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Opinion Piece Examines Abortion-Rights Opponents' Response To Connection Between Recession, Abortion
In response to recent news reports from Reuters, the Associated Press and other media outlets tying the recession to an increase in demand for abortion, the antiabortion-rights community is arguing that women are "choosing their own material comfort over the life of their unborn children" -- an interpretation that is "wrong on several accounts" -- Double X contributor Anna Murphy Paul writes in an opinion piece."No one wants her most intimate decisions to be driven by money," but, at the same time, "opting not to have a child you can"t afford to raise can be a realistic and responsible -- if painful -- choice, one often based on taking good care of the kids you already have" Murphy Paul says. She continues, "Nor is the intrusion of economic concerns on childbearing a phenomenon of this recession, or even the loosening of sexual mores over the past half-century; historically, financial hardship has been an ever-present motivation for ending a pregnancy."Murphy Paul cites the results of a 2005 Guttmacher Institute survey that found that nearly three-fourths of respondents said that the reason they decided to have an abortion was that they "could not afford a baby right now," which was the second-most common reason. The report found that the top reason for having an abortion was that children would interfere with women"s education, work or ability to care for dependents, all "concerns that are also largely economic in nature," Murphy Paul writes. She notes that at the time the study was published, "the Dow was still riding high, and the housing bubble seemed it would never pop." Murphy Paul adds that a 1987 Guttmacher survey on the same subject produced results "almost identical" to the 2005 survey.However, "to hear the pro-life activists tell it, women aren"t really struggling with difficult choices -- they just don"t want to give up the luxuries to which they"ve become accustomed," Murphy Paul writes. Abortion-rights opponents promote offers of counseling and no-cost infant supplies provided through "pregnancy re centers" to support women who choose not to have an abortion, but such centers often provide misleading information or offer little assistance beyond the first few months after birth, she says."Pro-life activists are surely right about one thing: It"s tremendously sad when a woman decides that she can"t bring into the world a child whom under better circumstances she would have welcomed," Murphy Paul continues. However, the "harsh rhetoric about selfishness and irresponsibility help far less than an acknowledgement of -- and lasting aid with -- the true costs of raising a child," she writes. According to Murphy Paul, in "the absence of such help, the most responsible act is to face economic reality head-on. For some women, that may mean abortion" (Murphy Paul, Double X, 5/15).
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Evidence-Based Information About Complementary And Alternative Medicine Treatments Now Available
More than one-third of Americans use complementary or alternative medicine (CAM). The vast majority of patients use CAM in addition to, rather than instead of, a conventional medical regimen.
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NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Implants 100th Heart Valve Replacement Without Open-Heart Surgery
Over the last four years, heart specialists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center have implanted an innovative aortic heart valve replacement using a catheter-based approach that does not require open-heart surgery in a total of 100 patients -- the most of any U.S. medical center to date.
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Premier Healthcare Alliance Recognizes Nation's Top Hospitals For Commitment To High-quality Patient Care, Operational Efficiency

The Premier healthcare alliance has recognized the nation"s top hospitals for their commitment to outstanding patient care and operational efficiency with the 2009 Premier Award for Quality (AFQ). Premier announced the 23 winners of the award, out of more than 3,796 eligible hospitals nationwide, at Premier"s annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, Calif. The AFQ recognizes leading healthcare organizations that efficiently provide outstanding patient care and consistently set the standard in clinical excellence nationwide. Distinguished by its consideration of performance-based criteria, including clinical quality outcomes, re utilization, and clinical process indicators, the AFQ measures top performers at the overall hospital level. "The Award for Quality honors the efforts of our nation"s leading hospitals to provide superior quality and operational efficiency," said Susan DeVore, Premier incoming president and CEO. "We"re thrilled to celebrate the efforts of these facilities as they improve the health of the communities they serve." All acute care inpatient facilities in the United States that submitted data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Hospital Compare project were considered for the AFQ. Using MedPar 2007 data, Quality and Efficiency Indexes were calculated for 62 disease groups and at the overall hospital level. Quality was measured by the incidence of three adverse outcomes: mortality, morbidity and complications, which are combined into a single Quality Index using the preference weightings from the Corporate Hospital Rating Project. The efficiency index was generated using length of stay to proxy for re utilization. Acute care facilities attaining the top 1 percent designation are identified as having scores in the top two quintiles for process of care and in 10 out of 62 disease groups and at the overall hospital level for quality and efficiency. Additionally, hospitals had measures for quality and efficiency that were equal to or exceeded expected outcomes. 2009 Award for Quality winners are: SSM DePaul Health Center - Bridgeton, Mo. St. Elizabeth Health Center - Youngstown, Ohio Hoag Memorial Hospital - Newport Beach, Calif. Memorial Regional Hospital - Hollywood, Fla. Winchester Hospital - Winchester, Mass. Hackensack University Medical Center - Hackensack, N.J. Good Samaritan Hospital - Cincinnati Saint Vincent Health Center - Erie, Pa. Albert Einstein Medical Center - Philadelphia Allegiance Health - Jackson, Mich. Mercy General Hospital - Sacramento, Calif. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Boston Sound Shore Medical Center of Westchester - New Rochelle, N.Y. Joint Township District Memorial Hospital - Saint Marys, Ohio St. Vincent Charity Hospital - Cleveland Lakewood Hospital - Lakewood, Ohio The Western Pennsylvania Hospital - Pittsburgh Memorial Hospital - Colorado Springs, Colo. Penrose/St. Francis Healthcare - Colorado Springs, Colo. Rush University Medical Center - Chicago Paoli Memorial Hospital - Paoli, Pa. Medical University of South Carolina - Charleston, S.C. Maury Regional Hospital - Columbia, Tenn. Premier Inc.


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