National and International News
A Question Of Health: When will my 15-year-old reach puberty? And how can my wife rid herself of cramps?
Can you say something about the normal limits of puberty in boys? At 15 our elder son's genitals seem to have grown in proportion to the rest of him. But there is no sign of pubic hair, let alone of stubble, and his voice is at best sinking gently rather than breaking. Meanwhile his brother is coming up for 12 with a crop of body and leg hair, a definite moustache, spots, and the vocal cords of a bullock. As they were adopted separately, they obviously share nogenetic heritage. Our own doctor is sympathetic but says it is not a medical problem. Even if there is nothing to be done, some impartial advice would be helpful, as it is causing the family great stress.
The Independent 15/12/03
Alcoholic Best is blamed for drop in organ donors
George Best's return to drinking alcohol after his liver transplant has put people off donating organs, a leading specialist said yesterday.
The Times 16/12/03
Alder Hey's director 'did not stop abuses'
The eminent medical director of a children’s hospital at the centre of an organ retention scandal failed to act on information that senior staff had removed body parts without permission, the General Medical Council was told yesterday.
The Times 16/12/03
The Guardian 16/12/03
The Independent 16/12/03
Closure of small shops 'threatens to wipe out way of life'
Britain's smallest towns and villages are losing 50 specialist shops a week, a trend which threatens to wipe out community life in a generation, a report warned yesterday.
The Independent 16/12/03
Drugs study finds children aged 11 on heroin and crack
Children as young as 11 are experimenting with hard drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin, according to a new study.
The Guardian 16/12/03
E-government fails to catch on
Virtually all Britons know where they can get online - but three-quarters of them have never even visited a government website, a report out today reveals.
The Guardian 16/12/03
Euthanasia Society faces split after chairman's arrest
The Voluntary Euthanasia Society is meeting tomorrow to discuss the future of its former chairman, who stepped down at the weekend after admitting he had planned to help a dying man kill himself.
The Independent 16/12/03
Health Check: 'The number of flu cases seems to be falling but doctors are still alert to the threat of a worldwide pandemic'
Are you an optmist or a pessimist? It matters when it comes to flu because the story of this winter's outbreak can be read both ways.
The Independent 15/12/03
Jargon decoder: Social Capital
What is it
Networks, relationships, norms, values and informal sanctions that shape the quantity and co-operative quality of a society’s social interactions. Social capital can bond family members, bridge ethnic groups or link social classes. The most common measure of it is trust of other people.
The Times 16/12/03
Morocco losing forests to cannabis
Cannabis production is expanding so fast in Morocco that it is causing soil erosion and the destruction of long-established forests, the UN reported yesterday.
The Guardian 16/12/03
Mothers alarmed after TV MMR drama
Last night's television drama about the controversial theory linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism has made parents even more worried.
The Guardian 16/12/03
The Guardian 16/12/03
MPs' asylum children care plan warning
Plans to take into care the children of failed asylum seekers who refuse to go home could simply drive families underground, MPs have warned.
The Guardian 16/12/03
The Independent 16/12/03
My mother's deadly secret
Why do people choose to conceal serious illness and disease from their nearest and dearest, preferring to suffer alone?
The Guardian 16/12/03
New weapon in superbug war
A stay in hospital could be more risky than a tropical holiday, or so say recent reports of the plague of antibiotic-resistant superbugs apparently proliferating in wards across the country. To help to counter the onslaught, the Government has promised to appoint “bug-busting� bosses to deal with the rise in hospital infections involving the bacteria MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which kills 5,000 a year.
The Times 16/12/03
New medical research
People who worry are at greater risk of Alzheimer’s, Chicago researchers report in Neurology (December 9). Their study of 797 people over 75 found that those who score high on a neuroticism scale are 7 per cent more likely to suffer dementia. Meanwhile, King’s College London research has found that prolonged antipsychotic drug use may accelerate mental decline. If it is stopped, it can improve quality of life for people with dementia. The three-month study of 100 people is published by the charity Research Into Ageing.
The Times 16/12/03
Nurses lured by job perks
What price nurses? Looming shortages have prompted employers to lure them from the developing world and to try to persuade retired staff to return. Now hospitals have discovered the world of perks.
The Times 16/12/03
Stroke warning to binge-drinkers
A stark warning about the risk of suffering a stroke caused by excessive drinking has been delivered by health campaigners.
The Guardian 16/12/03
Surgery blunder victim wins £5m damages for heart-op mistake
A man whose brain was "all but destroyed" during hospital treatment for a heart condition as a baby 25 years ago was awarded £5m agreed damages yesterday.
The Independent 16/12/03
The best way to a better birth
Zita West, campaigner and the midwife to Sophie Wessex and countless celebrities, is recalling her introduction to childbirth. "I trained as a midwife in 1976, but it was going out to the Middle East to work that really gave me the midwifery experience. I did a lot of deliveries in the car park - women came in fully dilated - labour was often very quick. What I really benefited from was that working there, I saw the patterns of behaviour that women went through in normal labour.
The Independent 15/12/03
The cost of justice
For more than 20 years Professor Sir Roy Meadow was Britain's foremost expert on cot death. His respected opinion was often the deciding factor in separating children from their mothers or in the launch of a policemurder investigation after the death of a baby. But last week Professor Meadow's reputation was in tatters after the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of Angela Cannings, wrongly imprisoned for the murder of her two babies. Professor Meadow's expertise was also used to help convict Sally Clark and Trupti Patel, two more mothers whose convictions have been ruled unsafe.
The Independent 16/12/03
What you eat
In this week's column on diet, we look at what one toddler with a sweet tooth eats and suggest some improvements.
The Guardian 16/12/03
When there's no real alternative
One in five of us regularly uses complementary medicine, but how much of it really works, and when does it become dangerous?
The Guardian 16/12/03
Why do we still buy alternative remedies, when so few have been proven to work?
A couple of weeks ago, the University of Washington in Seattle published a paper saying that echinacea is no better than a placebo when it comes to treating colds in children. Now, when I see someone in the chemist reach for a pack of echinacea, I want to say to them: "Didn't you read the study? This stuff is useless. Put it back." Why do people choose to ignore the evidence of studies that refute the efficacy of their favourite alternative remedy? Is it a case of wilful ignorance?
The Independent 15/12/03
Cheshire and Mersey News
Doctor faces probe into organs scandal
The former medical director of the organ scandal-hit Royal Liverpool Alder Hey Children's Hospital is due to appear before the General Medical Council today.
Daily Post 15/12/03
Hospital may lose all adult services
All adult medical services could be moved from Ormskirk Hospital to Southport as part of a controversial 15m plan, the Daily Post can reveal.
Daily Post 15/12/03
The drug addicts aged 10
Children as young as 10 and 11 are being treated for addiction to heroin and crack cocaine in Liverpool's drug clinics.
Liverpool Echo 15/12/03
We may sue to help cut deaths from superbug
A family is considering legal action against a hospital after their mother died when she contracted the superbug, MRSA.
Daily Post 15/12/03
Women's charity home is closing
Residents of a Liverpool elderly people's home have been given three months to find somewhere else to live.
Liverpool Echo 15/12/03
Cumbria and Lancashire News
999 services in alcohol-free plea
Emergency services in Greater Manchester have raised an alcohol-free toast to drive home this year's "Don't Drink and Drive" message.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 15/12/03
Ambulance teams get new system
Handwritten patient records are being abolished as Lancashire Ambulance Service becomes the first in the country to use an electronic system.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 15/12/03
Doc takes up CO post in 'terriers'
A north west GP has taken over as commanding officer of a Blackburn-based Territorial Army regiment.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 15/12/03
Hospital romance helped man to quit drug habit'
A 31-year-old man found love and the resolve to beat his heroin habit during an extended spell in hospital.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 15/12/03
Morning-after pill available at some chemists
With the Christmas party season in full flow Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust is reminding the public about the availability of the morning-after pill.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 15/12/03
Trust gives tips for winter health
Burnley Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust (PCT) is urging people to get the right treatment this winter.
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 15/12/03
Greater Manchester News
1m damages for boy with Olympic dream
A teenager brain-damaged by a hospital blunder has set his heart on representing Britain at the Paralympic Games.
Manchester Evening News 15/12/03
Alder Hey medic to face GMC
Former medical director of Alder Hey Hospital Dr John Martin is to face the General Medical Council over his part in the organ scandal.
Bolton Evening News 15/12/03
Christie 'satellite' to help cancer patients
Cancer patients could soon benefit from plans to create a satellite to Manchester's Christie Hospital.
Manchester Evening News 15/12/03
Fellowship accolade for nurse
A nurse who works in Bolton has been identified as a leading light in the future of the National Health Service.
Bolton Evening News 15/12/03
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