JOHANNESBURG – South Africa's former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who gained notoriety for her dogged promotion of lemons, garlic and olive oil to treat AIDS, has died. She was 69. The ruling African National Congress said Tshabalala-Msimang died in a Johannesburg hospital Wednesday from complications related to a 2007 liver transplant. Media outlets said she was possibly undergoing tests for a possible second transplant when she died. Tshabalala-Msimang's disastrous HIV policies during her nine years in office made her the most unpopular government minister in post-apartheid South Africa. She was ridiculed locally and internationally and nicknamed "Dr. Beetroot" — another...
SynCardia Systems Inc. announced that Cleveland Clinic has performed the world’s first Total Artificial Heart to dual heart and liver transplant. After living with the total artificial heart for 113 days, on May 1, 2009, Dr. Michael Zabell received the donor heart and liver during a 14-hour surgery involving two different transplant teams. Zabell was first admitted to the hospital to wait for a heart transplant on Aug. 18, 2008. He was given medication to help his heart function, but his condition continued to deteriorate. By January 8, 2009, his heart had become so weak that doctors needed to implant...
If you've been following the health care debate over the last couple of years, you may have heard the grim tale of Nataline Sarkisyan. Just 17 years old, afflicted with leukemia, she needed a liver transplant, but the insurance company Cigna refused to cover the surgery. After being picketed by nurses and the family, the insurer relented, but too late: She died that same day. When he ran for president, John Edwards used the girl's experience as proof of the need for reform. Her parents went to Cigna headquarters to charge the company with killing their daughter to make money....
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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