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Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor Pledges 'Fidelity To The Law' As Confirmation Hearing Begins
In the first day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor said on Monday that "fidelity to the law" is central to her judicial philosophy and that the role of a judge is "not to make law" but "to apply the law," the Washington Post reports. Sotomayor said her record as a district and federal appeals judge "reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms, interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress" intent, and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and by my circuit court." She also said her "personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case" (Barnes et al., Washington Post, 7/14). The first day of the hearings was dedicated to opening statements from Sotomayor and senators, with the questioning portion scheduled to begin on Tuesday. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sotomayor is expected to be confirmed, as Democrats outnumber Republicans on the committee 12-7 and hold a 60-member majority in the Senate (Bravin/Bendavid, Wall Street Journal, 7/14). The New York Times reports that senators from both parties are likely to use Sotomayor"s confirmation as a way to frame the debate for the next Supreme Court nominee, with Democrats hoping to "build a lopsided victory" to give President Obama more leeway to choose a more liberal nominee. Conservatives, on the other hand, "hoped to draw a line making the president think twice about picking someone" like Sotomayor in the future, the Times reports (Baker/Lewis, New York Times, 7/14).In Monday"s hearing, both parties gave indications of how they plan to proceed for the rest of the confirmation process, the Post reports. Democrats in their statements portrayed Sotomayor as a role model for the country and a judge with a modest approach who would bring balance to the conservative-leaning court (Washington Post, 7/14). Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sotomayor "puts rule of law above everything else." He added, "Given her extensive and evenhanded record, I am not sure how any member of this panel can sit here today and seriously suggest that she comes to the bench with a personal agenda" (Stern/Perine, CQ Today, 7/13). Republicans used their statements to cast Sotomayor as a partial judge, saying previous statements and rulings show she is an activist judge (Washington Post, 7/14). In particular, GOP senators on the committee referenced a comment from a 2001 speech in which Sotomayor said that a "wise Latina" would reach better decisions than a white man in some cases (Baker/Lewis, New York Times, 7/14). Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the committee, said, "No senator should vote for an individual ... who believes it is acceptable for a judge to allow their own personal background, gender, prejudices or sympathies to sway their decision." He continued, "Call it empathy, call it prejudice or call it sympathy, but whatever it is, it"s not law" (Wall Street Journal, 7/14). However, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) noted that Republicans lost in last year"s presidential election and told Sotomayor, "Unless you have a complete meltdown, you"re going to get confirmed" (Lewis, New York Times, 7/14).Antiabortion-Rights Protesters Arrested During HearingsFour antiabortion-rights protesters were arrested for shouting comments during the senators" remarks (CQ Today, 7/13). One of the arrested protesters was Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff "Jane Roe" in Roe v. Wade. According to the AP/Google.com, McCorvey began screaming that Sotomayor was "wrong" about abortion during the opening statement of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.). McCorvey and the other three arrested protesters were charged with unlawful conduct-disruption of Congress. The protesters also prompted a warning from Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who said, "We"ll show respect to everybody who is here, we will show respect to everyb
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Do You Know Someone Eligible For A Diabetes UK Medal?
Have you, or do you know someone who has had diabetes for 50 years? Or even 60 or 70 years?
News of the day
Identification Of Genetic Variants Affecting Age At Menopause Could Help Improve Fertility Treatment
For the first time, scientists have been able to identify genetic factors that influence the age at which natural menopause occurs in women. Ms Lisette Stolk, a researcher from Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics that a greater understanding of the factors influencing age at menopause might eventually help to improve the clinical treatment of infertile women.
Oncology

Medical Reasons Lie Behind 60 Per Cent Of US Bankruptcies, Study

A new study suggests that over 60 per cent of all bankruptcies in the US are down to medical reasons, with most victims being health-insured middle class people of good education. The study was the work of researchers from Cambridge Hospital (a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate), Harvard Law School and Ohio University and is to appear in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Medicine. First author Dr David U. Himmelstein, who practices and teaches medicine at Cambridge Hospital, said: "The US health care financing system is broken, and not only for the poor and uninsured." "Middle class families frequently collapse under the strain of a health care system that treats physical wounds, but often inflicts fiscal ones," he added. Analysing data of a first-ever national random-sample survey of bankruptcy filers, the researchers found that in 2007, over 60 per cent of bankruptcies filed in the US were driven by medical incidents, with an American family filing for bankruptcy following a bout of illness every 90 seconds. 75 per cent of them had health insurance. The authors suggest that medical reasons lie behind a large and increasing proportion of bankruptcies. They found that bankruptcies caused by medical problems went up by 50 per cent between 2001 and 2007. The study was a follow up of an earlier one that was done in 5 states in 2001, and found that medical problems were a main contributor to at least 46.2 per cent of all bankruptcies. This time the researchers cast their net wider and took a nationwide random sample of 2,314 bankruptcy filers in 2007. They got hold of the court records and interviewed 1,032 of the filers. Using the same definition as they used in 2001, they classed a 2007 case as "medical" depending on the debtor"s reason for filing for bankruptcy, how much income they lost due to illness and the size of their medical debts. Comparing the two surveys they found that the share of bankruptcies due to medical problems went up by 49.6 per cent between 2001 and 2007 and the chances that a bankruptcy case was due to medical reasons had more than doubled in that time (it went up by 2.38 times). As to the reason, or the final straw, that clinched the decision to file for bankruptcy, for 92 per cent of the cases classed as "medical", high medical bills was a direct contributor, said the researchers. The analysis showed that: Many families with continuous coverage found they were under-insured, and owing thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. *Out of pocket medical costs averaged 17,943 dollars for all the medically bankrupt families. *Uninsured patients owed an average of 26,971 dollars of out of pocket costs. *Those with private insurance at the outset owed 17,749 dollars of out of pocket costs. *Those who had private insurance at the start and then lost it, the average owed in out of pocket costs was 22,568 dollars. *Patients with Medicaid (government insurance for low income families) owed 14,633 dollars, those with Medicare (government insurance for seniors) owed 12,021, and those with VA/military coverage owed 6,545 dollars on average. It seems that financially, once illness sets in, for many of these families, the means to pay for medical care spirals downwards while medical costs spiral upwards. Since nearly all insurance depends on having a job, getting ill triggers loss of coverage, said the researchers. The researchers found that income loss due to illness was common, and it nearly always occurred with high medical costs. Across the US, 25 per cent of employers cancel coverage as soon as an employee has a disabling illness while another 25 per cent cancel it within 12 months. Dr James E. Dalen, of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, said the study was further evidence that the US healthcare system was "broken" and: "Medical bankruptcy is almost a unique American phenomenon, which does not occur in countries that have national health insurance." "These long-time advocates of a single payer system give us another compelling reason to work toward this goal as a nation," he added. "Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study." David U. Himmelstein, Deborah Thorne, Elizabeth Warren, and Steffie Woolhandler. American Journal of Medicine, Volume 122, Issue 8 (August 2009) published by Elsevier. Elsevier Health Sciences. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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