Health and Disability

This is why Auto No-fault was created-to stop the 5 year delay in rehab after an auto accident.

http://goo.gl/DrZ9fP

Moreover, the Gothenburg studies show that men who suffer a severe traumatic brain injury have a five times higher risk of dying 10 years after the injury; for women, the risk is eight times higher. These results confirm a recent study from Karolinska Institutet.

The increased risk can be attributed to illnesses and disabilities lingering on for several years after the injury.

'The participants reported lasting disability, and low quality of life, with a complex range of physical, cognitive, behavioral and emotional disturbance'.

http://goo.gl/BaJe2M 

http://goo.gl/KvbWXG

Not only did students rise to this challenge, the number and quality of entries exceeded expectations: Stanford received submissions from 52 teams in 15 countries. Five finalists were from colleges in America, one was studying in Denmark and one in Singapore.

“Cognitive impairment affects people in such a personal way, the challenge brought out a lot of creativity,” says Ken Smith, Director of Mobility at the Stanford Center on Longevity.

http://goo.gl/4XiLBN

African-American men incurred $341.8 billion in excess medical costs due to health inequalities between 2006 and 2009, and Hispanic men incurred an additional $115 billion over the four-year period, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, published this week in the International Journal of Men's Health, looks at the direct and indirect costs associated with health inequalities and projects the potential cost savings of eliminating these disparities for minority men in the U.S.

http://goo.gl/ctfgtS

[Maureen] Glynn [described as “the lawyer who co-chairs the coalition that pushed for the law”] said there was no major opposition to the MOLST law when it came up in Rhode Island. But in Connecticut, a similar proposal failed after a disability-rights group objected. Two members of that group, Second Thoughts Connecticut, shared their concerns with me via email.

Some people with disabilities fear that MOLST laws, already in place in several states, could result in denial of life-saving treatment to those who want it. Although MOLST is supposed to be voluntary, these activists say some nursing homes have presented it as mandatory. And when emergency personnel see that pink sheet tacked to the wall, will they read all its details or will they assume it means “do not resuscitate”?

Cathy Ludlum, of Second Thoughts Connecticut, says that “many people with severe disabilities feel personally threatened” by the law’s definition of “terminal illness” as “an incurable or irreversible condition that, without the administration of life-sustaining procedures, will, in the opinion of the attending physician, result in death.”

“By definition,” Ludlum said, “we have incurable and irreversible conditions, and many of us use life sustaining procedures every day of our (hopefully long) lives.”

As good a summary of the specifics as I have run across.....

http://goo.gl/QxUBvW

On December 30, 2013, Michigan obtained approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to amend its § 1115 demonstration waiver, “Healthy Michigan”, to implement the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. Beginning April 1, 2014, the waiver and associated state plan amendments will provide Medicaid coverage to all adults in Michigan with incomes up to and including 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (about $32,500 for a family of four in 2013) — an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 adults.1  More specifically, when implemented on April 1, 2014, the Michigan waiver will:

http://goo.gl/pBS0zV

New research ^[1] published in the American Journal of Geriatrics shows that over 25% of bladder infections (cystitis) can be reduced with the regular use of cranberry concentrate supplements in vulnerable older people in nursing homes at high risk of urinary tract infections. Over 20% of these high-risk elderly did not develop any UTI's at all when taking the cranberry capsule. The Public Health and Primary Care (PHEG) department of the Leiden University Medical Center conducted the one-year study in 21 Dutch nursing homes in cooperation with the supplier of cranberry concentrate Springfield Nutraceuticals.

http://goo.gl/7QdxUM

The threat of anaphylaxis has been the hardest part of it all. It can happen slowly or suddenly, whether I'm watching a movie or on a road trip, surrounded by miles of brown nothingness. It's a frightening pressure unlike anything I've ever experienced—if my trachea were a keyboard, this would be a fortississimo.

Every morning there are new hives, different things swollen. Perpetually tumescent, I've become a living blow-up doll. There has also been so much wasted time, where short drives have taken hours because I'd think I was asphyxiating, or when my computer has sat untouched for days. I once spent an afternoon taking small sips of water to make sure I could still swallow during one of my episodes, refilling the glass and drinking until it was time for my next dose of steroids. It was only when the sun set that I realized three hours had passed....

It’s this small group of people online, hailing from right here in Los Angeles to as far as England, South Africa, Nigeria, and beyond, who've been able to help me cope with the anvils that angioedema throws at you. People I’ll likely never meet.

Besides support, I've gained valuable treatment insights from them, too. The nature of this condition—that it’s idiopathic—means that doctors really don’t know how to treat it or what causes it.

But my fellow sufferers have taught me that I do have some control over this. I learned about natural remedies like nettle tea and quercetin, a bioflavonoid derived from fruits. I learned about foods that were high in histamine and salicylates and read the latest peer-reviewed articles about angioedema they shared. I learned about how simply hydrating could lessen the swelling and hives. How Reiki and acupuncture could help with the panic attacks that were now accompanying my bouts of throat swelling. How it was possible to manage this disease on antihistamines alone, as opposed to the heavy steroids I was taking.

In states that suspend or terminate Medicaid eligibility, all medical costs seem to be paid for by state tax dollars, with no Federal match. This is part of the 30-60 thousand a year it costs to keep someone in prison.

http://goo.gl/OU6kQk

"This study is unique because of the timing with the expansion of Medicaid. We know that an increasing number of prison systems, although far from all, are helping prisoners enroll in Medicaid in preparation for their return to the community," explained Rich. "Enrollment improves access to basic health services, including substance use and mental health services, and can in turn benefit the health of the communities and families to which prisoners return. There is a possibility that there will be decreased recidivism as people get treatment for their mental illness and addiction."

"The difficult reality is that terminating Medicaid during incarceration, which is what is occurring in the majority of prison systems today, can be harmful to this population, as well as costly to the general public," Rich said. "Instead, we should be moving toward using this period of incarceration as an opportunity to reduce expensive post incarceration emergency room and inpatient hospital care."

http://wellcomeimages.org/ 

Thousands of years of visual culture made free through Wellcome Images 20 January 2014