The Handiest Girlie Of All

Bronx New York-Brain-Damaged Woman Wins Suit Against City Hospitals

Handiest one — Sat, 26 May 2012 09:28:58 PDT

A Bronx jury awarded about $120 million on Friday to a woman who has been incapacitated since she was treated at three local hospitals in 2004. The award, by a State Supreme Court jury, was made in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Jacqueline Martin, now 45, by her mother. Ms. Martin suffered brain damage after a series of hospital visits in February 2004, the family’s lawyer, Tom Moore, said. The award is among the largest ever issued for a medical malpractice verdict in the state. The ruling allocated primary responsibility to two city hospitals: 50 percent to Jacobi Medical...

French Movie "Les Intouchables" touches global audience

Handiest one — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:30:13 PDT

"Les Intouchables,” having broken box office records in France, arrives in the United States with a faithfully translated title — “The Intouchables” — that is not quite English. American audiences looking for a suitable French name for this ingratiating comedy of cross-racial friendship might settle on “Déjà Vu,” since it is a story we have seen many times before. Though maybe not quite like this, or at least not in a while. “The Intouchables,” directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano and based on a true story, is about two men — one rich, uptight and white; the other poor,...

Katie Beckett, Who Inspired Health Reform, Dies at 34

Handiest one — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:33:14 PDT

Katie Beckett, 3, in 1981 leaving a hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with her parents after a victory over health care red tape. Katie Beckett, who was 3 years old and had been hospitalized almost since birth when President Ronald Reagan invoked her case as an example of irrational federal regulation in 1981 — a crucial moment in the movement toward government support for home health care — died on Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the hospital where she was born. She was 34, more than three times the age her doctors had predicted she would reach The cause...

Investigation on e Disabled Veterans National Foundation group

Handiest one — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:37:37 PDT

Washington (CNN) - - The Senate Finance Committee is launching an investigation to determine whether a charity intended to help disabled veterans deserves its tax-exempt status after doling out millions of dollars to a direct-mail company. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the committee, announced the investigation into the Disabled Veterans National Foundation on Wednesday. He said the committee will seek to determine whether the foundation, the subject of a two-year CNN investigation, should keep its status as a 501(c)3 charity under Internal Revenue Service guidelines. "Our veterans should never be used as pawns in a scheme to exploit the...

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny

Handiest one — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:46:09 PDT

Overview An Invisible Thread tells of the life-long friendship between a busy sales executive and a disadvantaged young boy, and how both of their lives were changed by what began as one small gesture of kindness. When Laura Schroff brushed by a young panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, something made her stop and turn back. She took the boy to lunch at the McDonald’s across the street that day. And she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both their lives had changed dramatically. Nearly thirty years later, that...

In tune, without limits

Handiest one — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:34:54 PDT

Positive psychology guru Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines his concept of “flow” as a seamless connection between body and mind. Elite athletes call it “being in the zone,” a hyper-focused mental state resulting in streamlined, streaming movements. “It’s when there is no resistance between work and what you are,” said Adrian Anantawan one morning, as he played a passage from Claude Debussy’s ethereal “Clair de Lune” in the still of Adams House’s Lower Common Room. For many top musicians, such a feeling often only comes after years of practice. For Anantawan, who was born without a right hand, developing that type of...

Experimental drug helps the brain recover from stroke -- in mice

Handiest one — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:47:39 PDT

In mouse experiments, an experimental drug helped repair damage in the brain induced by a stroke, according to a new study. Scientists have developed a “proof of concept” drug for stroke patients that helped afflicted mice recover the ability to walk normally. In laboratory experiments, the researchers also found biological evidence that the drug helped grow new neurons in the brain, according to a study published online Tuesday by the journal Stroke. An estimated 795,000 Americans have a stroke each year, according to the National Stroke Assn. in Centennial, Colo. They occur when the brain is suddenly deprived of oxygen...

Medical Documentery 200 years of Medicine

Handiest one — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:05:16 PDT

This 45-minute documentary explores three remarkable stories of medical progress that have taken place over the course of the long history of NEJM. In 1812, we had no understanding of infectious disease, surgery was unsanitary and performed without anesthesia, and cancer was unrecognized. Two centuries later, this film tells the story of research, clinical practice, and patient care, and of how we have continued to get better over the last 200 years Getting Better is a short documentary that explores three remarkable stories of medical progress: Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Surgery. The film looks at the role of researchers and clinicians, of...

Senate Passes Cuomo's Bill Creating State Agency to Police for Disabled Care

Handiest one — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:22:14 PDT

ALBANY NY The State Senate unanimously passed Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s legislation to protect developmentally disabled and mentally ill New Yorkers on Wednesday, but some high-profile advocates have been unnerved by what they perceive as flaws in the bill. Assembly Democrats have said that they intend to pass the bill, but will negotiate some changes before the legislative session ends on June 21. The centerpiece of the governor’s legislation will create a new state agency — the Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs — with prosecutorial powers, giving it authority concurrent with local district attorneys to...

Paralyzed woman gets robotic arm she controls with her mind

Handiest one — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:13:42 PDT

In a clinical trial, Cathy Hutchinson, who has been paralyzed for more than 14 years, used the BrainGate system to mentally control a robotic arm and reach for a drink. The stroke that disconnected Cathy Hutchinson’s brain from her body has kept her silent and unable to move for more than 14 years. But science is starting to change all that. Researchers have connected the 58-year-old woman’s brain to a computer that runs a robotic arm. As Hutchinson sits at a table staring at a bottled drink and imagining the robot grabbing the bottle and bringing it to her mouth,...