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Blogs Comment On ACLU Brief On Forced Hospitalization Of Pregnant Women, NRLC And Ryan-DeLauro Bill, FRC Ad
The following summarizes select women"s health-related blog entries.~ "ACLU Files Brief Opposing Forced Hospitalization of Pregnant Women," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida "filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the state"s decision to force a pregnant woman to remain hospitalized against her will," Jacobson writes. According to Jacobson, Diana Kasdan, a staff attorney with ACLU"s Reproductive Freedom Project, said, "Women do not give up their right to determine the course of their own medical care when they become pregnant. Faced with similar cases, courts throughout the country have made clear that pregnant women have a right to make decisions about their own health, including refusing medical care." The brief filed by ACLU also said that Florida"s decision will "invit[e] state requests for court intervention in nearly all aspects of pregnant women"s behavior and medical judgments." Women "will be discouraged from coming to a hospital for pregnancy care if they know that any disagreement may lead to forced medical treatment," the brief continues, noting that "[s]uch a result does not advance maternal and fetal health by any measure and is not constitutionally permissible" (Jacobson, RH Reality Check, 8/3).~ "Rubber-Baby Money Lumpers," William Saletan, Slate"s "Human Nature": National Right to Life Committee Legislative Director Douglas Johnson has "restated ... many times" that the group has a neutral position on contraception, Saletan writes, adding that he is "inclined to believe him, because I take people"s stated motivations seriously." However, Johnson "doesn"t take such motivations seriously" and "relentlessly characterizes his opponents as "pro-abortion," even though they don"t like abortion" and refer to themselves as "pro-choice" or "pro-abortion rights," Saletan continues. Johnson"s "latest targets" are Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who sponsored the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act. The measure includes funding for contraception and sex education, as well as incentives and support for adoption and women who carry their pregnancies to term. However, Johnson "dismisses the Ryan-DeLauro bill and its themes of abortion reduction and common ground as "phony," a "smokescreen," and a "prop" in a "political charade,"" he continues. Johnson "insists on an objective standard: Do you support legislation that funds abortion or people who defend them? If so, you"re pro-abortion," Saletan writes, adding, "By this standard, NRLC is against contraception" (Saletan, "Human Nature," Slate, 8/3).~ "Surgery for Seniors vs. Abortions?" Viveca Novak, FactCheck.org: An advertisement by the Family Research Council "merg[es] the fears of seniors worried about their health care with those of antiabortion advocates" by featuring an older man concerned with a federal health plan under which the government ""won"t pay for my surgery, but we"re forced to pay for abortions,"" Novak writes. However, "[n]one of the health care overhaul measures that have made it through" congressional committees "say that abortion will be covered," and "one of them explicitly says that no public funds will be used to finance the procedure," Novak writes, noting that "none of the bills call explicitly for cuts in Medicare coverage, much less rationing, under a public plan." In the blog entry, Novak examines each bill considered by Congress and how it is perceived by both sides of the abortion debate. She notes that the bills generally "leave the specifics of what medical services would be covered" to be decided by an advisory panel that would make recommendations to the HHS secretary (Novak, FactCheck.org, 7/31).Antiabortion-Rights Blog ~ "Joshua DuBois Exclusive Interview: Talking Abortion Reduction," David Brody, The Brody File: In an interview with DuBois, head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood P
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House Democrats May Skip Committee Vote, Take Bill To Floor
"House Democrats spent another day Thursday negotiating their health reform overhaul with few concrete signs of progress, heightening tensions and raising the possibility that leaders might bypass the House Energy and Commerce Committee and send the bill straight to the floor," CongressDailyAM reports. "The seven Blue Dog Coalition members on the panel emerged from a three-hour meeting with leaders and White House officials Thursday afternoon with little to say" (Hunt and House, 7/24).
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Undiagnosed Celiac Disease More Common Today Than 50 Years Ago Say US Researchers

US researchers said that undiagnosed cases of celiac disease, where the immune system has a strong adverse reaction to the protein found in wheat and other grains, appear to have increased dramatically in the last 50 years. They also found, over a 45 year follow up, that people with undiagnosed celiac disease have a nearly four-fold increased risk of premature death from any cause. The study was led by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and appears online in the July issue of the journal Gastroenterology. For the study the researchers analyzed blood samples taken from 9,133 healthy young adults from Warren Air Force Base between 1948 and 1954, and compared them to those of 12,768 more recently recruited, gender-matched individuals who were born around the same time (5,558 people) as the Air Force group, or who were of similar age (7,210 people) when they gave their blood samples. They tested the blood samples for signs of celiac disease (by first looking for tissue transglutaminase and, if abnormal, for endomysial antibodies). The researchers measured survival of the Air Force base group over 45 years, and compared the prevalence of undiagnosed celiac disease between that group and the more recently recruited one. The results showed that: *14 (0.2 per cent) of the Air Force group had undiagnosed celiac disease. *In the Air Force group, over 45 years of follow up, death from all causes was nearly 4 times greater among individuals with undiagnosed celiac disease than those whose blood samples did not show signs of the disease (hazard ratio = 3.9; while the 95 per cent confidence interval ranged from 2.0-7.5 with P *Undiagnosed celiac disease was found in 68 (0.9 per cent) of individuals with similar age at sampling and 46 (0.8 per cent) in those born around the same time. *The rate of undiagnosed celiac disease was 4.5-fold and 4-fold in these more recently sampled groups than in the Air Force group that was sampled over 50 years ago. The authors concluded that: "During 45 years of follow-up, undiagnosed [celiac disease] was associated with a nearly 4-fold increased risk of death." "The prevalence of undiagnosed [celiac disease] seems to have increased dramatically in the United States during the past 50 years," they added. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein present in wheat, rye, and barley, and other foods. The protein is mostly present in food, but is also used as an ingredient in other every day products that enter the digestive tract, such as medicines, vitamins and lip balms. The disease damages the small intestine and stops the body properly absorbing nutrients from food. There are people all over the world living with the disease, which was originally thought to be a childhood syndrome, but we now know that it is a common genetic disorder. In the US there are some 2 million people with celiac disease, or around 1 in 33 individuals. If you have a biological parent, sister, brother or child with the disease, the chances of you having it are around 1 in 22. The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet, and for most people avoiding gluten their whole life will stop the symptoms, heal any existing intestinal damage, and stop further damage, with improvements noticeable within days of starting the diet. A healed intestine can then absorb nutrients from food during digestion. If you are diagnosed with the condition you need to spend time with a dietician to learn about foods that are and aren"t safe to eat, including how to read labels and packaging so you know which foods to buy. If a person with celiac disease isn"t diagnosed early enough then because their body can"t get the nutritients it needs, they will probably develop longer term symptoms such as shorter stature and dental enamel problems. "Increased Prevalence and Mortality in Undiagnosed Celiac Disease." Alberto Rubio-Tapia, Robert A. Kyle, Edward L. Kaplan, Dwight R. Johnson, William Page, Frederick Erdtmann, Tricia L. Brantner, W. Ray Kim, Tara K. Phelps, Brian D. Lahr, Alan R. Zinsmeister, L. Joseph Melton, Joseph A. Murray. Gastroenterology, Volume 137, Issue 1, Pages 88-93 (July 2009). DOI:10.1053/j.gastro.2009.03.059 Additional National Digestive Diseases Home Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse (NDDIC). Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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