Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (Getty Images) ATLANTA -- Last week, Gov. Nathan Deal said the healthcare plan covering state employees should cover autism treatment -- a move applauded by advocates who say early intervention can improve behavior and quality of life. In his budget this week, Deal would set aside $2.4 million for the coverage. Dozens of other states have passed legislation compelling insurers to provide for the treatments, which can be costly but effective. Research has shown early intervention treatments can prevent or greatly minimize some of the associated disabilities of autism. READ THE PLAN |Governor Deal's education plan and full text of 2014 State of the State speech Georgia is one of only 16 states that don't require the coverage, according to state Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, who is the lead sponsor of "Ava's Law" that would compel insurers in the state to pay for the treatments. The bill is named after Anna Bullard's daughter, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 and who was denied coverage under the state employee health plan in 2006. "That was almost more of a devastating blow than the diagnosis," said Bullard, of Lyons. "The diagnosis was something I … Continue reading →

The Wairarapa District Health Board has apologised to the family of an 82-year-old man who was given the wrong drug following a stroke and died. A number of mistakes were identified in an investigation into the death of the man, who was treated at an unnamed emergency department in late 2011 for a suspected stroke. Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill found the DHB breached the patient's rights, in a decision released on Tuesday. A house surgeon, or recently qualified doctor, had followed the hospital's stroke protocol, which was to administer a thrombolysis drug referred to as a "t-PA". However, the only drug available was tenecteplase, where the manufacturer's maximum dose limits where much less than what the hospital would normally administer. The house surgeon rang another hospital where a doctor told him he could use tenecteplase. However, the second doctor was not aware it was for a stroke patient. The tenecteplase was administered and the next day the patient deteriorated with bleeding on his brain and died three days later. "The man should have been given the t-PA drug alteplase," Mr Hill said. "Tenecteplase should not be used for the treatment of stroke, and is used only for treatment … Continue reading →

Umbilical cord stem cell banking can be expensive and controversial, but Jamie and Ben Page decided to bank their daughter, Harlow's stem cells just in case. "We had heard about cord blood banking and talked about it a lot and thought let's just go for it and have it just as a backup," Jamie Page said. They did need it. Harlow had cancer in her uterus. "On the ultrasound they immediately saw that there was a mass in her abdomen about the size of a grapefruit," Page said. After a year of chemo, the tumor was gone. Doctors wanted to keep it that way. "So, when the doctors found out we actually had her own stem cells, they were very excited," Page said. Oncologist Elaine Morgan says those stem cells helped Harlow. "I think that her umbilical cord cells were used as a boost to her own cells when we harvested her to have adequate cells for reconstitution," Dr. Morgan said. Dr. Morgan does not advocate private cord stem cell banking at birth to be saved for a healthy baby's later use, because it's not clinically useful and it's expensive. The Pages paid almost $2,000 for the initial banking fee, … Continue reading →

Back to TopReferences Duvivier EH, Pollack Jr CV. Seizures. In: Marx, JA, ed. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice . 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby Elsevier; 2009: chap 100. French JA, Pedley TA. Clinical practice. Initial management of epilepsy. N Engl J Med . 2008;359(2):166-76. Kornblau DH, Conway Jr EE, Caplen SM. Neurologic Disorders. In: Marx JA, ed. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby Elsevier; 2009: chap 173. Krumholz A, Wiebe S, Gronseth G, et al. Practice parameter: evaluating an apparent unprovoked first seizure in adults (an evidence-based review): report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society. Neurology. 2007;69:1991-2007. Schachter SC. Seizure disorders. Med Clin North Am . March 2009;93(2). Trescher WH, Lesser RP. The Epilepsies. In: Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jakovic J, eds. Neurology in Clinical Practice . 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa; Butterworth-Heinemann; 2008: chap 71. Walker SP, Permezel M, Berkovic SF. The management of epilepsy in pregnancy. BJOG . 2009;116(6):758-67. C. L. Harden, J. Hopp, T. Y. Ting, et al. Practice Parameter update: Management issues for women with epilepsy --Focus on pregnancy (an evidence-based review). Neurology 2009;73;126 See more here: … Continue reading →

AUGUSTA, Maine More children would receive private insurance coverage for autism treatment under a bill being considered by Maine lawmakers. But the price tag it carries gives it an uncertain future in the Democrat-controlled Legislature this session. Current law, which mandates that insurance companies provide coverage for treatment of autism spectrum disorder only for children ages 5 and under, is preventing families from getting effective, proven treatment for their children or forcing them onto Medicaid, say advocates who are pushing for the bill that would raise that age to 21. "We're basically boxing people into a corner," said Nancy Cronin, executive director of the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council. Medicaid now covers applied behavior analysis treatment a regimen that psychiatric and medical professionals say is the most effective and promising for autistic children if their autism is so severe that they would be institutionalized without treatment. But families may not want to go onto Medicaid or their child may have a mild form of autism, preventing them from qualifying for the approach that teaches children skills by breaking them down into smaller skills, she said. Furthermore, many children aren't diagnosed with autism until they're older than 5, supporters say. The measure, … Continue reading →

The hormone has the ability to boost activity in the brain area linked to social behavior and could thus lead to more effective treatment Image: Thinkstockphotos.com For children with autism, a dose of oxytocin the so-called "love hormone" seems to fine-tune the activity in brain areas linked to social interactions, according to a new study. Although the hormone didn't change children's social skills in the study, its boosting effect on the brain's social areas suggests that using oxytocin nasal sprays immediately before behavioral therapies could boost the effects of those treatments, the researchers said. "Oxytocin temporarily normalized brain regions responsible for the social deficits seen in children with autism," said study researcher Ilanit Gordon, a neuroscientist at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. The study involved 17 children and teens with autism spectrum disorders who underwent two sessions of brain imaging as they performed a task related to social behavior. In each session, the participants received either oxytocin nasal spray or a placebo, and were asked to judge the mental states of people based on a picture of their eyes. The results showed that, compared with placebo sessions, when children received oxytocin they showed greater activity in the "social brain," … Continue reading →