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Mennonite
scam MD jailed
TORONTO —
Disgraced Ontario FP Dr Ravi Devgan was sentenced earlier
this month to three years in prison and ordered to pay
back the $7,557 he charged a Mennonite couple for sham
treatments he gave their cerebral palsy-afflicted 12-year-old
twins. Dr Devgan didn't tell his patients he lost his
medical licence in 2004 for similar offences committed
against cancer patients. "Clearly, he is incorrigible
and has a total lack of respect for the governing body
of the medical profession," said judge Carolyn Horkins.
Hospitals
serve deadly dessert
ATLANTA —
A 2006 outbreak of a rare form of Salmonella
in Ontario and 10 US states has been linked to fruit
salad served at healthcare facilities, according to
a joint US-Canadian report in the October 5 edition
of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Investigators identified honeydew and pineapple as prime
suspects but haven't ruled out the involvement of cantaloupe.
Appendix
not useless: docs
DURHAM, NC —
Though it's certainly possible to live a healthy life
without it, the appendix does indeed have a function,
Duke University researchers have discovered. It's a
part of the immune system, acting as a 'safe house'
for friendly bacteria. The appendix gives good bacteria
a place to wait out a case of diarrhea before repopulating
the gut, but modern medicine and sanitation have made
that function superfluous.
OK
to drink a little during pregnancy: UK experts
LONDON —
Women don't have to abstain from alcohol entirely during
pregnancy, say new draft recommendations from the UK
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
They found no evidence that having up to one drink per
day was harmful after the first trimester. Toronto's
Motherisk director Dr Gideon Koren called the idea "scary."
"It neglects, or just ignores, a huge body of evidence
that does show mild drinking does cause issues."
"Vampire"
jailed for blood binge
HONG KONG —
Twenty-eight-year-old Hong Kong resident Li Man-yiu
stumbled into a hospital in September to have his toe
looked at. Although he'd already had two cans of beer
and three bottles of rice wine, he was still feeling
thirsty after he saw a doctor, so he grabbed a quick
drink. Only after he swallowed the contents of the second
vial of blood did he realize what he'd done. He was
arrested the next day and in mid-October he was sentenced
to two months in jail for theft.
Broken
hearts hurt — literally
LONDON —
Heartbreak is no metaphor, British researchers found.
People in unhappy relationships were 25% more likely
to suffer from coronary heart disease over a 12-year
period, said the study, published in the Archives
of Internal Medicine on October 8. "If you have
good people around, it is good for your health," study
author and epidemiologist Roberto de Vogli told Reuters.
"If you have negative people around, it is much worse
for your health."
Canada
oks new HIV drug
OTTAWA —
Health Canada has approved the first new oral HIV drug
in 10 years. Maraviroc, the first drug to be approved
out of a new class called CCR5 antagonists, blocks HIV
from infecting the immune system. Fast-tracked for review
by Health Canada earlier this year, it is to be used
only for patients who are resistant to first-line antiretrovirals.
Another new HIV drug, an integrase inhibitor called
raltegravir, was recently approved in the US.
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