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The medical news you need this month. Hint: Beware of grapefruit

By Daiana Feuer
Published: Dec 15, 2007

City women have thick breasts
Women living in urban environments seem to have denser breast tissue than their suburban or rural counterparts, according to a study presented at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting. And this isn’t a good thing—denser breast tissue means a higher risk of breast cancer. The researchers urged women in New York. Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities not to panic—but to be extra vigilant about mammograms. Metal breast squeezing apparatus, here we come!

Hospice patients sure don’t die like they used to
Hundreds of hospice providers across the country are facing calamitous financial consequences of what would otherwise seem to be a good thing: their patients are living longer than expected. During the last eight years, the “refusal of patients to die” has led the federal government to demand that hospices repay hundreds of millions of dollars to Medicare. Leave it to the government to punish a medical facility for keeping their patients alive.

Grapefruit is great! But don't try it at home.
Grapefruit is a miracle fruit—a few years ago, a study showed that the mere presence of a pink grapefruit scent made a woman appear six years younger. But according to researchers, grapefruit also interacts with some drugs, boosting their power in dangerous ways. For example, Lipitor, the popular cholesterol-lowering pill, can reach toxic levels in the bloodstream when combined with grapefruit. Who woulda thunk?

Move here at your own risk
Place #1: Our nation’s capital
1 in 50 residents of Washington D.C. have HIV or AIDS, and D.C. also has the highest death rate for breast cancer in the entire United States. Researchers say this is due to deficient healthcare access and long treatment waits.
Place #2: Rhode Island
A Rhode Island hospital is fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state department of health after its third instance this year of physicians performing brain surgery in the wrong side of a patient's head.

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