Arlene Howard in a cryogenic machine at Winner Circle Athletics getting her knees attended.
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Arlene Howard in cryogenic machine at Winner Circle Athletics getting her knees attended.
October 24, 2018
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Indiana nurses fired over vaccination refusal, one doctor speaks out
January 2, 2013
January 2, 2012
Indiana nurses fired over vaccination refusal, one doctor speaks out
Headline news this January 2, 2013, is the developing story of the dismissal of eight veteran nurses because they refused to take flu shot for religious reasons.
According to CNN, an Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, many of them veteran nurses, because they refused to take the flu vaccine. CNN senior medical reporter Elizabeth Cohen was interviewed this morning on the story, claiming that health workers had an obligation to insure patients in weakened states were not in direct contact with those who might have been exposed to influenza.
IU Health Goshen hospital is at the center of this, while four of the fired nurses tried to appeal the vaccine on religious grounds with the help of a lawyer. The hospital rejected their arguments and fired them anyway. CNN reports that the hospital is backed up by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Earlier in the year, the hospital informed its staff that vaccinations would be mandatory for all employees based on guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association, which both recommend mandatory vaccinations for employees.
‘As a hospital and health system, our top priority is and should be patient safety, and we know that hospitalized people with compromised immune systems are at a greater risk for illness and death from the flu,’ hospital spokeswoman Melanie McDonald told the Elkhart Truth newspaper.
‘The flu has the highest death rate of any vaccine preventable disease, and it would be irresponsible from our perspective for health care providers to ignore that.’
The fired nurses, including Joyce Gingerich and Sue Schrock were both veteran nurses who filed appeals on religious grounds.
‘I feel like in my personal faith walk, I have felt instructed not to get a flu vaccination, but it’s also the whole matter of the right to choose what I put in my body…”
Sue Schrock, a hospice nurse, said she has not had a flu vaccine for 30 years as a result of a choice she made because of her Christian faith.
Dr. Damon Raskin is a Los Angeles based board certified Internist who also sub-specializes in geriatric medicine and addiction issues at Cliffside Malibu. Dr. Raskin is also the supervising MD for Ageless Men’s Health, a nationwide facility dealing with men’s health and anti-aging issues.
Dr. Raskin spoke to Monsters and Critics this morning (Jan. 2) and gave his perspective on this developing story:
“Influenza can be extremely dangerous for many and fatal for some. The most susceptible are the young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. These are the exact same people who are also most likely to be in a hospital setting and thus at risk if healthcare workers are not vaccinated for the flu.
Healthcare workers and hospitals have a moral and ethical obligation to do everything in their power to not do harm and put every policy in place to protect their patients. Although individuals should have the right to refuse vaccines based on their religious faith, this should not be at the expense of public safety. I agree with the hospital that these unvaccinated nurses should not be interacting with at risk patients. Perhaps they could have given them other administrative duties rather than direct patient care until flu season was over.”
December 10, 2012
Angus T. Jones is a still-learning 19-year-old
Angus T. Jones, the fraction in the CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” made news recently when he called the series “filth,” bemoaned his own participation in it, and advised people not to watch it. The call came in the course of what he at least would call a religious testimony, delivered on video and posted on YouTube.
On ABC’s “Nightline,” Dr. Damon Raskin, a former child actor himself, described Jones’ behavior as “very self-destructive”; on his blog, TV comedy writer Ken Levine called him “an incredibly ungrateful confused young man who has just committed career suicide and left himself open for major lawsuits.”
Some of the reaction to Jones’ announcement has really been a reaction to self-styled minister Christopher Hudson, who made the video and appears in it. Hudson’s Forerunner Chronicles mixes Seventh-Day Adventist notions of the apocalypse with a wider selection of popular paranoid conspiracy theories; Jones, who attends an Adventist church in Los Angeles, thanks his new friend for “the information” he provides, without specifically endorsing his views.
It may well be that he is being fooled — “exploited,” worries mother Carey Jones — or being foolish. But he isn’t only being foolish, it seems to me.
Rather, he appears to be making a stab at becoming a better person and some version of a responsible adult. The story of worldly dissatisfaction and sudden spiritual revelation he relates on the video is not out of the ordinary. And his malaise, if not necessarily his response to it, seems typical enough for a 19-year-old — an age susceptible to outsized attacks of seriousness, elation, frustration, boredom and despair. It’s not for nothing that Shakespeare made Hamlet a college student.
Jones is not the first 19-year-old, after all, to conclude that television is bad for you. Nor is he the first rich kid — his 2010 contract with “Two and a Half Men” guaranteed him $7.9 million over the next two seasons — not to be made happy by his riches. Nor is he the first actor to attack a vehicle, or the first performer to feel himself swayed toward a holier path: I give you the Rev. Al Green, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens and actress Dolores Hart, who left Hollywood to become a nun. To the extent we look at such transitions as comical or sad, misguided or self-defeating or limiting, we only confirm the narrowness of our own ideas of what can constitute a Good Life.
“Filth” is a loaded word, admittedly. It is not like “smut” or “porn,” which have become almost cute. It suggests contamination. But is it even controversial? As to the sitcom’s actual content, let me simply refer back to my review of the first episode of Season 9, the dawn of the Ashton Kutcher era, which “hunted for laughs in herpes, chlamydia and vaginal warts” and gave Conchata Ferrell a line about “hosing the vomit off the occasional drug-addled hooker.”
The number of viewers that will heed his call to rejection will be, I would guess, statistically close to zero. The ratings for the first episode after the news broke, an episode in which Jones’ character, Jake, announces he’s contracted an STD (title: “I Scream When I Pee”) were as good as any this season, and I would guess that everyone is sleeping just fine over at Chuck Lorre Productions. Given their experience with Uncle Charlie Sheen, they may regard this as an opportunity, assuming the show is picked up for another season.
Times change, of course: One generation’s cutting edge is a dull blade to the next. Pornography is now just another thing that lives on your Internet. But if we have long understood obscenity to be something relative, subject to the venue — sexual matters that can seem lazy or cynical on CBS’ “2 Broke Girls” might feel perfectly fitting on HBO’s all-but-explicit “Girls” — the fact is that broadcast television runs chockablock with sex nowadays. And there remain plenty of viewers for whom that makes it a minefield.
Jones also had the proximate example of former costar Sheen, a walking cautionary tale in the way that youthful celebrity can arrest development, if not necessarily success. Seeming to miss the point, the Rock Star from Mars has invited Jones on to his own, raunchier new series. And though Sheen pictured Jones as undergoing a “Hale-Bopp-like meltdown,” nothing of that sort seems to be underway. Jones, for his part, quickly issued an apology to “all of the wonderful people” he’d worked with and for on the show and acknowledging their “support, guidance and love.” To the extent that he has mentioned anyone by name, it is not, as Sheen did, to pick a fight.
It seems not unlikely that Jones may be nearing the end of his major-league acting career. He does not seem to have been particularly passionate about it, even before these recent developments, and history is in any case littered with former sitcom stars who never caught another break.
Still, I wish you well, Angus T. Jones. I would, however, recommend you take a sliver of your enormous salary and invest it in a first-class liberal arts education, to put that “information” you’ve been scraping off the Internet into better perspective. The end may be further off than you imagine, there is much to learn, and you are young yet.
Novemeber 29, 2012
Dr. Damon Raskin on Nightline on Angus T. Jones
Whistling Over the Cliff
There’s been much talk about compromise among the bickering, partisan Washington camps as the nation blithely heads toward the fiscal cliff. President Obama’s reelection may have only slightly budged the equation of power on Capitol Hill, though, so nobody should presume that it will cease to malfunction anytime soon. There is an equation, however, that can raise revenue, without raising taxes and which has served as the foundation of bipartisan agreement before: whistleblowers.
Thanks to the False Claims Act, the federal government has powerful tools that have enabled it to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue. Also known as “Lincoln’s Law,” the False Claims Act was the Great Emancipator’s answer to the rampant corruption among unscrupulous defense contractors during the Civil War.
What made the False Claims Act unique though was the all-important quit tam provision, which permitted private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and get paid a percentage of the recovery. (Qui tam is an abbreviated form of the Latin legal phrase qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, or “He who brings a case on behalf of our lord the King, as well as for himself.”) In a sense, the False Claims Act fights fire with fire by harnessing the profit incentives of ordinary Americans to corral the profit-at-any-cost impulses of cheats.
Fast forward a century later to 1986 when two lawmakers from across the aisle — conservative Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and liberal Congressman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) — collaborated in reviving the act that had lain somewhat dormant for decades. President Ronald Reagan signed the act’s new provisions into law, and it has been a powerful tool in the Justice Department’s arsenal once again since.
Recent legislation, including the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, have also bolstered whistleblower protections. Moreover Congress has created a tax whistleblower regime, as well as a securities fraud whistleblower regime, which was established as part of Dodd Frank.
So as it turns out, whistleblowing has a proud history in America of making the government significant sums of money in a very bipartisan fashion.
So, everybody should and does embrace whistleblowers right? Well, not so fast. Unfortunately, there are those who challenge the whole notion of deputized, private citizens pursuing fraudsters for profit.
I happen to have a unique perspective on this topic because I am a multi-time successful federal whistleblower. I am also a felon — I had a pathological gambling addiction that led me to engage in a white collar crime to service my addiction. So, in my life, I have been both a rule breaker and a rule follower. I understand that good people can make bad decisions and do bad things. What I have a difficult time understanding, however, is the vastly different reactions from friends and associates to my felony versus my whistleblowing.
Before I went to prison, I was featured on TV’s Dateline NBC about my crime and gambling addiction. Harper Collins published my memoir. People were fascinated — even impressed — by the huge sums of money I squandered. To the contrary, the general reaction to my whistleblowing on health care fraud has been silence, even scorn.
Somebody else who knows exactly what I’m referring to is Bradley Birkenfeld, who, like me, served time in prison for his own misdeeds. He recently received a reward of $100 million for his work in exposing the biggest tax fraud in history. Hero? The Wall Street Journal lambasted him in an article headlined “From Snitch To Rich.” The New York Post called him the “$40M Snitch.”
Our nation still faces multi-trillion dollar deficits and is on the road to insolvency. Now would be a good time to look at how fraud and greed in the mortgage, financial and health care industries, among others, not only helped create the last financial crisis, but cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year still.
This is not a partisan issue. It is not about capitalism versus socialism, rich versus poor. It is about combining the rule of law with fiscal sanity. Hopefully, we can all agree on that.
Minimally, at least both sides can pretend to get along and universally embrace whistleblowing. Like Lester Siegel’s character remarked in the hit movie, Argo: “If I’m going to make a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.”
Dangerous teen fads of 2012
From taking death-defying walks high above the ground to ingesting potentially lethal substances in dangerous ways to riding atop speeding vehicles, some teens will stop at nothing for a thrill. Beyond simple fun and games, the following potentially deadly teen antics made the news in 2012.
Pill Parties
This new version of Russian Roulette begins with teens raiding their parent’s medicine cabinets for whatever prescription and over-the-counter pills they can find. They bring the pills to the party and mix them together into shot glasses or other cups and take them all at once, to see the effect. The combinations may include Oxycontin, Percocet, Valium and Xanax. “The dangers are tremendous,” says Raskin. “In addition to seizures, respiratory depression, and death, one could be allergic to a pill and go into shock, or it could be the combination of one or more pills with alcohol that could lead to additive effects and death.” Numerous recent news reports link pill parties to teens suffering from irreparable organ damage and even death.
Purple Drank
This slang term refers to a recreational drug popularized by the hip-hop community. Ingredients vary but typically contain a combination of prescription-strength cough syrup containing promethazine (an antihistamine) and codeine (an opiate), along with Sprite, 7-Up or grape soda and purple Jolly Rancher candies. “The combination can slow respiration,” says Dr. Damon Raskin, a board-certified internist specializing in addiction detoxification at the Cliffside Malibu Treatment Center in Malibu, Calif. “If teens combine it with another central nervous system depressant like alcohol they could pass out or stop breathing.” Raskin says teens often get the cough medicine from their parents’ medicine cabinet. Pauviera Linson, a 14-year-old girl from St. Paul, Minn., is believed to have died from drinking the mixture in August of this year, according to news reports.
As a potent source of alcohol, hand sanitizer enables teens to get a quick buzz — and it can be lethal. “Hand sanitizer is 60 percent alcohol,” says Raskin. “So instead of taking a few shots of tequila or going through the hassle of finding other alcohol, teens have to ingest only a small amount of hand sanitizer to get drunk.” Some inventive teens even find a way to separate the alcohol from the rest of the chemicals and end up with pure alcohol. Since hand sanitizer is readily available in grocery stores, their parents don’t usually catch on, says Raskin. “Teens can easily get alcohol poisoning this way. They should get to the ER and into a rehab program if they show an alcohol dependency.”
As a practice that makes rubbing salt into an open wound sound like child’s play, the salt and ice challenge creates true frostbite, says Dr. Debra Jaliman, a New York-based dermatologist and the author of Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist (St. Martin’s Press, 2012). The challenge involves wetting the skin, putting salt on it and then applying an ice cube with pressure that creates a burning sensation. Adding salt to ice lowers the temperature of the skin, making it colder than the normal freezing temperature of water, 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The mixture causes frostbite by soaking up heat from the surrounding skin cells. “It does terrible damage to the skin and is very painful,” says Jaliman. “It causes frostbite and second degree cold burns with blistering, possible scarring and potentially a secondary infection from the opening in the skin.”
This harmful teen challenge involves placing a spoonful of cinnamon in the mouth and trying to swallow it without water. “To ingest a spoonful of cinnamon in one attempt is dangerous because the cinnamon doesn’t dissolve in water or your mouth, for that matter,” says Dr. Stanley Wu, the assistant medical director of Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital Level I Trauma Center in Houston. “Normally the saliva in your mouth mixes with what’s in your mouth so you can swallow it.” Trying to swallow cinnamon this way can lead to coughing and vomiting. This can then cause aspiration or inhalation of the cinnamon, which often results in irritation, infection and, in some cases, permanent lung damage and collapse, says Wu.
Pouring a shot of vodka directly into the eye, a practice known as vodka eyeballing, is not only an inefficient way to get drunk but could cause serious eye damage and even blindness, says Dr. Ivan R. Schwab, a cornea specialist, professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine and a clinical correspondent with the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Pouring vodka directly into his eye risks damaging the surface epithelial cells – often causing pain and infection. More seriously, it’s rare but ‘eyeballing’ can also lead to permanent vision damage by killing endothelial cells in deeper layers of the eye’s cornea.” Eyeballers do not even get the quick high they seek because of the small volume of vodka absorbed by the conjunctiva and cornea, says Schwab.
“Surfing” while standing on the roof or hood of a car while a buddy drives at 40 mph can land a teen in the hospital with irreversible injuries, says Dr. Babak Sarani, an associate professor of surgery and the director of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “In some cases they fall off the car and the car runs over them.” Head injuries are the most common result Sarani sees in the trauma unit, although other car-surfing teens with less serious injuries end up in the emergency room. “Speed combined with the injury makes it worse,” says Sarani, who sees approximately one type a month during the warmer months when the activity becomes more popular. Injuries can be devastating and involve serious brain injuries, far beyond a concussion, says Sarani. Most victims range in age from 16 years old up to their early 20s.
This disturbing act of ingesting alcohol through the rectum is also known as an alcohol enema. The teen “chugs” the alcohol through a tube or hose in an effort to get intoxicated quickly and efficiently. Several dangers exist, says Dr. Morris Silver, a gastroenterologist at Tri-City Regional Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. “The physical act can cause local and long-term damage to the sphincter with a risk of infection.” In addition, Silver says, the method increases the risk of toxicity versus ingesting the alcohol orally, since the stomach normally breaks down some of the alcohol. Butt chugging also eliminates the body’s natural reaction to copious amounts of alcohol. “You’re likely get sick before you reach lethal limits if you drink it,” says Silver. Plus, the lack of alcohol on the breath may delay treatment.
Originating in Russia, skywalking refers to an act where teens scale high buildings and structures without safety equipment and then photograph themselves at the pinnacle. Clearly not for those with a fear of heights, the craze took off when19-year-old Russian student and photographer Marat Dupri began climbing onto rooftops to capture sky-high views. This past April, a gust of wind swept five skywalking teens to their death as they attempted to climb in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. “Teenagers are constantly finding new ways to test limits within themselves and their environment, often experimenting with risky activities,” says Dr. Dean Leav, a licensed psychologist specializing in children and teens in Orange County, Calif. This one could easily have a deadly outcome.
Monsters and Critics /
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Jon Bon Jovi’s daughter OD’s on heroin, top addiction specialist speaks out
November 14, 2012
November 14, 2012
Jon Bon Jovi’s daughter OD’s on heroin, top addiction specialist speaks out
Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi’s 19-year-old daughter, was arrested at her college in Upstate New York early this morning after allegedly overdosing on heroin, reported by TMZ.
The Kirkland Police Department went to a dorm room at Hamilton College after someone reported that Stephanie had allegedly overdosed on heroin and was unresponsive.
TMZ reports that Stephanie is alive and now she is arrested for possession of a “small quantity” of heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
A trial date has been set.
Stephanie is the oldest of four children for rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea Hurley.
Medical and addiction expert, residential rehabilitation facility Cliffside Malibu’s internist Dr. Damon Raskin, is a frequent contributor and spoke to Monsters and Critics about this frightening story of a teenager with a seemingly loving, well-off family.
He tells Monsters and Critics, “This incident is another stark reminder of the dangers of opiates, not just heroine but presciption narcotics as well. This epidemic encompasses all ages and all levels of society, but there is hope. Watching for the warning signs in loved ones such as changes in behavior, new sets of friends, and lack of achievement in school and social functioning are clear red flags that there could be a problem. Treatment should start with a thorough medical evaluation, and the best chance of recovery is an inpatient residential program, such as the one at Cliffside Malibu. There are even new medical treatments to help patients detox more comfortably than in the past, and also new treatments to help the patient prevent relapse.”
Dr Damon Raskin, M.D is a board certified internist. For 10 years Dr. Raskin has specialized in working in addiction detoxification. Dr. Raskin has been interviewed for national and local media on all topics related to addiction and can be reached at
September 8, 2011
Young Stars Getting Prematurely Plumped Up, Experts Say
Although they have youth on their side, it seems a slew of young Hollywood beauties are still opting for knives, needles and not-so-subtle plumping procedures, and as a result could be ruining their God-given good looks.
This week the blogosphere has been abuzz with 17-year-old Ali Lohan‘s “new face,” sparking speculation as to how her cheek bones suddenly became so high and her lips so inflated.
And according to surgeons cited by the New York Post, big sister Lindsay Lohan, 26, had massive lip and cheek injections just prior to Kim Kardashian’s big wedding a couple weeks ago.
But its not just the Lohans who are in premature-plumping news.
June 2, 2011
TV weight-loss shows: Boon for fat folks or fitness industry?
by Sandy Cohen, AP
LOS ANGELES — Despite all the “Biggest Loser”-type shows on TV, all the pounds shed by their contestants and all the weight-loss products purchased by viewers, America continues to be the Biggest Gainer.
At least 10 weight-loss shows are airing these days, and on “The Biggest Loser” alone, this season’s three top finalists dropped a combined 365 pounds. Yet the rest of us are just getting chubbier, with obesity rates in the United States now the highest of any industrialized nation. In fact, more people are obese today than when “Loser” premiered in 2004.
So why aren’t these reality shows helping in the fat fight?
JD Roth, executive producer of “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition,” thinks they actually are.
“The first step to changing some systemic problem in society is awareness and I think (weight) awareness is at an all-time high,” says the 43-year-old producer, who is also behind “Biggest Loser.”
Healthy Imagination /
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More Americans Eligible for LAP-BAND Weight-Loss Surgery
May 24, 2011
May 24, 2011
More Americans Eligible for LAP-BAND Weight-Loss Surgery
If you’ve been thinking about weight loss surgery, you may have some new options.
An estimated 37 million more people are now with the patient criteria for the LAP-BAND operation thanks to an expansion of the device’s approval by the FDA.
You now may qualify if you are at the lower end of the obesity spectrum. That means a body mass index (BMI) of 30 — five points below the previous requirement — in addition to a serious weight-related condition like type 2 diabetes or hypertension. Above a 34 BMI there are no such restrictions.
FOX 11 News Los Angeles /
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Khalili Foundation Joins with L.A. Unified to Fight Childhood Obesity
May 16, 2011
Related Links FOX 11 News Los Angeles
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Former Football Player Loses Over 150 LBS, Jaime Maggio Reports
May 4, 2011
April 28, 2011
Gastric Surgery for Teens: When All Else Fails
Four years ago, when she was fifteen years old, Michelle Montanti lost over 100 pounds. But she didn’t do it through dieting or exercise–instead, she went under the knife.
It was the best thing she has ever done.
“I’m so happy I did it,” says Michelle, now 19 and a student at Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School, in Los Angeles, where she plans to use her culinary skills to help other teens learn that eating healthy can be delicious and easy.
Michelle wrestled with the scales her whole life, weighing 246 at her heaviest (she’s 5’2″). Like most overweight kids, she was relentlessly teased, and it only got worse when she entered high school. She tried every conceivable diet from vegan to liquid protein, but none worked. As for exercise, she was too heavy to even to do a simple sit-up.
March 22, 2011
Hoping to Avoid the Knife
By Andrew Pollack
In November, the prestigious Cleveland Clinic hailed a “scar-less” weight-loss surgery as one of the top 10 medical innovations expected this year.
Developed by a company aptly called Satiety Inc., the procedure shrinks the stomach by using a stapler inserted through the mouth, rather than by cutting open a person’s belly.
But when the results of a clinical trial came in, the procedure resulted in the shedding of far fewer pounds for patients than the company had hoped. Venture capitalists who had invested $86 million in Satiety over a decade shut the company down.
The failure of the procedure, called transoral gastroplasty, pushes back the availability of any incision-less procedure to millions of obese Americans for several years, a disappointment to companies trying to find the next best thing to major surgery. The setback also further restricts options for those who are overweight, because it is occurring on top of federal rejections of a new generation of diet pills.
AmericanHealthAndBeauty.com /
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Who is Not a Candidate for Weight Loss Surgery?
March 9, 2011
Related Links AmericanHealthAndBeauty.com
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Victoria Chamption shares her experience at the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care with Univision’s Bakersfield Al Dia
March 3, 2011
March 3, 2011
Victoria Chamption shares her experience at the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care with Univision’s Bakersfield Al Dia
{m4v img=”videothumbs/2-14-11_univision_Khalili-Center.jpg”}2-14-11_univision_Khalili-Center{/m4v}
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Michel’s Story: Gastric Bypass Patient Shares His Success
March 2, 2011
March 1, 2011
Michel’s Story: Gastric Bypass Patient Shares His Success
After losing nearly 200 pounds, Michel is helping others lose weight and find the happiness he has in better health.
Gastric bypass surgery is a useful tool in the battle against obesity. For many who have gotten to the point that their weight is causing them serious health issues, it is the fastest solution to get their weight back on track. We had the pleasure of speaking to a patient, Michel, who told us his story of weight loss success and how he is maintaining a year after surgery.
“I weighed almost 400 pounds about year ago and I’ve lost close to 200 in a year’s time. I grew up in a Sicilian family so we’re all big eaters with big appetites. My parents are both overweight and I fought weight issues my whole life,” says Michel. He decided to make a change for himself and his family. He has a wife and 10 year old daughter and says he finally found the right center to help him both medically and mentally to face the challenge of weight loss.
Michel chose the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care in Beverly Hills and had a gastric bypass procedure in which the physician creates a very small stomach pouch and the rest of the stomach is permanently separated. This is different from gastric banding procedures like the Lap-Band which is reversible.
Michel, Gastric Bypass Patient, Before and After his surgery
February 28, 2011
What to consider about weight-loss surgery
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times
A patient is prepared for banding surgery. Several options exist for bariatric, or weight-loss, surgery. (Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times / February 27, 2011)
With record U.S. obesity rates and newly expanded Food and Drug Administration eligibility criteria for Lap-Band surgery, more and more Americans may be mulling the possibility of going beyond diet and exercise to tackle their weight and the medical problems that come with it.
Those deciding on the surgical route face the often-baffling choice of which procedure is for them. Although there are some broad guidelines, experts say, the final choice comes down to what both patient and doctor are comfortable with.
“It’s very hard to scientifically answer the question” of which procedure is right for a patient, said Dr. Mitchell Roslin, chief of bariatric surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. “Every time you answer the question, you are getting somebody’s personal bias.”
Football Reporters Online /
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Dr. Kai Nishi of The Khalili Center interviewed on Football Reporters Online
February 28, 2011
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Weight Loss Surgery: Bar for Lap Band Lowered, but Is Gastric Bypass Better?
February 25, 2011
February 25, 2011
Weight Loss Surgery: Bar for Lap Band Lowered, but Is Gastric Bypass Better?
Experts Weigh Risks, Benefits of Both Procedures
By KATIE MOISSE, ABC News Medical Unit
On the heels of a Feb. 16 decision by the Food and Drug Administration to make millions more people eligible for laparoscopic gastric banding (lap band) weight loss surgery, a new study suggests the more invasive gastric bypass may be better.
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, compared the effects of lap band and gastric bypass among 200 morbidly obese patients treated at the UCSF Bariatric Surgery Program. Gastric bypass led to greater weight loss, increased resolution of diabetes and improved quality of life one year after surgery, they reported today in Archives of Surgery.
AmericanHealthAndBeauty.com /
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TOGA Weight Loss Procedure – Incision Free Bariatric Surgery
February 18, 2011
February 17, 2011
TOGA Weight Loss Procedure – Incision Free Bariatric Surgery
A new endoscopic surgical procedure is helping patients lose weight and avoid the scars.
A new scarless procedure known as TOGA is changing the face of bariatric surgery. This incision free treatment helps patients to lose weight as with other bariatric weight loss surgeries, but this procedure is doesn’t need a scalpel.
“This is quite different,” says Dr. Gregg Nishi of the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care in Beverly Hills. “You wouldn’t really even put it in the same category with the other bariatric surgeries.” He says that all of the other weight loss operations involve cutting through the stomach to get to the internal organs. TOGA on the other hand, is endoscopic.
“The TOGA is a new wave of technology which involves endoscopic procedures where you put devices down the mouth and in the esophagus and operate on the stomach from within,” describes Dr. Nishi.
AmericanHealthAndBeauty.com /
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Lap-Band Receives Official FDA Approval
February 18, 2011
February 17, 2011
Lap-Band Receives Official FDA Approval
Allergan gets the go-ahead to change market their gastric banding device to less obese patients.
The FDA has approved the marketing and use of the Lap-Band device for surgical weight loss to less obese patients. Last December, an advisory panel voted to approve this change and now that the official approval has been granted, the marketing changes can begin.
Lap-Band is made by Allergan, the same medical manufacturer that brings us Botox and Latisse. It shrinks the stomach so obese patients can more easily cut back on their eating and lose the dangerous extra pounds that may be threatening their lives.
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Khalili Center for Bariatric Care is featured on RTL German TV
February 1, 2011
February 1, 2011
Khalili Center for Bariatric Care is featured on RTL German TV
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MonstersAndCritics.com /
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Lap Band surgery, a check list of five recommendations from Dr. Ted Khalili
January 31, 2011
January 31, 2011
Lap Band surgery, a check list of five recommendations from Dr. Ted Khalili
Lap-band surgery has gone under intense scrutiny as cases have surfaced of botched operations, and other recent media reports associated with lap-band surgery have caused consumers to question the safety of this procedure.
Dr. Ted Khalili, M.D. of the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care, whose team of surgeons has performed over four thousand weight loss operations says in the right hands, the operatrion is the safest of the surgical options for patients.
He is quick to note that not every doctor who offers lap-band or other weight loss procedures is qualified to do so.
Lap Band Surgery Safety in 217 Media Outlets! /
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Tips For Avoiding Unsafe ‘Surgery Mills’ When Considering Lap-Bands
January 26, 2011
January 25, 2011
Tips For Avoiding Unsafe ‘Surgery Mills’ When Considering Lap-Bands
The Khalili Center’s article on safe weight reduction surgery has made it to 217 media outlets!
AlipesNews
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Woman With Diabetes Gains 85 Pounds to be Eligible for Gastric Bypass
January 21, 2011
January 11, 2010
Keeping the weight off after surgery
In recent years, the number of people getting weight loss surgery has quadrupled, but doctors say it is not the simple fix that many people think it is. Once the procedure is complete, the hard work begins.
KTTV Fox 11 Ten O'Clock News /
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Dr. Kai Nishi of the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care appears on KTTV FOX CH 11 Ten O’Clock News
January 5, 2011
January 5, 2010
Dr. Kai Nishi of the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care appears on KTTV FOX CH 11 Ten O’Clock News
1_5_2011-kai-nishi-fox11
November 22, 2010
Tips to Having a Healthy Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving right around the corner many of us are over-thinking what we can do to help us keep healthy on a day when it is de rigueur to over indulge. So how do successful dieters stay on track? Here are 14 tips from a noted medical nutrition therapist to help you make your Thanksgiving healthy.
1. Have a food plan for the day. Since it is Thanksgiving, allow yourself to have a few indulgences that won’t set you back, maybe a little bit of stuffing or a spoonful of your mother’s corn pudding. You should begin your day with planned exercise or a walk…this can stimulate your metabolism for a high energy, calorie burning day!
November 12, 2010
10 Tips to Maintain Weigh Loss Diet the Holidays
We all know the mantra for losing weight–eat less and exercise more. But, the holidays are rapidly approaching. With them come the parties, dinners and other celebrations, making weight loss anything but simple. So how do successful dieters stay on track? Who better to know how to maintain your weight then the in-house nutritionist for the Khalili Center for Bariatric Care, Beverly Hills who counsels patients before and after bariatric surgery to lose and maintain weight loss. Here are ten tips to help you maintain your diet.
November 1, 2010
10 Tips for Maintaining Weight Loss During the Holidays
Weight loss during the holidays is kind of an oxymoron. Cookies, eggnog, parties, family dinners – they’re all a recipe for surefire weight gain. However, there are ways to maintain your weight loss diet throughout the holidays that will still allow you to enjoy the tastes of the season without depriving you of any joy.
Here are 10 tips from Misti Gueron, MS, RD, a medical nutrition therapist with The Khalili Center for Bariatric Care, to help you stay on track.
- Go for H2O. Drink at least 8 ounces of water every hour – you’ll feel full faster and combat those tricky sweet cravings. (more…)
CBS2 Los Angeles /
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The Khalili Center Helps The Chelews with Their Remarkable Weight Loss Success
October 12, 2010
Related Links CBS2 Los Angeles
Monsters and Critics /
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Ten surefire tips to maintain weight loss for the Holidays
October 11, 2010
October 11, 2010
Ten surefire tips to maintain weight loss for the Holidays
Halloween looms, and the temptations that the festive fun-sized bags of everyone’s favorite candy brings is a huge problem for anyone watching their weight.
Next up is Thanksgiving, and then the onset of my own personal demon, Egg Nog (a.k.a. Christmas milk in my house), in the markets.
We all know the drill: To keep weight off, consume less calories and exercise more.
September 13, 2010
Recognizing the signs of sleep apnea in kids
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