American Medical

A team of American doctors flew secretly to Vienna, Austria, in mid-December to assist in the care of the poisoned Ukrainian presidential candidate, Viktor A. Yushchenko, who later triumphed in an election to become Ukraine's president, doctors involved in the case said recently. The doctors, from the University of Virginia, went at the invitation of the Austrian physicians treating Yushchenko. But the Europeans started consulting other international specialists in toxicology and bioterrorism months earlier, after they became convinced that Yushchenko, who fell ill in early September, was a victim of foul play.

Drug and medical device companies should be barred from offering free food, gifts, travel and ghostwriting services to doctors, staff members and students in all 129 of the nation's medical colleges, an influential college association has concluded. The proposed ban is the result of a two-year effort by the group, the Association of American Medical Colleges, to create a model policy governing interactions between the schools and industry. While schools can ignore the association's advice, most follow its recommendations.

Before you reach the articles on anti-coagulation therapy, or echinacea use among children with respiratory infections, or antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction, you will always see the art. It might be a Van Gogh or a Vermeer or a Cassatt. It might depict the Madonna or tulips or a boxing match. But each week, as you look at the cover of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), you might feel - just for a moment - like you're peeking through the window of a museum of fine art. "I consider that the heart of JAMA," Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, the editor, said of the artwork adorning its covers.

BAGHDAD, Iraq-- --The young soldier would die, a fate ensured by the bullet that entered his right eye and shredded his brain. But unlike many other patients on the beds and gurneys of the U.S. Army's main combat hospital, this one would die quickly, without any heroic attempts to open his skull or take over his vital functions with machinery, without the chance to remain alive until his family or friends could gather. If the doctors thought he had a chance of survival, they might have treated him differently.

Only two states -- Florida and Washington -- have laws requiring doctors to write prescriptions that are legible. -- American Medical News

Dr. Isadore Kaplan, former medical and surgical director for Chessie System Railroads who was considered an expert in preventive techniques in industrial medicine, died Thursday of complications of an infection at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The longtime Pikesville resident was 88. Dr. Kaplan began his career in 1946 in the B&O Railroad's medical and surgical department and was appointed medical examiner in 1951. Named the B&O's medical and surgical director in 1958, he was in charge of all medical staff and facilities systemwide.

Becton DickinsonRuth Alon, Kidder, Peabody, likes Becton Dickinson (BDX, NYSE around $76)."Becton Dickinson makes a broad range of products for use by health care professionals, medical researchers and the general public. Over the past four quarters, the firm has produced encouraging results . . ."We have raised our estimates for 1991; we now look for earnings of $5.30 a share. As a result of this renewed growth, we rate the stock a buy. Our price target for the stock is in the mid-80s."St.

WASHINGTON -- The American Medical Association and representatives of the nation's medical schools said yesterday that the United States is training far too many doctors and that the number should be cut by at least 20 percent."

NEW ORLEANS -- Top officials of the American Medical Association are appealing to doctors to show restraint in criticizing President Clinton's plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, even as members of the group vowed to seek major changes in the proposal.At a meeting yesterday that displayed the group's divisions over tactics and strategy in the coming battle over the nation's health care system, Dr. Joseph T. Painter, president of the association, said doctors should look for answers, not adversaries.

Johns Hopkins University and University Physicians, the faculty practice plan at the University of Maryland, are among the parties to a lawsuit challenging federal audits of Medicare billing by teaching hospitals.The suit was filed Tuesday in federal court in California by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Medical Association and other professional associations, medical schools and teaching hospitals.The 2-year-old audit program is aimed at making sure faculty doctors in teaching hospitals bill only for work they do directly, not for work done by residents.

Through giveaways and sponsorships, the mamanufacturers of drugs and medical devices can distort the way doctors care for patients, a group of prominent physicians and scientists warns today in a call for reforms. The group recommends that academic medical centers ban some common practices, regulate others and make a concerted effort to disclose doctors' financial relationships with makers of drugs and devices. "Marketing and market values should not be allowed to undermine physicians' commitment to their patient's best interest or to scientific integrity," the authors contend.

A team of American doctors flew secretly to Vienna, Austria, in mid-December to assist in the care of the poisoned Ukrainian presidential candidate, Viktor A. Yushchenko, who later triumphed in an election to become Ukraine's president, doctors involved in the case said recently. The doctors, from the University of Virginia, went at the invitation of the Austrian physicians treating Yushchenko. But the Europeans started consulting other international specialists in toxicology and bioterrorism months earlier, after they became convinced that Yushchenko, who fell ill in early September, was a victim of foul play.

HAVANA - American medical students in Cuba have returned to the United States, missing their final exams, over fears that U.S. authorities will jail them, fine them thousands of dollars or revoke their citizenship for studying medicine on the island. New Bush administration measures that took effect Wednesday severely restrict Americans' presence on the island. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, an arm of the Treasury Department, issued a letter June 25 saying the students could stay until Aug. 1. But many of the students didn't get the word in time.

While most of the 47 million adult smokers in the country say they would like to quit, only 5 percent manage to do so each year. -- American Medical News

Before you reach the articles on anti-coagulation therapy, or echinacea use among children with respiratory infections, or antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction, you will always see the art. It might be a Van Gogh or a Vermeer or a Cassatt. It might depict the Madonna or tulips or a boxing match. But each week, as you look at the cover of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), you might feel - just for a moment - like you're peeking through the window of a museum of fine art. "I consider that the heart of JAMA," Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, the editor, said of the artwork adorning its covers.

Dr. Isadore Kaplan, former medical and surgical director for Chessie System Railroads who was considered an expert in preventive techniques in industrial medicine, died Thursday of complications of an infection at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The longtime Pikesville resident was 88. Dr. Kaplan began his career in 1946 in the B&O Railroad's medical and surgical department and was appointed medical examiner in 1951. Named the B&O's medical and surgical director in 1958, he was in charge of all medical staff and facilities systemwide.