Dying Doc: Don't Keep Me Alive

Study: ALS is sometimes misdiagnosed

(NEWSER) - A new study has found that some patients diagnosed with ALS actually suffered from a different fatal disease that affects the central nervous system—and implies that Lou Gehrig himself may not have had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The study's review of the spinal cords of three deceased athletes found that they did not actually have ALS, and that the ALS-like disease they succumbed to was caused by concussions and brain trauma. More»

Patients who receive acne drug in first 23 hours show 'dramatic' improvement

(NEWSER) - An antibiotic commonly used to treat acne has shown promise in helping stroke victims recover. Patients who got minocycline within a day of their stroke fared markedly better than those who did not, a discovery that could open the critical window for treating stroke victims from just 3 hours to a full day, the LA Times reports. More»

Physicist offers advice for living with disability

(NEWSER) - When you can only speak by twitching your cheek toward words flitting past your screen, you don’t tend to do a lot of interviews. But Stephen Hawking sat down with the New York Times last month to talk about his life, aliens, and health care. Some highlights:

• On aliens: Contacting aliens is asking for trouble; they might be so advanced “that our civilization might not survive the experience.” But if they make first contact, it’s a different story. “I have no doubt that if we are ever contacted by such beings, we would want to respond.”

'Coding error' to blame for ALS mistake

(NEWSER) - Because of an error, the Department of Veterans Affairs incorrectly notified 1,200 veterans they had ALS, the fatal neurological condition also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the AP reports. The letters alerted the veterans to disability benefits available to those who suffer from the disease. Thought the VA has not yet commented on the slip-up, the VP of the National Gulf War Resource Center said a “coding error” was to blame. More»

(NEWSER) - Major League Baseball will honor the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man” retirement speech tomorrow, part of a campaign against the disease that now bears his name, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. “It’s one of the great moments in American sports and, arguably, American popular culture,” a professor says of the speech, immortalized by Gary Cooper, playing Gehrig, in The Pride of the Yankees. More»