A  drug addict has become the first man in the country to be sterilised in exchange for cash under a controversial new project.A man addicted to heroin for 15 years, was given £200 by an American charity in return for having a vasectomy

The man, known as John, who has been addicted to heroin for 15 years, was given £200 by an American charity in return for having a vasectomy.

Project Prevention, the charity running the scheme, has made similar payments to thousands of men and women in America in a crusade to prevent them having children who may inherit their addictions.

The 38-year-old man said he had been involved with drugs since the age of 11 or 12 and that the offer of money had “spurred” him into having the operation.

He said: “It was kind of what spurred me into doing it in a way.

“It was something that I’d been thinking about for a long time and something that I’d already made my mind up that I wanted to do. Just hadn’t got around to it.”

The charity began offering the cash incentive to British addicts after paying 3,500 American men and women addicted to drugs or alcohol to be sterilised.

John said he was given 30 days to make a decision after calling the charity’s helpline, and had the operation on the NHS in September.

He told BBC London’s Inside Out, which was screened on Monday night: “It came as a bit of a shock to me knowing I was the first in Britain.

“I would have thought people would be snapping up the offer as soon as it came apparent as it was there. I won’t be able to support a kid. I can just about manage to support myself. Just about got it together to do that.”

The woman behind the project, Barbara Harris, from North Carolina, said she set up the charity after adopting four children whose mother was addicted to crack.

She said: “I got very angry about the damage that these drugs do to these children.

“It was unbelievable. Isaiah could not sleep, he couldn’t eat, his eyes were big, noise bothered him, light bothered him. It broke my heart.”

But the scheme has attracted criticism from people who feel the charity is exploiting vulnerable people and led to accusations of social engineering.

Ms Harris added: “I’ve been called everything. I’ve been spat on.

“Typically I just say to my critics: ‘If you believe these women should continue to take drugs and have children, then step up in line and adopt their babies’. It’s that simple.”

But the scheme has met criticism from addiction charities.

A spokesman for Addaction, the drug and alcohol treatment charity, said: “Addaction firmly believes there is no place for Project Prevention in the UK because their practices are morally reprehensible and irrelevant.

“Sex education and contraceptive advice is part of drug treatment work in this country. Women who use drugs can access all types of contraception free on the NHS including a number of long term options.”

The project also pays addicts to get long-term birth control including intrauterine contraceptive devices or a contraceptive implant.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/First-drug-addict-sterilised-under-cash-for-vasectomy-offer

New mothers are left frightened and alone after childbirth, because midwives do not have time to care for them, a major study has warned.
The report by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) says staff shortages have left increasing numbers of mothers feeling isolated at a time when they are desperate for reassurance.

The charity’s poll of more than 1,200 first time mothers found 59 per cent did not get the “emotional support” they felt they needed after giving birth – compared with 51 per cent in a similar survey a decade ago.

Women who had undergone a caesarean section were the least happy about their experience.

Asked about the 24 hours following birth, 66 per cent said they had not received enough support, compared to 57 per cent of those who had a natural labour in hospital, and 24 per cent of those who gave birth at home.

Mothers who had gone through traumatic labours said they had been left to cry themselves to sleep, while others said overstretched midwives had no time to offer a kind word of reassurance.

In total, 42 per cent said there were not enough midwives to care for them, compared with 33 per cent, when the question was posed in 2000.

Those who gave birth at home, or in a midwife-led birth centre, were less likely to describe shortages of midwives.

The NCT findings show that despite a large investment in maternity services, and pledges from the last Government to make care “woman-centred” with a choice of where to give birth, many women are being denied even basic care.

Among the poll of 1260 first time mothers, 44 per cent said they did not even get the physical help they needed, while 55 per cent said they did not get enough information or advice in the weeks after having their first child.

Anne Fox, the head of campaigns and public policy for the NCT, said; “It’s clear postnatal care urgently needs improvement – our report paints a dreadful, shocking picture of care in the UK – we’re letting women and their babies down.

“Many of the problems these women highlight seem to be due to staff shortages or lack of visits once they had left hospital – and this issue needs to be addressed if the quality of postnatal care is to be improved, particularly for vulnerable women.

In the report, new mothers describe being “absolutely terrified” and alone during their first night in hospital, frightened to ask for help from staff who responded to them rudely.

One mother said: “As soon as the baby was born, I felt I was on my own. I spent the first night after the birth of my son in floods of tears and unable to sleep as every time I closed my eyes the nightmare of my birth experience came flooding back.

“Nobody came to check on me to see if I was OK, even though I know I was sobbing loudly and uncontrollably.”

Louise Silverton, Deputy General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, described the report’s findings as “disappointing,” but said the study sent a compelling message to those in charge of NHS budgets, about the need to keep investing in maternity services.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Midwives-have-no-time-to-care-for-new-mums-report-warns

A doctor who got one of his patients pregnant and then helped to arrange an abortion has been suspended from medical practice.
Stephen Carr-Bains, 56, had sexual relationships with two vulnerable patients while working at a surgery at the University of Surrey.

When one of the women fell pregnant he arranged for a termination but failed to record the details in her medical records.

Dr Carr-Bains was suspended from medical practice for a year following a two week hearing at the General Medical Council (GMC).

But he was told he would have been struck off the medical register had it not been for 49 pages of testimonials from fellow doctors, patients and friends.

The GMC heard that Dr Carr-Bains began a sexual relationship with a woman identified as Patient A in December 1995 after she visited him at the Guildowns Group Practice in Guildford, Surrey, suffering from mental health problems.

When she fell pregnant in 1999, he arranged for her to have an immediate termination, but failed to make any record of the abortion.

The GMC hearing, which took place in Manchester, was also told that he failed to put a letter from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in her medical file and did not refer her for post-termination counselling.

In June 2003 he began a relationship with another woman, known as Patient B, who told the GMC panel, they often slept together in her university accommodation.

Both women had been suffering from mental health problems.

Andrew Kennedy, representing Dr Carr-Bains said his relationship with Patient A was one of “deep love and friendship over a long period of time”.

He added that Dr Carr-Bains had otherwise had a “blameless career spanning 32-years with no clinical concerns and utter devotion to patients and the wider profession”.

But the GMC was told Dr Carr-Bains had “abused his position of trust” to “exploit vulnerable patients”.

The panel chaired by Dr Roger Ferguson, ruled in its findings that Dr Carr-Bains’ behaviour had been “wholly unacceptable” and that he had shown a “flagrant disregard” for the doctor patient relationship.

The report read: “You exercised poor judgement in engaging in a sexual relationship with two patients registered at your practice. To this end, the Panel concluded that you have failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and differentiate between the importance of your role as a GP and personal relationships.”

The report added: “Your actions have shown a flagrant disregard for the importance of the doctor-patient relationship.”

But Dr Carr-Bains avoided being struck off the medical register after a large number of testimonials were submitted describing him as a “highly competent, conscientious, hard working and respected doctor”, who was “caring” and “kind”.

The GMC panel stated that his case would be reviewed shortly before the period of suspension expired.

Dr Carr-Bains became Student Medical Officer at the University of Surrey in 1999 before resigning from his post at the Guildowns Group Practice in 2006.

A spokesman for the university said the college was “dismayed” at the “breach of trust”.

The spokesman said: “Dr Stephen Carr-Bains was employed by the GP practice that supplied services to the university and our students.

“We are dismayed by Mr Carr-Bains clear breach of trust and welcome the GMC’s ruling on the case which reflects our own determination to protect and treat student patients with respect at all times, affording their safety the highest level of priority.”

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Doctor-suspended-after-getting-patient-pregnant

The researchers say that movements associated with good dancing may be indicative of good health and reproductive potential.  Their findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
“When you go out to clubs people have an intuitive understanding of what makes a good and bad dancer,” said co-author Dr Nick Neave, an evolutionary psychologist at Northumbria University, UK.

“What we’ve done for the very first time is put those things together with a biometric analysis so we can actually calculate very precisely the kinds of movements people focus on and associate them with women’s ratings of male dancers.”

Dr Neave asked young men who were not professional dancers, to dance in a laboratory to a very basic drum rhythm and their movements with 12 cameras.

These movements were then converted into a computer-generated cartoon – an avatar – which women rated on a scale of one to seven. He was surprised by the results.

“We thought that people’s arms and legs would be really important. The kind of expressive gestures the hands [make], for example. But in fact this was not the case,” he said.

We found that (women paid more attention to) the core body region: the torso, the neck, the head”

“We found that (women paid more attention to) the core body region: the torso, the neck, the head. It was not just the speed of the movements, it was also the variability of the movement. So someone who is twisting, bending, moving, nodding.”

Movements that went down terribly were twitchy and repetitive – so called “Dad dancing”.

Dr Neave’s aim was to establish whether young men exhibited the same courtship movement rituals in night clubs as animals do in the wild. In the case of animals, these movements give information about their health, age, their reproductive potential and their hormone status.

“People go to night clubs to show off and attract the opposite sex so I think it’s a valid way of doing this,” Dr Neave explained.

“In animals, the male has to be in good physical quality to carry out these movements. We think the same is happening in humans and certainly the guys that can put these movements together are going to be young and fit and healthy.”

Dr Neave also took blood samples from the volunteers. Early indications from biochemical tests suggest that the men who were better dancers were also more healthy.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/good dancing sign of a healthy male

More than 10,000 cases of breast and bowel cancer could be prevented each year if people took more exercise, such as going for brisk walks.
Just 45 minutes a day of activity at a moderate level could prevent about 5,500 cases of breast cancer in the UK.

At least 4,600 bowel cancer cases could also be stopped if people were moderately active for at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, research showed.

Moderate activity is described as any type of exertion which gets the heart beating faster and makes people breathe more deeply.

Shorter bouts of exercise are also just as effective as longer sessions – it is the total time spent on activity that is important.

The calculations, from the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), show the importance of diet and exercise in lowering the risk of developing cancer.

Alongside brisk walking, other activities that would count include cycling at a leisurely pace, dancing, swimming at a leisurely pace, gardening and vacuuming combined with other housework.

According to the WCRF, exercise also cuts the risk of women developing womb cancer.

And because people who exercise tend to be more likely to keep a healthy weight, their risk of dozens of other cancers is lower than people who are overweight or obese.

Health experts warned last week that obesity was placing an “overwhelming” burden on the NHS as figures showed a 785% rise in weight-loss surgery.

Some doctors are “skirting around the rules” and not insisting on months of lifestyle change and pharmaceutical treatment before allowing patients to undergo surgery, specialists said.

Operations carried out for the most obese people in England have soared over the past five years, according to the NHS Information Centre.

Data for 2003/04 showed there were 480 procedures, rising to 4,246 in 2008/09.

Dr Rachel Thompson, deputy head of science at the WCRF, said people should aim to be physically active for at least half an hour every day.

“There is now very strong evidence that being physically active is important for cancer prevention,” she said. “Even relatively modest increases in activity levels could prevent thousands of cancer cases in the UK every year.

“These figures also show you do not have to go to the gym every day to benefit.

“You can reduce your cancer risk just by making small changes and this is highlighted by the fact that so many cancer cases could be prevented through something as simple as brisk walking.

“By taking up walking as a hobby or even walking to the shops instead of taking the bus or car, people can make a real difference to their health.”

Henry Scowcroft, science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “You don’t have to be an athlete to reduce your cancer risk.

“There’s solid evidence that certain cancers – including breast and bowel cancer – are less common in people who do regular, moderate exercise such as brisk walking.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/moderate-exercise-could-prevent-cancer

The declining role of GPs in maternity care is leading to some pregnant women feeling “abandoned” by the system, a leading think-tank has claimed.
Often expectant mothers do not know who to turn to if they suffer health problems during pregnancy, according to The King’s Fund.

Although family doctors frequently know a woman’s medical history best, their role in pregnancy care has become sidelined in recent decades, found the authors of the report, The role of GPs in maternity care – what does the future hold?

The King’s Fund concluded that GPs’ role in maternity care had “all but disappeared over the past 30 years, with recent policy and guidance omitting any reference to their role in caring for pregnant women”.

“Under the terms of the new GP contract introduced in 2004, GPs are no longer paid for each pregnant woman they look after,” it noted.

“In addition, many GPs have opted out of providing out-of-hours care, resulting in sick pregnant women going to A&E with pregnancy-related problems – or simply not knowing what to do if they are ill.”

Nick Goodwin, director of the Fund’s GP Inquiry, said such care was increasingly dealt with by specialists, which had led to a less connected service for pregnant women.

He said: “As a result of that you get reports that some mothers feel a bit abandoned at the beginning of their pregnancy. Who is looking after them?”

Sometimes pregnant women’s other health needs – like mental health issues and obesity – were not being dealt with, he said.

“More needs to be done to make sure that the whole person is treated.”

The report proposed that GPs should now take “a more active role”.

Anna Dixon, lead author of the report and director of policy at The King’s Fund, said: “It is right that those with specialist skills, such as midwives and obstetricians, take the lead role in caring for pregnant women but GPs have a vital role to play in pre-conception and shared ante-natal and post-natal care.”

The report has been widely welcomed by GPs’ groups.

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said: “GPs want to be more involved in maternity care because they see it as an important part of their job.”

Prof Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, welcomed the “timely” report, saying it made “a very compelling case for GPs to play a more central role”.

However, Belinda Phipps chairman of the National Childbirth Trust, which campaigns for less medical intervention during pregnancy and birth, said it would be better to “actively promote midwife-led care to women”.

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Pregnant-women-feel-abandoned-by-NHS

Breast cancer rates are more than four times higher in the UK than in Eastern Africa, new World Health Organisation figures show.
Some 87.9 per 100,000 British women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, compared to just 19.3 women per 100,000 in Eastern Africa.

The statistics come from the World Health Organisation’s global database of disease prevalence.

Eastern Africa includes countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said some of the difference is because British doctors are better at diagnosing and recording cases.

However, it warned that British lifestyles – including a high incidence of obesity, too much drinking and a lack of exercise – were contributing to high rates of breast cancer at home.

Research has shown that around four out of 10 cases in British women could be prevented if women kept to a healthy weight, drank less alcohol and were more active.

Women in Eastern Africa drink much less alcohol than British women and obesity is far less common. They are also much more likely to breastfeed – which lowers the rates of breast cancer even further.

According to the statistics, the highest rates of breast cancer in the world are in Belgium, which had 109.4 cases per 100,000 women in 2008.

Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, with around 46,000 new cases each year. The disease kills about 12,000 British women annually.

Dr Rachel Thompson, deputy head of science for the WCRF, said: “The fact that breast cancer rates in Eastern Africa are so much lower than in the UK is a stark reminder that, every year in this country, thousands of women are diagnosed with a case of cancer that could have been prevented.

“That such a large difference in breast cancer rates exists between these two areas is a real concern. Also, it is not just Eastern Africa that has significantly lower breast cancer rates.

“The rate here is double that of South America, for example, and more than three times that of Eastern Asia.

“The fact that rates of breast cancer are much lower in other parts of the world highlights the fact that breast cancer is not inevitable.

“This means we need to do more to get across the message that just by making relatively simple changes to our lifestyle such as drinking less alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight, women can reduce their risk of breast cancer.”

Dr Caitlin Palframan, policy manager at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “It is difficult to directly compare these two populations side by side as it is likely that many breast cancer cases in Eastern Africa are not diagnosed or recorded.

“Breast cancer is thought to be due to a combination of lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors and many of these may differ between the UK and other populations.

“Although some risk factors cannot be changed women can reduce their risk by drinking less alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/uk-breast-cancer-rate-higher-than-east-africa

The number of 11 and 12-year-old girls prescribed the pill by a family doctor has soared five fold in the past decade, according to new figures.
More than 1,000 girls in the first year of secondary school have been given prescriptions for the pill, according to figures from GPs, while a further 200 have long-term injectable or implanted contraceptive devices.

The disclosure prompted warnings that Britain was “facilitating the sexualisation of young people at an every younger age”.

It follows the publication of guidance by the nanny state’s National Institute for Curbing Expenditue (NICE)  that sex education should be introduced from the age of five.

Trevor Stammers, chairman of the Christian Medical Fellowship and a GP in south London, told The Sunday Times: “If sex education is introduced in primary schools in the way being proposed, we will see many more 11-year-old girls seeking contraception without pointing out the risks…. We are going to make matters worse.”

He added: “These figures illustrate the fact that the UK is facilitating the sexualisation of young people at an ever younger age.”

The latest figures came from the General Practice Research Database, which collects information on medical records from 500 GP practices.

The data also shows that at least 58,000 15-year-olds were on the pill last year – more than double the number in 1999.

By law, doctors are bound by a duty of confidentiality towards children – even if they are under the legal age of consent – unless they suspect abuse.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Huge-rise-in-11-year-olds-on-the-pill

Almost one in five girls say they have been pregnant at least once by the age of 18, according to a Government survey.
Just under half (46 per cent) decided to keep their baby, while more than a third (36 per cent), had an abortion, the figures show.

The statistics are part of wider research on the experiences of 18-year-olds in England, published by the Department for Education.

The responses of thousands of 18-year-olds questioned for the Youth Cohort Study and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England were analysed.

The findings show that of the 18-year-old girls questioned about pregnancy, 18 per cent had been pregnant at least once.

Of these, almost eight in 10 (79 per cent) had been expecting a baby on just one occasion, nearly one in five (18 per cent) had been pregnant twice, and 3 per cent had been pregnant at least three times.

The survey concluded there was a “noticeable trend” between the young women who fell pregnant by 18, and their GCSE results.

A third (33 per cent) of those who gained between one and four GCSEs at grades D-G had been pregnant at least once by the time they were 18, compared to just 6 per cent of those who scored eight or more GCSEs at Grades A*-C.

Teenage girls who were eligible for Free School Meals – a measure of poverty – at age 16, or who had parents who left school at 16, were also more likely to get pregnant by the age of 18, the figures showed.

According to figures published by the Office for National Statistics, there were 25.3 births for every 1,000 women under 20, in 2009.

Girls aged 15 to 19 accounted for 39,020 abortions carried out in England and Wales in 2009.

The figures show that 18 per cent of girls who said they were sexually active had been pregnant by the age of 18.

More than eight in ten (83 per cent) of the boys and girls questioned said they were sexually active by the time they turned 18.

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/a-fifth-of-girls-pregnant-by-18-survey-reveals-2032952

HIV infections among the over 50s have more than doubled in seven years.
The number of new cases per year recorded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose from 299 to 710 between 2000 and 2007, research has shown.

Half were diagnosed late, increasing the risk of an early death from Aids.

Among younger age groups, a third have the HIV infection identified at a similar level of progression.

During the study period, three quarters of deaths among HIV-infected people aged 50 and over occurred within a year of diagnosis.

Compared with younger adults carrying the virus, older people were significantly more likely to have been infected through sex with men.

Older “straight” adults were more likely to acquire the virus in the UK, but there was evidence of white heterosexual men picking up the infection abroad.

Ruth Smith, a senior HIV scientist at the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Infections, said: “We estimate that nearly half of older adults diagnosed between 2000 and 2007 were infected at age 50 or over and this highlights the importance of HIV testing – whatever your age.

“We must continually reinforce the safe sex message – using a condom with all new or casual partners is the surest way to ensure people do not become infected with a serious sexually transmitted infection such as HIV.”

The findings are published online in the journal AIDS and were presented today at the International Aids Conference in Vienna.

HPA data shows there are more than 83,000 people in the UK living with HIV, a quarter of whom do not know they are infected.

In 2008 there were 7,382 new HIV diagnoses in the UK with an estimated 32% over the age of 15 being diagnosed late.

A late diagnosis of HIV infection is defined as having a CD4 white blood cell count of less than 200 cells per cubic millimetre of blood. Healthy individuals have CD4 counts of 500 and above.

CD4 cells are a key part of the immune system. When their numbers fall too low, a person becomes vulnerable to infection.

Study co-author Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at the HPA, said: “Although adults aged 50 and over account for just 8% of all new HIV diagnoses, the fact that cases have more than doubled in recent years serves as a timely reminder that anybody is at risk of HIV infection if they do not use protection and practise safe sex.

“HIV remains a serious infection particularly when diagnosed late. The fact that we’ve seen an increase in the number of older adults getting diagnosed, and in particular getting diagnosed late, highlights the need for raised awareness in that age group.”

“Medical guidelines issued in 2008 encouraged widespread testing in areas where there is a high prevalence of HIV and the HPA fully supports any NHS or charity organisation initiative which will encourage increased testing and increased offering of testing across the UK.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/hiv-infection-rate-in-over-50s-doubles