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12/04/2008 St. Petersburg Times
The Tampa Bay metro area has been ranked the most dangerous place in the country for teen drivers between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, according to a review of federal statistics. Jacksonville and Orlando-Kissimmee were listed as having the second- and third-worst fatality rates. Here's how other areas ranked. 
 12/4/2008 © Miami Herald
Two years ago, in a case filed by a Miami Beach physician in 1994, the Florida Supreme Court threw out a class-action award of $145 billion against tobacco companies, saying all 8,000 suits had to be judged separately. At the opening of the first trial Wednesday, a Philip Morris lawyer said the late Stuart Hess, a locksmith who died at age 55 of lung cancer, could have stopped smoking if he had really wanted to.
12/04/2008 © Miami Herald
Emily Rivera suffers from Moebius syndrome, a rare condition that paralyzes the muscles of her face and eyes -- she can't smile or even blink. But a Toronto surgeon called "Dr. Smile" might be able to fix it, if Emily's impoverished teen-age mother can only find a way to make it happen.
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| Tanner |
12/04/2008 © Bradenton Herald
Deborah Tanner, who has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, said she tried to poison her husband with painkillers and when that didn't work, stabbed him several times in the neck, according to a sheriff's report released Wednesday. Her 79-year-old husband, who has Alzheimer’s disease and congestive heart failure, is still at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, almost two months after the attack. Tanner, who is in jail on $1 million bond, told investigators she "could not take it anymore."
12/04/2008 © Miami Herald
Trauma surgeons at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial could talk and listen to injured soldiers and staff at field hospitals in Iraq, 11,000 miles away, within a year using a robot with a TV monitor for a face. ''This is an incredible piece of technology,'' said Dr. Jeffrey Augenstein, director of the Ryder Trauma Center. ``It's OnStar on steroids.''
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| Mayo |
12/04/2008 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Columnist Michael Mayo writes: While the financial industry and auto giants look for bailouts, there's little help for ordinary citizens. Ned Mandel, whose bouts with Crohn's Disease wrecked his finances, says he doesn't want a bailout. He just wants a break from high credit card interest, which is now running 31.99 percent. He's working as a shoe salesman, living with his mother, trying to pay off outstanding debt, but the company won't give him a break.
12/04/2008 © St. Petersburg Times
One of Florida's largest commercial health insurers and the major hospital network in Tampa Bay have not reached agreement on a contract for next year, throwing thousands of patients in limbo. If BayCare Health System does not remain an Aetna contractor, Pinellas members would lose access to covered care at north Pinellas' major hospitals and might have to go to Tampa in emergencies.
12/04/2008 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Here we thought we were living in paradise. But a new report on the nation's health ranks Florida 45th worst among the 50 states, with our high rates of uninsured people, infectious diseases and violent crime. Here's more details on the analysis led by the American Public Health Association and United Health.
12/04/2008 © Tampa Bay Online
It's a familiar holiday scene -- children rushing toward floats in a parade to get candy or beads. It can be a dangerous game.
12/03/2008 © The Lakeland Ledger
On Friday in Tampa, the Florida Board of Medicine will consider disciplinary cases involving dozens of physicians from around the state (see agenda). One is Gerard Romain of Winter Haven, accused of improperly prescribing pain medicine via the Internet to a man who died of "acute intoxication" from the drug hydrocone. Another is Marsha Hoffman-Vaile, who formerly practiced in Lakeland; she was convicted in federal court on 89 counts of health fraud, false claims and obstruction of justice.
12/03/2008 © Palm Beach Post
Patient infections at five Palm Beach County hospitals were higher than expected in 2007, according to new information from the Agency for Health Care Administration. Statewide, 31 of 190 hospitals had higher-than-expected infection rates, and those of 38 were lower than expected. To look up infections in a particular geographic area, go to the web site.
12/03/2008 © Florida Times-Union
The 11th-hour Bush administration "right of conscience" proposal, which allows health professionals to refuse participation in procedures they deem morally objectionable, has created concerns for some in Florida who fear that it will prevent patients from receiving information about abortion, contraception, and other sensitive issues.
12/03/2008 © Tampa Tribune
Nine physicians have filed lawsuits against Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point, alleging they lost their privileges to practice there because of their race. The doctors, eight of whom listed specialties in cardiology, are of Arab, Indian or Hispanic descent, according to lawsuits filed by lawyer Barry Cohen.
12/03/2008 © St. Petersburg Times
A recent study has found that women pay significantly higher premiums than men for identical health coverage. The price of health insurance should not depend on gender, no matter what the bean counters say.
12/3/2008 © Miami Herald
Mount Sinai Medical Center, which has been suffering financially for years is expecting an operating loss of $18.5 million this year -- twice as much as last year and expecting greater losses next year. While many hospitals are seeing growing amounts of bad debt, due primarily to patients without insurance, Mount Sinai has had the additional problem of being in Miami Beach, which in recent decades has gone from a senior citizen enclave to a much younger group attracted to the revival of South Beach.
12/3/2008 © News 4 Jax
The license of Lake City physician Barnie Vanzant was placed on emergency restriction last week after the deaths of two patients who took large amounts of painkillers that the doctor prescribed. One of the patients received prescriptions for 1,938 methadone pills in less than one year.
 12/2/2008 © St. Petersburg Times
Jeri Moss, 23, said she didn't get enough baby formula from the Women, Infants and Children program to stretch through the month, so she took to watering it down. That almost killed her 5-month-old son, La'Damian Burton. Health department officials said WIC is supposed to be "supplemental."
12/2/2008 © Florida Health News
The hotline that Medicaid patients must call to switch health plans when they can't get the care they need lacks sufficient operators and almost always rings busy, according to the consumer advocacy group Florida CHAIN. The group has called on state officials to stop "auto-assigning" patients to HMOs until the problem is fixed.
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| Terry |
12/02/2008 © Palm Beach Post
Neighbors on Southwest Fourth Street in Boca Raton say they know Wilbur Dean Terry, who was charged with molesting a 4-year-old girl, as kind and helpful, someone they know and trust. The girl's father, on the other hand, not so much. "Believe it or not, 90 percent of the people here are against me," said the father. Terry has been investigated at least twice previously for alleged molestation.
12/02/2008 © News JournalJoel Chandler, whose four children are home-schooled, is blanketing the state with public-records requests to school districts for the names and other personal information of everyone covered under their health insurance plans. Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, proposes a ban on releasing the personal information on employees' children.
 12/02/2008 © Florida Times-Union
Though recent studies found no support for the theory that ginkgo prevents mental loss or shows any benefit to Alzheimer's patients, herbal-supplement trade organizations and ginkgo devotees still defend the extract. The researchers may have gotten better results by testing younger subjects, one organization said.
12/02/2008 St. Petersburg Times
Mary Hite, her husband and their three children live in an efficiency apartment in a homeless shelter. But most homeless families can't be accommodated in shelters because they're designed for the traditional crowd; most admit men only, while some are havens for battered women and children and don't admit men. Families are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population, and advocates are trying to figure out what to do.
 12/02/2008 © The Tallahassee Democrat
Two Florida consumer groups say the public needs to be wary of a practice by insurers and pharmacies that increases their profits by substituting a drug that is not chemically the same as the one originally prescribed for a patient. While substitution of a generic equivalent to a brand name is an approved practice to save money, the one that drew concern is substitution of a generic that is similar, but not the same.
12/02/2008 © Orlando Sentinel
Crockett Wise had good friends, doting parents and a talent for robotics. But after a break-up with his girlfriend, he shot himself at 17. “We thought we were doing everything right, and it still happened,” his mother, Beth Wise, says. In Florida, suicide is the eighth leading cause of death, higher than the national rate, and prevention experts say it’s time to talk about it. Also, the Naples Daily News reports that deputies thwarted a Web cam suicide by a 12-year-old girl.
12/02/2008 © NBC2 Investigators
The turf battle between Naples firefighters and the Collier County EMS may be affecting patient safety. Firefighters say the rift delayed a 92-year-old woman's trip to the hospital when an ambulance was turned back on a paperwork issue.
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Studies
 If you want to be ready for the big health-reform debate next year, you've got to do your homework. The Kaiser Family Foundation has compiled primers on private insurance and public programs, including new ones on Medicare and Medicaid, at its Web site.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel provides a reminder of the importance of journalism by having toxicologists test 10 common products labeled "microwave-safe." If you read this, you'll never nuke plastic again.
The number of experienced health journalists in Florida keeps dwindling. The latest to announce a departure is St. Petersburg Times' medical
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| Greene |
writer Lisa Greene, who will take her writing skills to the communications office at USF Health in Tampa. The Times plans to fill her job from within existing staff, an editor says. Lisa's recent stories, including an impeccably documented series on vaccines, are available online. A few months ago, the Times moved reporter Kris Hundley, who had covered the health care industry in the business section for many years, to a job doing long-range projects. Florida's largest newspaper did not name a replacement.
Pinellas insurance broker John Sinibaldi, who helps small employers try to find affordable health coverage, says he laughs at the results on national  surveys of the cost of health insurance. The results don't apply in Florida, he says, where small businesses are the norm. Premium increases for his clients averaged over 20 percent for next year, he said, and deductibles are thousands of dollars. His views are posted at The Health Care Blog.
Pardon us for drawing attention to it, but we want to make sure that our thousands of readers get a chance to see the article in the New York Times on Monday that mentioned Florida Health News. Actually, Kevin Sack's  article is about Kaiser Health News, an exciting new initiative by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which already funds KaiserNetwork.org -- the kind of resource that makes us reporters wonder how we ever managed without it. The news service will be well-funded and run by first-rate journalists. We can hardly wait to see it! -- Carol Gentry, editor
Those who follow the ups and downs of Florida's Medicaid privatization project -- usually called "Reform" -- may be interested to know that its architect,
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| Levine |
Alan Levine, is rushing to get federal permission for a similar project for Louisiana before President Bush leaves office, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and others are reporting. Levine, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration under former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is now health secretary under Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Jindal received praise from the Wall Street Journal editorial board Monday for the effort.
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| Weaver |
Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver has been awarded the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association's Excellence in Public Awareness Award for a four-part series on Medicare fraud in South Florida. He wrote about how medical-equipment companies and HIV clinics across the region defrauded taxpayers out of billions of dollars and how many of the con artists fled the country.
Corporate interests that profit from the inflated and distorted health-payment system will fend off all efforts at reform unless business groups that
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| Klepper |
are paying the bills fight just as hard to counter their influence, health system commentator Brian Klepper, a Floridian, writes in The Health Care Blog. Special interests still rule Washington, he says.
We've written in the past about the "brain drain" of experienced reporters from the state capital. Now the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald announce they're merging capital bureaus next month so they can cover more topics with existing staff. We'll see. Meanwhile, a new enterprise, News Service of Florida, is generating a flood of good stories under the leadership of David Royse, formerly of Associated Press. Enjoy it now during the free trial period. The more good journalism, the better for Florida. -- Carol Gentry, Editor
Next month, at long last, we plan to unveil the newly redesigned and expanded Florida Health News site. We'll introduce Consumer's Corner, a page designed to meet the information needs of those who don't get their paycheck from the health care industry but care passionately about improving access, quality and efficiency. We'll also debut Analysis & Opinion, which will finally give us a place to post editorials, op-ed pieces, columns, and blogs about health issues, along with a daily cartoon. And we'll also have a place to display ads, so please get in touch if your organization wants a good sponsorship spot. Send me an e-mail or call 727-410-3266. -- Carol Gentry, Editor
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