MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Asthma patients using over-the-counter inhalers will no longer be able to buy them after the end of the year, as the FDA will pull them off the market for using a carbon gas that depletes the earth’s ozone layer.
Many non-prescription inhalers, including Primatene Mist, will be pulled off the market to comply with an international treat on the use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that have a negative impact on the environment.
Patients can use non-CFC epinephrine inhalers, but will need a prescription from a doctor, Businessweek reported.
CDC’s stricter organ donor testing may limit availability, doctors say
New guidelines requiring more stringent organ donor testing, which the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention issued yesterday, has surgeons concerned that fewer organs will be available, the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog reported.
Prostate biopsies lead to more hospitalizations
Men who receive a prostate biopsy, where a need is passed through the rectal wall into the prostate gland, end up hospitalized in the next month twice and often as the average man on Medicare, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Telehealth market to top $6 billion by 2010
The global telehealth market, worth about $163 million in equipment shipments in 2010, may top $6 billion by 2020, MobiHealthNews reported.
Health reform’s benefits for the disabled put on hold
The White House asked Senators to hold funding for a controversial health care reform law aimed at providing benefits for the disabled, Healthwatch reported.