| As Medical Patents Surge, So Do Lawsuits
A surge in patents that protect surgeries and other medical methods has triggered numerous lawsuits in recent years, with inventors fighting more vigorously than ever to protect their intellectual property rights. Patent lawyers say doctors and scientists are suing to protect everything from laser eye surgery techniques to stent procedures to methods for declawing a cat. The medical community is weary of the trend, noting that threats of patent infringement litigation could interfere with effective patient care. Attorney John Dragseth said he has noticed a new trend: doctors getting their own patents, and then asserting them against medical device companies in court. "Many physicians are constantly coming up with new techniques and devices.
Rick Ankiel’s wild ride
The most inspirational story of the 2007 baseball season is not a scientific marvel's methodical pursuit of a career home run record. The most improbable story of 2007 is not the rise of the Seattle Mariners, or the fall of the Oakland Athletics. The most inspirational, most improbable, most likely-to-be-dramatized-by-a-screenwriter story of 2007 concerns a 28-year-old center fielder for a last-place minor-league team in Memphis. Rick Ankiel was blessed with the precocious talent of Dwight Gooden and cursed by the mysterious mental block that turned Steve Blass from a Cy Young candidate at 30 into an ex-pitcher at 32. Three years removed from the mound, Ankiel has reinvented himself as a modern-day "Smoky" Joe Wood, who in 1918 converted into an outfielder after his arm went dead. "I'd hear fathers tell their kids, 'See that guy over there? That's 'Smoky' Joe Wood, used to be a great pitcher long ago,' " Wood told author Lawrence Ritter in 1966.
Local News
The board of commissioners met with three more union bargaining units last week. The groups who met were the law enforcement group LELS, the Teamsters Courthouse Unit and the Teamsters Jailer/Dispatcher Unit.
The county, in all three negotiations, stated their intention of a 3% salary increase with 1 and % given in January and 1 and % given in July. The county also would like to pursue a three year contract. The insurance opener is next year.
The LELS Unit met with the commissioners on July 9. Douglas Biehn, a business agent for Law Enforcement Labor Services, Inc., represented the union along with Deputy Corey Heid. This unit asked for a 4% increase in salaries over the next four years.
Many parts of the current contract were discussed including: training pay, drug task force pay, connectivity pay and shift differentials.
The Natchez Democrat
Kimberly Johnson recently went from wearing glasses, top, to seeing without them, bottom, all in the span of four hours after undergoing LASIK surgery performed by Dr. Douglas Smith at Eye Center Optical. Published Sunday, August 12, 2007 .
Diabetic retinopathy programme
Coimbatore, August 7: City-based Sankara Eye Centre has extended its diabetic retinopathy programme to the rural and tribal areas of the district. The objective of the programme was to reach out to the rural and tribal population, screen and treat them for diabetic eye diseases and link them with Rural Development NGOs and Primary Health Centres, Dr R V Ramani, managing trustee of the centre, said. The programme for Anamalai panchayat union with 19 panchayats, covering 4,000 tribal people, was launched yesterday by Union Minister of State for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation Selja. The tribals with diabetes would be identified and a mobile van sent to screen them, Ramani said in a release today. The centre has so far successfully covered 33 panchayats and 70 villages in Pollachi South taluk, with a total population of over one lakh.
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