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New Delhi, May 21, 2019 :
Author : Advocate Ira Gupta
- On Tuesday, the Alabama Senate passed the most restrictive abortion bill in the United States, which places a near-total ban on the termination of pregnancy – even in cases of rape and incest – and could punish doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison.
The text passed by the Republican-led senate has been sent to Governor Kay Ivey’s desk for signature into law and, if approved is expected to trigger a legal battle which could reach the Supreme Court.
Under the bill, performing an abortion is a crime that could land doctors who perform it in prison for 10 to 99 years. Abortions would only be legal if the life of the mother is in danger or the fetus has a fatal condition.
The largest human rights defense organization in the United States, the ACLU, promised to file a lawsuit to block its implementation.
- Early weight-loss surgery may improve diabetes, blood pressure outcomes
NIH-funded study: Despite similar weight loss, teens who had gastric bypass surgery were significantly more likely to have remission of both type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, compared to adults who had the same procedure. Results are from an NIH-funded study comparing outcomes in the two groups five years after surgery.
Researchers evaluated 161 teens and 396 adults who underwent this surgery at clinical centers participating in Teen-LABS (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery) and its adult counterpart, LABS. Teens in the study were under 19 years old at the time of surgery, and adults in the study reported having obesity by age 18. Teen-LABS clinical centers had specialized experience in the surgical evaluation and management of young people with severe obesity, and both studies were funded primarily by NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine(link is external).
Key findings of the research include:
- Overall weight loss percentage was not different between the groups. Teens lost 26% of their bodyweight and adults lost 29% at five years after surgery.
- Type 2 diabetes declined in both groups, but teens with type 2 diabetes before surgery were 27% more likely than adults to have controlled blood glucose (blood sugar) without the use of diabetes medications.
- No teens in the group needed diabetes medications after surgery, compared to 88% of teens before surgery. 79% of adults used diabetes medications before surgery, and 26% used diabetes medications five years later.
- Before surgery, 57% of teens and 68% of adults used blood pressure medications. Five years after surgery, 11% of teens and 33% of adults used blood pressure medications.
- Among those with high blood pressure before surgery, teens were 51% more likely than adults to no longer have high blood pressure or take blood pressure medication.
- Healthcare Monitor
Assistant Ambulance Officers: Save a Life First
India Legal
A scheme started by the Delhi government in February seems to have run into trouble and has reached the Delhi High Court. A PIL has said that Assistant Ambulance Officers (AAOs) who are assigned the job of driving two-wheeler First Responder Vehicles should also be trained paramedics. However, the Delhi government has said that they will not transport patients and will only give basic medical assistance until an ambulance arrives. AAOs have been trained in basic life-support techniques, have commercial driving licences and a work experience of more than 20 years. However, in this scheme, there is not much efficacy due to the limited knowledge and training of AAOs. They are not even authorised (or qualified) to administer an injection. To understand their job, we need to first understand the laws. The government has powers to allow healthcare workers to give treatment under Clause 23 of Schedule K of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. As per the Clause, drugs supplied by certain categories of workers are exempted from the provisions of Chapter IV of the Act and the Rules which require them to be covered by a sale licence, provided the drugs are supplied under the Health or Family Welfare Programme of the central or state government.
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