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Daily Rounds: Rabbi Seeks Young Bride For Insurance; Most Docs Sued; Bladder Cancer In Smokers; The Genetics Of Pot

For Love Or Insurance? Rabbi Seeks Young Wife To Lower Health Costs : Shots - Health Blog : NPR "So, Ezring posted on his blog that he was looking for a younger woman who wouldn't mind marrying him to help him get cheaper coverage. "Give some thought to the possibility of marrying me ... a good insurance plan is all I ask," he wrote. "Okay there maybe one or two other things I ask for, but sadly, right now insurance has become a top priority."' (npr.org)

Study finds most doctors will be sued for malpractice from White Coat Notes "Most doctors in America will be sued at some point during their careers, a Harvard study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine found. Physicians who perform high-risk procedures, including neurosurgeons and obstetricians, face near-certainty of being named in a malpractice case before they reach age 65. Yet a relatively small number of claims, about 22 percent, result in payments to patients or their families." (boston.com)

Bladder Cancer a Growing Concern for Smokers - NYTimes.com "They found that current smokers were four times as likely to develop bladder cancer compared with people who never smoked, and former smokers had 2.2 times the risk.
The researchers speculate that the new, larger risk may be a reflection of the more toxic chemicals added to cigarettes nowadays -– some of which may specifically have a link to bladder cancer. Bowing to public pressure, many cigarette makers have cut back on tar and nicotine in recent years, but replaced them with other toxic substances like beta-napthylamine, which is known to raise the risk of bladder cancer." (ell.blogs.nytimes.com)

Marblehead startup seeks to unlock secrets of cannabis - The Boston Globe "It’s a plant more commonly associated with lava lamps and Pink Floyd than cutting-edge science. But today, a small Marblehead company plans to post online the hundreds of millions of letters of DNA that make up Cannabis sativa in a first step toward truly understanding and enhancing marijuana’s therapeutic potential." (boston.com)

Caribbean Coral Catch Disease From Sewage : NPR "Human beings occasionally get diseases from animals, such as swine flu, rabies and anthrax. A new study finds that humans can also spread disease to wildlife, with grim results. A bacterium from our guts is now rampaging through coral reefs in the Caribbean." (npr.org)

This program aired on August 18, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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