6
Wednesday, June 11. 1997
HEALTH/WELLNESS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
New bill tries to end stigma, treats illnesses the same.
The Associated Press
MONTPELIER, Vt. — After Jim Wilkinson's son was diagnosed as a paranoid-schizophrenic, the young man reached the $10,000 lifetime cap on his mental health coverage. If he had had a heart condition, he wouldn't have maxed out his insurance until he had hit at least $1 million.
Vermont ended that distinction vesterdav
with a law that requires insurance companies to offer the same coverage for mental health problems and physical ailments.
The law defines mental health more broadly than any other state so that coverage includes treatment of a full range of illnesses and alcohol and drug addictions.
"I've said many times that illness of the brain should be treated just like illness of any other organ," said Gov. Howard Dean, a physician when he signed the law.
Seveth other states have made similar moves, said Robert Gabriele, vice president of the Washington-based National Mental Health Association, but most of those laws only apply to cases of schizophrenia, manic-depression or other serious maladies. Those states are Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
"...illness of the brain should be treated just like illness of any other organ."
Howard Dean Governor of Vermont
Gabriele said those other states' laws actually promoted discrimination against people
with less severe mental illnesses by implying that their ailments were less deserving of coverage.
"This is the model bill. This is the bill that we want to push for the rest of the country," he said.
The new law will end a strategy under which insurance companies frequently have capped lifetime physical health coverage at $1 million and, in the same policy, limited lifetime mental health coverage to $10,000.
Dean and others argued that the difference in coverage is in large part attributed to a historic prejudice against the mentally ill. "This bill begins to end the stigma in our society around mental illness and substance abuse," Dean said.
Kevin Goddard, representative of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Vermont, said that although the company was not strongly opposed to the bill, the insurance industry opposed any state-mandated coverage.
"We feel compelled to point out to people who buy health insurance that every time you mandate a particular kind of coverage you increase the cost of health insurance," Goddard said.
Ken Libertoff, director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, sought to allay lawmakers' concerns on that score with a study by the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand that predicted the average increase in Vermonters' health insurance premiums would be 3.4 percent.
Drops of mercury kill cancer scientist
The Associated Press
HANOVER, N.H. — A Dartmouth College scientist studying the dangers of heavy metals died of mercury poisoning Sunday, 10 months after a drop of a rare toxic compound apparently seeped through her rubber gloves.
Karen Wetterhahn, 48, had been hospitalized since January when tests showed 80 times the lethal dose of mercury in her blood, a college investigation revealed.
After she was diagnosed, Wetterhahn told investigators that she remembered spilling at least one drop of dimethylmercury in August, said John S. Winn, chemistry department chairman. Three weeks after Wetterhahn was diagnosed, she went into a coma.
and vomiting three months after the spill, but Winn said no one would ever know if the mercury had caused the episodes.
Mercury attacks the central nervous system before the victim show symptoms. Wetterhahn began losing her balance and had trouble speaking and hearing in January.
"Whether she knew the peril she was in at the time, I don't think we will ever know."
Winn said.
Wetterhahn, a cancer researcher, was using the compound to examine the effects of toxic metals on human cells. At the time of the accident, she was studying how mercury prevents cells from repairing themselves, which is similar to cancer.
John Winn
Dartmouth College chemistry department chair
Wetterhahn had two episodes of nausea
Winn said. Tests showed that the rare compound could pass through rubber latex gloves quickly, usually without damaging them, Winn said. "It's not like a discolored spot appears, the glove rips open or smoke and fire comes out of the glove," he said.
He said dimethylmercury looked like water but was three times as dense. The compound is attracted to the oil in human skin and is absorbed readily by the body.
In a letter published in the newsletter of the American Chemical Society, Dartmouth officials urged anyone working with the compound to wear neoprene gloves with long cuffs and to have their blood and urine tested frequently.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also is investigating.
Berries plague seven states
Cyclospora causes diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration warned the public yesterday that people suffering from diarrhea who have recently eaten fresh raspberries should have a doctor check to see if they were infected in an outbreak of
cyclospora.
The parasitic infection has struck at least seven states, including Texas and Nebraska, since mid-April.
Experts thought last year's outbreak, in which nearly 1,000 Americans and Canadians were effected, occurred because the raspberries were harvested during the rainy season when cyclospora levels are high.
Guatemalan raspberries may be the culprit. Growers there have suspended U.S. shipments until the outbreak is over.
know how widespread the new outbreak is because cyclospora can incubate for seven days before causing symptoms.
This year, farmers harvested before the rainy season, yet cyclospora struck again. Meanwhile, the government does not
Cyclospora invades the small intestine and causes diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, fatigue and muscle aches. The illness can last several weeks, and sufferers often need treatment with antibiotics.
The FDA said it was unlikely that any berries remained for sale, yet still warned consumers not to eat any fresh raspberries from Guatemala.
Board suggests black box for cars
Only fresh raspberries have been implicated. Cooking kills the bacteria, and freezing may also kill it.
Government hopes monitor will prevent deploying air-bag deaths
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Aiming to prevent deaths from deploying air bags, a government safety board recommended yesterday that a crash recording device be developed to store important information about auto accidents.
The National Transportation Safety Board called for the modification of the computer sensor in air bags to allow safety officials to retrieve data about crash speeds and air bag deployment. The computer sensor signals the air bag to deploy in a crash.
NTSB chairman Jim Hall said the monitors would work like the black boxes that record information about airplanes in flight. Although the airplane version is more complex, board member George Black, a former vehicle homicide investigator, said the benefits of a similar device for cars would be tremendous.
Deploying air bags have been blamed for the deaths of 40 children and 27 adults. Most were not wearing seat belts.
Most air bags are designed to deploy in head-on crashes of 12 mph or more. The deaths from deploying air bags were in low-speed accidents, and in most cases, the other occupants in the car suffered either minor or no injuries.
Also yesterday, the board recommended that states pass stronger seat belt laws and require that children age 12 and under ride
in the back seat.
But most of the board's 24 recommendations were designed to help the government, states and police officers collect better accident information.
Board officials want to know more about the severity of crashes, air bag deployment and seat belt usage. And they want to document cases of successful air bag deployments so better air bags can be designed.
The board recommended that government and industry work together to obtain the sensor information. Questions about what information would be retrieved and about who would retrieve it were left unresolved.
Officials acknowledged that obtaining such information would raise privacy issues for drivers involved in lawsuits and questions about automakers' proprietary information.
EVERYTHING BUT ICE
BEDS
DESKS
BOOK CASES
936 Mass.
Barb's Vintage Rose
- Vintage Clothes
- New Cottons and Rayons
- Rental Costumes
- Accessories
927 Mass 841-2451
M-Sat 11-5
REFOUND SOUND
1-913-842-2555
BUY-SELL TRADE
823 MASS.
L/ CNCE, KS
Red Lyon Tavern
A touch of Irish in
downtown Lawrence
944 Mass. 832-8228