Health and Medical Professionals

CDC to doctors: Help your patients quit smoking!

2013-05-22 18:31:00

A new anti-tobacco campaign is urging smokers to turn to their physicians for help in quitting. The campaign – "Talk With Your Doctor" – also encourages clinicians to ask patients whether they smoke and to�offer them assistance giving up...

No background check on Conrad Murray, AEG official testifies

2013-05-21 18:13:00

An in-house attorney for AEG testified Tuesday that his company did not look into the background of Conrad Murray, the doctor who gave Michael Jackson a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol two weeks before the singer was to perform in a series of...

Rescue efforts ongoing as grim scene emerges after tornado

2013-05-21 03:53:00

MOORE, Okla. -- After darkness fell over this tornado-stricken city on Monday night and early Tuesday morning, rescuers confronted a strange and grim tableau. Trees were wrapped with aluminum,� and downed power lines ran over streams from broken water...

Michael Jackson paranoid, anxious, obsessive, director says

2013-05-20 18:10:00

Five days before he died, Michael Jackson was in such a sorry mental state that the director of his ill-fated “This Is It”� concert series said he needed a psychiatric evaluation. Kenny Ortega sent the June 20, 2009, email to Randy Phillips,...

Russian adoption ban leaves U.S. families in an agonizing limbo

2013-05-21 00:00:00

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Andy and Bethany Nagel left photos of themselves at the orphanage for the little boy with Down syndrome who was going to be their son. We'll be back, they told 4-year-old Timofey, blowing kisses from the doorway and...

DSM-5 is here: Are psychiatrists ready to stop arguing about it?

2013-05-20 05:30:00

Finally. After many contentious years, the American Psychiatric Assn. has unleashed DSM-5, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. If you know one thing about the DSM, it’s probably that this book is...

Letters: Dying but not wanting to know

2013-05-19 00:00:00

Re "Prescribing silence," Opinion, May 16 That Dr. Susan Partovi asked a patient if he wanted to know the details of his terminal illness is commendable. But relying on the old standby, "Do you want everything done?" — not so much. The medical...

Healthcare for Angelina Jolie -- and everyone else [Blowback]

2013-05-18 05:00:00

We applaud Times columnist Robin Abcarian for shining the light on the inequities in our healthcare system in response to Angelina Jolie’s recent announcement about her prophylactic mastectomy. When Jolie made her medical decision, she had at her...

Michael Jackson trial: Conrad Murray's payment demands 'outrageous'

2013-05-17 12:37:00

A professional concert tour director testified Friday in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial that a doctor's demand for $5 million to serve as the singer's tour physician "raised a red flag." Marty Hom, who has spent 25 to 30 years as a tour...

Hedda Bolgar dies at 103; renowned psychoanalyst

2013-05-18 14:04:00

Hedda Bolgar, a psychologist old enough to have attended Sigmund Freud's lectures in Vienna but youthful enough to have treated patients until just a few weeks ago, has died. She was 103. Her mind was sharp, her zest for work keen, and her social...

City of San Francisco, worker unions protest Kaiser premium hike

2013-05-19 17:38:00

SAN FRANCISCO — It's a trend many public employees can relate to: Health insurance premiums climb year after year, while at the bargaining table workers have agreed to kick in more for pensions, take salary cuts and sign on to furlough days. But...

How to avoid a return to the hospital

2013-05-17 20:09:00

The only thing less pleasant than a stay in the hospital is having to go right back there to deal with complications. And experts say it happens all too often. One in 8 elderly patients is readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged...

As the leading health authority on medications, pharmacists have become more involved in recent years in gauging the use and effectiveness of medication, patients� medication use patterns and alternative therapies.

2013-05-20 07:53:00

Played with hilarity and hidden facial tape (for that "pulled tight" look) by Rob Lowe, Liberace's plastic surgeon has a swingin' 1970s office.

2013-05-20 00:00:00

The DSM-5 is released at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn. The so-called bible of psychiatry has been a matter of heated debate among mental health professionals.

2013-05-18 18:33:35