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So Cal Medicine

Life lessons from the trenches of cancer survival

The medical facility where I received treatment is one of the most prestigious in the world, but some staff members had a lousy bedside manner. One resident — I thought of him as Dr. Worst-Case-Scenario — would always give me his gloomiest predictions.

Cancer gives musician a new song

This time, Charlie Lustman hadn\’t come to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for medical tests or to endure another round of chemotherapy. Despite having lost three-quarters of his jawbone, Lustman had come to celebrate, to inspire — and to sing.

Ancient sources yield health and diet wisdom

Diet books don\’t often include approbations from rabbis, but they\’re appropriate for \”The Life-Transforming Diet,\” a structured eating plan based on the writings of physician and Torah scholar Maimonides.

UCLA’s new hospital takes technology to new frontiers

During a procedure, surgeons can use a touch-screen panel or voice commands to display and control images, adjust room lighting, or phone a colleague. They can access patient histories, X-rays and lab results, and use their fingers on the console to draw — just like a football commentator — on images displayed on a screen.

Science of hearing loss moving near speed of sound

Science is ringing in a new era in the world of the hearing-impaired, and the technologies to accommodate, treat and prevent hearing loss — and even cure it — are advancing at almost sonic speed. And that\’s welcome news, considering how doctors are wringing their hands over study after study predicting hearing loss for a generation that seems constantly connected, almost from birth, to MP3 players.

The poisoning of Beverly Hills High

Joy Horowitz\’s \”Parts Per Million: The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School\” (Viking) is a dense 350-page book detailing a four-year fight between 1,000 litigants who claimed oil wells at the school caused diseases, such as cancer, and defendants — including the oil companies, the city of Beverly Hills and school officials — who said there had been no harmful effects from the (profitable) derricks.

Interest Increases as Deadline Nears

Susie Tiffany of Beverly Hills suffers from a rare blood disorder and needs monthly infusions of blood components, which her insurance company ultimately declined to cover. She hoped the government\’s new prescription drug benefit would help her out because, despite her ZIP code, she\’s a low-income senior. But the possibilities, were baffling: an array of private insurance plans that covered different things, explanations on the Internet that included terms she never had to know before, additional complexities depending on a person\’s income and a confusing interplay of state and federal agencies. However, Tiffany was able to find assistance in her case from Jewish Family Service. A social worker helped get Tiffany\’s treatment covered by new state funds intended to help seniors with the transition to the new federal system.

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More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.