Philippines Bans Kidney Transplants for Foreigners

The Philippines is banning kidney transplants for foreigners, as part of a government crackdown on a growing but illicit trade in human organs bought from the poor, officials said. The ban is expected to take effect next month. Foreigners who violate it, as well as middlemen in the transaction, can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined as much as two million pesos, or about $48,000, the health secretary, Francisco T. Duque III, said at a news conference. Foreigners who are related to Filipino citizens by blood are exempted from the ban, Mr. Duque said. Although the sale of human organs has always been illegal in the Philippines, kidney transplants have become a lucrative underground business, with hospitals classifying the kidneys as donations to evade the law, according to Amihan Abueva, the regional director in Manila of Asia Acts Against Child Trafficking, a nongovernmental group that lobbied for the ban. According to Mr. Duque, kidney transplants to foreigners increased more than 60 percent between 2002 and 2006. The social welfare department said 500 transplants were performed on foreigners last year alone.

Please click on the link below to read The New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/world/asia/30phils.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at The Citron Law Firm, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Arkansas Doctors Expanding Care Through Long-Distance Medicine

Three women dressed in colorful saris talk with Little Rock doctors from a video screen at the front of a conference room at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The women are doctors at the CARE Institute of Medical Sciences, a hospital more than 8, 700 miles away in Hyderabad, India. Each Thursday, video-conferencing technology allows them to participate in sessions on treating high-risk pregnancies hosted by Dr. Curtis Lowery, UAMS director of obstetrics. “We can have an exchange of ideas,” said Dr. V. Shanthi, an obstetrician at the private Hyderabad hospital. The health-care industry is increasingly turning to modern communications technology to bridge geographical barriers between doctors, and between patients and doctors. Telemedicine — sometimes called telehealth — can be anything from patients calling or e-mailing their doctor for advice, to a surgeon using a remote-controlled robot to operate on a patient thousands of miles away, said Devon Herrick, health economist and senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based nonprofit research group. “It’s the use of information technology to increase access to care and improve productivity,” Herrick said. St. Vincent Health System uses telemedicine technology to monitor home health patients, and Baptist Health uses it as an “extra set of eyes” to watch intensive care patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Telemedicine has tremendous potential to cut rising health- care costs and to improve access to medical care, health-care officials said. There are obstacles to extending services, such as medical licensing requirements and the United States system of paying for medical services. 

Please click on the link below to read the Arkansas Democrat Gazette article:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/224151/

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.