Category: Health

A statewide smoking ban study performed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Carbone Cancer Center concluded that the ban?s effect was not as severe as some bar and tavern owners have claimed.

By day, he?s a transplant surgeon. By night (at least for the past two to three months!) he?s a dancer.

Some first year UW med students are taking a unique approach in learning about the consequences when it come to drinking and driving. About four times a year, the students take a break from the books to get a hands on lesson on a real problem impacting our community.

A fire in a University of Wisconsin Health Clinic parking ramp starting Friday after gasoline ignited in the ramp?s basement level.

Madison firefighters put out a fire in an electrical equipment room at a UW Health parking ramp.

A new medical procedure was used for the very first time in the state at UW Health in Madison.

A disabling eye condition that typically strikes in older age may be less common than in the past, suggests a large new study.

The number of Americans with macular degeneration fell 30 percent in about two decades, a study found, reducing the threat from the leading cause of blindness among the elderly. The findings were unexpected, as previous work suggested the aging population would drive up rates of the condition, known as AMD, said researchers led by Ronald Klein from the University of Wisconsin?s department of ophthalmology in Madison.

Talk show host Montel Williams was ticketed after authorities found him with drug paraphernalia at General Mitchell International Airport.

State inspectors have approved UW Hospital?s plans to correct violations found in response to the reuse of a syringe in July.

The inspectors will return to the hospital over the next several months to make sure some steps are completed, such as installing fire wall dampers that could cost up to $1.5 million. Federal officials said the hospital will lose its Medicare contract next month if the issues aren?t fully resolved, but that rarely happens because most hospitals comply.

(This story appeared first in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal.)

UW Foundation should pay back more than $20 million it kept from a public endowment at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, says a member of an oversight board.

The foundation should also stop charging five times as much to handle the money as the Medical College of Wisconsin does for a similar fund, said Joe Leean, a former state senator and former state health department secretary.

One of the backstories to this University of Wisconsin football season is the dedication several players have shown toward causes that benefit sick children, and several have developed deep friendships with patients at UW Hospital and Clinics.

To that end, it?s fitting that the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin is commemorating the Badgers? march to the Rose Bowl by offering a commemorative “Season to Remember” football, with proceeds helping support an agency that supports kids with life-threatening medical conditions.

Since the peer mentor program was created at UW Hospital in 2004, 76 of the 84 spinal cord injury patients there have met with a volunteer who knows firsthand what it?s like to live with a spinal cord injury. The program pairs mentors and patients by gender, age and level of injury. Questions tend to be about medical issues, everyday logistics and the impact paralysis can have on personal relationships.

A study undertaken last year during the H1N1 pandemic shows that a high risk group did better with more vaccine, and that may carry over to other kinds of flu. Doctors at the UW School of Medicine in Madison wanted to know how to best protect them, so they studied what dose of vaccine worked best on asthmatics.

It is immensely disappointing to see that UW Health and Meriter Hospital have given up so easily on the women of our state. They made a commitment in January 2009 to provide second trimester abortions when necessary, and now they have revoked it, leaving a huge void in the health care system for women across our state.

American Family Children?s Hospital in Madison had a special visitor from the North Pole Wednesday afternoon. For this particular Santa Claus, the visit marks the end of a promise to children a half century in the making. He?s is hanging up his bells and said it?s time to pass along his tradition of making children smile. Brad Chaimson reports. (Video.)

A UW Health photographer is taking holiday photos of a few long-time patients and their families at the American Family Children?s Hospital.

A retired Madison firefighter who has played Santa Claus for 43 years made his final appearance Wednesday at American Family Children?s Hospital.

UW-Health announced Monday the Madison Surgery Center will not provide second-trimester abortions.