Feds want mental health records, float plan to ban guns from legal pot smokers

"The Department of Justice now wants to be notified of any mental health concerns and commitments 'for other reasons' for Americans so their names can be added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System list of people banned from owning guns. But it appears the requirements of the privacy rule for medical records will be a barrier to that quick transfer of personal details, so the Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a change. Attorneys Todd Garvey and Brian Yeh wrote that federal firearms regulators will be aggressive about banning anyone who uses marijuana from buying – or possessing – a weapon." Continue reading

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Man Helping Sick Wife Charged With Marijuana Trafficking

"The resident, a 66-year-old man named Frank Dennis Peters, turned himself in to the authorities. Peters claims he has been growing the marijuana to assist his wife of 40 years who suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Peters added, 'I have a moral obligation to make my wife as comfortable as possible.' Under current law, medical marijuana is legal, but only if it is purchased from South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control. However, the Department has never actually distributed any marijuana according to department spokesman. The law is 33 years old." Continue reading

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Will the FDA Harm Compounding Pharmacies?

"The FDA knew, as early as 2002, that ONE compounding pharmacy was doing risky things. But the FDA took no action until 2012. By that point, 700 people were sick and 53 had died. The FDA Commissioner then went on 60 Minutes and lied to the American people. She claimed this tragedy happened because the FDA lacked regulatory authority. But a House investigation showed the opposite. The FDA simply failed to do its job. Now the FDA wants to use its incompetence as an excuse to grab more power. The opposite should happen. This is like the SEC’s failure to investigate Bernie Madoff, despite numerous tips." Continue reading

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U.S. warns of cyber attacks on medical devices

"US authorities on Thursday warned makers of medical devices and hospital networks to step up efforts to guard against potential cyber attacks. The US Food and Drug Administration said implanted devices, which could include pacemakers or defibrillators, could be connected to networks that are vulnerable to hackers. An FDA warning notice was sent to medical device manufacturers, hospitals, medical device user facilities, health care technical staff and biomedical engineers. It said the agency has recently 'become aware of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents that could directly impact medical devices or hospital network operations.'" Continue reading

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DC ambulance breaks down over EPA emissions controls; passenger dies

"The D.C. fire department is trying to determine why one of its newer diesel ambulances broke down as crews were transporting a patient in cardiac arrest. What is unclear is if the emissions controls can be disconnected or the fire department would have to buy new units without them. When Ambulance 19 broke down, it was transporting 34-year-old Nathaniel McRae, who had just been in a shootout with D.C. police. A medic continued to administer CPR while the crew waited for a second ambulance but McRae was pronounced dead at Howard University Hospital." Continue reading

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Your Tax Dollars at Work: Medicare Financing Plastic Surgery

"Aging Americans worried about their droopy upper eyelids often rely on the plastic surgeon’s scalpel to turn back the hands of time. Increasingly, Medicare is footing the bill. Yes, Medicare. The public health insurance program for people over 65 typically does not cover cosmetic surgery… In recent years, though, a rapid rise in the number of so-called functional eyelid lifts, or blepharoplasty, has led some to question whether Medicare is letting procedures that are really cosmetic slip through the cracks — at a cost of millions of dollars. In 2001, physicians billed taxpayers a total of $20 million for the procedure. By 2011, the price tag had quadrupled to $80 million." Continue reading

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After 2 Years, Felony Charges For Mom Who Resisted Having her Child Confiscated

"Her daughter started having facial spasms and other signs of neurological damage. Maryanne discontinues the medicine. Child Protective Services gets wind of this and government enforcers come to force the mother to keep drugging her kid. When SWAT surrounded her house to confiscate her daughter, Maryanne Godboldo took a stand when the goons tried to break into her home. She held out for eight hours before the state seized her daughter. After months of expensive court battles, she finally got her daughter returned to her and the charges were dropped. After two years, felony charges have been reinstated on Maryanne." Continue reading

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7 Newly Classified Mental Illnesses

"If you can get something declared a 'mental disorder,' the money flows, government money and insurance money, to treat the 'disorder.' The American Psychiatric Association has just released its revised fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for short. Below are 7 new 'mental illnesses' listed in DSM." Continue reading

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The Obamacare Shell Game (Part 1)

"The Affordable Care Act establishes a transitional reinsurance program in each state to help stabilize premiums for coverage in the individual market due to individuals with higher cost needs gaining insurance coverage during the first three years of Exchange operation (2014 through 2016). All health insurance issuers, self-insured group health plans, and third party administrators on their behalf, will make contributions to support reinsurance payments to individual market issuers that cover individuals with high medical costs." Continue reading

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FDA secretly retests 100 different drugs after testing company admits its work was all fraudulent

"Pamidi bluntly acknowledged that much of the lab’s work was fraudulent, Stone said. 'You got us,' Stone recalled him saying. Based partly on records in the file boxes, the FDA eventually concluded that the lab’s violations were so 'egregious' and of such a 'pervasive nature' that studies conducted there between April 2005 and August 2009 might be worthless. The health threat was potentially serious: About 100 drugs, including sophisticated chemotherapy compounds and addictive prescription painkillers, had been approved for sale in the United States at least in part on the strength of Cetero Houston’s tainted tests." Continue reading

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