Medical Records

It didn't start with Farrah Fawcett's medical records landing in the National Enquirer or recent reports on a celebrity website that actor Patrick Swayze was near death. For decades, the tabloids have made a cottage industry of star ailments -- whether Dean Martin's declining health, Rock Hudson's AIDS diagnosis or Bob Hope's final years in and out of hospitals. "Bob Hope Says Last Goodbye," the Star reported months before the entertainer actually died. "While Doctors Battle to Save Her Life . . . Liz Boozes It Up In Hospital," screamed a famous National Enquirer headline from the 1990s.

A Superior Court judge is poised to decide whether some records of Michael Jackson's finances and medical history should be kept out of public view during a trial over the singer's 2009 death. Jury selection in the wrongful death case began April 2 and is likely to last at least another week, according to attorneys. But the fate of the confidential documents is expected to surface early next week. The wrongful death suit, filed by Jackson's mother and three children, accused entertainment powerhouse Anschutz Entertainment Group of hiring and controlling the Las Vegas physician who gave Jackson a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol in the days before he was set to begin a series of comeback shows in London.  AEG contends that it was Jackson who brought Dr. Conrad Murray aboard, while the firm had planned to retain an English doctor.

California health regulators have connected 14 more people affiliated with UCLA Medical Center, including four physicians, to the improper viewing of celebrity medical records, bringing the number of current and former workers apparently implicated in the snooping scandal to 68. The additional violations came to light in a report by the California Department of Public Health, which was sent to the hospital Friday.

The Seattle group attempting to buy the Sacramento Kings says it has reached agreement to raise the purchase price by $25 million. Chris Hansen, who is teaming with Steve Ballmer to lead the group, announced the decision to raise the valuation late Friday night. In a statement on his website, Sonicsarena.com, Hansen says the group has voluntarily raised the purchase price as a "sign of our commitment to bring basketball back to our city. " Hansen's group entered into a binding agreement with the Maloof family in January to purchase the controlling interest of the franchise based on a $525 million value.

I'm an 84-year-old man on Social Security with original Medicare and Mutual of Omaha gap insurance. My insurance premium was raised from $262 to $363 a month, a 39% jump. After all my monthly expenses, I have just $240 left. What can I do in the event of another increase in my premiums? If you've had your current Medicare supplement plan for years, it's not surprising that you've seen your costs steadily rise, says Steve Zaleznick, senior Medicare advisor at PlanPrescriber, a Maynard, Mass.-based online provider of Medicare education and plan comparison tools.

President Kennedy's Addison's disease, which came to light only after his election in 1960, was most likely caused by a rare autoimmune disease, according to a Navy doctor who reviewed Kennedy's medical records. The disease, autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2, or APS 2, also caused Kennedy's hypothyroidism, according to a report published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Hard though it is to believe these days -- when a celebrity's smallest sneeze is analyzed -- Kennedy's family and advisors were able to keep his medical history virtually secret.

As an unexpected consequence of a gun control law that took effect Jan. 1, the names of people admitted for mental health treatment at California hospitals are being recorded in state law enforcement computers. Although meant to keep firearms away from those who are considered dangerous to themselves or to society, the practice also applies to psychiatric patients who voluntarily check themselves in for treatment and have no history of violent behavior.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - The first glimpse of a once-promising career beginning to unravel emerged Thursday during a hearing in the case against James E. Holmes, accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 in a packed movie theater last month. Assistant Dist. Atty. Karen Pearson revealed that 24-year-old Holmes, once a doctoral student in an elite neuroscience program at the University of Colorado Denver, had failed oral exams on June 7, made unspecified threats serious enough for campus police to be notified, and had his access to university buildings on the Anschutz Medical Campus revoked.

Dozens of hospitals across the country lost access to crucial electronic medical records for about five hours during a major computer outage last week, raising fresh concerns about whether poorly designed technology can compromise patient care. Cerner Corp., a leading supplier of electronic health records to hospitals and doctors, said "human error" caused the outage July 23 that it said affected an unspecified number of hospitals that rely on the Kansas City, Mo., company to remotely store their medical information.

Accessing your own medical records should be as easy as checking your online bank account, a new health-data group contends, and Monday it launched a website to promote better access. The site, HealthDataRights.org, was established by a group that is boosting greater personal use of electronic medical records. Only 15% of physicians track the records electronically, said James Heywood, a group founder.

A San Diego area man died after what was supposed to be a routine procedure to remove two wisdom teeth, his family said. Marek Lapinski, 25, began coughing during the March 21 surgery in Temecula, according to medical records his family provided Fox 5 San Diego . Medical personnel administered propofol, his family told the television station, and Lapinski went into cardiac arrest. He was taken to an area hospital, where he died March 24, according to a website set up in his honor.

During his eight-day murder trial last year, David Viens made for an enigmatic presence. He sat in a wheelchair at the defense table, hands folded, face devoid of emotion -- even as jurors heard recordings of him telling investigators he accidentally killed his wife and cooked her body to dispose of it. The panel convicted Viens, a chef, of second-degree murder, and on Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rand S. Rubin sentenced him...

During his eight-day murder trial last year, David Viens made for an enigmatic presence. The former chef sat in a wheelchair at the defense table, hands folded, face devoid of emotion - even as jurors heard recordings of him telling investigators he accidentally killed his wife and cooked her body to dispose of it. The panel convicted Viens of second-degree murder, and on Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rand S. Rubin sentenced him...

Faced with increased regulatory and consumer pressure as well as a lawsuit, Monster Beverage Corp. went on the offensive to deflect accusations that its products offered more than just a liquid jolt. The Corona energy drink maker, responding Monday to the lawsuit, said there was "no medical or scientific evidence" to support a finding that its energy drinks contributed to a 14-year-old Maryland girl's death. The family of Anais Fournier accused Monster of negligence and wrongful death in a lawsuit filed in October.

Monster Beverage Corp. has its own take on what happened to Anais Fournier, the 14-year-old Maryland girl whose family blames her 2011 death on her consumption of Monster energy drinks. The Fourniers sued Monster in October, alleging negligence and wrongful death. On Monday, the Corona company lashed back, unveiling the findings of a group of medical experts that it hired to examine the girl's records. The physicians - including a cardiac pathologist, an emergency room physician, a coroner and a toxicologist - found “conclusively that there is no medical, scientific or factual evidence” to support claims that Monster energy drinks “contributed to, let alone was the cause” of Fournier's death, according to Daniel Callahan, a lawyer for the company.

The Medical Board of California has launched an investigation into a string of 16 fatal overdoses tied to powerful narcotics prescribed by a prominent Orange County physician. Dr. Van Vu, a pain management specialist in Huntington Beach, was featured in a Los Angeles Times article in November that detailed the 16 deaths. A board investigator recently began obtaining signed releases from relatives of the deceased patients, authorizing the board to review their medical records.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a California pilot who tried to hide that he was HIV-positive cannot sue for emotional distress after two federal agencies shared the man's medical information. In a 5-3 opinion , the court's conservative majority upheld the federal government's immunity from liability for a person who claims mental anguish or emotional distress, but who suffers no damage, such as loss of income. The decision reverses a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that had struck down a ruling by a lower court in San Francisco.

Re "Life-or-death data," editorial, Dec. 11 The Times describes many problems with an employer-driven clinical database of patient healthcare data, but only touches the concerns that physicians share. These include the potential for the data to get into the wrong hands or to be manipulated or misinterpreted. Medical record keeping is best organized by physicians. Healthcare providers nationwide in health information technology collaboratives have been working to utilize the Internet for the efficient exchange of medical records data.

WASHINGTON - The military judge in charge of the trial for alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others has ruled that lawyers cannot share even unclassified materials or discuss the information with the press or public, and he further has ordered the names of the jurors be kept secret in the trial. The ruling by the judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, follows an order on Dec. 6 in which he directed that any evidence or discussion about harsh interrogation techniques used against the five men also will be kept secret, despite protests from human rights groups that the government is trying to hide the fact that the men were tortured.

When it comes to travel, especially involving something as pricey as a cruise, it's wise to take precautions. You never know when you may have to cancel your trip. Bill and Sally Mathews paid $1,140 for travel insurance as part of about $12,600 they plunked down in March for a July cruise along the Danube River with Grand Circle Cruise Line. "We've never had to use travel insurance," Bill Mathews, 85, of Redondo Beach told me. "It just always seems like a good idea to have it. We travel a lot. " This time, it turned out, the insurance was a good investment - or it would have been had the insurer, Trip Mate, made good on its policy right away.