Medical News: Supreme Court Sides With Vaccine Maker - in Washington-Watch, Washington Watch from MedPage Today

The Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that a federal law shields drug companies from being sued over injuries caused by childhood vaccines.

The case was brought by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, now a young adult, and charges that she developed a seizure disorder after receiving her third dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine when she was 6 months old. She has suffered developmental problems ever since, and will likely require medical attention for the rest of her life, her parents say.

The dose of the vaccine in question, TRI-IMMUNOL, came from a lot that generated 65 reports of adverse reactions, including 39 emergency room visits, six hospitalizations, and two deaths, according to documents from the U.S. appeals court that heard the case in 2009.

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 created a so-called "vaccine court" to address safety claims in an attempt to ease the threat of lawsuits in state courts against pharmaceutical companies and insure against them pulling out of what they claim is an unprofitable vaccine marketplace completely.

Under the law, people injured by vaccines are eligible for compensation for medical care, rehabilitation, counseling, special education, and vocational training expenses; diminished earning capacity; pain and suffering; and $250,000 for vaccine-related deaths.

via medpagetoday.com

Click on the "via" link to read the rest of the article.

******************************************************
Follow, Connect, Like us on (Most Invites Accepted):

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Fewer pediatricians, higher risk for kids’ appendix ruptures | Johns Hopkins University - The Gazette

Children who live in areas with fewer pediatricians are more likely to suffer life-threatening ruptures of the appendix than those in areas with more pediatricians, even when accounting for other factors such as the number of hospitals, imaging technology, insurance coverage and the number of surgeons in an area, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

The study’s findings, based on an analysis of nearly 250,000 hospital records of children with appendicitis, are published online in the December issue of JAMA–Archives of Surgery.

“Our analysis shows that the most potent predictor of outcome in children with appendicitis was the number of pediatricians available in an area, emphasizing the pivotal role they play as the point of first contact in the care of a sick child,” said lead investigator Fizan Abdullah, a pediatric surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The appendix is a small tube extending from the large intestine, and infections and inflammation of the organ can be dangerous. Each year, 77,000 children develop appendicitis, and an estimated one-third of them suffer a ruptured appendix, a serious complication that often results from delays in diagnosis and surgery to remove the inflamed or infected organ.

via gazette.jhu.edu

--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

******************************************************
Follow us on:

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

The 3 Times You Should Re-examine Your Health Care Benefits | Education & Careers

While our three (ring circus) branches of government try to figure what to do with health care, life for us down here in the trenches continues to march on. This means accidents happen, people get sick, and at some point every one of us ends up (at one time or another) in a doctor’s examination room wrapped in a paper gown. For this reason, you need to consider all your health insurance options whether you’re employed or not. Unfortunately, when your job status changes, so does your coverage. Here are the three most important times you need to re-examine your health care benefits.

When You Start a New Job

The sad truth is most employers can’t afford to cover their employees with 100% health care. In most cases, an employer pays for part or most of an employee’s plan, but then the employee has to also kick in to make up the difference. When you hire on with a new company, be sure to read the company’s health insurance policy from cover to cover. If you don’t understand something, ask your employer to spell it out for you. Typically, an employer health care plan DOES cover general doctor visits and catastrophic care, but usually DOESN’T include extras like dental, vision, chiropractic care, etc. If these things are important to you then often you can include them as extras on your policy, but you’ll have to pay for them.

Also if you or someone in your family has a pre-existing condition, you need to make sure that condition will be covered under your new plan. In fact, check on this BEFORE you quit your old job. And if you like the doctors you’ve been seeing make sure those doctors are covered under your new plan. If not, you may be paying for your doctor visits 100% out of your own pocket.

If You Quit or Are Fired From Your Existing Job

Regardless of the reason you leave a job the COBRA Act of 1985 ensures that you can take your company’s health insurance benefits with you for up to 18 months. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay 100% of those monthly premiums yourself, but at least you’re covered. This is especially important if you’re going through specific treatment at the time you leave a job, or you want to retain your same health insurance while you look for a new job.

Whatever you do, DO NOT roll the dice and go without health insurance. That’s never a gamble worth taking.

If You’re In Between Jobs

If your employer’s health plan is too expensive for you to continue with on your own, then you need to get some sort of health insurance while you look for work. If you’re married, check to see if your spouse’s plan will cover you, at least for catastrophic care. You may have to pay a little extra, but it probably won’t add up to what you’d pay for your own policy.

If you have to purchase your own health insurance you basically have two options; A PPO (expensive, but covers a lot) or catastrophic care (cheaper, but with less coverage). The one you choose depends upon A) How much money you have to spend on health care, and B) How long you anticipate being unemployed.

A PPO is the closest thing your employer provided you with in terms of health care. Typically, a PPO has a family deductible of anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 annually and also offers co-pays for doctor office visits and prescription drugs. This means you pay your doctor office co-pay of, for example, $25 per visit, every time you go to your doctor. But after you’ve paid enough medical bills (in a calendar year) to meet your deductible, then the insurance company pays anywhere from 80% to 100% of your remaining medical bills, but only for the rest of the calendar year. After January 1 the slate is wiped clean and you start paying toward your deductible all over again.

A PPO plan is pretty expensive because it covers everything from a cold to cancer. If you know you’re going to be out of work only for a short time, then a PPO may be overkill. Instead, you can go with a catastrophic care plan, which has a very high deductible (usually $5,000 to $10,000), and only covers you for major medical expenses, such as accidents or long term severe illness (like cancer). If you’re healthy, and left without health benefits for a month or less, then a catastrophic care plan may make more sense. It’s way cheaper than a PPO, but still guarantees you won’t lose everything if you happen to have an accident that requires expensive treatment while you’re without employer benefits.

Regardless of your employment status you should NEVER go without health insurance. It only takes something as simple as a hernia surgery or a broken leg to wipe out everything you’ve ever worked for. True, you don’t know if you’ll ever need to go to the doctor while in between jobs, but that’s why they call it insurance – because then you won’t have to worry if you do.

via classesandcareers.com

--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

******************************************************
Follow us:

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.howtostartanursingagency.com
http://www.jocularity.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Health Insurance for Children

Health Insurance for Children:"In today’s Patient Money column, Lesley Alderman writes about the various ways parents can find health coverage for their children, even if they think they can’t afford it."
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/health-insurance-for-children/#

---

---

Follow us on:
Buzz (Google)
Facebook: http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook
Twitter! http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter
StumbleUpon, http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon

Articles:

• Articles: Nursing, Not For Everyone, Not For Most People:"Nurses are Licensed Professionals who's practice is regulated by Nurse Practice Acts, and the State Board of Nursing of each State. Nursing is a ..."
  http://www.nursefriendly.com/views/

More about Andrew, Nursefriendly.com and our favorite sites:

• Ask A Nurse Service
• Epinions.com
• Facebook profile (and pics)
• FriendFeed.com
• Google Buzz
• Linked In Profile
• Moorestown Area Toastmasters (Toastmasters International affiliate)
• Nursinglink.com (Social Network)
• Nursing Resume
• Nursing Malpractice Case Studies

---

Nursefriendly.com (homepage)
About Us
Add URL
Advertising
Contact Us
Gifts For Nurses
Linking Policy
Privacy Policy
Search Our Sites
What's New

---

Top Nursing Topics:

A to Z Nursing Topics

---

About Nursing:

Certified Nursing Assistants, CNAs

---

Disabled Nurses

---

Impaired Nurses

---

LPNs, LVNs

---

Registered Nurses

---

---

Advanced Practice Nurses

---

Clinical Nurse Specialists

---

Nurse Practitioners

---

---

Ask The Nurse

---

Associations (Nursing)

---

Authors (Nursing)

---

Boards of Nursing

---

Burnout (Nursing)

---

Businesses (Nurse-Owned)

---

Brainteasers

---

Care Plans (Nursing)

---

Careers In Nursing

---

Case Studies (Malpractice)

---

CEUs (Nursing)

---

Commonly Used Drugs

---

Chat (Nursing)

---

Clothes (Nursing)

---

Colleges (Nursing)

---

Consultants, Nursing

---

Current Events, Nursing News

---

Degrees in Nursing

---

Discussions (Nursing)

---

Drugs (Commonly Used)

---

Education (Nursing)

---

Employment (Nursing)

---

Entrepreneurs (Nurse)

---

Equipment (Medical)

---

Errors, Medication, Drug Administration & Support

---

Forensic Nursing

---

Gifts For Nurses

---

Going Shopping

---

Health & Wellness

---

Health Insurance

---

Healthcare Unions, Nursing Unions, Organized Labor

---

History of Nursing

---

Hospitals, Medical Centers

---

Informatics Nurses

---

Intravenous (IV) & Infusion Therapy

---

Jobs in Nursing

---

Jokes (Nursing)

---

Journals (Nursing)

---

Legal Nursing Consultants, LNCs

---

Long Term Care, Nursing Homes

---

Male Nurses

---

Malpractice Cases

---

Medical Centers, Hospitals

---

Medical Equipment

---

Medical Humor, Nursing Jokes

---

Medication Errors, Drug Administration & Support

---

Men in Nursing

---

National Nurses Week

---

Nurse Training

---

Nurse Entrepreneurs

---

Nursing Associations

---

Nursing Authors

---

Nursing Burnout

---

Nursing Care Plans

---

Nursing Careers

---

Nursing (CEUs)

---

Nursing Boards

---

Nursing Clothes, Scrubs, Uniforms

---

Nursing Colleges, Schools

---

Nursing Consultants

---

Nursing Degrees

---

Nursing Discussions

---

Nursing Education

---

Nursing Employment

---

Nursing Entrepreneurs

---

Nursing Gifts

---

Nursing Homes, Long Term Care

---

Nursing Informatics

---

Nursing Jobs

---

Nursing Jokes, Medical Humor

---

Nursing Journals

---

Nursing History

---

Nursing Malpractice Cases

---

Nursing News

---

Nursing Pay

---

Nursing Programs

---

Nursing Refresher Courses

---

Nursing Research

---

Nursing Resumes

---

Nursing Salaries

---

Nursing Scholarships

---

Nursing Schools, Colleges

---

Nursing Scrubs, Uniforms

---

Nursing Shoes

---

Nursing Shortage

---

Nursing Stories

---

Nursing Students

---

Nursing Uniforms

---

Nursing Unions, Organized Labor, Healthcare Unions

---

Nursing Wages

---

Nursing Webrings

---

Paychecks (Nursing)

---

Prescription Drug Indexes

---

Puzzles, Quizzes

---

Relocation Resources

---

Refresher Courses

---

Research (Nursing)

---

Resumes (Nursing)

---

Salaries (Nursing)

---

Scholarships (Nursing)

---

Schools of Nursing

---

Scrubs, Nursing Uniforms

---

Shoes (Nursing)

---

Shopping (Going) on the Internet

---

Shortage (Nursing)

---

State Nursing Boards

---

Student (Nursing)

---

Training (Nursing)

---

Traveling Nurses

---

Uniforms, Scrubs, Nursing

---

Unions (Nursing), Organized Labor, Healthcare Unions

---

Wages (Nursing)

---

Work At Home Opportunities

---

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137, Facebook/Skype/Twitter-nursefriendly
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4studentnurses.com
http://www.4travelnursing.com
http://www.lopez1.com
http://www.nursinga2z.com
http://www.nursingdiscussions.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com