Here are some of the latest health and medical news
developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Former First Lady Betty Ford Dies at 93
Former First Lady Betty Ford, who battled both breast cancer and
alcoholism during her lifetime, died Friday at the age of 93.
Many credit Ford's candid revelations about her struggles with
both health issues with spurring others dealing with a diagnosis of
breast cancer or alcoholism to seek help,
Bloomberg News reported.
Ford "distinguished herself through her courage and compassion,"
President Barack Obama said in a statement released Friday. She was
"a powerful advocate for women's health and women's rights" who
also "helped reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and
inspired thousands to seek much-needed treatment."
Ford lived in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at the time of her death,
and no details were immediately available. Gerald Ford, her husband
and Republican president from August 1974 to January 1977, died in
2006 at age 93.
After Betty Ford was diagnosed in 1974 with breast cancer, she
shocked the nation by publicly discussing her mastectomy. In the
week following the announcement of her surgery, clinics offering
mammograms witnessed a marked increase in inquires about mammograms
and other cancer prevention services,
Bloomberg reported.
And following her disclosure eight years later that she was
addicted to both pills and alcohol, she co-founded the Betty Ford
Center, one of the first facilities for treatment of chemical
dependency geared specifically to women.
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Medtronic Drug Pumps Can Fail Due to Battery Problem
A problem with SynchroMed drug pumps can cause them to lose
battery power and fail, medical device maker Medtronic says.
The pumps are mostly used to treat severe pain and muscle
spasticity. The sudden failure of a pump can cause serious injury
and death in some spasticity patients, the
Associated Press reported.
The problem can occur when a film forms on the pump's battery.
The company says it has received 55 reports of such incidents
involving batteries made before March 2005, the
AP said.
Medtronic is not recalling the pumps and says they should not be
removed unless they are failing. The company is working on a new
battery design.
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EPA: Tighter Emission Standards for Coal-Burning Power
Plants
Tighter standards for hundreds of coal-burning power plants in
28 states that take effect in 2012 will reduce emissions of soot,
smog and acid rain by millions of tons, according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
The reductions in air pollution will prevent as many as 34,000
premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks, and hundreds of
thousands of cases of asthma and other respiratory problems a year,
The New York Times reported.
The new standards, released Thursday, will improve air quality
for 240 million Americans who live in states where the pollution
originates and in states downwind of coal plants, according to EPA
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
"No community should have to bear the burden of another community's polluters, or be powerless to prevent air pollution that leads to asthma, heart attacks and other harmful illnesses," Jackson said, the Times reported.