Q85 Medical and Other Health Care Services

Coroner’s plea for drug deaths action

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Original article by Nino Bucci
The Age – Page: 4 : 12-Jan-15

An online and real-time drug prescriptions monitoring system was a campaign promise of the former Victorian government ahead of the November 2014 election. Coroner Jacinta Heffey has now called on the new State Government formed by the Australian Labor Party to adopt the policy, or face an increase in the number of overdoses. Heffey has issued her findings on the death of a man who received a prescription for methadone from one doctor and one for the benzodiazepine tranquilliser from a second

CORPORATES
CORONER’S COURT (VICTORIA), VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ASIA PACIFIC CORONERS’ SOCIETY

Anti-vaccination event venues ‘bullied’ to cancel

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Original article by Julia Medew, Eryk Bagshaw
The Age – Page: 8 : 9-Jan-15

Stephanie Messenger, an anti-vaccination activist, has criticised venue operators who have opted to cancel the bookings made for a lecture tour in Australia of US-based osteopath Sherri Tenpenny. Among the businesses accused of bowing to the alleged "bullying" of medical practitioners and pro-vaccination groups are the Amora Hotel Riverwalk and Bayview Eden in Melbourne, Concord Function Centre in Narooma and Kareela Golf & Social Club in Sydney

CORPORATES
KAREELA GOLF AND SOCIAL CLUB LIMITED, AMORA RIVERWALK FRESCO BAR AND GRILL, BAYVIEW EDEN MELBOURNE, CONCORD FUNCTION CENTRE

Jury out on medical marijuana

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Original article by Luke Malpass
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 5-Jan-15

Dr John Lawson of the Sydney Children’s Hospital notes that there is growing interest in the use of medical marijuana to treat epileptic children. He has welcomed the New South Wales Government’s recent decision to provide $A9m to finance a trial of medical marijuana, and has emphasised that any such drugs given to children will have no psychoactive properties

CORPORATES
SYDNEY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Aspirin study raises hopes for dementia prevention

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Original article by Kathy Evans
The Age – Page: 11 : 5-Jan-15

The US National Institutes of Health agency is funding new research by Monash University’s School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine in Melbourne. The aim is to establish whether aspirin’s anti-inflammatory properties can be used to prevent deafness, blindness and dementia in older patients. The "ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly" (ASPREE) project also involves the Berman Centre for Outcomes & Clinical Research in Minneapolis, and will have 19,000-plus test subjects

CORPORATES
MONASH UNIVERSITY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, MINNEAPOLIS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION. BERMAN CENTER FOR OUTCOMES AND CLINICAL RESEARCH

Co-pay fight in waiting rooms

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Original article by Joanna Heath
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 19-Dec-14

The Australian Medical Association opposes the introduction of a $A5 co-payment for visits to the doctor. It intends to send campaign posters and pamphlets to doctors around the country. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has also expressed its opposition to the proposed changes

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, THE PHARMACY GUILD OF AUSTRALIA

Locking up mentally ill is on the decline

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Original article by Dan Harrison
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 7 : 17-Dec-14

The Australian Institute of Health & Welfare will on 17 December 2014 issue a new report on the treatment of mentally ill people. It shows that the rate at which such patients are secluded in solitary confinement has been falling by 12% on average per annum since 2008-09, to just 5% in 2013-14. The trend is being welcomed by experts, who note that solitary confinement is more of a management strategy rather than actual solution to the underlying problem. The Office of the Public Advocate in Victoria wants seclusion to be phased out entirely, while the Ministry of Health in New South Wales says it is a last resort only

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION, NEW SOUTH WALES. MINISTRY OF HEALTH, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC ADVOCATE

Psychiatrist sexually abused his patient

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Original article by Julia Medew
The Age – Page: 8 : 17-Dec-14

Supreme Court of Victoria judge Melissa Lee Daly has ruled that deregistered psychiatrist Francis Tudor Bostock must pay compensation of $A384,029 to a former patient. The woman had been sexually abused by the practitioner, who also claimed $A16,000 from Medicare for the sessions with her. Anne Shortall, principal at law firm Slater & Gordon, says the victim will seek the payment to be made in 2016, when Bostock’s self-declared bankruptcy ends

CORPORATES
SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, MEDICAL BOARD OF AUSTRALIA

Vitamin D link to child’s health

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Original article by Cathy O’Leary
The West Australian – Page: 18 : 16-Dec-14

Western Australian researchers have examined the impact of Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy on the long-term physical and intellectual development of children. The research team found a link between low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy and a range of medical conditions in children and young adults, including reduced bone density and impaired language development

CORPORATES
TELETHON INSTITUTE FOR CHILD HEALTH RESEARCH, SIR CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSPITAL, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Violent nurse suspended after assaults

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Original article by Elle Farcic
The West Australian – Page: 7 : 15-Dec-14

Western Australia’s State Administration Tribunal has suspended Michael Cummins’ registration as a nurse for 16 months. He pleaded guilty to charges of professional misconduct arising from incidents at two nursing homes. He had been accused of assaulting a dementia patient and a patient care assistant, as well as falsifying medical records and failing to give medication to patients. Cummins had previously been given a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to charges of assault

CORPORATES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. STATE ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, GREAT SOUTHERN, MEDISERVE NURSING AGENCY

Co-payment will hit bulk-billing, AMA head Owler predicts

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Original article by Dan Harrison
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 4 : 11-Dec-14

Bulk-billing accounted for some 82 per cent of visits to Australian GPs in the 2013-14 financial year. Brian Owler, the president of the Australian Medical Association, has warned that the Federal Government’s revised co-payment scheme will forced many GPs to abandon bulk-billing in favour of private billing for most patients

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, ROYAL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL (VICTORIA)