Ut Humiliter Opinor

Details are confidential in this case, but I find it ironic that a doctor is being disciplined for trying to save someone from themselves. If you don’t want help from a doctor, don’t go. If you don’t like what he says, don’t listen. If he’s got no bedside manner go to another practice.

In the meantime, expend your energy on exercising, not filing lawsuits.

Woman Offended by Doc’s Obesity Advice

Dr. Terry Bennett says he tells obese patients their weight is bad for their health and their love lives, but the lecture drove one patient to complain to the state. “I told a fat woman she was obese,” Bennett says. “I tried to get her attention. I told her, ‘You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.’ ” He says he wrote a letter of apology to the woman when he found out she was offended.

Here’s some more fuel to the fire for the abortion/stem cell debate. Fourteen weeks is before viability, but the harvested cells are apparently good for a medical procedure.

I can see a day coming where perhaps women will be offered money for the cells of an aborted fetus for medical purposes, which is a really scary proposition.

I am an admitted waffler on abortion. I find it personally repugnant, but have a hard time telling someone what to do in regards to personal health and moral issues. Stories like this give me pause because the end game - where we trade one potential life for another - just seems terrifying to contemplate.

Fetal skin cells help heal burn wounds in children

The research team, based at University Hospital of Lausanne, obtained a 4-cm skin donation from a 14-week aborted male fetus. Cells were expanded in culture and used to seed collagen sheets, and then grown for two more days before the sheets were applied to the burn wounds. The fetal cells were used to treat eight children considered to be candidates for traditional skin grafting, approximately 10 days after their injury. As the cells biodegraded, they were replaced every three to four days. “These cells stimulate spontaneous healing of the wound through secretion of multiple growth factors,” Hohlfeld said. The average time to healing was 15.3 days after the first cell application. The cosmetic and functional results “were excellent in all eight children,” who had little degradation of the new skin with no retraction or breakdown of the healed surfaces, the research team reports. The one patient who had dark skin had recovery of skin pigmentation. The researchers estimate that the one fetal skin donation could yield “several million” skin constructs. “We only need one very small biopsy once, giving us the potential to treat thousands of people,” Hohlfeld pointed out. He considers it possible to obtain effective skin cells from miscarriages of second trimester fetuses.

Apparently, I’m turning into a cranky old goat: How Cranky Are You?:

Your score is: 44 26-49. Suggests some indications of IMS. You may want to take the quiz again to see if things improve or get worse.

This is a quiz for “male menopause” or a midlife crisis. Supposedly, as testosterone drops, grumpiness increases. Is this really a surprise? Come on! Now, instead of feeling like sex seven days a week like I did in my twenties and early 30s, it’s more like 4-5 days. I’ve lost two days of desire - why wouldn’t I be grumpy about that?

Except, now it’s a “syndrome” - meaning that there’s treatment and counseling available. Oh, boy, I can’t wait. To replace my lost sex drive, I get to go pay a psychiatrist to tell them I don’t like being grumpy and that I wish I wanted more sex (I hope she’s pretty - maybe that will help).

What a joke this quiz is. I don’t think there’s many people out there who don’t feel tired, tense or unappreciated (or most of these categories) “sometimes”.

Now, I am feeling grumpy. I guess I better go get some therapy. Better yet, I’m going to go to bed with my wife. That’s real therapy, if you ask me.