Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On February 27, 2011, Frank Buckles died at 110 years old, just one of the many fascinating things about his life! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find our hero born in 1901 in Missouri into a family of farmers that already had a history of service to the country in the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars. When the U.S. entered World War I, Frank was eager to join the action and went to the nearest Marine Corps recruiting station where he was sent away for being too small.  His 2nd choice, the Navy turned him away for flat…

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A Brief History On December 2, 1982, medical history was made when Barney Clark, a retired dentist, received a Jarvik 7 artificial heart at the University of Utah, the first time an artificial heart was implanted meant as a permanent solution and not just a temporary spot holder until a viable heart for transplant could be found. Digging Deeper Powered by a pump the size of a dehumidifier or larger, the 1980’s version was not exactly a walk around your house back to normal life type of proposition.  Other attempts prior to this had been with devices meant only to…

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A Brief History On August 31, 1854, a seminal moment in the history of illness and scientific application of anti-disease efforts struck the Broad Street area of Soho, London, England, when a severe cholera outbreak began.  Before it was over, 626 people would die of the disease, but scientific study of the outbreak would lead to the saving of millions of lives in the future.  (Note: The neighborhood of the outbreak is now known as Carnaby Street.) Digging Deeper Small outbreaks of cholera had plagued London in 1854, and on August 31 the Broad Street area was hit.  The cholera…

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A Brief History Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is an intolerance of chemicals, cleaning products, pesticides, smells, odors, fragrances, etc. and exposure to such substances may cause physiological and psychological side effects that can resemble allergic reactions.  Sufferers, sometimes fearing for their lives, are often forced to avoid social gatherings; many can no longer pursue employment as the workplace environment may not be safe; and most live isolated and lonely lives with others showing little understanding, consideration or sympathy for their predicament. Digging Deeper Deemed an environmental illness, MCS can also be described as a “mystery illness” such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease, electromagnetic…

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A Brief History On March 26, 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, alias “Dr. Death,” was convicted of second-degree murder in Michigan for giving a terminally ill man a lethal injection at the man’s request.  The 52-year-old man was succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), a particularly dreadful way to die. Digging Deeper Kevorkian had previously championed the right of dying people to end their own suffering with medical assistance and had devised machines that allowed the patient to kill themselves by either adding a lethal drip to an IV or by inhaling lethal gas through a mask they put on themselves.  He had already been tried…

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