Free Republic

...Many of history’s greatest catastrophes arise from not taking people at their word, and, indeed, disbelieving well established patterns of behavior...

Last week, over the objections of New York State's medical society, Gov. David A. Paterson signed into law a bill - the New York Palliative Care Information Act -requiring physicians who treat patients with a terminal illness or condition to offer them or their representatives information about prognosis and options for end-of-life care, including aggressive pain management and hospice care as well as the possibilities for further life-sustaining treatment. The Medical Society of the State of New York objected, saying that the new law would intrude “unnecessarily upon the physician-patient relationship” and mandate “a legislatively designed standard of care.” The...

"When will this misery be over?" My mother uttered these words on a day when the aches and pains of old age were especially intense. Mentally I knew the answer,but I said, "I'm sorry you're uncomfortable." As I prepared to go, my mother said, "Don't leave me," so I sat and waited until she nodded off before exiting the room. Alone in my car, the tears slid down my face, and I realized that even though my mother is still alive, I'm already grieving her death. Caregiver grief is a complicated puzzle of sorrow, guilt, and longing for the day...

TOKYO — The drizzly weather didn’t dampen the excitement at the annual spring imperial party last month as the royal family strolled along Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace grounds. Mao Asada, the Olympic figure skating silver medalist, was so overwhelmed when Emperor Akihito spoke to her that she managed only to repeatedly reply “yes,” and “thank you very much.” It was a typical reaction that shows the magnetic hold the emperor and empress have over the Japanese people. Missing as usual from the festivities was Crown Princess Masako who suffers from a stress-related disorder that causes anxiety and distress and only occasionally...

Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) is a mental illness in which a person acts as if an individual he or she is "caring for" has a physical or mental illness when the person is not really sick.People with MSP have an inner need for the other person to be seen as ill or injured. People with MSP are even willing to have the patient undergo painful or risky tests and operations in order to get the sympathy and special attention given to people who are truly ill and their families. Factitious disorders are considered mental illnesses because they are associated...

4/15/2010 - TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- With his dad squarely in his sights, a 9-year-old boy pulls the trigger in the cockpit of an F-15 Eagle simulator. "Don't worry dad, I'm just going to do a practice landing," Isaac Ezell said jokingly as he searched the simulated sky for his father's jet. Isaac participated in the Tyndall Air Force Base Pilot for a Day program April 8 with the 95th Fighter Squadron staff here. Isaac suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. People with Asperger's demonstrate significant difficulties with social interaction and tend to show repetitive...

"If you are sick & tired of being sick & tired, I believe that Life Application Ministries (LAM) may be your missing link. This is a ministry based on the Word of God. It is the Word of Truth that sets people free, ALL people!" "Life Application Ministries, LAM, ministry, Word of God, word of god, Linda Lange, linda lange, six basic principles, spiritually rooted diseases, diseases and their root cause, the meeting place, healing and health in body, soul and spirit, introduction & foundation, relationship with god, spiritual roots preventing healing, blocks preventing healing, five r's to freedom, family...

A recent analysis by Roger Simon of PJTV Media maintains that Obama is showing signs of mental illness. A wide variety of commentators have observed that Obama displays severe narcissism. Obama is conceited, and he is demonstrating a serious disassociation from reality. A recent case in point was Obama's bizarre and meandering 17-minute, 2,500-word answer to the simple question about how he could justify raising taxes for ObamaCare during a recession when citizens are already overtaxed. Obama's wildly inappropriate answer left the audience stunned and led commentator Charles Krauthammer to mockingly say, "I don't know why you are so surprised....

SNIPPET: "BERLIN: The take-off of a German flight to Tokyo was delayed after two dozen Japanese tourists on board fell ill with violent stomach cramps, German police said. Shortly before take-off on Saturday afternoon, the Airbus A340 carrying some 300 passengers returned to the airport terminal in Berlin after the tourists complained of stomach pains and nausea, said a police statement." SNIPPET: "The victims also complained of vertigo, vomiting and circulation problems, according to doctors, though their lives were not thought to be in danger, said the police statement. Doctors were still trying to ascertain what had caused the sickness,...

WASHINGTON - Congress has failed ailing 9/11 responder Father Stephen Petrovich, but New Yorkers are stepping up to help the cleric, impoverished and dying from poisons he inhaled at Ground Zero. Petrovich, 58, of Huron, Ohio, spent almost two weeks in the ruins of the World Trade Center and its makeshift morgue, blessing shattered parts of human beings and ministering to rescuers. The dust damaged his lungs, leaving him disabled and reduced to hospice care in what could soon be his deathbed. He is among the thousands weighing the 9/11 settlement offer, and desperately hoping Congress will do better by...

More than one in five passengers aboard the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship that departed Charleston more than a week ago has fallen ill with a stomach disorder, so many people that the ship recruited extra medical professionals from a Caribbean island before heading back toward Charleston. The gastrointestinal affliction includes vomiting and diarrhea and seems symptomatic of norovirus, a stomach flu most commonly found in confined places, such as cruise ships, hospitals and prisons.

As news broke Wednesday night of radio show host Rush Limbaugh's hospital visit due to chest pains, many of his political counterparts on the left put down their ideological swords and wished him well on Twitter. "All best wishes to Mr. Limbaugh tonight, for a full and speedy recovery," wrote MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Mediaite's Rachel Sklar cautioned Rush's detractors: "No stooping to wishing him ill, people! (Karma.)" Salon's Joan Walsh: "I can't enjoy the news of Rush Limbaugh's illness. Is there something wrong with me? He has a family. Aren't we better than that?" And radio show host Alan Colmes...

Japan's Crown Princess Masako has said she will keep working to fight her stress problems. The 46-year-old royal - who is married to Crown Prince Naruhito - said she has been working with medical professionals to solve her illness.

Public Health (from a German Propaganda pamphlet authored by Walter Tießle). "In preserving health, National Socialism is following fundamentally new ways of thinking. In the past, one understood health care as caring for those who were ill. Enormous means were used. And in certain circles, the ill were the model of humanity, at the center of all action and thought. No one made the effort to find the roots of illness, or to consider: "How could we stop illness at its start, or at least limit it as much as possible?" The means used by National Socialism must, of course,...

I cracked up – for the first time - on June 4, 1988, three weeks short of completing my Masters degree in Psychology. Some would say I had a nervous breakdown. The psych ward doctors said it was major depression. I say that I saw just how evil my sin is in the eyes of God and it scared the hell out of me. I cracked up, broke down, and de-pressed. I cobbled together some mad reality and blew a fuse. I despaired, decompensated, detached, and derailed. I lost my mind, never to be the same again. Thanks be to...

N.Korea's Kim has 'serious' pancreas disorder: report 57 mins ago TOKYO (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is suffering from a "serious disorder" of the pancreas, a Japanese television network reported Friday, quoting a South Korean intelligence official. The 67-year-old's condition has been the focus of much speculation since he reportedly suffered a stroke last August. The TBS network reported that Kim has been resting and is being treated at his villa in the southeasten area of Wonsan by a team specialists.

Real 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' gravely ill June 12, 2009, 9:22 AM EST LONDON (AP) -- They were childhood chums. Then they drifted apart, lost touch completely, and only renewed their friendship decades later, when illness struck. Not so unusual, really. Except she is Lucy Vodden — the girl who was the inspiration for the Beatles' 1967 psychedelic classic "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" — and he is Julian Lennon, the musician son of John Lennon. They are linked together by something that happened more than 40 years ago when Julian brought home a drawing from school...

My daughter, who posts as Ellendra, has had continuing health problems. Dizziness and brain fog started in October 2008 and continues to get worse. She's seen a neurologist, who had eegs, an ekg, and an mri done, which showed nothing. A throid test came back very high, so she's now on meds for that, but there's been no improvement yet. We suspect Lyme Disease, but tests so far have come back mostly negative. She's now seeing an integrative medicine specialist in another state, and we're waiting for results of about 20 different tests. Meanwhile, she keeps getting worse. Sometimes, her...

A 13-year-old boy from Sleepy Eye and his parents are ignoring the advice of cancer specialists that the teenager undergo chemotherapy and radiation. Daniel Hauser has Hodgkin's lymphoma, considered by doctors to be one of the most curable forms of cancer. Danny, as he is known, and his parents have turned to natural therapies, such as herbs and vitamins, instead. They're scheduled to be in court Friday to defend their decision. Brown County Attorney James Olson has filed a petition accusing Daniel's parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser, of child neglect and endangerment. Olson is asking a judge to order the...

7. Electric People According to British paranormalist Hilary Evans, some people are ‘upright human [electric] eels, capable of generating charges strong enough to knock out streetlights and electronic equipment.” Cases of electric people date back to 1786, the most famous of which is that of 14 year old Angelique Cottin, whose presence caused compass needles to gyrate wildly. To further investigate this phenomenon, Evans founded SLIDE, the Street Lamp Interference Data Exchange. Wikipedia article on this unusual phenomenon