German hospitals swamped with E.coli victims

A sign at a restaurant in Luebeck, June 4, 2011, reads: “For precaution, we don’t serve cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce”


German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said today, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Hospitals in the northern port of Hamburg, epicentre of the outbreak that began three weeks ago, have been moving out patients with less serious illnesses to handle the surge of people stricken by a rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria.

“We’re facing a tense situation with patient care,” Bahr told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper today. He said hospitals outside Hamburg could be used to make up for “insufficient capacity” in Germany’s second-largest city.

Authorities in Germany are racing to track down the source of the pathogen, which has infected people in 12 countries — all of whom had been travelling in northern Germany.

Officials believe people were made ill by eating lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers or other raw salad vegetables in Germany.

Scientists suspect the source of the contamination may have been poor hygiene at a farm, in transit, or in a shop or food outlet.

Special Report: Inside Germany’s E.coli hunt

German Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner talks to the media as she arrives at an European Agriculture Ministers emergency meeting in Luxembourg June 7, 2011. European Union farm ministers will try on Tuesday to agree financial aid for fruit and vegetable producers whose sales have been hit by an E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 people in Europe.


Even if Germany finds the source of the E.coli outbreak that has infected thousands of people since early May, it may be too late for Erika.

The 66-year-old chain smokes in the grounds of a Hamburg hospital as she waits to learn if an apparently healthy salad has given her a rare and deadly disease.

“I had prepared a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes,” recalls Erika, whose husband died late last year and who asked not to be identified by her full name because the symptoms she has developed are embarrassing. “I peeled the cucumbers but I did not wash them first.”

Female Chinese students resort to eating roundworm eggs to ensure they look thin for job interviews

Bad diet: Chinese students have been swallowing roundworm eggs which hatch in the stomach. It can cause severe health problems

Female students in China have been eating roundworm eggs to lose weight for job interviews - because employment is so hard to come by.

They hatch in the stomach, allowing those who take them to shed pounds without exercising or dieting in the Xiamen, China.

But swallowing the worms is extremely dangerous - and definitely not to be recommended for those wanting to shed the pounds in the New Year.

With jobs shortages across the country, women in China are under pressure to appear thin if they are to have any chance of landing a role.

Employment stands at 22 per cent - and the size of the labour pool has grown by 112 million people over the last decade to more than one billion people.

Other students are staring at pictures for hours on end to suppress their appetite so they can shed excess weight.

CPR switch: Chest presses first, then give breaths

New guidelines out Monday switch up the steps for CPR, telling rescuers to start with hard, fast chest presses before giving mouth-to-mouth.

The change puts "the simplest step first" for traditional CPR, said Dr. Michael Sayre, co-author of the guidelines issued by the American Heart Association.

In recent years, CPR guidance has been revised to put more emphasis on chest pushes for sudden cardiac arrest. In 2008, the heart group said untrained bystanders or those unwilling to do rescue breaths could do hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive or a defibrillator is used to restore a normal heart beat.

Now, the group says everyone from professionals to bystanders who use standard CPR should begin with chest compressions instead of opening the victim's airway and breathing into their mouth first.

The change ditches the old ABC training - airway-breathing-compressions. That called for rescuers to give two breaths first, then alternate with 30 presses.

Sayre said that approach took time and delayed chest presses, which keep the blood circulating.

Las Vegas hotel guests left with severe burns from 'death ray' caused by building's design

Guests at a new hotel in Las Vegas have complained of receiving severe burns from a 'death ray' of sunlight caused by the unique design of the building.

Due to the concave shape of the Vdara hotel, the strong Nevada sun reflects off its all-glass front and directly onto sections of the swimming pool area below.

The result has left some guests with burns from the powerful rays and even plastic bags have been recorded as melting in the heat.
Chicago attorney Bill Pintas felt the power of the dangerous ray first hand last week.


'It felt like I had a chemical burn. I couldn't imagine why my head was burning,' he said.

'Within 30 seconds, the back of my legs were burning. My first though was, 'Jesus, they destroyed the ozone layer!'

Death ray: Guests at the Vdara hotel in Las Vegas have complained of receiving severe burns from the intense spot of sunlight reflected off the building

Rockers blasted over Indonesia tobacco deal

Australian, British and US rock bands including The Smashing Pumpkins and Stereophonics have been urged to withdraw from a music festival in Indonesia because of its tobacco sponsorship.

Anti-tobacco activists and health experts from Australia, the United States and Wales have expressed their concern that the bands' actions will encourage youths to smoke in a country with high and rising addiction rates.

The country of some 240 million people is one of the last lightly-regulated major tobacco markets in the world and is paying the price in terms of growing rates of addiction, especially among women and children.



Cigarette consumption in Indonesia soared 47 percent in the 1990s, according to the World Health Organisation

Obesity surgery ‘could save UK millions’

Providing surgical treatment for people who are morbidly obese could save British taxpayer-funded health services and the wider economy hundreds of millions of pounds a year, leading surgeons said today.

In an economic impact assessment of obesity surgery, the Royal College of Surgeons and the National Obesity Forum said the financial toll of unemployment, welfare payments, hospital costs and prescriptions caused by obesity could be cut drastically if more patients had weight-loss surgery.

A man walks past the New York Stock Exchange after trading hours in New York

Were Afghan schoolgirls who collapsed in classroom the victims of Taliban nerve gas attack?

Blood samples taken from Afghan schoolgirls who collapsed in an apparent mass poisoning showed traces of toxic chemicals found in nerve gas, the Health Ministry said today.

Suspicion has fallen on the Taliban, the hard-line Islamist militia that opposes education for women and prohibited girls from going to school before it was ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Poisonous levels of organophosphates were found in samples taken from girls who became sick in incidents over the last two years, ministry spokesman Dr Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said.

Poisoned: Suspicion has fallen on the Taliban after traces of toxic chemicals found in nerve gas was found in the schoolgirls' blood

Moscow bans night-time vodka sales in health drive

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Moscow banned night-time sales of vodka and other spirits today, part of a nationwide drive to curb crime and disease linked with Russia’s national drink.

The ban is among a series of tough measures to reduce alcohol abuse ordered last year by President Dmitry Medvedev as part of a fight to slow Russia’s persistent population decline. He called alcoholism a “national disaster” that undermines public health and hampers the economy.

A ban on retail sales of drinks with alcohol content of more than 15 per cent between 10 pm and 10 am came into force on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Moscow City Hall’s retail department said. Bars and restaurants are not affected.

Almost a quarter of Republicans think Obama 'may be the Antichrist' as 14 states sue over healthcare reforms

Just another boys' club: Barack Obama, centre on the phone, is surrounded by male aides at the White House as they plot healthcare reform this week in a new image released today. The President has been compared to the Antichrist

'A big f****** deal': Mr Biden (second left) gaffed as the president signed the historic healthcare reform bill

Americans who suggest Barack Obama should rot in hell are apparently deadly serious.

Nearly a quarter of Republicans believe the Democrat president 'may be the Antichrist', according to a survey.

An even greater number compared him to Hitler.
Mr Obama was jubilant this week after securing his £626billion healthcare reform plan.

But his triumph seems only to have inflamed his critics among the evangelical Christians from America's heartland who kept George Bush in power for eight years and have demonised his successor.
More than half of the Republicans quizzed by Harris Poll, 57 per cent, believed the president was secretly Muslim, something he has consistently denied.

And 67 per cent of Republicans who responded believed Obama was a socialist, despite his central leanings.

The startling results came as lawyers representing 14 U.S. states filed lawsuits yesterday challenging an overhaul of the country's $2.5trillion healthcare system, minutes after President Barack Obama signed the landmark legislation.

One joint lawsuit by a dozen Republican attorneys general and a Democrat claims the sweeping reforms violate state-government rights in the U.S. Constitution and will force massive new spending on hard-pressed state governments.

Virginia went to court separately, while Missouri Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder said he would like to join the suit.
The joint suit, led by Florida, was filed with a federal court in Pensacola, according to the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.

In addition to McCollum, the Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington joined the suit.

The lawsuit says the law - which expands government health plans for the poor, imposes new taxes on the wealthy and requires insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions - violates the Constitution's commerce clause by requiring nearly all Americans to buy health insurance.

Mr McCollum said: 'It forces people to do something - in the sense of buying a healthcare policy or paying a penalty, a tax or a fine - that simply the Constitution does not allow Congress to do.'

Mr McCollum, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for Florida governor, said the healthcare reforms would add $1.6billion to Florida's spending on the Medicaid health program for the poor.

The Justice Department, which is responsible for defending U.S. law in court, pledged to vigorously fight any challenges to the new healthcare law.

'We are confident that this statute is constitutional and we will prevail,' said Justice spokesman Charles Miller.

The White House agreed the suits would fail.

'There have been hearings about the constitutionality of the law, and I think there's pretty much widespread agreement that it is constitutional,' Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said.

'I think we have governors who might be aiming for higher office who are starting to just send a message.'

The suits were filed just moments after Mr Obama signed the healthcare reforms into law.

But on the most historic occasion of his presidency so far, vice-president Joe Biden managed to put his foot in it.

Gaffe-prone Mr Biden inadvertently broadcast the F-word to America after he introduced the President to sign his much vaunted health reform bill into law yesterday.

After hugging Mr Obama at a a ceremony in the White House, Mr Biden leaned in and whispered in the President's ear: 'This is a big f****** deal.'

The remark was caught on microphones recording the event that was shown live across the country. By last night, the clip was being replayed all over the internet.

White House aides seemed to be unembarrassed, with press secretary Robert Gibbs later tweeting: 'Yes, Mr Vice-President, you're right.'

Indonesia's reaction to Obama's postponed trip? It's OK -As Obama tackle the health bill issue at home.

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A trip to Asia must wait as President Barack Obama’s sweeping $940 billion health care reform plan heads for a long—awaited vote this weekend.

As Mr. Obama played host to a procession of Democrats still wavering over the health care programme, the Democrats received one last boost: a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report that said health care reform would trim federal deficits by an estimated $138 billion over the next decade.

Mr. Obama then postponed his Asia trip for a second time to ensure he was in Washington for the final push. He assured the people of Indonesia that he is still looking forward to visiting his former home once the health care debate is resolved. In an interview airing on Friday on RCTI, Indonesia’s largest commercial television network, Mr. Obama said it made sense to wait until June so that he and his family are not rushed when they visit Indonesia, where he lived for four years as a child.

Mr. Obama has put his presidency on the line to gain passage of his top domestic priority, in the face of Republicans who say the plan is a government—takeover of health care that will lead to higher deficits and taxes. One Republican has said it could prove to be the president’s Waterloo if the drive collapses.

The health care reform programme would affect nearly every American and remake one—sixth of the U.S. economy. For the first time, Americans would be required to have health insurance.

Democrats set a Sunday showdown in the House, and while Pelosi and others expressed confidence about the outcome, Mr. Obama’s decision to delay the Asia trip was a confession that the votes were not yet secured.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the total 10—year cost of expanding coverage at $940 billion. The analysts said the legislation would reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over its first 10 years, and continue to drive down the red ink thereafter. Democratic leaders said the deficit would be cut $1.2 trillion in the second decade - and Mr. Obama called it the biggest reduction since the 1990s, when President Bill Clinton put the federal budget on a path to surplus.

Beginning in 2014, most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, and face penalties if they refused. Millions of families with incomes up to $88,000 a year would receive government help to defray their costs. Large businesses would face fines if they did not offer good—quality coverage to their workers.

“It will make history and we will make progress by passing this legislation,” predicted the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as Democrats unveiled final alterations to a bill - 16 tumultuous months in the making - meant to expand health care to 32 million uninsured Americans, bar the insurance industry from denying coverage on the basis of pre—existing medical conditions.

As Democrats trumpeted their bill, particularly its potential reduction of the deficit, Republicans fought back.

“The American people are saying, ‘Stop’ and they’re screaming at the top of their lungs,” said House Republican leader John Boehner.

Rep. Bart Gordon, a moderate Democrat who is retiring at the end of the year, announced he would vote in favour of the bill after opposing an earlier version. That made two conversions in recent days, following liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich, with the White House and congressional leaders in search of more.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez said he agreed to vote for the health care overhaul on the understanding that Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats would begin attempts quickly to pass comprehensive immigration legislation. Within hours, Senate Democrats unveiled a bill, and the president praised it in a written statement.

For the legislation to pass, the House, despite the reservations of many Democrats, will have to endorse a bill that had been approved by the Senate last year. Then both chambers will quickly pass a package of fixes agreed to in negotiations with the White House.

The Senate would then use a procedure called reconciliation that requires only a simple majority, avoiding Republican delaying tactics. The strategy is needed because the Democrats lost their supermajority after a Republican pulled off a surprise win in a special election to take the late Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts seat in January.

Republicans have decried the Democrats’ strategy as illegitimate. Democrats counter that Republicans used such tactics when they were in power.

Democrats pare differences over health overhaul- Alleged funding of abortion cause big differences.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 12, 2010


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., left, along with Gina Owens from Seattle, Wash.,left, whose daughter, Tiffany Owens died after losing her job and health care, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill. center, and others, arrive for a health care news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 11, 2010.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 12, 2010.



President Barack Obama delayed next week's Asian trip on Friday to seize on suddenly improved prospects for his sweeping health care legislation, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi forecast final passage of the overhaul in days.

"It's going to be historic," she said as House and Senate leaders and the White House reached for final agreement on the measure.

Pelosi said it appeared a second administration priority, far-reaching changes in the student loan industry, would be added to the legislation. The measure would have the government originate assistance to needy college students, ending a system that has allowed banks and other private lenders to do so at a fee.

The change is estimated to save tens of billions of dollars over a decade, money that would be plowed back into higher Pell Grants and other student aid.

The health care legislation is designed to extend insurance to millions who lack it, while banning insurance company practices such as denying coverage to people who have been sick. Most Americans would be required to get coverage under law, and many would receive subsidies to make insurance more affordable.

Republicans are implacably opposed to the measure, which they say would amount to a government takeover of the health care system, financed by cuts to Medicare and higher taxes.

As a result, the prospect of a party-line vote on such far-reaching legislation ensures that the issue will reverberate into the fall elections for control of Congress.

At the White House, a senior administration official said Obama's scheduled trip to Indonesia, Guam and Australia will be pushed back from March 18 to March 21 and the president will return on March 26, instead of March 24. The official divulged this information on the grounds of anonymity because Obama's change in travel plans had not yet been announced.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs had insisted earlier that Congress act by March 18 — Obama's original departure date. But the White House seems to have backed off of that as Democratic leaders scurried to round up votes.

Additionally, the White House announced Obama would travel to Ohio on Monday — the third in a string of campaign-style appearances since he vowed several days ago to do everything in his power to assure enactment of his top domestic priority.

Pelosi spoke with reporters after a closed-door meeting of the Democratic rank and file, a session that she said left her feeling "very exhilarated" about the prospects of passing the legislation.

"We stand ready to stay as long as necessary" to finish it, she said. A two-week Easter break is scheduled to begin March 26.

"I think that we're at a very good place," she said, adding that a revised measure, complete with a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, will be sent to the Budget Committee and posted on the Internet within a week.

The health care bill appeared on the cusp of passage in early January, but was derailed when Senate Republicans gained the strength needed to sustain a filibuster and prevent final approval.

In the weeks since, leaders have come up with a two-part rescue strategy. It calls for the House to pass legislation that cleared the Senate in December, despite numerous objections, and for both houses to follow immediately with a second bill that makes changes to the first.

The second, fix-it bill would be drafted under rules that prevent Republicans from demanding Democrats produce a 60-vote super-majority, a threshold now beyond their reach.

House Democrats continued private meetings Friday to review elements of the still-emerging fix-it bill, but few details were immediately available.

In general, though, it would provide additional assistance to lower-income families who are unable to afford insurance, help states that already provide above-average benefits under Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor, as well as gradually close a gap in coverage under the Medicare prescription drug program.

Barack Obama should drink less alcohol and try harder to kick his smoking habit, doctors say -Obama warned by Nation of Islam leader that 'white right' will make him one-term president

Bad habits: Obama smoking with a relative in front his family's hut in Kenya, Africa. He first announced his decision to quit in 2007, in order to please his wife Michelle, while on the David Letterman Show

Occupational hazard: Obama (right) at the so-called 'Beer Summit' with (from left) Harvard Professor Henry Gates, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Police Sgt James Crowley. The summit was called after Crowley arrested Gates at his home on July 16, sparking racial tensions

Fit for duty: Barack Obama signals a thumbs-up when asked about his health as he returns to the White House after his check-up

Barack Obama should not only try harder to kick his smoking habit, his team of doctors warned, but they also recommended 'moderation of alcohol intake'.

It would seem the pressure of the U.S. presidency - and all those White House receptions - are taking their toll after the 48-year-old's first medical checkup since winning the race to the White House.

The chief executive, who has endured an exhausting first year in the White House and year-long battles with congressional Republicans, should also eat better to lower his cholesterol, but was otherwise declared in excellent health and fit for duty.

The White House physician, Navy Capt Jeffrey Kuhlman, said Obama should stick with 'moderation in alcohol intake' and ‘smoking cessation efforts’, the use of nicotine gum, and come back in August 2011 after he turns 50.

Obama's cholesterol levels have crept up to borderline high and he should alter his diet accordingly, according to a report the White House released after the 90-minute examination at the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.

While at the facility, he visited 12 military service members receiving treatment and rehabilitation for injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president is the picture of health, eats modest portions and exercises regularly. He is an avid basketball player and golfer.

The slightly elevated cholesterol levels, occasional smoking and tendinitis in his left knee were the only negatives noted.

Obama said at a June news conference that he still had an occasional cigarette. It was his first public acknowledgment that he hadn't kicked the habit.

He chews nicotine gum to avoid regular smoking, and his doctor said that should continue.
On a previous occasion he said quitting smoking didn't create 'huge withdrawal symptoms', partly because he smoked only seven or eight cigarettes a day at the most.

The then senator first announced his decision to quit in 2007, in order to please his wife Michelle, while on the David Letterman Show.

Kuhlman also said the president should modify his diet to bring his LDL, or bad cholesterol, below 130.

At the time of his last exam, Obama's total cholesterol was 173, while his LDL was 96 and HDL, or good cholesterol, was 68.

This time, total cholesterol was up to 209, with HDL down slightly at 62. LDL was up to 138. Borderline high cholesterol starts at 200, with LDL considered in the same category at 130.
In the U.S., the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that for healthy men, drinking more than four drinks on any day or 14 per week is considered 'at-risk' or 'heavy' drinking.

Last year Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
The law allows the Food and Drug Administration to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban sweet flavourings and block labels such 'low tar' and 'light.'

Tobacco companies are now also required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

The law didn't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco, but the agency is now able to regulate the contents of tobacco products, make public their ingredients and prohibit marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children.

Kuhlman said Obama's last checkup was in July 2008 when he was seen by the attending physician to Congress when Obama was an Illinois senator.

During the 2008 White House race, his campaign released a statement from his longtime Chicago doctor saying Obama was in excellent health when examined in January 2007.

Sunday's report said Obama is 6ft 1in and weighs 180lb (82kg) in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure - 105 over 62.

The doctor recommended that Obama should:

● Have another exam for colon cancer in five years

● Continue smoking cessation efforts, a daily exercise programme, a healthy diet, moderation in alcohol intake, periodic dental care and remain up to date with recommended immunisations

● Keep up a modified exercise regimen to strengthen his legs to ward off more difficulties with his knee

● Modify his diet to lower his LDL cholesterol below 130

The doctor said Obama's vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision.

The president was checked for and found free of colon cancer with a virtual colonoscopy, a scan that avoids the more invasive visual inspection with a camera device that is passed into the large intestine.

The tendinitis that Obama suffers in his left leg could be the result of his regular basketball playing.

Kuhlman said that there was mild popping and grinding in Obama's left knee and ‘some weakness’ in his left hip, also possibly a result of rigorous and extended periods on the basketball court.


Obama warned by Nation of Islam leader that 'white right' will make him one-term president



Warning: Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan (left) says the 'white right' are conspiring to make Barack Obama (right) a one-term president

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has predicted trouble ahead in Barack Obama's presidency.

The 76-year-old leader said the 'white right' was conspiring to make Obama a one-term president, and pointed to his stalled efforts to introduce health care legislation as proof.

He said those opponents and lobbyists were trapping him into a future war with Iran that could lead to mass destruction.
The word "prophet" is too cheap a word. I am a light in the midst of darkness,' Farrakhan said at the annual convention of the movement that embraces black nationalism. 'It ain't ego, it's my love for you.'

An estimated 20,000 people attended the heavily guarded Saviours' Day event at the United Centre in Chicago.

Followers - men dressed in navy uniforms and women in white skirt suits with matching hijabs - cheered on Farrakhan with shouts of 'Allahu Akbar,' Arabic for 'God is great.'

Farrakhan spent most of the fiery nearly four-hour speech recounting a 1985 vision he had in Mexico.

Farrakhan has often described how he believes he was invited aboard an unidentified flying object he calls 'the wheel' where he said he heard the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad speak to him.

He said that experience led him to inklings about future events, including the United States' 1986 bombing of Libya.

Farrakhan recounted how his divine knowledge has allowed him to recognise countless warning signs over the decades - such as natural disasters such as the earthquake in Chile - and said they indicate impending trouble, including for Obama.

Dressed in ornate robes, he addressed the president directly: 'Your people are suffering. You can't ease their plight, but you can use your bully pulpit. Speak for the poor. Speak for the weak.'

He said helping the Nation of Islam, which has worked to reform black inmates for decades, would also be an answer.

'Put some money on back of us,' he said. 'We can reform our people.'

Farrakhan has vigorously supported Obama for years and used his presidency as a call to action for blacks. That was even as Obama distanced himself from the group for Farrakhan's past comments that many considered anti-Semitic.

Supporters say Farrakhan's words are often taken out of context.

Farrakhan continued his praise of Obama on Sunday, and said the nation's first black president was manipulated into disavowing him.

He would not say if he and Obama had ever met on the issue.

'They all want to know did I ever meet with him and what did I say or what he say,' Farrakhan said. 'I ain't going there.'

Now three MORE female patients 'kept in hospital store cupboard' surrounded by blood-stained bins

Three women have told of their horror after they were shunted into a store cupboard at a leading hospital surrounded by blood-stained bins.

The outraged patients were surrounded by blood stains, bandages and electrical equipment as they were squeezed into the tiny 12ft by 16ft windowless rooms.

Two shocked MPs today called for an urgent investigation into the scandal at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital as the victims' furious families spoke of their horror.
It comes just a day after the Daily Mail revealed that an 80-year-old female patient was kept in a hospital cupboard for 48 hours.

Pensioner Doris McKeown has kept in the ‘broom cupboard’ for two days, where she was overlooked for medication and meals, awaiting emergency surgery.

In the latest case, frail Rhoda Talbot, 85, said she was forced to spend the night in the shelf-stacked space - called a 'ward treatment room' by hospital chiefs but a ‘stock cupboard’ by her family - during a recent visit.

Her family spoke out as an 80-year-old and a 35-year-old came forward with their own ordeals ahead of emergency surgeries last month and last October.Mrs Talbot, of Tunstead, near Wroxham, Norfolk, was admitted to hospital with a hair-line fracture to her spine on January 25 and spent most of her time in single or double rooms on Heydon Ward.

But the day before she was released the pensioner was moved into the ‘stock cupboard’.

Her son Rod Talbot said: ‘It was literally a store room.

‘There was shelf racking filled with stuff used to run the ward, green buckets with dirty, bloody needles in them and oxygen cylinders.’
Mr Talbot said nursing staff had apologised when he arrived at hospital to visit his sick mother on February 3 and discovered she had been moved.

The vulnerable OAP did not leave hospital until the next day. She had to spend the night in the dark, cramped space, with nurses regularly coming in to collect supplies.

When she was collected by her family the next day, Rhoda said: ‘I’m absolutely shattered. They were in and out all night.

‘Every time they came in they turned the light on.’

The hospital said Mrs Talbot had been assessed by staff and moved to the treatment room as she waited to go home.

A spokesman said: ‘As Mrs Talbot was medically fit for discharge, this meant we could admit a new patient who needed acute hospital care.’

He said while ‘ward treatment rooms’ were only appropriate for patients on a short-term basis, it was occasionally necessary to leave them there until the next morning rather than send them home in the middle of the night.

Mr Talbot said he was not angry with the nurses, who had been ‘brilliant’ throughout his mum’s treatment, but insisted she deserved a full apology for her suffering.
He now plans to write to the hospital's executive to complain.

Helen Howes, 35, complained to the ward sister during her time in a treatment room before urgent surgery on an abscess last month.

She spent time on a trolley in the surgical assessment unit before being moved to a treatment room on Dunston ward, like the one Mrs Talbot was placed in.

Ms Howes was pushed in just two hours after being given a proper bed.

She said: ‘When I got there I told the nurse I was not happy. She said ~weren~t you told this was where you would be'?~

Ms Howes said she was hemmed in by dressing packs, catheter bags and other medical supplies.

Her bag was put on a medical waste bin.

‘There were no windows and I couldn’t see any nursing staff, although I could hear them because I was next to the staff area,’ she said.

The stunned mother-of-one did not sleep all night, as nursing staff came in and out to collect equipment.Even in the night I was having my bed moved across because they needed to get to something on the left-hand side and my bed was too close for them to open the drawers,' said Ms Howes.

The following day she complained again, this time to the ward sister.

Staff agreed with her that it was not a good situation and were not happy about it themselves.

Ms Howes, of Newton St Faiths, near Norwich, said: ‘I don’t lay blame on the nursing staff.

‘They are powerless.

‘They knew it was common practice. They knew it wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last.

‘I wanted to highlight the completely unacceptable manner in which vulnerable patients, who perhaps feel too ill at the time to complain or feel they don’t have a voice to raise these issues, are treated.’

Doris McKeown, 80, had a very similar experience while waiting for emergency surgery at the same hospital.

The pensioner was stored away in a treatment room on the elderly care unit, which she labelled a ‘broom cupboard’, for 48 hours last October.

Mrs McKeown, of Bungay, near Lowestoft, Suffolk, was moved there at 2am on October 22 - a full 48 hours before an operation to treat compression of the nerves in her spine.

Her daughter Dr Helena McKeown said last night: ‘I spoke to her on a mobile phone the next morning.

‘She said she had woken up in a cupboard. I was told this was happening to a lot of people, a lot of the time.’

Dr McKeown, who is a GP in Wiltshire and chairman of the community care committee for the British Medical Association, said the walls of the room were lined with shelves piled high with catheters and other equipment.

There was also a cupboard which nurses used to store their handbags, and a chair next to Mrs McKeown’s bed had to be moved several times to allow staff to access supplies.

The family did not make a complaint at the time and were keen to stress the nurses and doctors were ‘excellent’ throughout the pensioner’s stay.

Dr McKeown, 42, added: ‘They were embarrassed and apologetic. These were staff who were making the best of the circumstances they were in.’

Hospital director of nursing Christine Baker said: ‘Our interest is in making sure all our patients get the best possible care and that their dignity and privacy is protected.

‘We carefully assess any patient’s needs before they are placed in a ward clinical treatment room.’

North Norfolk MP and Lid Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said he understood the hospital was under ‘impossible pressure’ to free up more space.

But he stressed: ‘Where you have got someone who is recovering, shoved into what looks like a stock room and being constantly disturbed, it is not an acceptable arrangement.’

Chloe Smith, Tory MP for Norwich North, said: ‘It hardly seems like the treatment frail and vulnerable people would wish to have at a hospital. I hope the hospital will consider the practice carefully.’

The Care Quality Commission, which regulates health and social care, said it had been made aware of the issue and was talking to the NNUH Trust about it.

A spokesman said: ‘We will take action if it is found that action is at all required.’

The hospital said ward treatment rooms were needed to free up beds for patients in need of more urgent care.

Spokesman Andrew Stronach described it as a ‘clinical escalation step’ which would only be used on patients who had been risk-assessed by medical staff.

It usually involved people who were deemed ‘medically fit for discharge’ and were waiting to leave.

Mr Stronach said: ‘When we have exceptionally high levels of emergency admissions, in common with other hospitals, we do care for patients in escalation areas which include the clinical treatment rooms on our wards.’

He claimed many hospitals in the UK and abroad followed the same procedure.

The hospital has 27 wards with similar rooms, which all have call bells and were described as appropriate for ‘certain patients’ on a ‘short term basis only’.

The hospital has seen a 10 per cent increase in emergency admissions which it admitted had presented ‘operational challenges’.

But it insisted the site had more beds than the two hospitals it replaced in 2001.

Mr Stronach also said that there were 102 extra beds at the site compared with this time last year.

He said there was not a shortage of beds today but patient numbers and demand on space fluctuated every day.

Mr Stronach said figures for how many people were staying in treatment rooms at the moment, and how many had been moved there so far this winter, were not available.








Vulnerable: Rhoda Talbot, 85, was put into a store room at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after surgery for a spine fracture

Cramped: The space where Doris McKeown was left overnight and kept awake by nurses who accessed the place to collect supplies

Under fire: Norfolk and Norwich Hospital said the room Mrs McKeown (below) was kept in was a treatment room, not a cupboard

'Regular problem': Doris McKeown lies in the windowless store cupboard where she spent two days before surgery

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery

Mrs Clinton had been in a meeting with President Obama when she heard her husband had been taken ill

Three Presidents: Clinton with George W. Bush and Barack Obama last month

Clinton was rushed to the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York

The world's media gather to hear about Mr Clinton's progress

The view of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital tonight, where Mr Clinton is recovering following his stent operation

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is flanked by secret service agents as arrives at the hospital to see her husband

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, seen here helping the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti on January 18, was rushed to hospital last night

Bill Clinton is today recovering after major heart surgery after being taken to hospital in New York with chest pains last night.

The fast food-loving ex-President was said to be in 'good spirits' after an emergency operation to clear a blocked coronary artery by implanting two surgical stents.

A stent is a small mesh tube inserted into a narrowed or weakened artery to support it and allow blood to flow through.
His wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left the Oval Office after a meeting with President Obama in snowbound Washington to be at her 63-year-old husband's bedside at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.

An eye witness outside the hospital said he had seen Mr Clinton being wheeled in.

'We saw eight men wheeling a gurney and when we saw closer we saw Mr Clinton with an oxygen mask on his face being wheeled into hospital,' he said.

The former President had been taken to the hospital after feeling 'discomfort', an aide said, adding: 'He knew that something was wrong. He didn't feel right. He didn't collapse, but he knew he should head to see his cardiologist right away.'

The operation was carried out by Craig Smith, the heart surgeon who performed a 2004 heart bypass on Mr Clinton.
In 2004, he had a quadruple heart bypass at the same hospital. Doctors then found four major blood vessels that supply oxygen to the heart were blocked, some by as much as 90%.

High cholesterol and a love of fast food like McDonald's hamburgers were regarded as the likely culprits.

Since the surgery, he went back to his active life, campaigning for his wife's presidential campaign and remaining heavily involved in his charity and humanitarian efforts.

It is understood that one of the bypass grafts from the 2004 operation had become obstructed, making it necessary for two stents to clear the artery.
In a statement, Mr Clinton's spokesman Douglas Band said: 'Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries.

'President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts.'

It is understood that one of the bypass grafts from the 2004 operation had become obstructed, making it necessary for two stents to clear the artery.

Health experts described the procedure as 'relatively routine'. Mr Clinton was expected to return to his home in Chappaqua in upstate New York to rest soon after the procedure.

There was speculation last night that Mr Clinton's work as a special U.S. ambassador to Haiti may have exacerbated his heart problem.


Since the surgery he had returned to his active life, campaigning for his wife's presidential bid and remaining heavily involved in his charity and humanitarian efforts.

In a statement last night, Mr Clinton's spokesman Douglas Band said: 'Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries.

'President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts.'

Mrs Clinton was expected to cancel or delay a planned diplomatic trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In 2001, shortly after his presidency ended, Mr Clinton had a cancerous growth removed from his back.

A pre-cancerous lesion was removed from his nose, and a year before that had a benign cyst taken off his chest.

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It's official, the swine flu 'pandemic' is over (shame it cost us £1billion and scared thousands witless)

The swine flu pandemic, which has cost the nation more than £1billion, was declared over yesterday.

With the number of new cases plummeting, health chiefs announced the 24-hour flu helpline will close down next Thursday.

Critics said the seven-month outbreak had been mishandled by ministers and health officials, who had made a flawed assessment of the threat.

Swine flu has killed 411 Britons, with 124 more still in hospital - yet the 5,000 cases a week are far below the average for seasonal flu.

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson had warned the pandemic might claim 65,000 lives and Health Secretary Andy Burnham said 100,000 could be struck down with the disease every day.

Total cases stand at 800,000 so far. Around the world, an estimated 14,000 deaths have been reported - a fraction of the number dying each year from ordinary flu.

The Government is thought to have ordered tens of millions of doses of vaccine.

So far only 4.25million have been administered to priority groups in England.
Sir Liam is still urging the vulnerable to have the jabs.

He insists the vast cost of tackling the pandemic has been justified, from the £1billion cost of vaccines and antivirals to the £10.4million spent on publicity.

The National Pandemic Flu Service, which cost a further £13.5million to run, allowed patients to bypass their GP and collect antiviral drugs after a telephone assessment.
Launched in July last year and employing 1,500 call centre staff, it led to 1.1million courses of antivirals being administered to patients - many of whom never had swine flu, according to research.

Anyone suspecting they have swine flu can still get antiviral drugs from their GP, while those in at-risk groups, including children under five, can receive a vaccination.

Sir Liam said: 'When the virus returns I would very much like to see young children already protected.

'From now on, most deaths from the pandemic flu virus should be regarded as potentially preventable.'

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: 'Our priority remains to vaccinate those most at risk from swine flu, as people are still in hospital from the virus.

'This is the first time we have had a vaccine to protect people while a pandemic virus has been circulating, so it has undoubtedly helped us save lives.'

However, the bumper revenues being reported by vaccine manufacturers - £4billion in windfall profits is predicted - have led to claims that the World Health Organisation fell under the influence of the industry when it declared a pandemic last June.

Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers' Alliance said: 'The Government's reaction to swine flu has proved to be excessive and poorly managed.

'It beggars belief that they could have signed so many massive contracts with such a flawed assessment of the threat.'

But John Oxford, professor of virology at Bart's and The London Hospital, defended the flu strategy.

'Swine flu is behaving in a classic Darwinian fashion - the survival of the fittest - and has already displaced 98 per cent of the other flu viruses,' he said.

'My worry is that when it gets into the elderly next year, we could see many more deaths.

'We should be proud that Britain responded in a way that prevented many more cases and deaths.'












Over at last: The National Pandemic Flu Service will be stood down

Drug firms 'drove swine flu pandemic warning to recoup £billions spent on research'

Pandemic status: Students quarantined in China chat with a health worker in Beijing

Drug companies manipulated the World Health Organisation into downgrading its definition of a pandemic so they could cash in on a swine flu outbreak, it is claimed.

An inquiry heard yesterday that the WHO allegedly softened its criteria for declaring a H1N1 flu pandemic last spring - just weeks before announcing there was a worldwide outbreak.

Critics said the decision was driven by pharmaceutical companies desperate to recoup the billions of pounds they had invested in researching and developing pandemic vaccines after the bird flu scares in 2006 and 2007.
As a result, millions of people have been vaccinated against a mild illness, and money that could have been used to prevent and treat major killers such as heart disease has been squandered.

The claims, which emerged during the first of several Council of Europe hearings into the handling of the swine flu pandemic, were strongly rejected by the WHO.
Following the organisation's declaration of a pandemic, the Department of Health warned of 65,000 deaths, set up a special advice line and website, and suspended normal rules so anti-flu drugs could be given without prescription.

But with just 250 or so deaths in Britain and 14,000 worldwide, the WHO is being asked to account for its actions.

The Government is now trying to off-load millions of jabs it ordered at the height of the scare. Sources say it is even considering giving some doses away for free.

Wolfgang Wodarg, former head of health at the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based 'senate'

responsible for the European Court of Human Rights, said vaccine contracts were put in place in 2007, when it was feared the more lethal bird flu virus would mutate into human form.

Drug companies, which spent up to £2.5billion developing a vaccine, then pushed their interests within the WHO, leading to the definition of a pandemic being softened and an outbreak declared.

He told the hearing: 'It was stated in panic- stricken terms that this was a flu that could threaten humanity and a great number of humans could fall ill.

'This is why billions of dollars of medications were bought.

Dr Wodarg, an expert on the spread of disease, said that the change in definition made it possible for a worldwide pandemic to be declared and for the pharmaceutical companies to cash in.

Also giving evidence, Professor Ulrich Keil, a WHO adviser on heart disease, said the decision had led to a 'gigantic misallocation' of health budgets.

'We know the great killers are hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol, high body mass index, physical inactivity and low fruit and vegetable intake,' he said.

'In spite of all these facts, governments instead wasted huge amounts of money by investing in pandemic scenarios whose evidence base is weak.'

But Dr Kieji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu expert, rejected the allegations. 'We do not wait until (these global virus outbreaks) have developed and we see that lots of people are dying,' he said.

'What we try to do is take preventive actions. Our purpose is to try to provide guidance, to reduce harm.'

Russia declares war on alcoholism

Russia's government has launched a crusade against alcohol abuse, describing it as a "national disaster" and aiming to halve consumption by 2020 and root out illegal production and sales.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has approved a national plan that envisions criminal punishment for illegal production and sale of alcohol, restrictions on advertising, and efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle, the government said on its website on Wednesday.

Alcohol consumption in Russia began growing in the 1970s and surged after the Soviet breakup in the 1990s as Russians struggled to adapt to economic change, health experts said. Alcoholism has taken a heavy toll on Russians' health, fueling high levels of mortality, above all among working-age men.

Men in Russia have an average life expectancy of just 60 years, well below that of Western European countries where men have an average life span of 77 years, according to the World Health Organization.

"Alcohol consumption per capita is currently about 18 liters a year," which is double the critical norm set by WHO, the document's authors wrote, adding that much of the alcohol consumed was either homemade or non-beverage alcohols, such as perfume.

Official statistics in Russia show more than 23,000 people die of alcohol poisoning annually, while another 75,000 die of alcohol-related diseases. Russia's Public Chamber put the death toll taken by diseases, crimes and accidents due to alcohol at some 500,000 people last year.

Authorities plan drastic cuts and possibly a total ban on alcohol advertising, including for low-alcohol drinks that target young people. The health ministry was earlier reported to be mulling a ban on movie scenes involving alcohol.

As part of the campaign, Russia introduced on January 1 a minimum price of vodka in an effort to fight counterfeit alcohol production in the country.

The Russian government's earlier measures to tackle the health challenges related to alcohol included restrictions in 2006 on the sale of non-beverage alcohols.

The last Russian leader to try to cut alcohol consumption was Mikhail Gorbachev, who in May 1985 attempted to put an end to the rampant alcoholism that was already taking its toll on the Soviet Union's economy and health system.

His efforts were ultimately unsuccessful - the illicit production of moonshine, known as "samogon," rocketed, accompanied by a sudden rise in sales of medicinal and industrial spirits. The never-popular policy was later quietly dropped.

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Get own Brewer(Make own Alcohol here

 

 

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