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Surgery will have to wait for Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, who decided Wednesday he'll play this season despite two torn ligaments in his left knee.

Iraqi Army Maj. Tahseen Muallah, medical officer from Camp Habbaniyah, oversees the preparatory work done on an Iraqi Policeman who is going in for surgery to remove fragmentation. Muallah worked with Lt. Cmdr. John A. Lynott, senior orthopedic surgeon with Camp Taqaddum Surgical, 1st Supply Battalion (-) (Reinforced), 1st Marine Logistics Group, and the staff at TQ Surgical to understand their operating procedures. The two groups have been working together throughout the year, sharing their expertise in the medical field. The end goal is to get the Iraqis trained so they can operate their own medical facilities efficiently and effectively....

A British woman said she spent $15,000 to have her cat's face rebuilt after it was hit by a car and disfigured. Tanya Dickson said her cat, Hetty, was in a coma when she found him by the side of the road and veterinarians told her one of his eyes had collapsed and his nasal cavity was shunted among other injuries following the accident, The Telegraph reported Friday. Dickson said Hetty underwent a number of operations while being kept alive in an incubator and six days after his injury, he was able to meow again. She said he was eating...

NHS surgeons are to be paid bonuses based on the number of lives they save, in radical plans being drawn up by hospitals across Britain. For the first time, they will receive performance-related pay according to the results they achieve on the operating table, with levels dependent on how well patients recover. Leading surgeons said that this could deter doctors from taking on higher-risk patients, such as the frail and elderly, and from carrying out complex operations. ...Katherine Murphy, from the Patients Association, said: "Patients will be horrified. There is a real risk that the most complicated cases, and the...

A New Jersey woman has sued her orthopedic surgeon after awakening from surgery to find a temporary tattoo below her panty line. Elizabeth Mateo, of Camden County, N.J., filed her lawsuit Tuesday saying she found "a temporary tattoo of a red rose" below her panty line the morning after her surgery for a herniated disc, her attorney, Gregg A. Shivers, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "She was extremely emotionally upset by it," Shivers told the paper.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, June 19, 2008 – When she was born, doctors didn’t expect her to live a week, but a 1-year-old Iraqi girl is defying the odds. Noor Majeed smiles at the Forward Operating Base Delta medical facility in Iraq, where she received several life-saving procedures. She will undergo reconstructive surgery in Boston on June 30, 2008. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Noor Majeed overcame her initial prognosis, but without proper care, she still could die. But surgeons at Children’s Hospital in Boston have agreed to donate their services to help her, and...

PARIS — The operation in the private clinic off the Champs-Élysées involved one semicircular cut, 10 dissolving stitches and a discounted fee of $2,900. But for the patient, a 23-year-old French student of Moroccan descent from Montpellier, the 30-minute procedure represented the key to a new life: the illusion of virginity. Like an increasing number of Muslim women in Europe, she had a hymenoplasty, a restoration of her hymen, the vaginal membrane that normally breaks in the first act of intercourse. “In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt,” said the student, perched on a hospital...

PARIS: The surgery in the private clinic off the Champs-Élysées involved one semicircular cut, 10 self-dissolving stitches and a discounted fee of $2,900. But for the patient, a 23-year-old French student of Moroccan descent from Montpellier, the 30-minute procedure represented the key to a new life: the illusion of virginity. Like an increasing number of other Muslim women in Europe, she had a "hymenoplasty," a restoration of her hymen, the thin vaginal membrane that normally breaks during the first act of intercourse. "In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt," said the student, perched on a...

When Chad and Keri McCartney say their infant daughter, Macie Hope, is born again, they aren’t referring to religion — the month-old miracle baby really was born twice.

DOCTORS in Japan who carried out surgery on a man to remove a tumour had good news and bad news for him. The good news was he did not have cancer. The bad news: The growth that had been causing him pain was in fact a 25-year-old surgical towel. The patient had been carrying the cloth since 1983, when surgeons left it in him after a minor operation to treat an ulcer, a spokesman for the hospital said.

  Prayer RequestJim Robinson is having surgery tomorrow, May 15thSee the posts below for information about this procedure. Jim Update: It has been a frustrating day, I finally have a update for everyone. I called Jim at the hospital. The nurse was in his room and gave him the phone. Sheila took his cell phone to him so I will be able to contact him easier. Also they took his laptop. Due to major pain killers, he was able to sleep in the bed last night and was in bed when I called. He sounded better than he has for...

WHAT do you call a surgeon who operates without scalpels, stitching tools or a powerful headlamp to light the patient’s insides? A better doctor, according to a growing number of surgeons who prefer to hand over much of the blood-and-guts portion of their work to medical robots controlled from computer consoles. Many urologists performing prostate surgery view the precise, tremor-free movements of a robot as the best way to spare nerves crucial to bladder control and sexual potency. A robot’s ability to deftly handle small tools may lead to a less invasive procedure and faster recovery for a patient. Robots...

Incan skull surgery By Bruce BowerApril 25th, 2008 Holes in ancient skulls reflect skilled medical careHealing Hole in the HeadANCIENT SURGERY A new analysis of ancient skulls reveals skills of Incan healers in cranial cutting.Valerie AndrushkoWhen Incan healers scraped or cut a hunk of bone out of a person’s head, they meant business. Practitioners of this technique, known as trepanation, demonstrated great skill more than 500 years ago in treating warriors’ head wounds and possibly other medical problems, rarely causing infections or killing their patients, two anthropologists find. Trepanation emerged as a promising but dangerous medical procedure by about 1,000...

Brooke Zepp speaks at a news conference about the unprecedented surgery she underwent weeks ago to remove a cancerous tumor at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Miami March 24, 2007. A team of doctors had to remove her stomach, pancreas, spleen, liver and large and small intestines to remove the cancerous tumor. (Joe Skipper/Reuters) The Good Doctor Kato Dr. Tomoaki Kato had to remove a lot more than a cancerous tumor during an unprecedented operation on a 63-year-old Florida woman earlier this month. To get to the tumor, which was buried deep in Brooke Zepp's abdomen...

A German retiree is taking a hospital to court after she went in for a leg operation and got a new anus instead, the Daily Telegraph is reporting. The woman woke up to find she had been mixed up with another patient suffering from incontinence who was to have surgery on her sphincter. The clinic in Hochfranken, Bavaria, has since suspended the surgical team. Now the woman is planning to sue the hospital. She still needs the leg operation and is searching for another hospital to do it.

Skeleton May Show Ancient Brain Surgery The skeleton of a young woman from a 3rd century A.D. grave in Veria, northern Greece, is seen in this undated handout photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Archaeologists believe a large hole on the front of the skull, above the eyes, was caused by -- apparently failed -- brain surgery nearly 1,800 years ago. Although references to such delicate operations abound in ancient writings, discoveries of surgically perforated skulls are uncommon in Greece. (AP Photo/Greek Culture Ministry) (AP) -- Greek archaeologists said Tuesday they have unearthed rare...

The parents of a girl with Down syndrome have caused a public outcry in the U.K. by subjecting their daughter to cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance. Georgia Bussey underwent "radical and painful" cosmetic surgery three times by age 5 so she could "fit in" with her peers, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reported Sunday. Parents of another girl with Down syndrome told the paper that they were also considering altering her appearance in the future so she could be more "accepted.” Critics in the U.K. slammed the parents, with some even claiming the procedures were tantamount to child abuse. However,...

As a believer, I always see miracles and good things when God and prayer are involved. Tommorrow, at 1030hrs CST, my mother, Ann Bryan, will undergo heart surgery to replace/repair her mitrol valve in her left ventricle. She has been in the hospital for ten (10) days at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, AR under intensive antibiotics for a diagnosis of endocarditis caused by a strep infection in her blood, and on her heart valve. Anyways, we believe in the power of prayer, and I have personally witnessed miracles here on FR. Any additional prayers sent her way would be...

U.S. surgeon to use GPS in surgeries www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-10 05:25:48 Print LOS ANGELES, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A Los Angeles surgeon will show 30 visiting orthopedic surgeons from China how he uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology to guide him as he replaces knees, hips or leg bones in patients, a spokeswoman said on Sunday. ; "The doctor (Lawrence Menendez) uses the satellites to precisely measure legs and make sure they are even," said spokeswoman Sandra Levy at the Medical Center of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dr. Menendez delivered a speech on the new technique last...

HADITHA, Iraq – A two-year-old Iraqi girl returned to Haditha March 7 after undergoing open-heart surgery at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University. Ala Thabit Fattah, the girl’s father, and several family members traveled with Marines to Baghdad International Airport to meet Amenah, who departed Iraq Jan. 22 with his wife. “I am very happy. I was very worried that my daughter would not come home alive,” Fattah said. “I am very grateful for the great treatment the American people gave to my family.” The family then flew to Al Asad Airbase in Al Anbar Province, where...

How liver surgeries cut short patients’ lives By The Tribune-Review Sunday, March 9, 2008 Hundreds of patients each year undergo liver transplants when they don't need them, and possibly never will, a four-month Pittsburgh Tribune-Review investigation found. One in 10 of those patients dies when they could have lived longer without the transplant. The rest - all at the rock-bottom of waiting lists - must resign themselves to an early battle with the burdensome risks of anti-rejection drugs and complications that can follow: infections, cancers, kidney damage, and high blood sugar. What's worse, a third of those patients get the...

Diabetes May Be Disorder Of Upper Intestine: Surgery May Correct ItGrowing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes -- an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes. (Credit: iStockphoto/Jacob Wackerhausen) ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2008) — Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes — an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes. A new article — published in a special supplement to the February...

EDMONTON -- Two teams of surgeons in Edmonton delivered a baby while operating on the mother for a life-threatening heart rupture last month. The 36-year-old woman -- who was 35 weeks pregnant -- was airlifted from the Alberta city of Grande Prairie on Jan. 24 with a ruptured aorta - a condition that is fatal 40 per cent of the time without surgery within 48 hours. Grande Prairie is about 460 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. She was taken immediately into an operating room at the University of Alberta while a obstetrical team raced from the nearby Royal Alexandra hospital to...

Model's Eye Surgery To Look Japanese Updated:11:24, Sunday January 27, 2008   A Brazilian model is having nylon wires implanted in her eyes to give them an oriental slant.   Bismarchi prepares for surgery Angela Bismarchi will lead her samba group at next month's Rio Carnival and is having the procedure to celebrate 100 years of Japanese immigration to Brazil.It will be the 42nd time she has had plastic surgery and she is closing in on the world record of 47 held by American Cindy Jackson.Bismarchi will dance ahead of a drum group of 300 people, hoping her sculpted...

CHICAGO - A new study gives the strongest evidence yet that obesity surgery can cure diabetes. Patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care, according to Australian researchers. Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests. "It's the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it's very low risk," said the study's lead author, Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in...

The first time a knife was put to Anna Alwoch's face, her lips were hacked off by rebels. The next two times, sharp blades were used by surgeons to rebuild her mouth -- and the process is almost done. Alwoch (55) is on a list of candidates for plastic surgery to repair her face, along with other victims who were mutilated by members of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. The LRA massacred thousands and abducted over 10 000 children to be soldiers and sex slaves during its 20-year rebellion against the central government. More than two...

Waiting for a joint replacement not only prolongs pain in the knees, it causes billions of dollars of damage to the health of the Canadian economy, a study released Tuesday by Canada's doctors says. The study, conducted for the Canadian Medical Association by the Centre for Spatial Economics, found that it cost the economy $14.8-billion in 2007 to have patients wait longer than medically recommended for four procedures: joint replacements, cataract surgery, coronary bypasses and MRI scans. That, in turn, cut provincial and federal government revenues by $4.4-billion, the report says. “Time spent waiting robs the economy of workers, both...

In India the LAP-BAND System has been proven the safest, simplest and effective way to treat severe obesity. If you are seriously overweight, the LAP-BAND System can help you achieve a happier, healthier life! In India the Lap-Band system is the least invasive of all weight loss surgeries. The system includes an adjustable silicon elastic band that is surgically placed around the stomach. The band induces weight loss by restricting food intake; when eating less, your body draws from its own fat to get the energy it needs. The Lap-Band is the only adjustable weight loss surgery; in fact, band...

"...is something we will investigate down to the last detail," said Dr. Joseph Sirven, education director for Mayo Clinic Arizona,..."

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Rhode Island Hospital was fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state Department of Health Monday after its third instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery in the wrong side of a patient's head.

(CBS/AP) Nearly a week after surgeons removed the extra limbs from an Indian girl born with four arms and four legs, the bright-eyed 2-year-old made her first public appearance Tuesday after leaving the hospital's intensive care unit. Swathed in blankets and lying on her father's lap, the girl, named Lakshmi, appeared before reporters without the extra limbs which had led some people in her rural village to revere her as an incarnation of the four-armed goddess she was named after. Looking healthy and alert, Lakshmi had both of her legs in casts while her arms were free. After sitting for...

Lakshmi, second from left, sits in her mother Poonam's lap as she poses next to her father Shambhu and brother Mithilesh, right, at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, on Nov. 5. Doctors began operating Nov. 6 on the two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs. BANGALORE, India - Doctors in southern India completed a grueling 24-hour operation Wednesday on a girl born with four arms and four legs that surgeons said will give the 2-year-old a chance at a normal life. The surgery went "wonderfully well," said Dr. Sharan Patil, who led a team of more than...

Scientist at Work | John Holcomb SAN ANTONIO — Since the war in Iraq began, Col. John Holcomb has been working to change the way the military takes care of its wounded. Along the way he has suffered a few dings himself. A tall medical doctor with a Southern lilt and close-cropped gray hair, Colonel Holcomb, 48, has spent his entire 27-year career in the Army, earning a reputation as one of the military’s top trauma surgeons. Since 2001, he has headed the Army’s Institute of Surgical Research, based on the campus of the Brooke Army Medical Center here. Under...

Obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found. While smoking reduces life by an average of ten years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says Britain's obesity crisis is so severe that it would take at least 30 years to reverse. If current trends continue, by 2050 about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be clinically obese...

AN NAJAF — A young boy from Hollendia underwent a final surgery to correct a severe colon condition at Al Sadr Hospital in An Najaf Oct. 9. The boy, Ahaip, had already undergone two surgeries to reintroduce his colon into his body. For Ahaip, this final surgery marked the end of a long road to recovery, made possible by U.S. Soldiers. Ahaip was born with an obstructed bowel at birth, which required emergency surgery. The surgery left Ahaip’s intestines outside his body until he was discovered by Soldiers from the 97th Civil Affairs Battalion, a Reserve unit from Fort Bragg,...

Not on the web site yet. He has a blocked carodid artery.

Australia's opposition Labor Party has questioned the need for female sailors to be given breast enlargements paid for with public money. An armed forces spokesman defended the operations, saying they were carried out for psychological reasons, not to make sailors "look sexy".

This is a really strange article. The most important part of the story is the last sentence. I haven't seen this reported elsewhere.An anonymous tip to the FBI led to the arrest of disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu in Colorado, according to recently unsealed court documents. Hsu, a Hong Kong native who appeared suddenly in the New York political scene about four years ago, had been scheduled to appear in court last week for a bail reduction hearing related to a 1991 grand theft case, but instead skipped town and a judge issued a new arrest warrant for him. He...

Early Ovarian Surgery Linked to Dementia Women who have their ovaries removed before menopause run a heightened risk of developing dementia or other mental problems later in life _ unless they take estrogen until age 50, a new study suggests. Experts said the research needs to be confirmed by further study, but the findings suggest another issue for premenopausal women and their doctors to discuss as they consider ovary removal.... Hormone therapy has been linked to a greater risk of dementia and heart attacks when given to women after age 65. But recent research indicates that when given before menopause...

BAGHDAD — For a child in Hollandia, the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team and Coalition forces have become the answer to his family’s prayers. Sitting in the local health clinic with his father on a warm May morning, Ahaip Najim had no idea that hope would come walking through the door. That morning, members of the 97th Civil Affairs Battalion and 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, were assessing the town’s needs. “They discovered him in the health clinic there and just gathered around him,” said Capt. Jimmy Hathaway, Headquarters Troop, 3-1 Cav. commander, out of Fort Benning, Ga. “They decided...

Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae is a big guy. So he has a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces on devices like his new iPhone. At least, he did, until he had his thumbs surgically altered in a revolutionary new surgical technique known as "whittling." "From my old Treo, to my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses," explains Martel. "Sure, the procedure was expensive, but when I think of all the time I save by being able to use modern handhelds...

During all my years at FR I have only posted an appeal once, for prayers for US Army Col. Ret., Richard Randle, as he was fighting his greatest and last battle for his life. I was overwhelmed with the vast number of Freepers that responded with prayers.Today I come to this forum on behalf of a little puppy, name baby Moses. All I ask is for you to visit this website, http://helpbabymoses.squarespace.com and if you can find it in yourself to help with a donation, it would be appreciated. However, if you can not help with a small donation, then...

BOSTON (AP) - Brigham and Women's Hospital has given a surgical team permission to perform partial face transplants to certain disfigured patients, a newspaper reported. Brigham and Women's is the second U.S. hospital to make public its plans to offer the rare medical procedure, The Boston Globe reported. The first hospital was the Cleveland Clinic. To date, only three partial face transplants have been announced worldwide. Two were performed in France, and one in China. Critics argue that it's unethical to expose patients to the risks of a transplant for a non-lifesaving procedure. The newspaper reported that Brigham and Women's...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A teen whose feet were severed at Six Flags' Kentucky Kingdom has had one foot reattached according to a statement released by her family. The family of Kaitlyn Lasitter, 13, whose feet were cut off when The Superman Tower of Power malfunctioned at Six Flags’ Kentucky Kingdom last month, issued a statement updating the details of her medical condition Tuesday. The statement reports that Kaitlyn’s right foot has successfully been reattached at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she remains in stable condition. “We were not able to reattach the left lower extremity due to the severity of...

A few years ago, two Long Islanders with hepatitis C met in a support group and soon discovered they had something in common: both had become infected with the virus after open-heart surgery — by the same surgeon. Public health investigators, who were looking into one of the two cases, had not asked members of the patient’s surgical team whether one of them might be infected. Now they did. Eventually they determined that the surgeon, Dr. Michael Hall, was infected and that he was the inadvertent source of both patients’ infections — and that of at least one other patient....

I've been around FR since 1998, only as a token contributor. But I am taking the step of asking for prayer for my son Matthew, who will be 6 in a couple weeks. Matthew was just diagnosed with a brain tumor and we expect his surgery will be on Tuesday. If you can add your prayers to the growing chorus of us sending our requests to God, our family would be very grateful. If your church has a prayer chain or is willing to add our son to your service, that's much appreciated. We know every church family has people...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania hospitals reported making serious mistakes in the operating room _ using the wrong procedure, operating on the wrong body part or even the wrong patient _ 174 times during a 2 1/2 year period, according to a report released Tuesday by the state's patient-safety agency. The state Patient Safety Authority, which collects data on medical errors and advises health care facilities on how to improve their practices, issued its report on so-called "wrong-site" surgeries as part of an effort to eliminate them. Between June 2004 and December 2006, the time period the authority studied, it also...

NEW DELHI — The 15-year-old son of two doctors performed a filmed Caesarean section birth under his parents' watch in southern India in an apparent bid to gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest surgeon. Instead, the boy's father could be stripped of his licenses and may face criminal charges, officials said Thursday. Dr. K. Murugesan showed a recording of his son performing a Caesarean section to an Indian Medical Association chapter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu last month, said Dr. Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the association. The video showed Murugesan anesthetizing...

Thanks to all for your prayers and support. It’s been quite an experience. NYerFRiends, NYer is now home. She had surgery on Monday and it was expected that she might have to stay in the hospital far longer than two days. The surgery was long and she is in some pain, but she seems to be in good spirits!Sandyeggo and I have been her FReeper contacts. It seems best that we let her fill you in on those details she wishes to release. The good news is that the surgery is over, she is now at home, she has access...

BAGHDAD — Indissar Fadhil gave birth to Hassan about eight months ago. The boy was healthy aside from one major complication: He had a cleft lip and palate. His upper lip had no sides because they were compressed to the center. He had no roof inside his mouth to separate his mouth from his nasal cavity. “I was astonished and worried for my baby because he wouldn’t stop crying and he was unable to eat,” Fadhil said. Fadhil said she experienced many struggles and setbacks before receiving positive feedback about getting treatment for her son. “I initially contacted several doctors...