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Haringey social services could face takeover after Baby P case – The Guardian 18th November 2008
The government said last night it may send a new management team into Haringey council, to take over the running of social services in the borough where Baby P died at the hands of his mother and two men.
Sources close to Ed Balls said the step would be considered when an independent report into the state of social services in the borough reaches ministers on December 1.
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Britain has one of the best records on child deaths. One case blasted out of all proportion can undo years of good
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Letters: Misunderstandings in child protection – The Guardian 18th November 2008
am not sure whether it is hypocrisy, ignorance or indifference that allows a large proportion of the British public to scream indignation at the death of Baby P on the one hand, while at the same time victimising the next generation (Britain in danger of demonising its children, claims Barnardo’s, November 17).
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Taskforce opposes ‘presumed consent’ for organ donors – The Guardian 18th November 2008
“Presumed consent” for organ donation would risk destroying the trust that patients and their families have in doctors, a government-appointed taskforce said yesterday, unanimously rejecting a proposal which has the support of the prime minister and chief medical officer.
Gordon Brown immediately made it clear that he still supported presumed consent, which would mean that every UK citizen would be assumed to be willing to donate their organs in the event of sudden death, unless they had specifically opted out by placing their name on a register.
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Michael White: Urgent question, wrong answer – The Guardian 18th November 2008
It happens even in the best-run governments, though not very often. An independent committee tasked with providing an urgently-needed answer comes up with the wrong one, the answer officials didn’t expect.
It happened last year on the reclassification of cannabis and again yesterday when the organ donation taskforce reported to the health secretary, Alan Johnson, on the best way to improve the UK’s poor rate of organ transplants obtained from dead bodies.
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Editorial: A lethal shortfall – The Guardian 18th November 2008
For every three people who will benefit from an organ transplant this year, a fourth will die while waiting for a match to become available. More than 7,000 will simply wait, enduring another year of painfully restricted life. Put brutally, not enough people are dying who have healthy organs that they or their families are willing to donate. Earlier this year, the government’s Organ Donation Taskforce recommended improvements in the way organ donation is managed. They will be fully implemented, and in five years’ time should have raised transplants by 25%.
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Advocates of a presumed consent system of organ donation are ignoring the weakness of the evidence
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Organ donation: Brown says presumed consent still an option – The Guardian 17th Novemebr 2008
Taskforce advises against shift from volunteer system, but Gordon Brown says proposal may be revisited if number of donors does not rise significantly
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Useful resources: organ donation – the Guardian 18th november 2008
Further reading and organisations related to the donation debate
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FAQ: Organ transplants – The Guardian 18th November 2008
How many people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant in the UK?
At the end of March 7,655 were on the active list. Most (7,006) were waiting for a kidney; 377 were waiting for a heart and/or lungs; 259 needed a liver.
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Health warning over illegal internet tanning drug – The Guardian 18th November 2008
An unlicensed tanning drug is being sold illegally on the internet in defiance of warnings from the government’s regulatory agency that the product puts users at risk of serious side-effects.
Melanotan is a synthetic hormone developed by skin cancer researchers that has not been tested for safety, quality or effectiveness. The drug is being sold over the internet and in some tanning salons and bodybuilding gyms. It works by increasing levels of melanin, which is the body’s natural protection from the sun.
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Asylum-seeker charities are just playing the system, says Woolas – The Guardian 18th november 2008
Immigration minister Phil Woolas has attacked lawyers and charities working on behalf of asylum seekers, accusing them of undermining the law and “playing the system”. In an interview with the Guardian, Woolas described the legal professionals and NGO workers as “an industry”, and said most asylum seekers were not fleeing persecution but were economic migrants.
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Baby P: The official files – The Independent 18th November 2008
Detailed documents chronicling every tragic moment in the short and horrific life of Baby P can be revealed for the first time today.
The comprehensive file gives a hitherto-unseen insight into the transformation of the 17-month-old toddler from a healthy infant into the victim of systematic and horrific abuse which was repeatedly missed by social workers. They chart every significant day in the youngster’s life from birth to death.
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With slightly unfortunate timing, that great annual carnival of caring and tears, Children in Need night, has been followed in short order by a survey revealing that the British have distinctly ambivalent feelings towards children.
Commissioned by the Barnardo’s charity, the opinion poll recorded that almost half of those questioned believed the nation’s children were an increasing threat to each other and to adults while, even more bizarrely, 43 per cent felt that grown-ups needed more protection from the young. The amount of crime ascribed to children was four times higher than the true figure.
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PM defiant on automatic organ donation – The Independent 18th november 2008
Gordon Brown said he was still prepared to push ahead with new rules presuming people are happy to donate organs after death, despite the plans being rejected yesterday by an expert task force he appointed. The Prime Minister is backing a change in the law to assume patients have given automatic “presumed consent” for their body parts to be used after their death, unless they decide to opt out.
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Why are we asking this now?
Yesterday the Government accepted a report from a group of expert medical advisers which recommended against Britain adopting an “opt-out” system of organ donation, to boost transplant rates. Although widely trailed in advance, the decision is a surprise because an opt-out system has received vigorous backing from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Chief Medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, as well as other organisations such as the British Medical Association.
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Doctors warn against use of Melanotan to top up tans – The Independent 18th Novemeber 2008
Health officials have warned the public not to inject a synthetic hormone, which is sold illegally online, to artificially top up their tans.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates medicines and ensures they are safe to use, said more and more British people have begun using Melanotan, a synthetic hormone that encourages the body to produce melanin, the body’s natural protection from the sun, which also darkens the skin.
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Brown shelves change in organ donor law – The Independent 17th Novemebr 2008
Plans for a new opt-out system of organ donation have been shelved after experts advising the Government cast doubt on whether it would work.
Gordon Brown said he was willing to try out the recommendations of the Organ Donation Taskforce, which call for improvements to be made without a change in the law.
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Scientists in bowel cancer breakthrough – The Independent 17th November 2008
Scientists have established how bowel cancer turns aggressive, leading the way for potential new drug treatments, it has been revealed.
Researchers in Cardiff and Glasgow are behind a study which showed how a particular protein stimulates tumours, making them more likely to spread.
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Get tough with social workers, police told after Baby P tragedy – The Times 18th November 2008
Police have ordered officers working with child abuse cases to take a much tougher line with social workers after the death of Baby P.
As relations between police and social services continued to deteriorate, ministers indicated yesterday that they were preparing to send a task force to take over Haringey social services because of the “systemic” failures that led to the death of Baby P.
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Baby P’s fall from health to death – The Times 18th November 2008
A dossier emerged yesterday revealing every tragic moment in the short life of Baby P. Shown to the jury at the trial of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger, it details 78 times when Baby P was seen by social workers, health visitors and doctors in Haringey, North London.
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Gordon Brown has refused to rule out a change in the law that may see everyone considered as a potential organ donor, despite the recommendations of his advisers yesterday.
The opt-out system of organ donation should not be introduced as it could undermine patients’ confidence in medical care, the UK Organ Donation Taskforce said.
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Transplant family find consolation in 40 people their son helped – The Times 18th November 2008
Daniel Harrison was a promising young rugby player whose dreams of studying Russian at university were tragically ended when he was killed in a car crash last year at the age of 17. At the Royal Bolton Hospital he is recalled for his contribution after his death: 40 people have benefited from his tissue being donated.
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The dreadful death of Baby P has become, like the murder of James Bulger a generation ago, a moment of national introspection and breast-beating. How could it happen? Why was nothing done?
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The social worker with direct responsibility for Baby P’s welfare was dealing with 50 per cent more child protection cases than the supposed maximum, it has been claimed.
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How old is old enough to decide whether to live or die? – The Telegraph 17th November 2008
Jacqui Grove wavered only once. For a fleeting second, she agonised. ”Should we be trying every single thing, anything that might produce a miracle and save Josie’s life?” she asked herself.
Before her on the table sat yet another letter from a well-meaning stranger. In it the author, who had read of Jacqui’s daughter’s decision to refuse further medical treatment, leave hospital and go home to her family to die, urged her to talk Josie into changing her mind, to try yet one more form of untested alternative medicine.
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Scotland Yard was dragged into the Baby P abuse row yesterday over claims that its detectives ignored warnings about the vulnerable child.
Police and social workers were alerted eight months before the toddler’s death that his mother was seeing a new man, but failed to investigate his background, BBC documentary Panorama has claimed.
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Emergency ‘hit squad’ plans to take over Haringey social services – Daily Mail 18th November 2008
An emergency ‘hit squad’ is likely to take over the running of Haringey social services.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls is expected to install new bosses in the crisis-hit department when an urgent inquiry is completed into Baby P’s death.
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A damning dossier cataloguing Baby P’s full medical history from the cradle to the grave lays bare the true scale of the failure to protect him.
It starkly illustrates the extraordinary level of contact between the toddler and medical staff, social services and police.
In sober official language, it highlights their devastating failure to spot a series of warning signs and sets out how his medical complaints escalated from a series of minor childhood infections to appalling deliberately-inflicted injuries including a broken back.
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Gordon Brown may force through ‘presumed consent’ for organ donation even after it was rejected by an independent panel of scientists.
The Prime Minister has vowed to look again at changing the law on organ donation so everyone is automatically a donor except those who ‘opt out’.
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The nurse passed the scanner over my screaming baby’s head and asked me: ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘Since birth,’ I told her, wondering why on earth she was scanning his head when his problems appeared to be in his tummy.
She gently explained that she was looking for cysts or tumours in the brain – a possible explanation for why my baby was screaming in agony for almost 24 hours a day.
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Every year, 30,000 Britons undergo knee replacement surgery. Mark Evans, 50, from Penarth, South Wales, underwent a different procedure. Here, Mark, a widower, with two children aged 14 and 11, talks to Isla Whitcroft about his experience and the surgeon explains the technique.
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They say that lightning never strikes twice – but one couple are coping with double-double trouble after they had their second set of twins in less than three years.
When Adel and Blane Pearson discovered they were having twins three years ago, they thought it was a fantastic surprise. But the couple were stunned when Adel fell pregnant a second time – and learned she was again expecting twins.
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Two years ago, I had six gallstones and my gallbladder removed – all successfully. But I can’t help wondering, now I don’t have a gallbladder, where is all the bile going? Is it building up inside me?
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Thought meningitis only struck children? Read on… – Daily Mail 18th November 2008
Eighteen months ago Dee Waterton was feeling the healthiest she’d ever been.
The 55-year-old from Wendover, Buckinghamshire, had just run a half-marathon and given up her job as a GP’s receptionist to work as a nail technician.
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Sophie Drury always wanted a baby of her own. So immediately after their wedding in June 1999, she and her husband, Rob, decided to start a family.
‘It was hugely important to her – and to me, too, despite our young age,’ says Rob, 38, a manager of a pharmaceutical company.
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When factory manager Tony Kitchen had an accident at work, there was no doubt he’d been seriously hurt. But he didn’t expect surgery to make his condition worse.
Tony had been standing on a pile of packing boxes when a forklift truck smashed into it. He fell 20ft to the ground.
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We have been told to take more of it, and there’s strong evidence that Omega 3 really is crucial for our brains, hearts and immune systems.
We don’t need any more convincing, it seems – keen to improve our brainpower, we now spend £60million a year on Omega 3 pills.
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A baby monitor that tells WHY he’s crying – Daily Mail 17th November 2008
A new device could help parents solve the mystery of why their baby is crying, by revealing how different sounds express different moods and reasons for distress.
Understanding why babies cry in order to calm them down and give them what they need is one of the hardest tasks for new parents.
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Joan Rivers joins battle against osteoporosis – Daily Mail 17th November 2008
Comedienne Joan Rivers finds it difficult to be serious, especially when it comes to her famously nipped and tucked body, but her bones are rarely a laughing matter.
In 2002, at the age of 64, she learned she was suffering from the brittle bone disease, osteoporosis.
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Are your children fussy eaters? Try Annabel Karmel’s world recipes – Daily Mail 17th November 2008
One of Britain’s leading experts on children’s food is launching a new range of recipes for children, inspired by cuisines from around the world.
From Indian Chicken Tikka Masala to Chinese-inspired Chicken & Vegetable Noodles, Annabel Karmel’s tested her dishes on a host of youngsters.
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Stomach ache? It could be varicose veins in your tummy – Daily Mail 17th November 2008
Although Imogen Tyler rarely complained about her health, after her second child was born she suffered from a persistent stomach ache.
‘I was so thrilled to have Bella, my daughter,’ says the 37-year-old university lecturer from Lancaster.
‘I just accepted my aches and pains as normal and believed things would get better.’
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A doctor killed an elderly patient when she ignored instructions that he was allergic to penicillin and insisted he took the drug, a court has heard.
Dr Mitra Nikkhah is accused of manslaughter through gross negligence after David Townsend went into anaphylactic shock and died after taking medication she had prescribed.
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Jane Clarke: Oh, you are offal… but I love you! – Daily Mail 17th November 2008
Every Tuesday, Britain’s leading nutritionist explains how to eat your way to health. This week Jane explains the many health benefits of offal…
A report last week said that sales have soared – up by 67 per cent since 2003, to W67 million a year.
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Drug-resistant ward bug concern – BBC Health News 18th November 2008
Hospitals need to be vigilant against an emerging drug-resistant bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, infection control experts have warned.
Like MRSA and Clostridium difficile, the bacterium poses the greatest risk to seriously ill patients.
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Pupils targeted in superbug fight – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
Schools are being urged to teach pupils about infection control as experts step up the fight against superbugs.
The Health Protection Agency’s e-Bug teaching resource uses interactive games and lesson handouts to explain the need for prudent antibiotic use.
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Motor neurone disease clue found – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
Scientists have identified a molecule which could be key to understanding the cause of motor neurone disease (MND) and other neurodegenerative disorders.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study raise the hope of new treatments being developed.
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Unlicensed tanning drug use rises – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
A growing number of people in the UK are injecting themselves with an unlicensed tanning drug, a BBC investigation has found.
Melanotan is still undergoing clinical trials but is sold illegally online and in salons and gyms, Newsbeat reports.
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GP denies killing allergy patient – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
A former Devon GP charged with killing an elderly patient has denied she knew he was allergic to penicillin.
Dr Mitra Nikkhah, 41, who is now based in Dubai, denies manslaughter through gross negligence following the death of David Townsend in Plymouth in May 2006.
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More Britons seeking suicide help – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
The UK has the third highest number of people registered with the Swiss suicide charity Dignitas, a BBC investigation has found.
The number of Britons on the group’s list has risen to 725, behind only Switzerland and Germany, 5live found.
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‘Dear Noel, is life really not worth living?’ – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
Paralysed after being attacked by neo-Nazis, Noel Martin is planning a trip to Switzerland to commit suicide. Here, disabled broadcaster Liz Carr, who met Noel for a BBC Radio 5 Live report, writes an open letter urging him to think again.
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Trial to boost transplant success – BBC Health News 17th November 2008
A Cambridgeshire company has developed a machine which could improve heart donor success rates by 75%.
In the UK last year only 135 of 500 hearts recommended for transplants were still usable by the time they reached the operating table due to drug levels.
Posted by: western4uk | November 18, 2008
UK Health News 11/18/2008
Posted in Mass Media
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