Month: May 2013

(Reuters) – Medical device maker C.R. Bard Inc will pay about $48.3 million to resolve allegations it made illegal payments to hospitals and physicians to entice them to buy its radiation treatment for prostate cancer, the Justice Department said. The illegal payments allegedly took the form of grants, rebates, conference fees, marketing assistance and free medical equipment that Bard provided between 1998 and 2006 to customers who used its brachytherapy seeds to treat prostate cancer, DOJ said Monday. …

Noah Clayson, 3, is in need of a tonsillectomy. The good news is that Noah will get all the ice cream he could ever want, but the bad news is that the procedure isn’t covered under his parents’ limited insurance plans and they expect to…        

(Reuters) – U.S. psychologist Joyce Brothers, who parlayed winning the “The $64,000 Question” TV game show in 1955 into a nearly six-decade career as a television personality and columnist, died on Monday, her publicist said. She was 85. Brothers died of natural causes in New York, said Sanford Brokaw, her Los Angeles-based spokesman. She began dispensing advice on television in 1958 and penned columns on topics such as sex and relationships until early 2013. She also had a prodigious knowledge of boxing and is thought to be the sport’s first female commentator. …

Dr. Aaron Rollins, a liposuction expert based in Los Angeles, claims he can help mere mortals look like Hollywood’s starlets with his own patented, laser-assisted liposuction technique.        

By Keith Coffman CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) – A Colorado judge on Monday opened the door to accused movie theater gunman James Holmes pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to charges he murdered 12 filmgoers last year, in a case that could bring the death penalty if he is convicted. Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. said he will give prosecutors and defense lawyers a chance to present further written arguments over ground rules for an insanity plea before allowing Holmes' lawyers to enter it, if they so choose, at his next court date on May 31. …

(Reuters) – The U.S. government on Monday issued a proposed rule for cutting payments to hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of the poor, including a $500 million reduction in fiscal 2014, as part of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandates annual reductions in Medicaid payments to hospitals through fiscal 2020 in exchange for increased insurance coverage options that are expected to reduce levels of uncompensated care. The payment cuts increase each year. …

(Reuters) – Soul singer Aretha Franklin has pulled out of two upcoming performances because of health issues, the two concert venues said on Monday. Franklin, 71, canceled a May 20 concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a May 26 solo performance at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. "It was canceled for medical reasons," Foxwoods spokeswoman Dale Wolbrink said, declining to say what health issues caused the "Queen of Soul" to pull out of the May 26 show. …

Video Game to Help Kids Fight Cancer

(Reuters) – Indian generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd pleaded guilty on Monday to felony charges related to drug safety and will pay $500 million in civil and criminal fines under the settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The settlement is its largest-ever with a generic drugmaker over drug safety, according to the U.S. government. It includes $150 million in payments for a criminal fine and forfeiture and $350 million in payments for civil claims. The settlement has been in the works for some time. …

WASHINGTON (AP) — New research is raising fresh concern that an age-old treatment for troubled pregnancies — bed rest — doesn't seem to prevent premature birth, and might even worsen that risk.

There’s still no such thing as a free lunch, but would you settle for a flu shot with a price tag of $0.00, or gratis medication to help you stop smoking? Those freebies—and others—will be coming your way, regardless of what health insurance plan you choose for coverage starting in January 2014, when some of the biggest changes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) kick in.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Obama administration on Monday filed a last-minute appeal to delay the sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill to girls of any age without a prescription.