Saturday, June 14, 2008

Thanks for your sacrifice ...

Following up on the thread started by Jenny below comes a piece on the Associated Press newswire about health care for female veterans.

Women make up a significant and increasing percentage of soldiers - about 200,000 women currently serve, representing nearly 15% of the military personnel. Yet the Veteran's Administration is still behind the curve on recognizing that these fighting women have different medical needs and expectations than their male counterparts.

As the AP article notes, not only is there a dearth of physicians specializing in women's health but many VA facilities even lack the basic equipment and infrastructure to meet the needs of female soliders. For example, the report mentions a lack of female bathrooms or female-only changing facilities, leading me to suspect that most VA hospitals are actually converted athletic stadiums.

Don't even ask about women-only group counseling options, even for those who are suffering post-traumatic stress as a result of sexual abuse (a military tradition). Of course, the Bush Administration has been arguing that our veterans are not necessarily entitled to mental health care, so this may be one of the few examples of gender equality in the VA medical system.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

New Study Predicts Success of In-Vitro Fertilization

Report Allows Women to Know Chances of Taking Home a Baby, of
Taking Home Twins
CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
A method that is up to 80 percent accurate in determining whether
a woman undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) will take home a baby
has been developed by Dr. Christopher Jones, CEO of FORMYODDS.COM. The
report will be submitted for publication later this month.

Based on 20 predictive variables, the model was tested using one
of the world's largest IVF datasets comprising over 170,000 treatment
cycles. "FORMYODDS.COM is such a breakthrough because it predicts the
take-home baby rate using population-based data," Dr. Jones said.

What started as research has led to a website. For women or
couples using FORMYODDS.COM, predictions come in the form of a simple
report which all parties can discuss with their doctor. "Stated
simply, if one hundred women with similar clinical characteristics
underwent an IVF cycle using 1, 2 or 3 embryos, a certain number will
give birth. Of those who give birth, a certain percentage will give
birth to twins. Knowing these percentages can help with many planning
aspects such as the timing of treatment," says Dr. Louis Keith.

Dr. Hamisu Salihu, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at
the University of South Florida, who confirmed the findings, said,
"This is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for women
contemplating IVF. The site predicts the take-home baby rate and
multiple birth rate - two important rates to know."

What if today is not the right time for IVF? FORMYODDS.COM shows
what will happen if the next IVF cycle is completed within one month,
compared with next year, five years or after additional cycles of IVF.
"Women need to know their chances under real scenarios," says Dr.
Timothy R. B. Johnson, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the
University of Michigan, and "FORMYODDS.COM pools all the variables
together in a manner that is meaningful for the fertility doctor,
cost-effective and immediately useful for counseling."

Dr. Jones cautions, "This is an aid to patients considering IVF
but not a substitute for a medical diagnosis." Further information is
available at www.formyodds.com.