HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cfaks@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Alice Sanders)
Subject: Re: Telephones and Doctors
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 23:46:52 GMT
Organization: Eastern Illinois University

In article <1992Jul26.202033.4656@ibmpcug.co.uk> george@ibmpcug.co.uk (Michael Veltman) writes:
>->>-On the other hand, if people assume all doctors are rich, then
>->>-doesn't telling people you are a doctor help you meet women?

In a previous posting by someone, I got credit for the above statement.  I
didn't say this.  This line of discussion has gotten a little confused.

ALice

>->
>->Only women with bad backs and period problems.
>->
>->Michael
>
I did say the following:
-
>-Michael, do you care to explain what you mean here?  It could sound like
>-you were putting women who have back problems and period problems into a
>-category of some kind.
>-
>-Alice
> 

>Yes, I suppose I am.  Telling people I'm a doctor helps me meet men, too.
>
>They usually have bad backs and prostate problems.
>
>Michael
>
>-- 
>Michael Veltman          |  george@ibmpcug.co.uk        | email direct, save                             |                              | some bandwidth
>
>"At a cardiac arrest, the first step is to take your own pulse"     Samuel Shem      - The House of GOD -
>

My reaction to the statement about women with  bad backs and period
problems is that it sounds like a stereotyping of women who have these
problems.  I can understand how saying you are a doctor makes you
accessible to people who might, out of poor taste, try to corner you to
discuss their ailments?  There  
was just a note of negative categorization there, even if it was 
not the way it was consciously intended.  I would feel the same way if I
were a man who had had prostate problems, like I was categorized as having
poor judgement or as being one of "those".        


I'm glad it wasn't meant the way it first sounded.

Thanks.

Alice

Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.drugs,pnw.general
From: alpinist@eskimo.celestial.com (David Butler)
Subject: Re: government still at large (was Re: FDA still at large)
Organization: =>ESKIMO NORTH (206) 367-3837 SEATTLE, WA.<=
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 08:11:05 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.123401.8792@linus.mitre.org> lewis@aera8700.mitre.org (Keith Lewis) writes:

>Nothing, except it makes working folks mistrust all homeless people.
>Is there anything wrong with me refusing to give them money?  How about
>letting them know what I think of them?

    Well, I'm probably just weird but my spiritual beliefs just tend to
go along the lines that if someone asks me for money that I am not to
judge how they are going to use it (I mean most pan handlers really do
look like they need some support).  If you feel no obligation to give to
them you don't have to.  (I certainly won't force you :)  But you seem
to be assuming right off that they will use it for alcohol.  But what
if you're wrong?  They way I see it, if someone is really in need and I
can easily meet that need, then if I ignore them then I am partially
responsible for their condition.  I usually give panhandlers a few coins.
But sheesh, even if I gave every panhandler who asked me a dollar that would
be maybe $5 or $10 a month.  Big Deal!

>>If I didn't have a home, a source of income, no friends or
>>family to take me in, and had to suffer the indignity of begging for a
>>living I sure would want to be as numbed to reality as possible.  Anyway
>>it's no worse of an escape than staring at a CRT all day.

>You seem to think that panhandlers have no other option.  That is wrong. 
>The average panhandler has more than enough physical and social skill to 
>work at a fast food restaurant.  He just finds it easier to beg.

 I think you could be rationalizing what the 'average' panhandler is
capable of as an excuse for indifference.  I do think that a lot of
panhandlers do not have any other option.  Yes there are those that are
merely trying to make an easy living, and those that just don't want to
be responsible (though I think both categories -particularly the latter -
are in the minority)  Different social and behavior skills come more or
less easily to different people.  Take obtaining romantic partners.  For
some people it comes without any effort, for others it takes years just to
find one person to go out with.  For others the job search goes similarly.
Some behaviors you take for granted because they require no more thought
than tying your shoes can be seemingly impossible stumbling blocks to
others.
   

-- 
****************************************************************************
* Dave                          *               The Alpinist               *
* alpinist@eskimo.celestial.com *            DARE to be stoopid!           *
****************************************************************************
From: fzjaffe@othello.ucdavis.edu (Rory Jaffe)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Questions for MDs
Date: 27 Jul 92 15:44:38 GMT
Organization: University of California, Davis

In article <1992Jul26.204051.15161@newstand.syr.edu> mdkline@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Mark D. Kline) writes:
>In article <Brz49F.GDt@wpg.com> russ@wpg.com (Russell Lawrence) writes:
>
>>If this problem [ growing malpractice awards ] 
>>is expanding in the US, as you say, it seems to 
>>me that it would be reflected in the statistical figures.  Have 
>>the payouts increased over the past thirty years or so?  
>> [..stuff deleted...]

I don't know about payouts, but premiums have ballooned. Assuming that
much of the premiums ends up going to lawyers and plaintiffs, I'd say
it's an easy call that payouts have increased.  The rate of increase
seems to have slowed recently (at least in anesthesiology).

>The problem is not the cost of liability insurance; the problem is that
>doctors are so worried about getting sued that they order more diagnostic
>procedures more often...such "defensive medicine" is how the malpractice
>crisis really drives up the cost of medical care.
> [...stuff deleted...]

We also have essentially stopped using one drug for adults (halothane)
because of this.  Severe halothane hepatitis probably has an incidence
of 1:100,000 adult anesthetics with halothane (give or take).  But
anyone who turns yellow after an operation can get the label tacked on
by someone, and then sues.  It's hard to explain to a jury that the
hemodynamic effects of halothane vs. isoflurane may cause you to prefer
the former in patients with coronary artery disease.  The risk-benefit
argument doesn't seem to go over well.  For comparison, the incidence of
fatal reaction to penicillin is also about 1:100,000.
From: Nigel.Allen@lambada.oit.unc.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Injury Victims from 11 States Will Participate in Rally
Date: 24 Jul 1992 02:50:13 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

press release from the Institute for Injury Reduction

Injury Victims from 11 States Will Participate in Rally for Rear 
Lap-Shoulder Belts 
 To: Assignment Desk 
 Contact: Cindy Raffles of the Institute for Injury Reduction, 
          301-249-0090 
 
   WASHINGTON, July 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Victims of lap-belt 
injuries from at least 12 states will be participating Friday, 
July 24, in a "Rally to Promote Rear Lap-Shoulder Belts" to 
be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel by three safety organizations. 
   Their goal: stopping up to 6,000 car-crash deaths and injuries 
a year by retrofitting all cars with rear lap-shoulder belts. 
   California, Arizona, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, 
North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Florida will be 
represented at the rally by people injured by lap-only belts, 
survivors and loved ones, or photos and injury information about 
those unable to attend. 
   The Rally to Promote Rear Lap-Shoulder Belts is being held to 
promote retrofitting of millions of existing cars with rear lap- 
shoulder belts -- a move which could eliminate or reduce up to 
6,000 deaths and injuries in car crashes every year, many of them 
involving children, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration Report to Congress.  Car companies and the 
government have said that consumers are unaware or uninterested in 
retrofit rear lap-shoulder belts. 
   Promotion of rear lap-shoulder belts got a boost earlier this 
month in California when the Senate Transportation Committee 
favorably reported legislation requiring consumer warning labels on 
all used cars sold without rear lap-shoulder belts.  Similar 
legislation passed the California Assembly last year. 
   The Rally to Promote Rear Lap-Shoulder Belts is being sponsored 
by the Institute for Injury Reduction, the National Rehabilitation 
Center, and VIGOR (Victims Groups Opposed to Unsafe Restraints). 
   On behalf of auto companies, the American Coalition for Traffic 
Safety has accepted an invitation to attend and present information 
about rear retrofit lap-shoulder belt systems. 
   For further information, contact Cindy Raffles at 301-249-0090. 
 -30- 

Newsgroups: sci.med
From: young@serum.kodak.com [Rich Young (x37176)]
Subject: Re: Red Hot Chili Peppers...(was: Colonic irrigations)
Originator: young@sasquatch
Reply-To: young@serum.kodak.com
Organization: Clinical Products Division, Eastman Kodak Company
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 16:03:09 GMT

>In article <2466@tau-ceti.isc-br.com> cecilw@access.isc-br.com (Cecil Williams) writes:
>>
>>While we're talking about worms here, I would like to throw out this
>>highly speculative theory of mine for comment...  Ever since my first
>>trip around Asia and my first taste of hot (HOT!!!) curried chicken,
>>I've had the idea that people in third world countries tend to eat
>>extremely spicy hot food because the hot spices would drive parasites
>>from the body (or kill them, or maybe just make them unhappy, and we all
>>know how difficult it is to procreate when you're unhappy...) People
>>who eat the hottest foods would therefore be the healthiest, and have
>>the greatest longevity...

	I'm not an anthropologist (and I don't play one....well, you know
	how it finishes), but I was under the impression that, by and large,
	the use of spices became popular to hide the spoilage of the food
	and the resulting off-tastes, in days when refrigeration was
	unavailable and sterilization of food was unknown.

	This principle works especially well with Thai chili peppers -- a few
	of those and you can't taste anything for a week.  And I've heard
	that no mayonnaise jar can remain resident in their "afterglow".

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Rich Young                             | Phone: (716) 253-7176
Eastman Kodak Company                  | FAX: (716) 253-7254
Clinical Products Division             | Internet: young@serum.kodak.com
100 Carlson Road                       |
Rochester, New York, USA   14653-9122  |
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>|<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
From: matz@drutx.ATT.COM (MatzAD)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Degree Of Risk For Liver Cirrhosis
Keywords: Desire Comprehension of Liver Cirrhosis
Date: 24 Jul 92 20:44:45 GMT
Distribution: sci
Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO

I have recently become more and more appreciative of good wine.

While I consider myself to be in excellent health at the present,
and I exercise very vigorously on a daily basis ( I have not
noticed any change in my ability to run steep mountain trails, etc.)
I am concerned that I may be doing my liver some serious harm by
drinking a bottle of wine in an evening 4 or 5 times a week.

Could someone please inform me regarding the degree of damage I
am incurring to my liver - especially over the long term ?

When an average person gets Cirrhosis of the Liver, how much
alcohol have they consumed, and over what length of time ?

Thanks for the advice.

Dave Matz
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Fenfluramine and Fluoxetine
Keywords: Fenfluramine and Fluoxetine
Date: 21 Jul 92 21:15:17 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Jul20.081118.3160@omen.UUCP> caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) writes:

>>You mean you stayed on the diet and you started gaining weight again?
>
>After losing about 140 pounds I reached a plateau where I was still
>quite obese, and could neither lose weight nor have enough energy
>for lunchtime swimming sessions.
>
Many years ago, when I was young and foolish, I tried the Adkins
diet.  I didn't loose nearly so much and after 3 weeks was
so fatigued I couldn't exercise.  I'm not sure why, but I think
the ketotic diet must exhaust muscle glycogen, so it doesn't go
well with exercise.  I never experienced fatigue on a 1500 cal
balanced diet.
>
>Davis, Bailey, Callaway, Atkins, they're all quacks, no?
>
I don't know Bailey or Callaway, but Davis and Atkins are.

>
>The point of the diet is to limit carbohydrates.  There was no
>"daily diet plan".  Within the limitation on carbohydrates, a
>wide latitude of foodstuffs was allowed.
>
Yes, but he actively encourages the consumption of fat.  Like
snacking on fried bacon rinds!  Ugh!

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 16:17:49 EDT
From: <DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: A Question/Proposal for "Health Care Consumers"
Distribution: usa
 <1992Jul15.181302.1@zodiac.rutgers.edu> <1992Jul17.190304.10063@highlite.uucp>
 <1992Jul21.135225.1@zodiac.rutgers.edu>

In article <1992Jul21.135225.1@zodiac.rutgers.edu>, morris@zodiac.rutgers.edu
says:

>Actually my specialty has been proven to be efficacious and to return far
>more money than it costs.  When trained health educators are used rather
>than persons untrained in health education, health education works -
>people live longer and have fewer sick days. Large companies such as
>Johnson & Johnson and AT&T have found that health education pays.
>Unfortunately their programs have to teach their employees what they
>should have learned as children in schooll.

This is rather a stretch.  Most objective evidence on the cost/benefit
and/or cost/effectiveness of many prevention or health education programs
do not indicate that they "return far more money than it costs".  I would
say that the jury is certainly still out on the cost/benefit and cost/eff.
of such programs, especially in worksite settings.


Dennis G. Shea, Penn State <<USUAL DISCLAIMER>>
"I believe that there is social and psychological justification
for significant inequalities of incomes and wealth....But it
is not necessary....that the game should be played for such
high stakes as at present."  John Maynard Keynes
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: rjc@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray)
Subject: Angiography
Organization: /etc/organization
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 22:27:37 GMT

   Last thurday my mother went to the hospital complaining of
chest pains and shortness of breath. A few hours later, she had
a small coronary heart attack(blood clot) at the hospital. She's doing
much better now(the hospital tried some new experimental clot-busting drug on
her and it worked very fast) but the doctor now wants to perform a heart
catheterization to find out which artery is narrowed.

  My question is, how dangerous is angiography? My mother is 50 years old,
has hypertension, and is overweight (190 lbs). Are the risks worth it?
What can be done about narrow arteries? The only solutions I know of are
angioplasty and coronary bypass.  Is angioplasty successful in preventing
future heart attacks?  Is there any other treatmeant for widening 
arteries? My mother, and my family, are pretty scared of a coronary
bypass.

  The doctor says that the damage done to her heart is small (she
was lucky she had the coronary in the hospital) but his description
of the risks involved with catheterization (stroke, heart attack, perforation)
made it sound dangerous. Can anyone in this group give me any advice?
What is the success rate of angiography/plasty? Do the risks go up
the older the patient? Should it be done this soon after her heart attack, or
should it be put off? 

  Thanks in advance.






Newsgroups: sci.med
From: stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Glenn Stone)
Subject: Re: Red Hot Chili Peppers...(was: Colonic irrigations)
Reply-To: stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Glenn Stone)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 20:40:39 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.160309.2789@pixel.kodak.com> young@serum.kodak.com writes:

>	I'm not an anthropologist (and I don't play one....well, you know

...

>	This principle works especially well with Thai chili peppers -- a few
>	of those and you can't taste anything for a week.  And I've heard
>	that no mayonnaise jar can remain resident in their "afterglow".

I am an anthropologist.  We learn all about chile peppers and
mayonnaise in graduate school.  The technical term for the afterglow
of which you speak is The Ring of Fire.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Glenn Davis Stone                                BITNET: stone@cunixf
  Columbia University            INTERNET: stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: drand@spinner.osf.org (Douglas Rand)
Subject: Hismanal problems reported
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Distribution: sci
Date: 21 Jul 92 14:34:51


<< Usual disclaimers about my being an engineer and not a doctor. >>

In the Boston Globe this morning, there was an article on dangers to
people taking the antihistamine Hismanal (sp?).  Apparently,  
overdosage of it,  on the order of 2 or 3 times the normal daily dose,
can lead to heart arhythmeas and cardiac arrest.  The article went
on to advise that people who've fainted on Hismanal should go talk
with their doctor.  

The whole tenor of the article was very much like the warnings on
Seldane.  Although they didn't mention other drug interactions,  they
did comment that liver metabolism affected the blood level of the
drug.  

Total number of problems was around 40.


--
Douglas S. Rand <drand@osf.org>		OSF/Motif Dev.
Snail:         11 Cambridge Center,  Cambridge,  MA  02142
Disclaimer:    I don't know if OSF agrees with me... let's vote on it.
Amateur Radio: KC1KJ
From: hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Questions for MDs
Date: 26 Jul 92 19:56:35 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department

In article <1992Jul25.184059.3733@ibmpcug.co.uk> george@ibmpcug.co.uk (Michael Veltman) writes:
>In article <54906@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>>Ours is the only nation which affords the patient any real redress
>>for even gross incompetence.  The laws should be changed, but only
>>to protect from misrepresentation or real incompetence.  But 
>>misrepresentation should include withholding of information, or
>>claiming the ability to do something, which may be licensed, but
>>where the ability is not there.


>Dear Herman.

>I can assure you that most first world nations offer patients 
>redress from gross incompetence.  In fact, most first world
>nations offer redress from even moderate incompetence.

We did have a post from Canada which stated that no redress was
possible.  I would have certainly considered that a case of
a very common type of incompetence, namely, the inability to
accept ignorance and call for help.  This one is not generally
addressed.

>The expanding problem in the US and other places is the ability
>to sue for minor or less incompetences, where nobody dies and
>where even there is no major ongoing suffering, and still
>provide large payouts.

In the case cited above, this was not the situation.  I do not
recall if death resulted, but certainly major suffering.

>I understand that this is partly because of the private nature
>of the medical care there, whereas in other areas of the world
>if there are minor problems with care they can be fixed up 
>free and without charge, even to people too poor or too poorly
>educated to seek redress.

BUT WHAT IF YOU CANNOT FIND ANYONE TO LISTEN TO THE PROBLEM?  That
is exactly what the system in this country is heading toward.

The failure of MDs to look beyond the immediate, to rush for help
either in books or from colleagues when they do not know what to
do even to correct immediate symptoms which are correctible, and
the fee-setting, which essentially assumes that all doctors of a
given type of practice are essentially equally competent, ARE the
problems.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!pop.stat!hrubin(UUCP)
Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.drugs,pnw.general
From: eepee@polaris.utu.fi (Esa-Pekka P{lvim{ki)
Subject: Re: FDA still at large
Organization: University of Turku, Finland
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 08:37:19 GMT

In article <1992Jul27.150817.15333@fylz.wa.com> fyl@fylz.wa.com (Phil Hughes) writes:
>your choice.  But having a heart bypass operation every 5 years
>doesn't, to me, seem like as good a method of dealing with my body as
>eating a low-fat diet. 

...which won't keep you out of the OR anyway. Even if it did, what do you 
want the doctors to do? Tell a patient who needs a bypass to go back in
time and start a low-fat diet?

/ep
Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.drugs,pnw.general
From: eris@tc.fluke.COM (Chris Beckmeyer)
Subject: Re: government still at large (was Re: FDA still at large)
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 18:31:30 GMT

In all this discussion be reminded that not all homeless people are panhandlers
and vice-versa.

chris
From: km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Xanax
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:07:37 GMT
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Pittsburgh

In article <6919.2a64667a@dcatla.uucp> cuegf@dcatla.uucp writes:

>Most Psychiatrists with good
>backgrounds in psychopharmocology and its treatment know that a
>drug should be given as long as it continues to be effective in 

I beg to differ with you. Most psychiatrists that I know are
almost religiously opposed to the chronic administration of
benzodiazepines, whether Xanax, Valium, or whatever. There are
many reasons for this, some quasi-political in terms of attitudes
towards "abuse" patients, and some strictly medical, based on the
subtle cognitive deficits that patients, particularly the elderly,
develop on these drugs. Suffice it to say that they continually
criticize my prescribing of benzodiazepines (I am an internist).
I agree that chronic benzodiazepene use is necessary for some
patients, and I don't stigmatize it, but you should not minimize
the controversial nature of benzodiazepines as opposed to other
classes of psychoactive drugs.


>relieving symptoms, especially distressing ones.  
>Let's stop viewing psychiatric illnesses as signs of weakness and
>regard them for what they really are: diseases of the body, 
>specifically the brain, and that when they require drug treatment
>they are not signs of weakness, just like insulin or an anti-
>hypertensive agent is not a sign of weakness, but of intelligence.

I don't think you know Dr. Banks very well. He is a quite enlightened
neurologist. His comments about Xanax were specific to Xanax, not
to all benzodiazepines or to psychiatric medications in general.
Your comments are more appropriately directed to others, not
to Dr. Banks, who uses medications quite appropriately and has
no intention of blaming psychiatric illness on weakness, voodo,
or bad juju.

 -km


Newsgroups: sci.med