Free Republic

WATERLOO, Sierra Leone — Although the rainy season was coming on fast, Zainabu Sesay was in no shape to help her husband. Ditches had to be dug to protect their cassava and peanuts, and their mud hut’s palm roof was sliding off. But Mrs. Sesay was sick. She had breast cancer in a form that Western doctors rarely see anymore — the tumor had burst through her skin, looking like a putrid head of cauliflower weeping small amounts of blood at its edges. “It bone! It booonnnne lie de fi-yuh!” she said of the pain — it burns like fire...

The conditions were unbearable. Inside the hospital it was pitch black, with odors, smell, human waste everywhere. It was very rancid. You would take a breath in and it would burn the back of your throat. The patients were very sick. That’s when we had to go from triage to reverse triage because we came to realize if patients aren’t being evacuated, [we had to deal with what we had]. Basically it was a general consensus that we’re not going to be able to save everybody. We hope that we can, but we realize everybody may not make it out.

(CNN) -- A New Orleans grand jury that declined to indict a doctor on charges that she murdered patients in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina never heard testimony from five medical experts brought in by the state to analyze the deaths. All five concluded that as many as nine patients were victims of homicide. In detailed, written statements, the five specialists -- whose expertise includes forensic medicine, medical ethics and palliative care -- determined that patients at Memorial Medical Center had been deliberately killed with overdoses of drugs after Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. The grand jury had...

Dr. Anna Pou was accused of murdering nine patients in a New Orleans hospital wracked by Katrina, but a grand jury declined to indict her. Now she gives her side of the story. Aug. 25, 2007 - The tragic deaths at New Orleans’s Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina are among the most notorious examples of the vast human suffering that resulted from the destruction of the levees and the flooding of the city—and the government’s incompetent response to the disaster. At least 34 people died in the hospital awaiting evacuation and it wasn’t long before dark rumors began circulating...

Natural-born painkiller found in human saliva 22:00 13 November 2006 NewScientist.com news service Andy Coghlan Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Saliva from humans has yielded a natural painkiller up to six times more powerful than morphine, researchers say. The substance, dubbed opiorphin, may spawn a new generation of natural painkillers that relieve pain as well as morphine but without the addictive and psychological side effects of the traditional drug. When the researchers injected a pain-inducing chemical into rats’ paws, 1 gram of opiorphin per kilogram of body weight achieved the same painkilling effect as 3 grams of morphine....

We had an extended debate at the office today....what was the best "MTv Unplugged" performance? Me? Hands down....Alice in Chains! Before any reasons are discussed ..... I was curious as to anyone else's opinions or preferences on the topic?

MARYLAND, United States, April 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview with John Lofton of the American View, Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, said his family is fighting to stop the ongoing murder of disabled people in America. "There's a powerful and strong death movement occurring in our country," said Mr. Schindler. "We are removing feeding tubes from people every single day, and killing them, but nobody seems to care - it doesn't seem to disturb anybody, that we're starving and de-hydrating people to death."He said such killing is possible because there is a belief among those who advocate it...

A NEW painkiller based on the venom of a sea snail will be available in Britain from today. Prialt, or ziconotide, is the result of more than 20 years’ research by a scientist born in the Philippines, Baldomera Olivera, who is a professor at the University of Utah. It is 1,000 times more potent than morphine but, unlike that drug, is not addictive. It is aimed at people suffering from severe, chronic pain who would normally require morphine. Given by injection into the fluid around the spine, it is the first non-opioid painkiller using this method of administration to be...

Just watched rerun of O'Reily interview with Dr. Gomez of Capital Hospice. Dr Gomez said Terri Schiavo to be given morphine to insure no pain as she dies. I have been throught this with hospice services for family member. This is not good for Terri, morphine helps pain, but also will kill her faster as kidneys fail from dehydration. Her body will not flush morphine and it will build to lethal level in body. Which is great if you are slowly dying in great pain from bone cancer My experience with this says Hospice and Michael Schiavo are helping Terri...

An Austrian driver has lost his license because he failed a drug test after eating a dish containing poppyseeds. Wolfgang L, 39, had his license withdrawn when a test showed traces of morphine in his urine. But he denies drug abuse, saying he had recently eaten mohnnudeln, an Austrian speciality consisting of noodles, poppyseeds and fruit. Reinhard Fous, head police doctor in Vienna, told the Kronenzeitung the man 'wasn't under the influence of drugs' since his blood test came back negative. Yet, the traces of morphine in his urine showed he wasn't fit to drive, the doctor argued. But fellow...

Associated Press WASHINGTON - New guidelines seek to improve treatment for millions of Americans with unrelieved pain by spelling out exactly how to prescribe powerful painkillers like Oxycontin and morphine without attracting the wrath of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Many doctors hesitate to prescribe narcotics, which are heavily regulated because they can be abused by addicts. The guidelines issued Wednesday, written by leading pain specialists together with the DEA, stress that the drugs are safe for the proper patient - and pledge that doctors won't be arrested for providing legitimate therapy. There is "unwarranted fear that doctors who treat pain...

Cheese 'can be as addictive as morphine' An American doctor has claimed that cheese can be as addictive as morphine. Dr Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, says cheese is addictive because it contains small amounts of morphine from cows' liver. In his book - Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings and Seven Steps to End them Naturally - he explains why people are hooked on products like cheese, meat, sugar and chocolate. He says: "There's a biochemical reason many of us feel we can't live without our daily fix. "Cheese, for...