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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Surgeon General

Surgeon General stories: 18 news summaries

 Senate Finally Confirms 
 Surgeon General 

Republicans relent after weeks of procedural delays

Oct 30, 09 2:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Senate unanimously confirmed Regina Benjamin as US surgeon general yesterday after Republicans ended a procedural delay that had dragged on for several weeks. Mitch McConnell and seven other GOP senators said they stalled because of an administration “gag order” that prevented insurers from giving their opinions on the... More »

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Medicare • GOP • Mitch McConnell • patient • Surgeon General • health care reform • senator • insurance industry • Obama administration • President Obama • Regina Benjamin • health insurance industry

Heard Gupta's Swine Flu Spiel? Well, He Got It, Too

CNN doc, and onetime Surgeon General candidate, falls ill in Afghanistan

Sep 23, 09 7:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Now just imagine how embarrassing this would’ve been if he had been Surgeon General: Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s medical talking head, got swine flu on a recent reporting trip to Afghanistan, he writes in a blog post today. “I am not someone who gets sick, really ever,”... More »

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Afghanistan • media • Sanjay Gupta • CNN • Surgeon General • swine flu • H1N1 virus

Surgeon General Nominee Consults for Burger King

Benjamin served on fast-food company's nutritional advisory panel

Aug 13, 09 2:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Burger King has paid Regina Benjamin, President Obama’s pick for surgeon general, $10,000 this year for serving on an advisory panel to the fast-food giant, the Washington Times reports. Administration reps say the Alabama physician used her position on Burger King’s nutritional advisory board to advocate for... More »

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nutrition • obesity epidemic • public health • fast food • Surgeon General • NYU • consulting • Burger King • Whopper • Regina Benjamin • Marion Nestle

(Newser) - Fox News ripped into President Obama's choice for surgeon general yesterday for being too fat for the job. "Enough fat for my next guest to say 'fat chance' for Dr. Regina Benjamin to even be considered," said host Neil Cavuto. The guest? Not a public health expert or... More »

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fat • Surgeon General • obese • overweight • political appointment • presidential appointment • Regina Benjamin

OPINION


 Can a Size 18 
 Surgeon General 
 Inspire a Fat Nation? 

No: Benjamin can inspire those of above-average weight

Jul 15, 09 12:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - Regina Benjamin is supremely qualified to be surgeon general—except on one count, argue some: “The anti-fat brigade wonder if a country plagued by obesity should have an above average-weight woman speaking to public health,” writes Frances Kissling in Salon. Yes, we should, Kissling says. Countless Americans are... More »

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obesity • public health • Surgeon General • overweight • Regina Benjamin

Obama Chooses Alabama Doc for Surgeon General

Benjamin gained fame by rebuilding clinic after Hurricane Katrina

Jul 13, 09 10:50 AM CDT
(AP) - President Barack Obama turned to the Deep South for the next surgeon general, a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Obama will announce the nomination of Dr. Regina Benjamin later today. Born in 1956,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Surgeon General • Obama administration • Regina Benjamin

(Newser) - Sanjay Gupta is sticking with CNN and brain surgery. Gupta has withdrawn his name from contention to be the next surgeon general, the network reports. Gupta apparently had reservations over a big pay cut and the idea of reporting to more than one boss, notes Fox News. Gupta will discuss... More »

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public health • Sanjay Gupta • CNN • Surgeon General • President Obama

Former Surgeon General Called
a Shopaholic Tyrant

Novello probed for abuse of later office

Jan 27, 09 6:40 AM CST
(Newser) - Antonia Novello, the nation's first female surgeon general, has been accused of years of abuse of power at a later job—turning her staff at New York's health department into her personal chauffeurs and assistants. As the New York Times writes, a report released today depicts Novello as a shopaholic... More »

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New York • abuse • Surgeon General • bosses • Antonia Novello

Conyers Raps Obama Surgeon General Pick

Gupta 'lacks the requisite experience,' congressman charges

Jan 8, 09 3:27 PM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama's apparent choice for surgeon general, Sanjay Gupta, is drawing fire from within his own party, ABC News reports. John Conyers of Michigan, the House Judiciary Committee chair, sent a letter to his fellow legislators today encouraging them to join him in protesting the nomination of the CNN fixture... More »

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House Judiciary Committee • House of Representatives • John Conyers • Sanjay Gupta • Surgeon General • US Congress • US Senate • President Obama

ANALYSIS

Gupta's Right Doc for Political Prime Time

CNN's medicine man will help push preventive health care message, Park notes

Jan 7, 09 4:41 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama's choice of CNN's health correspondent as his surgeon general is raising eyebrows, but the pick underlines Obama's plans to focus on preventive care, Alice Park writes in Time. The telegenic Sanjay Gupta, while lacking the government experience most surgeon generals have brought to the job, has anchored specials... More »

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obesity • public health • Sanjay Gupta • CNN • Surgeon General • Obama administration • Obama Cabinet

(Newser) - CNN correspondent and neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta is Barack Obama’s choice for surgeon general, and the doctor is expected to accept, the Washington Post reports. The two had a meeting in Chicago in November, where the president-elect noted that Gupta would be a very high-profile appointment and would have... More »

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Hillary Clinton • Sanjay Gupta • CNN • Surgeon General • President Obama • Obama Cabinet • political appointment • neurosurgery

Higher Blood Pressure Kills 8,000 Black Americans a Year

Extent of deadly racial disparity surprises researchers


Nov 11, 08 5:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Some 8,000 lives a year are being lost because blacks suffer from higher blood pressure than the white population, surprising new research has discovered. "We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated," said a researcher of the racial disparity. Some 40%... More »

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African Americans • diet • blood pressure • exercise • Surgeon General • Imperial College London • high blood pressure • Annals of Family Medicine • Feinberg School of Medicine • Dr. David Satcher

Surgeon General Targets Killer Blood Clots

Easily treated 'silent' condition kills about 100,000 each year

Sep 15, 08 5:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - An easily treatable complication related to blood clots kills 100,000 Americans every year, but a new federal awareness campaign aims to change that, the AP reports. Although deep vein thrombosis affects up to 600,000 people a year, "I don't think most people understand that this is a... More »

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obesity • public health • deep vein thrombosis • Surgeon General • pulmonary embolism • awareness campaign • sedentary behavior

Chicago Fines Aim to Kick Smokers' Butts From Beach

City buried in millions of tons of litter

Jun 18, 08 11:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Chicago will fine smokers who toss cigarette butts on the beach—or within 15 feet of one— up to $500. The new law is aimed at cutting the cost of cleaning up after smokers, who have been forced outside by smoking bans, reports the Chicago Tribune. Millions of tons of... More »

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Chicago • Earth Day • smoking • smoking ban • Surgeon General • Ocean Conservancy • Alliance of the Great Lakes • Department of Streets and Sanitation • Casting Refuse and Liquids Ordinance • American Littoral Society • Friends of the Parks

Bush Buddy Squelched Health Report

Appointee suppressed surgeon general's unfavorable paper

Jul 29, 07 1:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Bush appointee spiked a 2006 surgeon general's report on global health issues for not promoting the administration's policy efforts, WaPo reports. Richard Steiger, an HHS official and longtime Bush family friend, suppressed a report urging Americans to take on global health problems, and discussed connections between poverty and illness. More »

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Bush administration • health • illness • poverty • global health • Richard Steiger • Surgeon General

'I'm Not Anti- Gay,' Says Would-Be Surgeon General

Grilled in Senate on controversial paper

Jul 13, 07 4:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Despite arguing in a paper that homosexual sex is unnatural and a health risk, President Bush's nominee for surgeon general testified yesterday before a senate committee that he is not anti-gay. Kentucky cardiologist James W. Holsinger Jr. admitted his 1991 paper for the United Methodist Church was not scientific and... More »

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gay rights • Richard Carmona • James W. Holsinger • Senate Health Committee • Surgeon General

Ex-Surgeon General Alleges Censorship

Former top doc says administration plays politics with science

Jul 10, 07 7:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Bush administration "did not want to hear the science" on subjects such as stem-cell research and abstinence-only sex ed, the ex-surgeon general says, and he was muzzled and marginalized when he tried "to be the doctor of the nation—not the doctor of a political party."... More »

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stem cell research • public health • sex education • Richard Carmona • Surgeon General • George W. Bush

Bush Nominee Under Fire Over Anti-Gay Paper

Surgeon general candidate found gay sex unnatural, unhealthy

Jun 7, 07 5:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Bush nominee for surgeon general is under fire over a 1991 academic paper in which he argued that  gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy. In the report, ridiculed by other doctors for imposing politics on science, Dr. James Holsinger compares sexual body parts with pipe fittings and concludes, "... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • gay rights • Ted Kennedy • homosexuality • James Holsinger • Chris Dodd • Surgeon General • nominee

18 Stories


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