Suchergebnisse

Impact with a front passenger airbag engineered to stop a large statured, adult male from hitting the windshield risks devastating if not fatal harm for a child. "Avoiding the Avoidable: Why State Laws Need to Protect Kids from Airbags" proposes a simple solution: absent extenuating circumstances, require rear seating for child passengers. This article describes the mechanism of injury, examines the inadequacies and inconsistencies of current national and state efforts to reduce pediatric airbag risk, and proposes comprehensive "model" legislation to avoid this completely avoidable yet often fatal harm.

From the introduction: Throughout the 2012 Presidential campaign, Republican contenders criticized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a "federal take-over of health care" for its promotion of national uniformity in health coverage and access. Yet long before passage, the architects of the ACA quickly rejected a federal single payor system, or even a federal public plan to complement the private sector plans due to forceful opposition to national reform. Instead, they traveled the only politically viable road to reform: maintaining the fragmented and complex system of health care coverage, where federal and state governments as well as the private sector play pivotal roles. The ACA's expansion of coverage is accomplished by continuing and even increasing state oversight, reinforcing the private market, and involving both employers and individuals. As enacted, therefore, the ACA's fragmented approach to health reform is clearly not a federal take-over.

On May 22. 2013, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved S.959, "The Pharmaceutical Compounding Quality and Accountability Act," and S.957, "The Drug Supply and Security Act," (now incorporated into S. 959 as an amendment). Congressional efforts to enact comprehensive legislation to improve drug safety and secure the nation's drug supply chain have lingered for over a decade. The lack of federal uniformity has allowed a patchwork of state legislation to emerge, attracting the less scrupulous to those states with the lowest security. The issue finally gained traction among HELP Committee members when 55 people died and 741 more became ill after contracting fungal meningitis from contaminated steroid injections made by the New England Compounding Center (NECC). Committee member Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) stated that given prior reports of problems with NECC, this tragedy could have been averted but for a "shocking failure to act" by NECC, state and federal regulators, and Congress.

From the introduction: With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) it is worth reminding ourselves of what, exactly, we have been waiting for. We await a judicial opinion that could deliver a decisive blow to all or part of a massive piece of legislation and the hard-fought battles that led to its enactment, or salvage the near-century-old quest for health care reform. At the same time we await an opinion that may reshape our fundamental understanding of the Court, the power of Congress, and long-standing principles of federalism.

Trying to buy a mercury thermometer at the local pharmacy these days will result in a deluge of information regarding the risks of mercury and the proper disposal protocol for mercury thermometers as hazardous waste. Yet, inquiring about the risks of placing mercury in one's mouth, in the form of a dental filling, is likely to meet with resounding assurances of safety from the dental profession. While such comforting disclaimers are meant to ease patient concerns, many continue to worry about the safety of dental mercury. This article will begin by describing the many safety concerns that surround the use of dental amalgam. It will briefly overview how other nations and even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have taken preliminary steps to safeguard patient safety. It will then examine the dental industry's use of professional discipline and malpractice litigation to prevent and even punish full disclosure of amalgam risks. The article will conclude by showing how legislation at the state level appears to offer the best strategy for insuring that dental patients are adequately informed of the risks associated with mercury fillings.