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30 Jan 2012 23:27

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U.S.: Dentist heading to jail over botched paper clip root canal

  • cause In 2005, Massachusetts dentist Dr. Michael Clair performed a root canal. He used sections of a paper clip during the procedure in order to save money, something he had done on multiple occasions. This was not a good idea — it made the patient’s tooth turn black, and the tooth had to be removed.
  • effect As a result of this, along with allegations of illegal prescriptions and intimidating witnesses, Clair received a one-year jail sentence Monday. Prosecutors asked for more jail time, but Clair received a shorter sentence due to a lack of criminal record and “certain mental health issues.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2011 10:50

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U.S.: Judge to decide on Jared Lee Loughner’s fitness to eventually stand trial

  • The gunman in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Loughner’s mental health issues, which manifested themselves in a disturbing way back in January, could prevent him from going to trial on 49 charges relating to the shooting which nearly killed a congresswoman. Did his time in a federal prison hospital help improve his condition enough to eventually stand trial? Does he need more time (as prosecutors are arguing), or is he not improving at all, as his defense attorneys claim? A judge will parse through these issues today. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2011 10:47

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Politics: Gauntlet, thrown: Bioethicist jumps on Bachmann’s HPV claims

  • If she can produce a case in one week starting today verified by three medical experts that she and i pick of a woman who became ‘retarded’ (her words) due to HPV vaccine i will donate that to a charity of her choice. She must donate 10k to a charity I pick if she fails to do so.
  • University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan • E-mailing reporters with an offer of a challenge for Michele Bachmann, in response to her claims that the HPV vaccine can cause mental health issues. Here’s what we think is going to happen here — Bachmann is going to ignore Caplan because, if she doesn’t, she’s going to be proven wrong. That’s pretty much her only option for not looking stupid here. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2011 01:55

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Politics: Rep. David Wu won’t run for re-election amid “unwanted sexual encounter”

  • He’s still determining his political future, but he will not run for re-election. He’s fully focused on fulfilling his elected duties and serving his constituents to the best of his duties here in the House.
  • David Wu’s spokesman, Erik Dorey • Revealing that the troubled congressman, a Democrat, won’t run for re-election. Fortunately for him, Wu is low-profile enough that he hasn’t faced intense scrutiny to the level of Anthony Weiner, which means that he might be able to weather the storm and keep his job for another year … if he’s careful. However, Wu faces much harsher charges than Weiner ever did — allegations of an unwanted sexual encounter with an 18-year-old woman. On top of that, he has some embarrassing photos that work well next to a story like this one. So who wants to take bets on how long it takes for him to resign? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2011 10:59

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Politics: Troubled congressman David Wu now faces new world of trouble

Wu reportedly had what was described as an “unwanted sexual encounter” with an unnamed woman right around the period this super-weird photo of him was taken. Uh-oh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jun 2011 14:32

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Culture: Book excerpt: Psychopaths are more normal than you think

  • After they arrested me, I sat in my cell and I thought, ‘I’m looking at five to seven years.’ So I asked the other prisoners what to do. They said, ‘Easy! Tell them you’re mad! They’ll put you in a county hospital. You’ll have Sky TV and a PlayStation. Nurses will bring you pizzas.’
  • A diagnosed psychopath named Tony •  Describing how he got put into the Broadmoor mental hospital in England. He pretended to be insane to get out of a jail sentence, after other prisoners told him to. He copied books and movies he’d seen and read, and was sent to the mental asylum. However, when it came time for him to get out – he couldn’t. He actually was a psychopath, according to a number of tests that had been done on him. This excerpt from author Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry” is a fascinating piece on a subject few know about — how psychopaths are diagnosed and treated.  source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Sep 2009 08:44

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Sports: All those hits NFL players take are not good for their psyche

  • 19x higher rate of dementia for former NFL players source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Aug 2009 22:01

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Offbeat: These donuts? Psycho, so much so that psychos are complaining

This California shop’s donuts aren’t the problem (they look awesome and hot nurses make ’em). It’s the name. A bunch of mental health groups are pressuring them to change it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jul 2009 10:54

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U.S.: Found: The mental health records of the Virginia Tech shooter

  • Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho has a long, documented history of mental health problems, both prior to and during his time at the university. source
  • Cho later goes on a shooting rampage, killing 32 people and himself on April 16, 2007. But his mental health records went missing. source
  • Authorities finally find his records, which were stolen by a former employee of the counseling center. They promise to release them soon. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jul 2009 16:51

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U.S., World: Veterans are not handling the transition from Iraq, Afghanistan well

  • 37% of returning military have mental health problems source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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