other states to protest Cerberus at the firm’s corporate headquarters in New York on Tuesday afternoon.

Representatives for the MNA singled out Steward and Cerberus for one issue, slamming them for skimping out on bread and juice used to stabilize patients at Norwood Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton. MNA spokesperson David Schildmeier said that is unacceptable for Cerberus, which bought Chrysler in 2007 before another company bought it last year and has become involved in the arms industry, said that this was ridiculous.

“When the owner of Chrysler can’t provide a loaf of bread to patients, that symbolizes something being very wrong,” Schildmeier said.

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1157704454/Morton-Hospital-nurses-Cerberus-more-concerned-with-profits-than-patients

Technorati Tags: Caritas Christi Health,private equity,healthcare,hospitals,Cerberus,money,investments,Landmark Medical,acquisitions and mergers,JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

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Prestige Brands to Acquire 17 Consumer Over the Counter Brands From Glaxo

This seems to make sense as Prestige already had a large number of consumer products already and that appears to be their primary business.  The over the counter products seem to a bit of a mixed bag with both drugs and other types of consumer products.  BD 

IRVINGTON, N.Y., Dec 20, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE-PBH) today announced the signing of a definitive agreements with GSK to acquire 17 over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical brands sold in North America for a total of $660 million in cash. The transactions are expected to be completed in the first half of calendar year 2012 subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as applicable, and the Company closing on its committed financing for the acquisitions.

Among the brands the Company agreed to acquire are the BC(R), Goody's(R), and Ecotrin(R) brands of pain relievers; Beano(R), Gaviscon(R), Phazyme(R), Tagamet(R) and Fiber Choice(R) GI brands; and the Sominex(R) sleep aid brand.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/prestige-brands-holdings-inc-signs-definitive-agreements-with-gsk-to-acquire-17-consumer-otc-healthcare-brands-in-north-america-2011-12-20

Technorati Tags: Prestige,GlaxoSmithKline,GSK,consumer goods,OTC,pain releivers,drug stores,healthcare

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Hawaii Medical Center Closes Emergency Rooms As New Buyer for the Facility Fell Through And Facilities Will Be Closed When All Patients Have Been Transferred

Back in October the hospital stated they may have to close and the ER rooms are the first stage of this with paramedics stationed outside and there are no doctors on staff to see anyone.  About 1000 employees are affected and patients are being transferred to other hospitals.  As you can read below, no more transplant surgeries.

Hawaii Medical Center Searching for Buyers–If Not Center Could Close As Early as November-Only Hospital in the State Capable of Performing Transplant Surgeries

We are just about bleeding the hospitals dry of money in many area and with the next year it’s almost sad to say we will see more stories like this as there are a couple in New York looking from the red side and getting very close.  This is not a very happy holiday for the employees or the patients by all means.  I don’t know what more we have to endure with cutting hospitals back on money but it’s just not working very well as even hospitals like Cedars Sinai have cut out their mental health services too here in Los Angeles.  BD 

LILIHA and EWA (HawaiiNewsNow) - "We're just trying to be the safety net for the community to make sure that all their needs are being addressed as they roll up," said Kelly Yamamoto, a District Chief with the City & County of Honolulu's Emergency Medical Services.

Posted signs warned the public, then at 7 o'clock Monday morning the doors to both Hawaii Medical Center's Ewa and Liliha emergency rooms were closed to the public. No doctors inside, but paramedics were outside.

"It's a crisis for everyone and everybody is just kind of trying to do their part and make sure that our community is well cared for," said Yamamoto.

Paramedics were there to provide triage or to call for an ambulance if needed. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) hasn't brought anyone to HMC ERs since Friday and it's beefed up its ambulance presence in the community to help.

Hawaii Pacific Health officials say no official negotiations are underway to acquire the bankrupt HMC hospitals and their assets from its largest creditor, St. Francis Healthcare, but the company is monitoring the financial situation closely. HPH Chief Executive Officer, Chuck Sted said, "We continue to stay in touch with the debtor, secured creditors and unsecured creditors to determine if we are able to play a role in the future of these facilities."

 http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/16354395/hawaii-medical-center-emergency-room-closed-monday

Technorati Tags: Hospital,reorganization,medical school,government,healthcare,hospital,debt,buyers,medical,patients,ER Room,doctors

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HealthVault Free Mobile App For Windows Phone Is Out from the Zune Store To Download & Got My Ducks Updated

This is pretty neat and loaded it up on my phone and off I go.  It’s pretty straight forward and works fine.  I didn’t have a lot of time to go through all of the screens yet but will do later one. 

The screens are very similar to what you see on the computer just smaller and if you are used to mobile apps already, then you will get it.  It was very simple to sign in and so forth.  I have my mother on the account and all her information is available for me as well and actually she has more in there than I do.  Just yesterday I posted about a new MIT program that uses a $2.00 piece of hardware that uses the same bar code technology that phones use to scan too, so a lot going with smart phones today.  I might guess in time this might be something to incorporate into HealthVault too.

EyeNetra–Eye Exams in the Palm of Your Hand With a Smart Phone Using Similar Optical Technology as With Bar Codes–Video

I found this other little application while connected where I can watch moles and take pictures so I’m using version which allows only one individual and 3 pictures to see if I like it.  I don’t have ton of moles so will check this out.  I looked through the other apps and again there’s tons of them that do “one thing” and most I don’t feel are worth the time and effort.  HealthVault will have the information from connected devices available so again with doing more than one thing I see some value here.  So how many moles have you seen on a duck?  Maybe I need a feather chaser <grin>. 

And after the healthcare stuff, time for me to check out some ducks so one more duck hunter game, and yes my ring tone is a quack and I wanted to also see what “what’s up with the drunk ducks” too. 

              

Last but not least, have to load up my favorite browser, “DUCKDUCKGO”.  You can figure out why I like this one.  Actually is is not bad and is private so right up my ally there with private browsing.  I use it on my main computers too and will be checking out the phone version.  What a Quack I can be at times and the having the current state of affairs on a duck’s health seems to be right up my alley.  BD 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/familyhealthguy/archive/2011/12/15/healthvault-now-fun-size.aspx

Technorati Tags: mHealth,Microsoft,HealthVault,mobile apps,Health IT,browser,moles,smartphones,Windows Phone,ducks,apps

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FDA Issues a Cease and Desist Sperm Order To A California Man Who Was Giving It Away on the Internet To Couples Who Could Not Afford to Pay But Wanted a Child

That’s right you can’t give this away, you have to pay for it <grin>.  This is what the FDA says but their grounds for checking in was the fact that they were not sure whether or not the many was complying with regular tests for sexually transmitted diseases.  The man says he gets tested and I would almost imagine that any couples who were serious about the donation would ask that question, but you never know today.  The FDA says the test must be within 7 days of the “giving” day. 

With the fact that he is giving it away does not make it a business and he relinquished all legal rights when the couples get their sperm.  This guy is no dummy either as he’s a computer security specialist so you know his site should be secure by all means as far as privacy one would think and he would have full audit trails too.  He’s also the son of a minister who is donating sperm for couples who cannot afford to pay.  The only thing I see a bit odd here though is to make sure that all the donations don’t run to one neighborhood or you could have issues down the road, so spread the wealth across the US I would say.  This will be interesting to see how this one comes out.  If nothing else maybe he can strike a deal with the FDA relative to server security I guess <grin>.  BD 

A man from the San Francisco Bay area has fathered 14 children in the last five years through free sperm donations to childless couples he meets on the Internet — and is now in trouble with the federal government.

Trent Arsenault of Fremont says he donates sperm out of a sense of service to help people who want to have children but can’t afford conventional sperm banks. The 36-year-old minister’s son has four more children on the way.

“I always had known through people praying at church that there’s fertility issues,” Arsenault told The Associated Press on Monday. “I thought it would just be a neat way of service to help the community.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent Arsenault a cease-and-desist letter late last year telling him he must stop because he does not follow the agency’s requirements for getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases within seven days before giving sperm. The FDA did not immediately respond to questions about what kind of punishment he faces.

The oldest child Arsenault has fathered is now 4. He and the recipients, whom he describes as “intimate partners,” sign a legal agreement ahead of time stripping him of any custody rights and absolving him of any financial responsibility for the children.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/19/fda-tells-man-to-stop-donating-sperm-on-the-internet/

Technorati Tags: FDA,sperm,cease and desist,father,children,websites,donations,STD,testing,babies

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“Generic Medical Devices” FDA Approved Doctor Preferred Orthopedic Implants Made in the USA Costing 50% Less

This is kind of a “no brainer” as far as the cost side as we all know we pay less for generic drugs so the same applies here with a few other bonus points with the fact that doctors and surgeons are involved in the processes to create “what works”.  Currently the company focus is on orthopedic devices and items that are used every day in surgical procedures.  This is video is from StockNewsNow who sponsors the Medical Quack and I do their websites as well so felt it was fair to make that disclosure here. 

In addition there are some video collections at the site that show many of the new biotech developments and technologies that are at many of the various medical conferences where small companies look to talk with those who have money to finance and keep research and development alive in this area.  If you read the news regularly, then you know how difficult it has become for biotech/medical companies to get funding while everyone sinks dollars into social algorithms, which is part of the big problem today in the US as all seem to think we can base an economy on intangibles and it’s not so. 

You can find some interviews with hospitals such as Johns Hopkins and Boston Children’s Hospital and see how small biotech and hospital research are coming together from interviews at various conferences held this year. 

I don’t know why but in looking at this video I just seem to think about Dr. Gary Michelson who won a landmark legal case years ago against Medtronic as he was a practicing surgeon who created and patented many surgical devices and it was found big corporate USA stole his idea, but in today’s world hopefully we won’t see this as these devices do not have IP protection and this is a collaborated effort where everyone stands to win.  Dr. Michelson today devotes his philanthropy efforts into research for animals and donates into the humans area as well. 

Dr. Gary K. Michelson With Philanthropy, Pets and One Who Won over Big Business

From my point of view we have a device maker working with doctors that want to make some money today, but not over top like we see some devices priced today, so stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.  We certainly can’t object to lower costs as patients and the fact that they are made in the USA as well.  BD  

Internal Fixation Systems (IFIX.OB) is a medical device company that specializes in products that orthopedic surgeons use every day. The company focuses on commonly used, market proven products that do not have IP protections that are designed by world-class surgeons.

http://stocknewsnow.com/?p=2568

Technorati Tags: Internal Fixation,medical devices,generic medical devices,FDA,surgery,doctors,surgeons,healthcare,IP protection

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