Ten Good Reasons To Avoid Vaccination

Here are the 10 biggest vaccine news stories of 2011, reported on NaturalNews.com:

#1 - Japanese children die from vaccines

Yet more evidence emerges of the deadly side effects of vaccines:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=13073863#.Tv_STs0sZCM

#2 - U.S. government recruits churches to push flu shots on congregation members

Take that flu shot, or you'll go to Hell! That's the new message the U.S. government is trying to pound into the heads of church pastors and priests:
http://www.naturalnews.com/034394_c...

#3 - Top CDC vaccine scientist indicted for fraud

You probably never read this story elsewhere, but one of the CDC's top researchers was indicted for allegedly stealing vaccine research money and using it to buy fancy vehicles and a luxury home:
http://theintelhub.com/2011/04/23/top-government-vaccine-researcher-indicted-for-fraud-austism-research-now-in-question/

#4 - IOM admits MMR vaccines cause seizures and measles

In a groundbreaking report, the Institute of Medicine openly admitted that vaccines actually cause the very measles they claim to prevent. The mainstream media, of course, misreported this research and utterly failed to cover the real story.
http://www.amazon.com/forum/health?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1EO24KZG65FCB&cdThread=Tx39V59MGHXXRX9

#5 - CDC openly admits flu vaccines don't work

Here's news you don't see every day: The CDC openly admits that vaccine flu shots "wear off," meaning they simply do not work in the way vaccine-pushing immunologists told us they did.


#6 - Merck vaccine scientist Dr. Maurice Hilleman admits vaccines contain cancer-causing viruses

The actual admission happened decades ago, but news of it only went viral in 2011 as alternative news websites like NaturalNews publicized the once-secret audio recordings revealing shocking admissions by Dr. Maurice Hilleman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaokq8v9JPI

#7 - HPV vaccines found contaminated with HPV!

Pretty clever, huh? Just lace the HPV vaccines with the DNA of HPV itself, and you can spread the disease to create more fear that sells more vaccines!
http://sanevax.org/gardasil-hpv-vaccines-found-contaminated-with-recombinant-hpv-dna/

#8 - Swine flu vaccine admittedly causes neurological disorders

2011 was the year that the nation of Finland openly admitted on the record that swine flu vaccines "conclusively" cause neurological disorders. It then offered to pay the lifetime medical costs of those damaged by such vaccines.

Remember, the USA continues to absurdly claim that vaccines cause NO damage (not to anyone) and are perfectly safe for infants, children and even pregnant women!

#9 - Science says flu vaccines only work on 1 out of 100

Now, even the scientists can't argue with their own science, can they? Rigorous studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals reveal that flu vaccines hardly work at all and are wasted on 98.5 out of 100 people who take them.

#10 - Hallmark caught distributing flu shot compliance cards to new moms

Yes, even the Hallmark card company is now pushing vaccines. Plotting alongside state agencies in Florida, Colorado and elsewhere, the company pushes out cutesy flu shot "compliance" cards that urge new moms to have their newborn babies injected with dozens of combination vaccines, complete with mercury and chemical adjuvants that cause neurological disorders.

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Beshear says no to hospital merger

Gov. Steve Beshear has said no to the much-discussed merger between three major Kentucky health systems, which, because it required his blessing, puts an end to the proposal.

"After exhaustive discussions and research, I have determined that this proposed transaction is not in the best interest of the commonwealth and therefore should not move forward," he said. "In my opinion, the risks to the public outweigh the potential benefits."

The merger would have been between University of Louisville's University Hospital, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare and Saint Joseph Health System, owned by Catholic Health Initiatives. Because Saint Joseph would have had majority control in the deal, the other facilities would have had to adhere to Catholic health directives, which affect procedures such as elective abortions, sterilizations, artificial insemination and euthanasia. (C-J photo by John Rott)

"That raised concerns among many community members and leaders, who also worried about the possibility of more limitations in the future if Catholic directives change," reports Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal.

Beshear said the merger would result in considerable legal and policy concerns. "However, most troubling to me is the loss of control of a public asset," he said. "University Hospital is a public asset with an important public mission, and if this merger were allowed to happen, U of L and the public would have only indirect and minority influence over the new statewide network's affairs and its use of state assets."

Attorney General Jack Conway applauded Beshear's call. "I believe he ultimately made the appropriate decision on behalf of the commonwealth's interests," he said.

Hospital officials expressed disappointment, saying the "greatest beneficiaries of the proposed merger" would have been the patients of the commonwealth.

Beshear acknowledged the changing face of health care landscape does present new problems, but added he is committed to helping University and Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare reach "our shared goals of providing quality care, especially to our poorest and most vulnerable citizens, as well as finding ways to ensure both facilities remain on strong financial footing," he said. (Read more)

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New year resolution

From the 1st January 2012 I intend to make the following New year resolution's. This is in line with my natural healthy ideas to improve my lifestyle. I need to walk briskly every day for at least 30 minutes, just enough to start a sweat. My diet will not include any fried food like chips. I will try to eat more veg and fruit.. I will find more time to relax and de-stress. I will say daily my affirmations. I wonder if I will be able to keep up this natural way to improve my lifestyle until the 2nd January 2012.
What are your healthy ideas for next year? Have you got a New years resolution?, and if so, what will you do to improve your lifestyle.?.

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Dr Young Loves Apples!

I love apples. I love their crunch. I love their texture. I love their sweet taste. And, I love apples because they are a whole raw organic food. My Mother put an apple in my lunch sack for school. I have only fond memories of apples.

What I do not love about apples is they cause the blood to hypercoagulate or stick together causing oxygen deprivation and circulation problems to the extremeties. The sugars in apples are in excess of their alkalizing minerals causing blood and tissue acidosis contributing to all sickness and disease. The sugars in apples will cause paralysis of the white blood cells for over five hours. The sugars in apples will cause a depressed person to become more depressed. An anemic person to become more anemic. A fat person to gain more weight. A thin person to lose more weight. A cancerous person to become more cancerous. A person with osteoarthritis or porosis to experience more pain and to lose more calcium ions into the blood to maintain the delicate alkaline pH of the blood plasma and other body fluids.

I rarely eat apples and only if I am seriously hungry and when there is nothing else to eat that is raw or natural.

All of my patients are taken off all sweet fruit, including apples.

Apples do not build stem cells and therfore do not build blood or tissues.

The old adage, 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' is a scientific myth. An apple a day keeps the doctor in buisness.

I am sure you are thinking that my statements are extreme. But I disagree! Cancer is extreme! Osteoporosis is extreme! Immune deficiencies are extremes! Diabetes is extreme!

All sugars are metabolic waste products! They are the exhaust from energy consumption. The body runs on electrons NOT sugar. The brain runs on electrons NOT sugar. It does not matter the source of sugar - all sugars are toxic just like cocaine is toxic. They both will make you high and they both will cause paralysis, sickness, disease and premature death.

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Herald-Leader endorses Sen. Higdon's pill-mill legislation

A pre-filed bill that would require background checks for people planning to open pain clinics, prohibit convicted felons from running them, and require that a physician in such a clinic own part of it, is a step in the right direction in fighting against pill mills, the Lexington Herald-Leader says in an editorial.

The bill has been pre-filed by Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, right. "There are things that can, and should be done legislatively in the short-term to make it harder for pill pushers to stay in business in Kentucky and, therefore, limit access to prescription pain pills for people who aren't in medical need of them," the editorial says, referring to a recent survey showing nearly a third of Kentucky adults know a friend or family member who have abused pain medicine. In Eastern Kentucky, 43.2 percent of respondents said "yes" when asked the question. in the Lexington area, it was 39.4 percent. Western Kentucky had the lowest number at 19.7 percent.

"Surprised? Perhaps not," the editorial reads. "Alarmed? Absolutely." (Read more)

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New Pure Hydrocodone Pain Killer Drug Being Developed Talking to the FDA About Application-Targeting 2013 For US Market

This is kind of scary as to where we are going with pain killers.  One good thing though is that there are many new devices on the market coming out that distribute pain killer right to the affected area for recovery from surgery, wounds and so on and I would take that in a heartbeat versus taking pain killers.  I have had surgeries to where for a few days where I took Vicodin and I know what it does after a couple of days and that’s about all I am good for as I prefer being alert. 

The case being made here is less liver damage from the acetaminophen found in combination drugs, like Vicodin, but it also puts the drug in a stronger controlled group with regards to refills, etc.  Again myself I couldn’t imagine anything stronger as the combination drug was enough for me for a couple or three days.  This is of course abused drug in the US.  In 2007 the Purdue drug company pleaded guilty to their claims that the drug was not addictive.  The company also makes patches that release opioid controlled substances as well and was approved by the FDA in 2010. 

Purdue Pharma Receives FDA Approval for Butrans™ Transdermal System For Severe Pain Management.

Some of the drugs get recalled too, like this example below. 

FDA Recall: Vicodin (Hydrocodone Bitartrate) in Phenobarbital Bottles Qualitest Pharma-Incorrect Package Labeling

Earlier this year the FDA approved cough and cold medicine to contain hydrocodone so it looks like it’s going to be around for a while and I guess we shall wait and see fi the pure stuff makes it to the market.  BD 

FDA Approves NDA for Two Hydrocodone Cough and Cold Medications From Cypress Pharmaceuticals

NEW YORK -- Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of the nation's second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.

The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them – Zogenix of San Diego – plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.

If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.

Oxycodone is now the most-abused medicine in the United States, with hydrocodone second, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual count of drug seizures sent to police drug labs for analysis.

The latest drug tests come as more pharmaceutical companies are getting into the $10 billion-a-year legal market for powerful – and addictive – opiate narcotics.

Zogenix has completed three rounds of patient testing, and last week it announced it had held a final meeting with Food and Drug Administration officials to talk about its upcoming drug application. It plans to file the application in early 2012 and have Zohydro on the market by early 2013.

Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. The withdrawal symptoms are also intense, with users complaining of cramps, diarrhea, muddled thinking, nausea and vomiting.

Purdue Pharma and Cephalon, a Frazer, Pa.-based unit of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, are conducting late-stage trials of their own hydrocodone drugs, according to documents filed with federal regulators. In May, Purdue Pharma received a patent applying extended-release technology to hydrocodone. Neither company would comment on its plans.

After a while, opiates stop working, forcing users to take stronger doses or to try slightly different chemicals.

Pure hydrocodone falls into the stricter drug-control category than hydrocodone-acetaminophen medications, meaning patients would have to go to their doctors for a new prescription each time they needed more pills. But Jackson said that's no guarantee against abuse, noting that dozens of unscrupulous doctors have been caught churning out prescriptions in so-called "pill mills."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/26/hydrocodone-painkiller-drug-abuse-experts_n_1170143.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Technorati Tags: Zohydro,FDA,DEA,drugs,pain releivers,pills,hydrocodone,Vicodin,acetaminophen,doctors,opiates,Purdue,Teva

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Merry Christmas from the Medical Quack(s)

You didn’t expect to see anything else here did you?  Have a great holiday and posts will be a little fewer and less frequent in the next week before the new year.  Thanks again to all my readers for another wonderful year!  BD 

Technorati Tags: Ducks,Christmas,holidays,Santa,New Years,hats,Merry Christmas,Medical Quack

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CEO and founder of the French Poly Beast Implant Prothese Wanted by Interpol

The implants are filled with an unapproved non-medical grade material said to be made for mattresses?  The article goes on to say around 40,000 women in the UK have the implants.  You wonder how does this go without notice for so long.  France stated that all women should have them removed and the UK was not as aggressive; however plastic surgeons in the UK felt a little different and said the suggestion from France was not at all out of line. 

The company has been liquidated and the use of the PIP implants has been banned but when women have them removed I would definitely have the silicon tested to see exactly what is in there for sure.  In the meantime the former CEO appears to be in hiding.  We didn’t have the implants in the US but South America was also affected with having used the product.  BD  

Interpol is seeking the arrest of Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of a French company whose breast implants are at the centre of a global health scare.

The international police agency has issued a red notice for Mas. His firm Poly Implant Protheses (PIP), which went into administration last year, supplied implants to tens of thousands of women in Europe and South America.

Interpol's website says the 72-year-old is wanted by Costa Rican authorities for crimes involving "life and health" but gives no further details. France has offered to pay for an estimated 30,000 women in the country to have their PIP implants removed because of risks the products could rupture and leak industrial-grade silicone.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/24/french-breast-implant-chief-interpol

Technorati Tags: Interpol,breast implants,France,Britian,Prostheses PIP,Europe,women,silicone

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FDA Recalls St. Jude’s Riata Defibrillator Leads–Estimated 79,000 Patients in the US Implanted with the Device/Leads

Apparently they found the silicon covering on the leads is the issue and it could shock patients when they don’t need it or not work at all and have a higher failure rate than first anticipated.  St. Jude last year stopped selling the leads.  BD 

St. Jude Medical Inc.’s Riata defibrillator leads, which the company stopped selling last year, were recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because of their potential to injure or kill patients

The devices remain implanted in an estimated 79,000 U.S. patients. The company voluntarily sent a letter to doctors on November 28 informing them that the wires used to connect the devices to the heart have a higher failure rate than was previously known.

Leads with externalized conductors may develop electrical dysfunction and not work as intended. In the event the device does not work as intended, should a life-threatening heart rhythm occur, pacing or defibrillation therapy may not be delivered as intended. This may result in serious adverse events, including death.
The recall includes the following model numbers:
Riata (8F) Silicone Endocardial Defibrillation Leads
Models: 1560, 1561, 1562, 1570, 1571, 1572, 1580, 1581, 1582, 1590, 1591, 1592
Riata ST (7Fr) Silicone Endocardial Defibrillation Leads
Models: 7000, 7001, 7002, 7010, 7011, 7040, 7041, 7042

http://fortworth.injuryboard.com/medical-devices-and-implants/fda-recalls-st-judes-riata-lead-based-on-risk-of-death.aspx?googleid=296998

Technorati Tags: St. Jude Defibrillator Lawsuits,Cardiac Tamponade Perforates Heart Tissue,Heart Damage,Irregular Beating,St Jude Defective Lead Wires,Riata Perforation Problems

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New Year's resolutions: How to stick to them, how to set up a game plan, and even a few you may want to consider making

Research-reporting service Newswise has compiled an extensive New Year's resolutions package, information particularly helpful to newsrooms in search of copy during the week between Christmas and New Year's. Use these items for tips and information that can encourage your readers to live healthier lives. (Illustration by Tara Kaprowy, Kentucky Health News)

Resolutions need a course of action

If you want to achieve your New Year's resolution goals, you need to be detailed about it, said Joshua Klapow, a clinical psychologist at University of Alabama at Birmingham.

If the goal is to lose weight, "You have to outline the days and times you will go to the gym, the menu adjustments you will make and who in your circle can help keep you accountable for these goals," Klapow says. He advises a "gut-check," asking yourself if you really want to commit to the resolution in the first place. "It's better to be honest than to fail.".

Other tips for success include:

• Be realistic about the goal; shoot for success instead of the stars

• Set short-term and long-term goals

• Be open to making adjustments to your resolutions.

Monitoring progress is also important. "Simply keeping a mental track will not cut it," Klapow said. "If you are dieting, write down the foods you eat. If you want to spend less, write down your expenses. This will give you a visual account of what is working and what is not."

An actual record will also establish the "three-day rule," which involves writing down the reasons you stopped if you've missed three days committing to your new habit or routine. It also involves picking a specific re-start date and putting the written record somewhere that can be seen.

It's also important to recognize limitations. "You have to arrange your life for success," Klapow said. "Buying junk food for your family while you are trying to diet is not going to help. If you want to save money, stop carrying credit cards. Control what you can control to make your goals more easily achievable." (Read more)

Use Monday to make resolutions stick

Almost 45 percent of Americans will make a New Year's resolution this year, but studies show many will fall off the wagon within the first week and almost half will break their resolutions within the year.

One trick to stay on track? "Make Monday the day to recommit to your resolution, evaluate progress and set your goals for the coming week," says research-reporting service Newswise.

"We think of Monday as the January of the week," said Sid Lerner, founder and chairman of The Monday Campaigns, a nonprofit initiative in association with Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Syracuse universities. "It's a call to action built into every calendar, giving you 52 chances for success." (Read more)

Secret to resolution success is to make attainable goals

"I think most people make resolutions that they don't achieve for many reasons, often because they seem so overwhelming," said William McCann, director of behavioral science education in Wake Forest Baptist's Medical Center. "So, from a psychological perspective, we should make resolutions that we are sure to be able to follow through on. While it seems counter intuitive, we should lower our expectations because we want to be able to say to ourselves by next Dec. 31st 'I did it.'"

McCann offers a sample list of resolutions:

• "I will eat a little less dried food this year."

• "I will drive a little more slowly this year."

• "I will help others a little more this year."

• "I will interfere in my children's lives a little less this year."

• "I will talk less and listen a little more."

"Doing a little bit is like a seed that might grow," McCann said. "Start little and see what happens in 2012." (Read more)

Resolution Solution: How to meet your goals

A recent study shows committing to a detailed plan to meet one's goal "not only makes it more likely to be done, but also gets it off your mind so you can think about other things." So says E.J. Masicampo, assistant professor at Wake Forest University. "The (plans) that work specify exactly what you are going to do, including when and where you are going to do it."

There are four elements to a good plan:

• It should specify what is the goal and in what situations it should be accomplished.

• The planner should know he or she is in control and the plan is not dependent on what someone else does.

• It should list specific opportunities to meet the goal.

• It should be a goal the planner is motivated to meet.

"You have to picture yourself carrying out your plan," Masicampo said. "That's where the power of the plans lie, in imagining yourself completing the tasks."

For people trying to lose weight, for example, Masicampo said people should make "if, then" plans. "An 'if, then' plan pre-decides how you will act in a given situation," he said. If a person goes to a restaurant, then they should plan to order a salad rather than cheeseburger. "Making a plan is like setting an alarm because you don't have to think about it under the alarm sounds and then you'll act." (Read more)

Ten resolutions to consider

The University of Buffalo offers its annual list of resolutions worth committing to, each of which is based on the research of its faculty:

1. Make returning war veterans feel at home.

2. Floss every day.

3. To lose weight, eat the same foods over and over. Repetition may discourage overeating.

4. Be a humble leader.

5. Talk to your child about bullying.

6. Combat loneliness by reading more fantasy novels.

7. Reflect on things that give life meaning.

8. Set up separate email accounts to avoid getting scammed.

9. Teach math to your toddler.

10. Be nice to nurses.
(Read more)

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Nurses Hold One Day Strike at Long Beach Memorial and Miller’s Children’s Hospital

The nurses have been without a contract for a few months now and are also talking about working conditions and other items needing attention.  One thing I know about the hospital is that “its is busy” like all the time.  They did remodeling and shifting things around in the last couple of years to ease people waiting in the hallways that existed a couple years ago in the ER area. 

What is odd here is that over 75% of the nurses showed for work though.  The Children’s Hospital is new and state of the art and I did a walk through interview with the CFO just before it opened a while back.  BD 

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach – Brand New Pavilion Carries Focus on Patients and “Green”

Hundreds of nurses from Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children's Hospital staged a one-day strike Thursday over failed contract negotiations and staffing issues.
Equipped with bullhorns and whistles, the nurses stood by the main entrance of the hospitals on Patterson Street and Atlantic Avenue. Many waved picket signs that read: "If nurses are outside, something's wrong inside" and "Safe staffing at all times."
Amid the yelling and cheering for every car horn honk they got, the nurses sang out chants.
The California Nurses Assn. has been working without a contract since Sept. 30 and has been at odds with hospital management over staffing conditions and rising costs of healthcare premiums.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nurses-20111223,0,6707464.story

Technorati Tags: nurses,strike,Long Beach Memorial Hospital,healthcare,Miller's Childrens Hospital,California Nurses Association

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US Senator Doesn’t Want Us Ingesting Caffeine With Aeroshot Breathable Caffeine

The product says you get the same amount of caffeine as you would in a Starbucks cup of coffee which seems harmless enough.  Ok so you take 3 or 4 snorts, some like me drink that many cups daily anyway.  If you really like caffeine, you can bathe in it, suck it down in lollypops and more.  There are geek sites all over the web that sell caffeine in different types of products.   The product doesn’t need FDA approval the article indicates as it has some vitamin supplements included as well.

Caffeine: Shower Shock Caffeinated Body Wash, Javapops

Who can figure out what gets priorities today in Congress?  From reading the web page it sounds like it goes to your stomach actually.  This was invented by a professor at Harvard.  The website also says no caffeine goes to your lungs.  This will be interesting when it comes out in January in Boston and New York and the Senator can certainly find more important issues to address by all means.  BD 

According to the senator’s office, the product is not reviewed by the FDA — it apparently skirts regulation by claiming it contains a vitamin supplement.

According to its website, Aeroshot lets the user inhale caffeine in powdered form. It dispenses 100 milligrams of caffeine in a just few puffs. The jolt is equivalent to a large cup of Starbucks coffee.

The product is apparently being marketed to consumers ages 12 and up with the emphasis on helping students stay awake and study.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/12/22/schumer-fights-sale-of-inhalable-caffeine-product/

Technorati Tags: Aeroshot,caffeine,Congress,FDA,energy,healthcare,drugs,coffee

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Feed The Wards Video From ZDoggMD–His Christmas Wish Granted-Not On Call This Year!

The doctor no problem here with working on a second career!  This so funny and I think one of his best as he an entire collection.  Use the link at the bottom to go his site and see more of the rapping hospitalist.  Pumpkin colored ensure…Santa pulled his central line…<grin>.  BD

Feed the Wards!

But it is the Holidays, so we should probably take a moment to think of those less fortunate than ourselves. People who go hungry while others feast. People without a single shred of hope remaining. I’m talking about healthcare workers taking call during the Holidays.

http://zdoggmd.com/2011/12/feed-the-wards/

Technorati Tags: Need a laugh,holidays,Christmas,healthcare,humor,wards,feed,hospital

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Shell Practices that Defraud Medicare–One Good Reason to Clean Up The Flawed Data on the Internet-Hunting Ground for Thieves

If you read the Medical Quack often enough this is fairly common topic that comes up for me to write about as it is such a big problem.  The “shell” practices as they are called can sometimes find provider IDs online, for “dead” doctors and then they go to work billing.  It really makes for a huge problem all the way around without some decent audit trails and checking.  It’s funny we have all the data being sold out there and they grab stuff for free and use it for all kinds of intelligence, but when it comes to simple verification we have little.  Chapter 7 of the Attack of the Killer Algorithms shows how flawed data hurts us from the consumer side. 

Flawed Data–Mined by Corporations Online Provides Background Checks Riddled With Errors–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 7

The thieves know how to mine data too unfortunately and run the gambit as I wrote about over a year ago.  As a consumer you may be using the doctor sites to find a doctor, but the other side is looking for flawed data, dead, retired doctors, what ever they can get with folks not updating records. 

Dead Doctors and Inaccurate MD Listings On the Web Can Be a Real Hunting Ground of Information to Mine For Crooks Relative to Fraudulent Medical Billing

Here’s an interesting article from 2010, obviously one of the so called shell companies.

Biggest Prescriber of Medicaid Drugs In New Jersey Charged with Fraud–Only Had 3 Employees

How many women received penis pumps?  Again it’s an auditing algorithm that can be used to catch some of this and HHS is moving in this direction with new auditing software and I would be surprise if one woman received one <grin>. 

Two Florida Business Men–Medicare Fraud For Billing for Penis Pumps for Female and Male Patients–Lot of Transaction Money Made And Who’s Running the Algorithms for Profit?

The key here is though to use the math and queries wisely so legitimate practices don’t get caught in “false positives” as that happens too.  Most of the time though as this investigative article indicated it’s a matter of a few queries, like business licenses and names that can be researched but if nobody looks at the obvious the claims fly.  One of the biggest fraud stories with this well known oncologist in the OC and he got caught twice and in court his attorney said he had a compulsive disorder where he couldn’t help himself as it was so easy, go figure that one out.

Prominent Orange County Oncologist Pleads Guilty to Medicare/Insurance Fraud – Over $1 Million

A few queries and auditing algorithms can help out a lot.  The new algorithms used by CMS should help identify a lot of the obvious before anyone has to step a foot outside a door to investigate.

Medicare Federal Investigators Getting Algorithms to Analyze And Find Fraud-Good Move as Contractors Efforts Are Weak With Risking Loss Of Transaction Revenue

Again as mentioned, there is a downside with the formulas wrenched down too tight for false positives.  Here’s a story from 2010 from San Diego to where the Ingenix algorithms said the dermatologists practices were billing fraudulently and this was ugly and I don’t know the outcome but it was bad the way it was handled and some doctors had to close as there was no money in the way that it was handled and law suits are on going with this one so we went from “shells to skins” in this case.  BD

Skins game With Dermatology Offices in California – All Insurance Carriers Quit Paying For Treatment Within a 5 Day Period

MIAMI/ATLANTA (Reuters) - By the time authorities busted a fake AIDS clinic in Miami, it had bilked Medicare of more than $4.5 million. Still, the man behind the scheme remained far ahead of the agents pursuing him.

Michel De Jesus Huarte, a 40-year-old Cuban-American, hadn't simply avoided arrest. He had hatched a plan to steal millions more from Medicare by forming at least 29 other shell companies - paper-only firms with no real operations. Each time, he would keep his name out of any corporate records. Other people - some paid by Huarte, some whose identities had been stolen - would be listed in incorporation papers.

The shells functioned as a vital tool to hide the Medicare deceit - and not only for Huarte. Hundreds of others have used the veil of corporate secrecy to help steal hundreds of millions of dollars from one of the nation's largest social service programs, a Reuters investigation has found.

Huarte is now behind bars and did not respond to requests for comment. But basic checks by Reuters of Medicare providers in one city - Miami - suggest shell companies remain prime tools in perpetrating fraud. Simply by reviewing the incorporation records of Medicare providers in two buildings there, reporters uncovered information that one government official said could prompt "a serious criminal investigation" of some of the companies.

The fraud rings merge stolen doctor and patient data under the auspices of a shell company and then bill Medicare as rapidly as possible. Other shell companies are often layered on top to camouflage the fraud, law enforcement officials say.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/21/us-shellcompanies-medicare-idUSTRE7BK0PY20111221

Technorati Tags: HealthGrades,data bases,health insurance,human resources,tech denial,infrastrucure,lazy,employer insurance HealthGrades,employer insurance

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One more Johnson and Johnson Recall-Motrin That May Not Work-Where’s the BarCodes to Help Consumers, Drug Chains, Pharmacists, the FDA and So On…

Well they did do a trial on bar codes for baby wipes which give product information but in case of a recall, they information could be updated quickly.  I realize the company is delving deep into quality control but gee look at the other side with consumers and everyone else involved.  A collaborated effort with the FDA could work very well and make it easier for compliance too with a synchronized data base, but we just don’t seem to want to go there.

Johnson and Johnson Puts Microsoft Tag Bar Codes on Baby Wipes But Can’t Do the Same to Give Consumers the Chance to Find Their FDA Recalls - BarCode Baby Steps?

Here’s an image of what the barcodes on the baby wipes look like below:

Furthermore I have seen millions spent on trying to engage consumers with mHealth and they just don’t get as far as needing a vehicle and creating value for the consumer, this is the vehicle to drive it as this is VALUE shown immediately.  People would much rather have this than see that Facebook HHS contest for an emergency app and all the geeks on the web kind of laughed at it with all the privacy issues on the forefront.  So let’s use this tweet below…J and J are you listening…I’ll just keep posting this tweet from a Mom that wanted to be able to scan bottles…I have a few more of them too on the Quack. 

The Milwaukee Journal interviewed me on my thoughts on the barcodes earlier this year as another company with wipes had a huge recall too.  You can read that at the link below…technology is here but we are not using it.

Triad Group Taints Smith and Nephew Device Company With Recalled Wipes How Many More Are Out There Under Private Labels?

Of all the recalls and situations that could be fixed, the stinking drugs was one that could easily be fixed with coatings the pallets outdoors!  I was in logistics for many years and watched that routine occur all over the place with treated pallets indoors.  I used to do business with a J and J distribution center many years ago, was happening then and sure it’s what the stink is all about.  Other companies did it too as I also called on Pfizer distribution centers and few others as well. 

Johnson and Johnson Recalls Stinky Topamax Drug Used for Epilepsy-The Cold Weather Stench That Stole Topamax

How the CEO Bill Weldon goes unscathed over all of this is beyond me as yesterday it was in the news that the former head of the consumer division was set to face charges on all of this.  BD

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), the health-care company beset by product recalls the last two years, said it was asking retailers to return about 12 million bottles of Motrin over concerns the painkiller may dissolve too slowly.

Tests of product samples showed some caplets may not dissolve as quickly as intended when near their expiration date, J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit said in a statement on its website today. While consumers don’t have to return any bottles, it’s possible there may be “a delay in relief” after taking the drug, Bonnie Jacobs, a spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview. J&J is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

McNeil agreed in March to give U.S. regulators stepped-up oversight at three manufacturing plants, after the division had to pull tens of millions of packages of over-the-counter drugs for quality concerns. Today’s recall covers Motrin distributed in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Fiji, Belize, the Bahamas, St. Lucia and Jamaica, according to the statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-21/j-j-recalls-12-million-bottles-of-motrin-that-may-not-dissolve.html?cmpid=yhoo

Technorati Tags: Recall,FDA,Johnson and Johnson,healthcare,drugs,chemical,odor,Topamax,Bill Weldon,epilepsy,pallets,shipments,recalls,bar codes,Baby Wipes,charity,Motrin

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How to Prevent Miscarriage

For some pregnant women miscarraige can be a real problem, but a simple natural way may help.
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Doctors had told Donna Kelly, 29, that her baby was just an inch from the top of her cervix and at risk of "falling out," and they ordered her to lay in the bed with her feet raised higher than her head to reduce the pressure, The Sun reports. 
So for 24 hours a day Kelly, who had suffered from a weak cervix since giving birth to her older son four years earlier and had suffered two miscarriages since, would lay in the bed on an angle. 
The only time Kelly would get up would be to go to the bathroom. "It made me feel sick at first, and I had a massive 'head rush,'" she told The Sun. Her body eventually adapted to the angle and she even devised a way to eat her meals from the bed. 
Kelly spent 10 weeks under the care of an expert in recurrent miscarriage and gave birth to a baby girl six weeks early. 
Click here to read more on the story from The Sun. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/21/woman-spends-three-months-pregnancy-lying-upside-down-to-prevent-miscarriage/#ixzz1hHe0SLDB

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Nursing homes want panel to review lawsuits against them

"A long-term care industry group wants a new law in Kentucky that would create medical review panels to evaluable potential lawsuits against nursing homes, personal care homes and some facilities for the intellectually and developmentally disabled," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The panel would be made up of three physicians and chaired by an attorney who would not be allowed to vote. The panel's findings would be admissible in court. The panel would "help eliminate frivolous lawsuits against the long-term care industry," said Ruby Jo Cummins Lubarsky, president of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities. "Kentucky's long-term care profession has seen a drastic increase in litigation from lawyers whose sole practice has been limited to targeting our nursing facilities. Their primary tactic is to exploit the integrity of our survey process with misleading advertisements designed to alarm the public about a supposed failure to provide quality care in our facilities."

The Kentucky Justice Association, formerly the Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys, is against the proposal because it "makes nursing home corporations less accountable for the neglect and abuse of Kentucky's elderly citizens," said Maresa Fawns, the association's executive director. Bernie Vonderheide, founder of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, is also opposed, saying the formation of medical review panels is "blatantly unfair to residents of nursing homes."

The proposal has not yet been filed for the 2012 General Assembly. House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a lawyer, has said he "would never support any measure that would deny a person his or her day in court if injured," but added he understands "that small, rural nursing homes are in extreme jeopardy because of out-of-state predatory law firms. Given that, the only responsible thing is to gather information on the issue and keep an open mind." (Read more)

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Child abuse reviews show failed communication in agency

A picture of failed communication is developing as reporters sift through 86 internal reviews of incidents of child abuse, says an editorial in today's Lexington Herald-Leader. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services released the reviews last week under court order.

"This pattern of failed communication only came to light because this newspaper and Louisville's Courier-Journal have aggressively pursued these records in court and Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd has relentlessly pushed the cabinet to open the records," the editorial reads.

The piece highlights several instances where communication breakdown led to tragic events, beginning with the case of 9-year-old Amy Dye, right, in which a school nurse had written six reports about suspected abuse or injuries. The cabinet's file only contained three of them.

Madaline Grace Reynolds died when she didn't get the medicine she needed to treat her cystic fibrosis. The review found the child-protection worker did not look into whether or not her parents had filled her prescriptions.

"But the faulty communication doesn't stop there," the editorial reads, referring to Tuesday's hearing by the Interim Joint Health and Welfare Committee in which legislators came down hard on the cabinet for "failing to inform them about regulations that prevented it from investigating abuse by a sibling, such as in Amy Dye's case," the editorial reads.

"The cabinet, indeed the entire executive branch, has shown it won't fully address these issues without the hot, bright light of outside pressure," the editorial concludes. "The courts have acted responsibly and forcefully. Now, the legislature must take up the painstaking and painful job of examining the cabinet's work, finding the missed connections and fixing them." (Read more)

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Substance abuse conference will be held at Lexington Marriott Jan. 18-19; attendance will be limited to the first 250 registrants

Seeking to build collaborations and partnerships to help deal with prescription drug abuse, a conference called "The Different Faces of Substance Abuse" will be held Jan. 18-19 at the Marriott Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington.

The featured speaker Jan. 19 will be Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will lead a discussion about the fight against pill mills. Participants can also attend two of eight breakout sessions that day:

• Overcoming addiction and obstacles to treatment

• Take-back program

• Creating a local drug-free alliance

• UK Cooperative Extension Service substance abuse prevention programs

• Creating a youth program

• The law-enforcement perspective

• A regional initiative aimed at reducing and preventing prescription drug abuse in youth

• Unique characteristics of prescription drug abuse and ways to target them

Registration starts at 10 a.m. Jan. 18. Presentations begin at noon. The first day's speakers include Demetria Antimisaris, assistant professor in the University of Louisville School of Medicine; Dave Hopkins, program manager for the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) in the Office of the Inspector General; Van Ingram, executive director for the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, and Jared Combs, pharmacist clinical staff at UK HealthCare.

The conference is sponsored by the University of Kentucky's colleges of agriculture, social work and pharmacy; the Lexington Mayor's Alliance on Substance Abuse, the Fayette County Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy, the Kentucky Division of Behavioral Health and the Ohio County Assets for Youth.

Space is limited to the first 250 registrants. To register, click here. Cost is $100 plus hotel fees. For more information, click here.

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Health insurance exchange benefits will be decided at the state level; Kentucky can now proceed to set up its exchange

For months, Kentucky officials have said the state cannot move forward with setting up a health-insurance exchange under the new federal health law because there weren't enough details about which benefits they had to offer. On Friday, the Obama administration answered that question when it "let states, rather than the federal government, define which medical benefits insurance companies will have to offer consumers starting in 2014," reports Noam L. Levey of the Los Angeles Times. "This is significantly more state-flexible and friendly than many would have expected," Alan Weil, head of the National Academy for State Health Policy, told Levey.

The law says that by 2014, each state must offer an insurance exchange, an online insurance marketplace in which people can choose from a variety of plans from companies like Anthem or Bluecross/Blueshield and then, for the most part, be given federal subsidies to help pay their premiums. About 30 million individuals and employees of small businesses are expected to use the exchanges. The plans in an exchange must cover a basic set of benefits, including hospitalizations, emergency care, newborn and maternity care and pediatric services, but until now the federal government could have decided how generous the benefits had to be.

"Under the guidance issued Friday, state leaders can define their own set of benefits by using an existing major health plan in their state as a benchmark," Levey reports. "That means that some states may require insurers to cover services such as chiropractic therapy and in vitro fertilization, while others may not."

It's this variability between states that worries some. "In passing a good deal of the decision-making to states, the administration has guaranteed that Americans will continue to face a patchwork of state regulations that make coverage uneven and inefficient," report Gardiner Harris, Reed Abelson and Robert Pear in a news analysis for The New York Times.

Some consumer advocates also worry the move will allow states to make benefits too meager. Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, said the policies "could restrict, for example, the number of covered visits a pregnant woman could make to her obstetrician or which prescription drugs to pay for."

However, by passing the responsibility on to the states, "President Obama will most likely make his plan for health care reform more politically palatable," the Times reporters write. "States will be allowed to set benefits at levels similar to what they are now, making coverage not much more expensive than it is today."

While some Republican state officials were happy with the decision, saying it makes it easier for states to comply with the law, others opposed to the law were critical. "All they're trying to do is avoid making tough calls before the election," said Ed Haislmaier, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. (Read more)

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State health department starts new ad campaign against secondhand smoke, including three 15-second TV commercials

The Kentucky Department for Public Health is launching a new campaign to educate Kentuckians about the dangers of secondhand tobacco smoke and its potential effect. The campaign is funded by $281,000 from the economic stimulus package of 2009 and about $90,000 from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This week the department will start running television, billboard and radio advertisements to show the dangers of smoke that comes from the burning end of cigarette, cigar or pipe or the exhaled smoke from a smoker. The ads, which will run statewide, highlight the link between secondhand smoke and dangerous illnesses in both adults and children.



The ads, produced by Louisville-based Doe-Anderson, feature people being unwillingly exposed to secondhand smoke in places such as residences and cars. Each ad carries the tag line, “Secondhand smoke is 100 percent unsafe, 100 percent of the time.”

Kentucky’s smoking rate remains the second highest in the country, with 24.8 percent of the adult population identified as current smokers, and secondhand smoke exposure is equally high. The health department says 39.5 percent of Kentucky children live with someone who smokes – the highest percentage in the country. Secondhand smoke has become a major public health concern because it contains approximately 4,000 chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens, and is responsible for approximately 3,000 cases of lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers each year.



The campaign is another project of the Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation program. Community interventions for tobacco cessation are available through local health departments staffed with tobacco control specialists, and the program operates a toll-free telephone line, 1-800-QUIT NOW. It also provides technical assistance, with the Kentucky Center for Smoke Free Policy at the University of Kentucky, to assist communities in seeking smoke-free ordinances.

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Massachusetts Nurses Association Protesting Private Equity Company Cerberus Who Operates Steward Healthcare With More Concern for Profits Than Care

Many nurses made the trip to the Cerberus offices in New York to promote an “Occupy” type demonstration with discontent over many working and pension conditions since Steward, who is owned by Cerberus took over and purchased several hospitals in Massachusetts. One item in particular pointed out was the skimping on bread and juice used to stabilize patients at Norwood Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital.  There have been a greater number of private investments in healthcare and apparently it has become so large in number they had to create a “non profit” group to talk about how to “profit”…kind of an oxymoron?  BD 

How Big Are Private Equity Investments in Healthcare – Large Enough to Create a “Non-Profit” Trade Association To Talk About How to “Profit”

From the Website:

“Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., along with its affiliates, is one of the world's leading private investment firms. Through its team of investment and operations professionals, Cerberus specializes in providing both financial resources and operational expertise to help transform undervalued companies into industry leaders for long-term success and value creation. Cerberus holds controlling or significant minority interests in companies around the world.
Cerberus is headquartered in New York City with affiliate and/or advisory offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”

Janet DeMoranville is standing up against a private equity investment firm that now owns Morton Hospital, where she has worked for 13 years, saying the company is more concerned about profits than patients.

“They are just out to make money,” said DeMoranville, describing the motives of Cerberus, which has bought 10 hospitals in Massachusetts, including Morton, as part of Steward Health Care.

“They don’t care how they do it, or what cuts they have to make to get it. They have to realize that health care is not a money-making business. It’s a patient care industry. That’s what it needs to be about.”

DeMoranville was one of five Morton nurses who joined more than 100 other nurses from the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and hundreds from other states to protest Cerberus at the firm’s corporate headquarters in New York on Tuesday afternoon.

Representatives for the MNA singled out Steward and Cerberus for one issue, slamming them for skimping out on bread and juice used to stabilize patients at Norwood Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton. MNA spokesperson David Schildmeier said that is unacceptable for Cerberus, which bought Chrysler in 2007 before another company bought it last year and has become involved in the arms industry, said that this was ridiculous.

“When the owner of Chrysler can’t provide a loaf of bread to patients, that symbolizes something being very wrong,” Schildmeier said.

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1157704454/Morton-Hospital-nurses-Cerberus-more-concerned-with-profits-than-patients

Technorati Tags: Caritas Christi Health,private equity,healthcare,hospitals,Cerberus,money,investments,Landmark Medical,acquisitions and mergers,JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

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Nearly 1 in 3 Kentuckians say they know a friend or relative who has struggled with prescription-pill abuse, poll finds

Almost one in three Kentuckians say they have a friend or relative that has had problems stemming from prescription drug abuse, the Kentucky Health Issues Poll has found.

In Eastern Kentucky, 43.2 percent of respondents said "yes" when asked if a family member or friend had had problems because they had abused pain pills. In the Lexington area, it was 39.4 percent. Western Kentucky had the lowest number at 19.7 percent. Statewide, it was 31.9 percent.

"Although other studies have shown that Kentucky has among the highest levels of prescription-drug abuse in the nation, the latest survey helps illustrate how pervasive the issue has become in the state," reports Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The survey, which polled 1,614 people, found that people ages 18 to 29 were more likely to have a friend or relative who had had a problem with pill abuse — 43.8 percent compared to 29.7 percent of people ages 46 to 64.

"Other findings include that 54.5 percent of those polled in Kentucky said they'd been prescribed a pain reliever such as OxyContin, Vicodin or Percocet in the past five years," Estep reports. "The rate in Appalachia was the lowest in the state, at 46.4 percent. That might reflect that there are fewer medical providers in that part of the state, and that fewer people have insurance."

The survey also asked respondents if they had ever used a prescription drug that was not prescribed to them. In that case, just 5.5 percent said yes, but nearly twice as many 18-to-29-year-olds answered yes. "These findings underscore the impact misuse of prescription pain medications is having in Kentucky and the importance of work by prescribers and policymakers to assure that these drugs aren't used inappropriately," said Susan Zepeda, chief executive officer of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which helped fund the survey.

The poll was also funded by The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. It was conducted Sept. 27 to Oct. 27 by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of adults across Kentucky were interviewed, including 1,313 landline interviews and 308 cell-phone interviews. For more from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, click here. (Read more)

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Prestige Brands to Acquire 17 Consumer Over the Counter Brands From Glaxo

This seems to make sense as Prestige already had a large number of consumer products already and that appears to be their primary business.  The over the counter products seem to a bit of a mixed bag with both drugs and other types of consumer products.  BD 

IRVINGTON, N.Y., Dec 20, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE-PBH) today announced the signing of a definitive agreements with GSK to acquire 17 over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical brands sold in North America for a total of $660 million in cash. The transactions are expected to be completed in the first half of calendar year 2012 subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as applicable, and the Company closing on its committed financing for the acquisitions.

Among the brands the Company agreed to acquire are the BC(R), Goody's(R), and Ecotrin(R) brands of pain relievers; Beano(R), Gaviscon(R), Phazyme(R), Tagamet(R) and Fiber Choice(R) GI brands; and the Sominex(R) sleep aid brand.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/prestige-brands-holdings-inc-signs-definitive-agreements-with-gsk-to-acquire-17-consumer-otc-healthcare-brands-in-north-america-2011-12-20

Technorati Tags: Prestige,GlaxoSmithKline,GSK,consumer goods,OTC,pain releivers,drug stores,healthcare

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Lawmakers grill state officials at hearing on child abuse and records of it; one says health secretary should resign

Janie Miller, secretary for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, should resign, said one key legislator at a committee hearing yesterday. The frustration of Sen. Julie Denton (Lexington Herald-Leader photo) stemmed in part from the manner in which the cabinet has dealt with child abuse records.

"This cabinet treats everyone as an adversary," said Denton, a Republican from eastern Louisville and co-chair of the Interim Joint Health and Welfare Committee. "I'm tired of lies. I'm tried of deception. I'm tired of the tap-dance routine. I'm tried of the shroud of secrecy. We should be partners, not adversaries."

Denton spoke near the end of a committee meeting at which Pat Wilson, retiring commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, testified about a recently released report on child fatalities and near fatalities, as well as last week's public release of child-abuse records. Miller did not attend the meeting.

The report showed 18 Kentucky children died from child abuse or neglect in the past year, but did not include the names of the victims or the case of 9-year-old Amy Dye, who died at the hands of her adoptive brother. The release of child-abuse records has likewise been controversial, with the cabinet fighting the state's two largest newspapers, The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader, in court for years to avoid having to do so.

Wilson said her department "wholeheartedly supports being open and being accountable," but asked legislators to consider the pitfalls of having too much information available to the public. "I've done this work, I've knocked on the doors, I've interviewed the people and I've been in the houses," she said. "Almost inevitably, the person that you're talking with, not so much the professionals but the family members, the neighbors next door, will say, 'If I tell you this, will you promise me no one ever will know I said it?' You know, up until now, (we've say yes) and that has been the hallmark of this department."

Since the release of records, Wilson said her staff has already told her "individuals are telling them, 'I don't think I want to talk to you.'" She added she worries about the safety of her staff, saying there are larger ramifications when details of near-fatalities become public in a small town or rural community. "If you can for a minute, think about how it's going to feel when you're that worker, knocking on the door of that house and you're saying to those individuals I'm here to help you," she said. "I think it's going to be very tenuous."

Wilson explained Amy Dye's case was not included in her report because she was killed by a sibling, not her custodial parent. Though the cabinet had been contacted twice by school officials who suspected Dye was being abused in the home, the suspicions had been deemed unwarranted, Wilson said. Nevertheless, records released after Dye's death "include a letter from the school nurse that lists six reports from school officials about suspected abuse or suspicious injuries to Amy," reports Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "However, only three of the reports are contained in the cabinet's file on Amy."

Before her death, three years passed in which the cabinet did not receive any complaints of Dye's well-being. "We did know her but we knew her in 2006 and 2007," Wilson said. "In 2008, 2009, 2010, there was no communication." Dye had reportedly been sent out of state in the years preceding her death, but Todd County School Supt. Michael Kenner said the school did not know what had become of her, since there was little communication with the cabinet. "We didn't even know if she was in school," he said.

Many legislators took issue with the omission of Dye from the report, with Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, asking "How many others were killed by siblings that's not in this report that we don't know about?"

Wilson said state law only requires the report to contain information about deaths or near deaths that occurred at the hands of the primary caregiver, but Rep. Susan Westrom took issue with that. "Nobody from the cabinet has ever come to us and said, 'You know what? We have a statute that is too confining. We are still not able to protect our children from even siblings. The only people we can protect them from is the caregivers, which leaves a gaping hole in the safety net.'"

Legislators also asked why the report, released earlier this month, was three months late. Wilson said she took full responsibility for the tardiness. "It wasn't what I thought it needed to be," she said. "It's late because I had to redo the report." (Read more)

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