Hot MedFax

I found this surprising. Well, maybe not.  But maybe not.  According to a new study, parents are raising their kids to achieve or be happy, the Washington Post relates. What's wrong with that?  They're not valuing caring for others. About 80 percent of the youth in the study said their parents were more concerned with their achievement or happiness than whether they cared for others. The interviewees were also three times more likely to agree that “My parents are prouder if I get good grades in my classes than if I’m a caring community member in class and school.” Why is this important? Because if we want our children to be moral people, we have to, well, raise them that way, right?  We've certainly seen enough of the kids who make fun of others for being different, or because they don't wear the right sneakers, or live in the right neighborhood.  And isn't this, at the head of it all, where bullying comes from? I guess you can't teach moralit...

I remember it well.  A week before Christmas, an ice storm.  And a fall out running that broke my wrist. Now a new study says that patients with immediate medical needs tend to perceive doctors as emotionless. Mine was really a funny story.  I hit a bus on my way to the ER (it pulled out in front of me).  I was in such pain I just kept going. But sitting in the exam room, waiting for the doctor, two cops walked in to tell me I was being investigated for hitting a bus.  It turned out to be minor -- we had clicked mirrors, no damage -- but that added to the enjoyment of the day. Anyway, since I was at an immediate care center that didn't offer surgery (if needed) or high-caliber pain-killers, I was told to drive myself to the local hospital, that did.  Back in the car I went, only to arrive there to wait 13 hours to have my wristbone yanked three times to try to put it back in place. Oh my God. So I'm not sure it mattered too much whether my doc ...

Big surprise.   Who doesn’t know this? But a new study has found that when a new baby comes into a dual-income, highly educated family, the mom does the majority of the extra work. Although research discovered that neither parent did as much, on average, as they thought – four hours – moms still did two hours while dads, 40 minutes, a day. This is not to disparage dads.   My husband got up with the baby at night and rocked him and fed him (diapers, not so much). “The birth of the child dramatically changed the division of labor in these couples,” says Jill Yavorsky, co-author of the study and doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State, at newswise.com.   “What was once a relatively even division of household work no longer looked that way.” I think that’s because we start feeling a whole different way once we have a baby.   It’s like that child is still inside you and attached to your organs.   Sounds kind of silly, I know.   But h...

Why does this not surprise me?  Apparently six percent of marriages end in divorce when the wife gets sick. We're not talking tonsillitis or the flu, but major, serious  illness, like heart attack or cancer. I should know.  I was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago, and though my husband went with me to the appointment where we discussed treatment, all I remember is him saying, "This is nothing," as we walked through the parking lot to Tully. Of course, as the surgeon talked on, telling us that though my cancer was non-invasive, it was the highest grade, which meant they weren't totally sure it hadn't spread outside the milk duct, he kept looking at me.  (Thankfully, it turned out not to.)  Walking out of the office, Larry said, "You were right.  It's something." I don't remember much about that time.  We had a three-year-old and I was more concerned about taking care of him (and making sure he didn't notice anything was wrong) ...

It's a no-brainer.  Dogs make us feel better.  Full disclosure: I've never had a dog.  My mother and sister were both allergic so we never had one growing up, though we did take in a stray during a snowstorm and I regret to say I don't remember what happened to him (hopefully, returned to his owners). But The New York Times reported today that having a dog may lower your heart risk.  I have to admit, since becoming a mom, the nurturing side has come out in me and I now love dogs (am even thinking of getting one for my pre-adolescent son, even though I know who will wind up taking care of him or her). I feel calmer when I'm petting them and I love looking into their eyes, and seeing the soul in there. I watched a Judge Judy segment yesterday where an estranged couple were fighting over custody of their dog, a Husky with piercing blue eyes. The dog kept whimpering and running back and forth between the man and the woman, crying and leaping first on the wo...

Wouldn't it be nice if we all could not only "just get along," but love everyone? Stephen Asma, professor of philosophy at Columbia College, says universal love is a myth, according to a story by Christie Nicholson at smartplanet.com. She notes that he affirmed this in a   recent New York Times article , “All people are not equally entitled to my time, affection, resources or moral duties," he said in the article. Ansa told Nicholson tha the idea of universal love has been used for ill, not good, using as examples the Soviet Union and Mao's China, where " even family bias was bad and should be broken and subjugated to this universal love." Nicholson reported on Ansa's belief that love and expressions of it are finite. In fact, Ansa postulates that care is more a biological affect than an emotional one, according to Nicholson. All mammals experience it. "Caring for somebody is a lot like sprint racing," Ansa told Nicholson. You h...