Report Alleges Inadequate Medical Treatment Of Female Immigrant Detainees In Arizona

Women held in three of Arizona's five immigrant detention facilities receive inadequate medical care, according to a report released on Tuesday by University of Arizona's Southwest Institute for Research on Women, the AP/Tucson Citizen reports. Arizona is the nation's biggest crossing point for undocumented immigrants, according to the AP/Citizen. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials use five detention centers in the state to house 3,000 of 28,750 immigration detainees held daily nationwide.

For the report, third-year law students interviewed 42 people, including 21 women who were or had once been a detainee in the state. Two of the detainees were family members of the researchers and 19 were lawyers or social workers. The report focused on issues such as failing to recognize the mental health needs of the detainee, family separation, inadequate access to telephones and legal materials, and the penal conditions, such as shackling of women who are not being held for criminal offenses, according to the AP/Citizen.

The researchers cited specific cases, including a woman who was six-months pregnant and went without prenatal care for more than one month and another woman with cervical cancer who waited several months to see a nurse and was seen by an oncologist only after an emergency. Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union, said, "The sad thing is that these horror stories continue."

Katrina Kane, Arizona ICE detention and removal field director, said that those interviewed represent less than 0.0003% of the more than 72,000 immigrant detainee population in Arizona before being deported in fiscal year 2008. She added that all the medical facilities ICE uses are required to comply with the agency's national detention medical standards, and detainees are allowed to make no-cost phone calls to designated officials and legal organizations and counsel (Rotstein, AP/Tucson Citizen, 1/14).


Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Incoming Congress Should Enact Legislation To Reduce Abortion Rate, Opinion Piece Says

Although "[t]aking substantial steps to reduce the abortion rate will not settle the larger ethical argument over the practice," the "election of a new congressional majority" for the 110th Congress should "open the way for a better approach to the abortion question," Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes in a Post opinion piece. The "bitter political brawling" over abortion during the past 30 years has caused an "unproductive stalemate" that has left antiabortion groups "frustrated," abortion-rights supporters "in a constant state of worry" and U.S. residents "who hold middle-ground positions feeling that there is no one who speaks for them," Dionne writes. However, "the politics of abortion began to change" in September with the introduction of a bill (HR 6067) sponsored by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who opposes abortion rights, and abortion-rights supporter Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) (Dionne, Washington Post, 11/21). The measure would require states to cover contraceptives for women with annual incomes of up to 200% of the federal poverty level, establish grants for sex education programs and require programs with a focus on abstinence to include thorough instruction on contraceptives. The legislation also would increase funding for health care for low-income women with children, provide no-cost visits from nurses to teens and women who have given birth for the first time, expand a tax credit for adoption and fund child care services for parents in college (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/20). There are "moral and practical reasons" for Democrats, Republicans, abortion-rights supporters and abortion-rights opponents to support the bill, Dionne writes. "Why shouldn't both sides embrace broader steps that, without coercion, could cut the abortion rate by much larger numbers?" Dionne asks, concluding that if Congress acts to curb the abortion rate, "it could show that politicians are capable of living up to their highest calling, which is to seek practical forms of moral seriousness" (Washington Post, 11/21).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

San Francisco City Attorney Files Suit Alleging Gender Bias In California Health Insurance Laws

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the state of California alleging that state regulations that permit health insurers to charge women higher premiums than men are discriminatory and violate the state constitution, the Los Angeles Times reports. The suit alleges that California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (R) and Cindy Ehnes, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, approved rules that permit so-called "gender rating," in which insurers can take into account a person's sex when determining premiums for individual policies. Women are being charged as much as 39% more than men for health insurance coverage, the suit contends.

Darrel Ng, a spokesperson for the insurance department, said, "The Legislature explicitly lists gender as one of the factors to be considered. Until the Legislature changes the laws or the courts decide differently, we will uphold the law" (Olivarez-Giles, Los Angeles Times, 1/28). Two California laws -- one passed in 1991 and the other in 2005 -- permit health insurers to take into account an individual's gender when determining premiums for individual health insurance policies (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/5). Since December 2008, two bills to ban gender rating have been introduced in the Legislature. They are AB 119 by state Assembly Member Dave Jones (D) and SB 54 by state Sen. Mark Leno (D). Herrera said if the bills are signed into law, the suit could be dropped (Los Angeles Times, 1/28).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

BioMerieux Licenses Technology From Norchip To Launch A HPV Test For Cervical Cancer Risk Detection

BioMerieux and NorChip announced today that bioMerieux has entered into
a worldwide exclusive license agreement for rights developed by NorChip to
an innovative, m-RNA based Human Papillomavirus (HPV) diagnostic, for early
detection of cervical carcinogenesis. The test will use the NucliSENS
EasyQ(R) platform and be available during the second quarter of 2007.


"We are very pleased to enter this agreement as it increases the
opportunity to prevent cervical cancer, and provide all women,
irrespectively of age, with a better life through improved health," said
Dr. Geir Morland, CEO of NorChip. "An agreement with one of the world
leaders in the field of in vitro diagnostics enables accurate and
cost-effective prevention of cervical cancer worldwide," he added.



"The m-RNA based HPV assay developed by NorChip is an important
addition to our diagnostic portfolio, as it increases significantly our
commercial molecular diagnostic offering," stated Stephane Bancel, Chief
Executive Officer of bioMerieux. "This agreement fits exactly with our
strategy to focus on bringing clinicians diagnostic tests with high-medical
value."



The test will use the m-RNA based HPV detection technology developed
and patented by NorChip and the NASBA(R) Real-Time technology from
bioMerieux. Under the agreement, NorChip will license the patents and
related technology to bioMerieux, who will manufacture and distribute kits
for use with its proprietary NucliSENS EasyQ(R) system. The licensed
technology utilizes the fact that cells integrated with DNA from oncogenic
HPV virus strains express oncogenic proteins based on continuous expression
of abnormal m-RNA. These findings have been published in nine international
peer-reviewed publications, and clinical utility of this approach has been
documented in more than 20 studies covering over 60,000 women. The assay
will be distributed exclusively by bioMerieux with its proprietary
NucliSENS EasyQ(R) system worldwide, except for the Nordic countries, the
UK, Australia and New Zealand. bioMerieux will pay NorChip upfront fees,
milestone payments, as well as royalties on sales.



About Human Papillomavirus and cervical cancer



Human Papillomavirus is a group of sexually transmitted viruses that
may be related to the development of cervical cancer. More than 80% of all
adults will have at least one infection with HPV during their lifetime.
However, nearly all these infections may be considered as the "cervical
flu," and have nothing to do with cervical cancer risk. The development of
cervical cancer is related to oncogenic proteins produced by transformed
cells in the woman's cervix. These cells are influenced by certain genetic
sequences from a limited group of HPV-viruses and may develop into cervical
cancer over a period of 10- 25 years. Oncogenic proteins related to the
five HPV-types 16, 18, 31, 33, and 45 are related to more than 97% of all
cases of HPV-induced cervical cancer in Europe. The NorChip technology
detects the oncogenic expression, and is therefore an accurate and
cost-effective test for cervical cancer prevention.
















About NorChip



NorChip is a research-based company developing and marketing medical
products for clinical diagnosis. NorChip aims to provide people in all
parts of the world with essential health-related information and thereby
increase people's quality of life. NorChip has developed and sells the
PreTect(R) HPV- Proofer assay, the world's first diagnostic test to reveal
early oncogenic activity in cervical cells. This technology provides over
90% sensitivity against cervical cancer and pre-stages of cervical cancer
and is the world's most accurate and cost-effective test for preventing
cervical cancer.



NorChip - Providing people a better life



About bioMerieux



bioMerieux is a leading international diagnostics group that
specializes in the field of in vitro diagnostics for clinical and
industrial applications. bioMerieux designs, develops, manufactures and
markets systems (i.e. reagents, instruments and software) used in:


- Clinical applications: the diagnosis of infectious diseases such as
hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis and respiratory illnesses, as well as
pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, based on the
analysis of biological samples (such as blood, saliva or urine); and


- Industrial applications: the microbiological analysis of food,
environments (such as water and air), surfaces and pharmaceutical and
cosmetic products, based on the analysis of product or environmental
samples.



In 2006, bioMerieux sales reached 1,037 million euros. The company is
present in more than 150 countries through 35 subsidiaries and a large
network of distributors, which positions the company well to benefit from
the growth potential of the in vitro diagnostics market.



bioMerieux is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext, Paris (FR0010096479 -
BIM). Other information can be found at biomerieux-usa.


bioMerieux

biomerieux-usa