All News

The Utah Supreme Court reversed itself recently when it allowed a woman to sue for future damages when there's only a possibility that her breast cancer may reoccur. A previous ruling by the high court had held that patients wanting to seek future damages must do so in their initial lawsuit. It is anticipated that this latest ruling may open the door for lawsuits against physicians by patients whose diseases are in remission, according to Medical Liability Monitor (1/2006).

In fact, researchers from the Boston area found that almost half (43% or 86) of 201 pregnant women with a history of major depression prior to pregnancy suffered from major depression during pregnancy.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) is a safe, effective way to significantly reduce symptoms in premenopausal women with uterine leiomyomas, according to the results of a multicenter clinical trial.

In a multicenter comparative study involving 149 women undergoing uterine artery embolization (UAE) and 60 women undergoing myomectomy, researchers found that both procedures resulted in similar bleeding improvement, uterine volume reduction, uterine fibroid quality-of-life score improvement, and overall quality-of-life score improvement.

While unopposed conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) confers no protection against myocardial infarction (MI) or coronary death in generally healthy postmenopausal women between ages 50 and 79, when researchers looked only at women between 50 and 59, the story changed.

Chambers and colleagues observed a 6.1-fold increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns whose mothers had received SSRIs after 20 weeks' gestation.

Ask The Expert

Are these symptoms of Menopause?What about life after "the change?

It is in your best health interest to see your gynecologist or primary care physician regarding specific medical problems or concerns.

It is in your best health interest to see your gynecologist or primary care physician regarding specific medical problems or concerns.

It is in your best health interest to see your gynecologist or primary care physician regarding specific medical problems or concerns.

This month's topics: Chronic Pelvic Pain, Endometriosis & Adenomyosis, Surgery Pain & Adhesions and Other Questions

New Jersey is now the 24th state to pass a law providing contraceptive insurance equity. The new law, A.B. 292, requires most insurers in the state to provide coverage of prescription contraceptive drugs and devices. The law provides an exemption for qualifying religious employers if contraceptive coverage conflicts with the employer's "bona fide religious beliefs and practices," according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (Government Relations Newsletter, 1/13/2006).

For all the talk about the importance of rigorous medical research and randomized double-blind trials, many physicians still put more faith in clinical experience than clinical experiment. Is it possible to strike a reasonable balance between the two?

Few ob/gyns are prepared for the terrifying sight of a pregnant woman in the throes of an eclamptic convulsion. You can't predict which preeclamptic patients will go on to develop life-threatening eclampsia. But when they do, you can be ready to follow these seven important steps for stabilization and induction of labor within 24 hours.

Losing a breast or a part of one to disease is traumatic for any woman. Proactive, thorough, and compassionate counseling on reconstructive options is the ob/gyn's responsibility and can help ease a patient's overall recovery.

President Bush used his State of the Union address to once again urge Congress to pass medical liability reform, specifically citing the crisis in obstetrics and gynecology. He said, "And because lawsuits are driving many good doctors out of practice?leaving women in nearly 1,500 American counties without a single ob/gyn?I ask the Congress to pass medical liability this year."

This year's annual report from the National Committee for Quality Assurance showed a mixed bag of good and bad news, reported Managed Care (11/2005). Of the 289 commercial health plans that reported data to the NCQA, the average performance showed improvements in 18 of 22 clinical measures.

New Jersey is now the 24th state to pass a law providing contraceptive insurance equity. The new law, A.B. 292, requires most insurers in the state to provide coverage of prescription contraceptive drugs and devices. The law provides an exemption for qualifying religious employers if contraceptive coverage conflicts with the employer's "bona fide religious beliefs and practices," according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (Government Relations Newsletter, 1/13/2006).

Most employers seek to avoid getting into legal hot water with former employees. So, many avoid answering substantive questions about their former employees, and only confirm dates of employment and position held. The practice is believed to reduce the risk of being sued for slander by the former employee, if the employer gives a bad recommendation.