Monday, August 24, 2009

Black Medical News: Dr. Elaina George statement on the Michael Jackson Death

For Immediate Release

Please Contact S Prewitt for Interviews at (901) 413-0203 or email information@yourblackpublicity.com.

Prominent Black Physician Says Michael Jackson’s Doctor’s Actions were Inexcusable

Dr. Elaina George, an Otolaryngologist out of Atlanta, says that the doctor alleged to have killed Michael Jackson was not only unethical, but incredibly irresponsible in his choice of medications. Dr. Conrad Murray is subject to investigation after Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide in initial autopsy reports. But while many believe that Jackson’s death was an accidental occurrence, Dr. George states that the combination of drugs given to Jackson was almost likely to kill him.

“There was no way that harm would not have come to Mr. Jackson,” says Dr. George, who advocates for doctors on a regular basis. “It was beyond negligent to give him a mixture of three different kinds of sedatives, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant in addition to Propofol, a general anesthetic that is only used in an operating room setting (because it can stop someone’s breathing). Each of these drugs by themselves can be lethal, but together it is a recipe that will almost definitely kill someone.”

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Black News: Dr. Elaina George Speaks on Insurance Companies

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image Dr. Elaina George, YourBlackWorld.com 

For Americans, receiving heath care is like going to a casino, but here the typical rules don’t apply. In the healthcare casino, the medical insurance industry, Big Pharmaceutical Companies and hospitals make the rules to insure that the house wins every time. Over the years they have increased your stakes by increasing premiums, drug costs and hospital costs, while raking in windfall profits. The medical insurance industry has grown larger and more powerful by systematically fleecing patients and doctors. To hide the fact that they are playing with people’s health; they have been masters of distraction. The ever changing rules for patients and doctors have made it impossible to learn what you need to know. Moreover, it has placed doctors, who are the face of medicine, in a position where the patient has begun to question their motives. This has eroded the doctor patient relationship and has damaged the foundation of excellent medical care.

Over the next several weeks, we will examine how the game has been rigged so that you can finally understand the rules. Each week we will expose what you need to know to take back your power and put the odds back in your favor so you can win! This week we will examine the medical insurance industry.

Basic facts about the medical insurance industry:

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Dr. Elaina George Analyzes the Healthcare Debate

 

by Dr. Elaina George

The debate on healthcare reform is in full swing, but no one is paying attention to the long term effects.

I am for universal healthcare in theory. As a physician, I believe that it is a fundamental right. Unfortunately, the way the debate and pending legislation has been crafted, the outcome will result in unintended consequences.

As a physician in solo practice, I am in a unique position to see the outcome if we continue on the path that Congress is proposing in HR 3200.

  1. A single payer system that pays the same rate as Medicare or as the bill stipulates (5% above Medicare) will lead to LESS choice. People are overlooking the fact that most private physicians are currently NOT accepting new Medicare patients because they can’t afford to do so and stay open. There will be no reason for this to change if the reimbursement scale is adopted.

Unintended consequence: The network of private physicians would be smaller and more patients will be placed in a system of fewer physicians, less choice and longer waiting times to be seen. This would have the opposite effect – what is the point of universal healthcare if you don’t have quality physicians to provide it?

2. The proposed healthcare bill sets up a bureaucracy run by a National health insurance commissioner and sets up an insurance “self regulatory agency” – made up of national insurers, national agencies, and insurance producers. There are no physicians or patient advocates.

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Dr Boyce Watkins and Rev. Al Talk about Healthcare Reform

Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse university will be appearing with Rev. Al Sharpton on “Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton” from 2 – 3 pm EST on Tuesday 8/18/09.  They will discuss Obama’s educational plans, Michael Vick and Healthcare reform.   Dr. watkins and Rev. Sharpton have appeared together on several other shows, including “Keep Hope Alive with Rev. Jesse Jackson”, “The Wendy Williams Experience”, “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” and more.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Black Women’s Health Conference Planned by BET

BET Foundation officials believe if anyone has the power to help family members get healthier, it's the woman in the house.

That's why the organization is bringing the BET Foundation Women's Health Symposium, Remembering Our Health, to Detroit for the first time Saturday.

"Our women's health symposium was designed to educate African-American women on how to better care for themselves because we've realized when it comes to health disparities, the leading person that can influence health disparities is the African-American female," says Debra Kilpatrick, director of women's health programs for the Washington, D.C.-based BET Foundation Inc.

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The event, which is free but requires registration, runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Wayne State University Community Arts Auditorium and Student Center. It features Grammy-winning gospel great Vickie Winans as emcee and a special performance by R&B songstress Deborah Cox during the 3 p.m. plenary session.

 

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Black Women Finding Husbands

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By Brian Alexander

msnbc.com contributor

updated 8:31 a.m. ET, Thurs., Aug 13, 2009

Brian Alexander

Michelle Obama may have become an archetypal African-American female success story — law career, strong marriage, happy children — but the reality is often very different for other highly educated black women.

They face a series of challenges in navigating education, career, marriage and child-bearing, dilemmas that often leave them single and childless even when they’d prefer marriage and family, according to a research study recently presented at the American Sociological Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

Yale researchers Natalie Nitsche and Hannah Brueckner argued that “marriage chances for highly educated black women have declined over time relative to white women.” Women of both races with postgraduate educations “face particularly hard choices between career and motherhood,” they said, “but especially in the absence of a reliable partner.”

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Monday, August 10, 2009

Healthcare Reform: Are We Being Cheated?

by Dr. Elaina George MD, Medical Correspondent, YourBlackWorld.com

 

When I read that the president had met with CEOs and other top representatives of the largest health insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies before healthcare reform was crafted by Congress, I had my doubts about the direction of health care reform confirmed.

I already had reservations about whether we would get true reform when the very members of Congress who were tasked to lead the crafting of the bill had received hundreds of thousand of dollars from the very entities that were the major cause of the problem – the health insurance industry, big PhRMA, and for profit hospitals.

No wonder we have been seeing commercials sponsored by big PhRMA in support of the current health reform bill. It appears it is quid pro quo for the administration’s deal to cap their concessions at 80 billion dollars over 10 years. NY Times Article

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Saturday, August 8, 2009

Black News: Obama’s Kids Get Attacked in Ads

On posters appearing around Washington D.C.'s Union Station, a smiling 8-year-old vegetarian from a Florida public school asks the question: "President Obama's daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don't I?"
It's part of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's campaign to extend school lunch legislation that would allow for more fruits and vegetables in school lunches. I'd say the ad is successful in that it's garnered some publicity.
But I'm guessing that the ad's creators are misguided if they think their legislation will win any special attention from the president now that they've singled out the first daughters as a gimmick. After all, I'm sure that every federal legislator's kid has the opportunity to have a healthy lunch, particularly those in private schools. ...

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Friday, August 7, 2009

Sherri Shepherd Shows off Her Swimsuit Body

Sherri_Shepherd

Sherri Shehperd showed off her new body yesterday on The View.  Overall, she lost ten inches over a period of several months.  CONGRATS to her!!!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wilmer Leon Discusses the Health Care Crisis

 

Wilmer Leon

In this interview Wilmer Leon speaks with Dr. Brenda Griton-Mitchell and Anastassia Zinke about the health care issue in the United States.  They discuss the problems with the health care system and what can be done to improve it.  Click the above image to hear the interview.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Health Benefits Of Sex

 

If you thought that making love was just a gesture of love or for pleasure, think again. Sex has much more to it than most of us think and know. Did you know that sex is a form of physical exercise? Sex three times a week burns lots of calories, and if maintained throughout the year, is equivalent to jogging 75 miles. To make it simpler, a vigorous bout burns around 200 calories, about the same as running 15 minutes on a treadmill.

 

Regular sex is regular exercise and has similar benefits, including improved cholesterol levels and increased circulation Apart from giving you a good work out, sex once or twice a week improves the immune system as well.
Research has shown that an active sex life helps us live longer. Organs and systems in the body perform better and remain healthy because sex increases the supply of oxygen to the cells and stimulates the activity of various organs and systems within the body. People with complaints of cholesterol, take heart! You have a good medicine, which you would not refuse. Where sex balances out the good cholesterol to bad cholesterol ratio, it also simultaneously reduces the overall cholesterol count in the body. So there you go, you can now control your bad cholesterol with pleasure. By having sex three or more times a week, men reduce their risk of heart attack or stroke by half.

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New HIV Strain Found In Cameroon Woman

WASHINGTON – A new strain of the virus that causes AIDS has been discovered in a woman from the African nation of Cameroon. It differs from the three known strains of human immunodeficiency virus and appears to be closely related to a form of simian virus recently discovered in wild gorillas, researchers report in Monday's edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

The finding "highlights the continuing need to watch closely for the emergence for new HIV variants, particularly in western central Africa," said the researchers, led by Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen, France.

 

The three previously known HIV strains are related to the simian virus that occurs in chimpanzees.

The most likely explanation for the new find is gorilla-to-human transmission, Plantier's team said. But they added they cannot rule out the possibility that the new strain started in chimpanzees and moved into gorillas and then humans, or moved directly from chimpanzees to both gorillas and humans.

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Monday, August 3, 2009

Mandela Launches Children's Hospital

 

JOHANNESBURG — Former President Nelson Mandela launched the fifth specialist children's hospital in Africa Friday, saying it was badly needed on a continent where millions who do not live to see their fifth birthday.

Mandela, who turned 91 on July 18, waved and greeted guests but no longer delivers speeches in public.

He said in a video message that African children deserve world-class treatment and the chance at a better future.

"This is not a luxury but a vital necessity that can no longer be delayed," he said.

The Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital will have a minimum of 200 beds and will house centers for the treatment of cancer, heart, liver, kidney and other ailments. Construction of the rands 1 billion (about $800 million) hospital will begin in late 2010 and is expected to be completed in 18 months.

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Saturday, August 1, 2009

Search Warrant Looking for Signs of Drug Addiction in Michael Jackson Case

Dr. Conrad Murray was with Michael Jackson on the day that he died.

Search warrants filed Thursday in court in Clark County, Nevada, and carried out at properties of Michael Jackson's doctor imply that investigators looking into his death believe the singer was a drug addict.

The warrants, signed by District Judge Timothy Williams and given to CNN by Las Vegas affiliate KTNV, say "there is probable cause to believe" that searches would uncover evidence at the Las Vegas home and office of Dr. Conrad Murray of excessive prescribing, prescribing to an addict, excess treatment or prescribing, unprofessional conduct, prescribing to or treating an addict and manslaughter.

They cite "probable cause to believe" that the premises contained "records, shipping orders, distribution lists, use records relating to the purchase, transfer ordering, delivery and storage of propofol (Diprivan)."

A source told CNN on Monday that the Texas-based cardiologist allegedly gave Jackson the anesthetic propofol -- commonly known by the brand name Diprivan -- in the 24 hours before he died.

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