Dr. Jen Gunter
Dr. Jen Gunter
In praise of Kangaroo Care for premature babies
Today is Kangaroo Care awareness day. Kangaroo care (KC) is the practice of skin-to-skin contact with a premature baby and parent. In low and middle-income countries, where there are fewer medical resources, Kangaroo Care has been shown to reduce mortality among premature babies and shorten the length of hospital stay. Kangaroo Care is also very … Continue reading
No young person has ever died from Plan B, but 7 will die today from gun violence
If you are not following the Plan B saga, here’s what you need to know: Plan B is one type of morning after pill. It is the hormone levonorgestrel. The brand is Plan B but there are generics as well. It does not cause abortion. It does not affect implantation. It works by inhibiting ovulation. … Continue reading
6 reasons why Plan B should be available without an ID
The Food and Drug Administration just cleared Plan B for women ages 15 and up. Not only did the age limit get lowered, Plan B and its generic equivalents will be on the shelves with all the other over the counter medications. The caveat, you need ID. While I applaud the lowering the age limit … Continue reading
HPV vaccine almost eliminates genital warts for young women, new study
While the HPV vaccine is an important weapon against cervical cancer, one of the vaccines (Gardasil) also provides coverage against HPV types 6 and 11, which cause genital warts. As this vaccine targets 4 types of HPV (16 and 18, which cause cervical cancer as well as 6 and 11) it is called a quadrivalent … Continue reading
Dear Ireland, the answer to allowing medical necessary abortion isn’t an inquisition
The coroner and jury in the inquest into the death of Savita Halappanavar arrived at the same conclusions that I have long held: that the prohibitive Irish abortion law played a role. Ms. Halappanavar needed her uterus evacuated before Wednesday (preferably on the Monday), but under current Irish law a woman apparently has be waiting … Continue reading
Expert in Savita inquiry confirms Irish women get lower standard of care with chorioamnionitis
As the inquest into Savita Halappanavar’s death continues we have heard about delays and errors, all of which most likely contributed to her terrible outcome. However, along the way those who have tried to pass off her death as medical negligence and nothing to do with Irish law or Catholic ethos have rested on the … Continue reading
Gosnell case not about abortion it’s about how the desperate and disadvantaged get care
Kermit Gosnell is on trial for providing grossly negligent care to many women culminating in the death of at least one. He is also accused of performing late term abortions past the point of legality. The pictures in the press look like most of his patients (or the economically disadvantaged ones anyway) were seen is … Continue reading
Savita Halappanavar’s inquest: the three questions that must be answered
Savita Halappanavar was admitted at on a Sunday to Galway hospital at 17 weeks into her pregnancy with ruptured membranes, a dilated cervix, and an elevated white blood cell count (a marker of infection). It is clear that her diagnosis was chorioamnionitis, an infection of the fetal membranes. When left untreated the bacteria of chorioamnionitis march … Continue reading
North Dakota abortion laws: the American Congress of OB/GYNs makes a statement
This is the e-mail that I received today from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Washington, DC – The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) strongly opposes all three restrictive abortion laws recently enacted in North Dakota. ACOG opposes laws regulating medical care that are unsupported by scientific evidence and that are not necessary to … Continue reading
The General Medical Council muzzles British doctors who want to post anonymously
The General Medical Council in Britain released new guidelines on social media for medicine. Essentially, if you are a doctor in the United Kingdom Big Brother the GMC does not believe that you should be able to tweet/blog/post anonymously if you self-identify as a physician. The exact wording is as follows: If you identify yourself … Continue reading
