Primary Physician Care, a privately-owned insurance company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has now twice refused to pay for a 3-year-old’s special leukemia treatment recommended by doctors at Duke University Hospital—even after the child’s mother called the insurance company and spoke…
cancer
HSBC Refunds $35 Fee, Not To Correct Their Mistake, But Because You Have A Deadly Brain Tumor
By 3.5.08
I made an electronic payment online with my one of my bank’s check card. Turns out this was the wrong one, and I immediately canceled the payment (as there’s a very easy to find and large button allowing you to do this immediately as well), and resubmitted it through the correct bank. So, to sum up, the payment was made, about two weeks before it was due. I figured all was cool and I was being a good customer for paying more than the minimum balance, way ahead of the due date, online, so there wouldn’t be any “problems” with a check or the postal service. Then I look on my statement and I’ve been charged a $35 Returned Payment Fee.
Patients Blind When Health Care Comparison Shopping
By 3.5.08
“The patient really has no way to act as an informed consumer,” Dr. Smith said. “You can’t call up a facility and say, ‘By the way, is my doctor any good?’ or, ‘Tell me who the best one is.’ “—A doctor responding to a study that found some doctors were 10 times better than other doctors at discovering precancerous lesions through colonoscopy. [NYT]
By 2.26.08
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A new meta-analysis showed that popular anemia drugs Aranesp and Procrit increase the risk of death in cancer patients by 10 percent, a statistically significant number. [NYT]
Hormone-Filled Dietary Supplement Caused Cancer In Two Men, Say Doctors
By 1.15.08
A new article published today in Clinical Cancer Research says that two men “developed aggressive and incurable prostate cancer within months of taking the same supplement.” The doctors examined the supplement and discovered it contained testosterone and estradiol, and “when they tested it on tumor cells in the lab, they found it fueled the growth of prostate cancer cells more potently than testosterone alone.” Either don’t take herbal/hormonal dietary supplements, they urge, or make sure you fully disclose to your doctor what you’re taking.
By 12.11.07
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It’s good, it’s bad, it’s good and now, high consumption of red meat is correlated with increased risk of cancer. [Reuters]
Cancer Fears Prompt Retailer To Pull Nalgene Bottles
By 12.8.07
Canada’s premier sporting goods store has pulled Nalgene bottles from their shelves over concerns that bottles are made with a cancer-causing chemical. The Vancouver-based Mountain Equipment Co-op is waiting for the outcome of a study from Health Canada on the health effects of bisphenol-a (B.P.A.) before returning the ubiquitous bottles to shelves.
HMOs Fail To Screen For Cancer, Major Diseases
By 10.21.07
12 million Californians are at a greater risk for cancer and other major diseases thanks to HMOs that fail to provide adequate preventive care, according to a Health Care Quality Report Card produced by the California Patient’s Advocate.
By 10.3.07
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Woman undergoes unneeded double mastectomy. [AP]
New Cancer Worries For Diet Soda Drinkers
By 6.26.07
A new study on the effects of low daily doses of the artificial sweetener aspartame shows a statistically significant increase in leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats. Consumer advocates are calling for the FDA to take another look at the safety of aspartame in light of the study, but the FDA seems uninterested.
American Cancer Society Identifies Warning Symptoms For Ovarian Cancer
By 6.18.07
While this is arguably not at all a consumer issue, we do cover a lot of health issues and thought it would be helpful to do our part to get the word out: The American Cancer Society has agreed upon a list of symptoms that could serve as an early warning sign for ovarian cancer. The symptoms are:
Coca-Cola Settles Benzene Lawsuit
By 5.15.07
Benzene can form in soft drinks containing vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages.
Cheap, Safe Drug Kills Most Cancers
By 1.30.07
Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks…DCA can cause pain, numbness and gait disturbances in some patients, but this may be a price worth paying if it turns out to
Cell Phone Use Linked To Brain Tumors
By 1.25.07
- Long-term (10+ years) cellphone use has been linked with brain tumors. According to the study, people who had used cellphones for more than 10 years had a 40 percent higher chance than others of developing certain brain tumors. This news comes to us from the same British researcher who said that more research was needed to determine if there actually is a relationship between (long-term) cellphone use and cancer.
Choke So-Called Doctors, Not Chicken
By 10.2.06
The suspicious ties between PCRM and PETA notwithstanding, the entire basis for their lawsuit against fast food companies rests on quicksand. They claim tests revealed PHIP, a possibly carcinogenic compound, to be found in the chicken at major fast food chains.
Cancer Chicken, Scam?
By 10.2.06
Last Thursday, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) sued several large fast food companies, contending the chicken they choked was chock full of dangerous carcinogens.
Fast Foods Sued For Cancer Chicken
By 9.30.06
Forget your limp-wristed attempts to make “healthy choices” at McDonalds. Now, even the grilled chicken will kill ya, or so claim a buncha guys with stethoscopes, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in a suit filed Thursday.
Won’t Big Tobacco Please Think of the Children?
By 5.24.06
Over at the Cancer Blog, they are talking about how the Tobacco Industry spends over 12.4 billion dollars a year on advertising. Pretty big number. Channeling Mrs. Lovejoy, they cry out, “Won’t someone please think of the children?” Apparently, the fact that the rolling eyeballs of a toddler might accidentally stray across a tobacco ad in his father’s copy of Maxim will turn that toddler into a chain-huffing smoker.
