6 dead, 11 wounded across city overnight

Six people were shot on the South Side of Chicago. Police investigate one of the crime scenes in the 4200 block of S. Wells St. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Four people were shot and killed Friday night and Saturday morning, and a fifth person who may have been dead for days or weeks was found with gunshot wounds.

In addition to the shootings, a man was stabbed to death on the Southwest Side about 12:45 a.m. Saturday.

At least 11 others were wounded by gunfire in shootings from the Uptown neighborhood on the north to the Chatham neighborhood on the south, police said.  

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The sixth homicide of the night -- a 29-year-old man found dead inside his car about 2:37 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the head -- drew a crowd from the neighboring Wentworth Gardens apartment complex at 37th and Wells streets, a block south of U.S. Cellular Field.

At one point, cars from the Englewood police district, whose northern border is 18 blocks south of the scene, came north to assist with crime scene security. At least 14 cars, most marked, sat near the crime scene early Saturday morning.

A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office identified the victim as Walter Pate, of the 13900 block of South Dearborn Street in Riverdale. A cousin at the scene said he lived in the Wentworth Gardens housing complex.

Another man was found shot to death about 11:20 p.m. in the 6100 block of South Morgan Street in the Englewood neighborhood, and one man died of gunshot wounds in the Uptown neighborhood after he and two others were shot about 9:27 p.m.

The violence began Friday night with a pair of shootings on the South Side that left five people wounded and one dead. At least two of the five survivors are still in critical condition, police said.

A man was also found dead from gunshot wounds in the 8300 block of South Dobson Avenue in the East Chatham neighborhood. He may have been there for days or weeks, authorities said. He was identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as Timothy E. Kinds, 32, of the 1100 block of East 81st Street.

According to police, Kinds had been squatting at the Dobson location and was found by an acquaintance who owned the building.

In other shootings:

A 16-year-old girl was grazed in the chest about 7 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Wood Street in the Illinois Medical District, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said. Someone drove her to Loretto Hospital on the West Side, police said.

A 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg about 7:58 p.m. in the 4300 block of South Calumet Avenue in the Bronzeville neighborhood. He was standing on the block when someone inside a passing blue vehicle opened fire, police said.

A man was shot in the leg and treated for the gunshot wound at Swedish Covenant Hospital, police said. Someone shot him about 9:30 p.m. in the 2900 block of North Woodard Street in the Logan Square neighborhood. He is 23, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.

Another man, 30, was shot about 4:10 a.m. in the 1500 block of North Springfield Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. He was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Glen Campbell considering more live shows in 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Glen Campbell may be wrapping up a goodbye tour but that doesn’t mean he’s done with the stage.

Campbell is considering scheduling more shows next year after playing more than 120 dates in 2012.

The 76-year-old singer has Alzheimer’s disease and has begun to lose his memory. He put out his final studio album, “Ghost on the Canvas,” in 2011 and embarked on the tour with family members and close friends serving in his band and staffing the tour.

Campbell’s longtime manager Stan Schneider said in a phone interview from Napa, Calif., where the tour wrapped for the year Friday night, that recent West Coast shows have been some of the singer’s strongest. Campbell will break for the holidays and if he still feels strong he’ll begin scheduling more shows.

___

Online:

http://glencampbellmusic.com

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Jewel parent says sale talks proceeding

Exterior of Jewel-Osco's first "Green Store" located at 370 N. Desplaines in Chicago. (Antonio Perez / November 29, 2012)

By Emily Bryson York




Chicago Tribune reporter

6:51 a.m. CST, November 30, 2012

Supervalu, the Minneapolis-based parent of Jewel-Osco said sale talks are proceeding after stock closed down more than 18 percent Thursday, to $2.28.

The beleaguered grocery chain was likely moving to combat reports that sale talks with suitor Cerberus Capital Management had stalled over funding.

"The company continues to be in active discussion with several parties," according to the statement. "There can be no assurance that this process will result in any transaction or any change in the Company's overall structure or its business model."

Supervalu, the third-largest U.S. grocery chain, has acknowledged sale talks since the spring. The company has been closing stores and cutting jobs as it has underperformed competitors like Dominick's parent Safeway and Kroger.

If Supervalu does not sell to Cerberus, it may have to restructure on its own or sell off individual assets, which could have big tax consequences, Bloomberg said.

Reuters reported last month that buyout firm Cerberus was preparing a takeover bid for Supervalu, the third-largest U.S. supermarket chain.

Cerberus officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

-- Reuters contributed to this report

In addition to Jewel, Supervalu owns Albertsons, Cub and other regional grocery chains.

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Missouri Powerball winner verified; Arizona's a mystery

Sometimes it's better to dream, particularly when reality means you're not an instant multimillionaire.

Bob Kangas realized Wednesday night that one of two winning Powerball jackpot tickets — a record $587.5 million — had been bought in Arizona, but he didn't check his numbers.

"I didn't want to look because I just wanted to dream about being rich," Kangas said Thursday while checking his tickets at a 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills, the suburban Phoenix shop where he bought his tickets — and where the winning ticket was sold.

While lottery officials in Missouri verified its state's ticket after it was presented to them late Thursday, the Arizona winner had yet to come forward. They have 180 days to do so.

A news conference is planned for this morning at 11 a.m. in Missouri. Officials declined to provide details of the winner in advance, not even whether the ticket sold at a Trex Mart gas station in Dearborn was purchased by someone from that state.

Kangas just wanted one night to believe he could soon have more money than he'd know what to do with.

"I just wanted to dream all night," he said, breathing a heavy sigh as he realized his tickets were not winners. "I'll try again."

In Missouri, speculation had many of Dearborn's 500 residents buzzing about who had won.

Cashiers Kristi Williams and Kelly Blount greeted customers with big smiles and questions about whether they had bought the winning ticket.

"It's just awesome," Williams said. "It's so exciting. We can't even work."

Karen Meyers, a server at the Cook's Corner Cafe, said she didn't believe it at first when she heard the winning ticket had been sold nearby.

"I think it's wonderful! I hope someone local won it, not someone just passing through," she said. "It's a small town where everyone is really nice."

Kevin Bryan bought his ticket at the Trex Mart and made an extra trip to his mother's home in Dearborn to verify that the ticket he left on her counter wasn't, in fact, the winner.

"When I heard it was sold here in Dearborn I about fell over," Bryan said, as he hung Christmas lights outside his mother's home.

He said the only other local lottery win he could remember was when an area farmer won about $100,000 in scratch-off game years ago "and bought himself a combine."

Baron Hartell, son of the owner of the Missouri store, said if the winner isn't a local resident it might have been a truck driver. Interstate 29 is a busy thoroughfare connecting Kansas City to the Canadian border.

"Even the truck drivers who come around, we see them every day, so they all feel like all locals to us," he said.

Store manager Chris Naurez said business had been "crazy" for Powerball tickets lately and that the store had sold about $27,000 worth of tickets in the last few days.

"This really puts Dearborn on the map," he said.

Trex Mart General Manager Kenny Gilbert suggested his staff would be sharing in the $50,000 bounty that the store will be awarded for selling one of the winning tickets.

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Producer sues Pythons over ‘Spamalot’ royalties

LONDON (AP) — It’s no joking matter.

A producer of the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is suing the British comedy troupe over royalties from the hit stage musical “Spamalot.”

Producer Mark Forstater wants a bigger share of proceeds from the show, which is based on the Pythons’ 1975 movie spoof of the legend of King Arthur.

Lawyers for Monty Python are contesting Forstater’s claim and will present their arguments later. Python members Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Jones will give evidence during a five-day hearing that began Friday at London’s High Court.

Forstater is suing the trio and the two other surviving Python members, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. The sixth member of the troupe, Graham Chapman, died in 1989.

Forstater’s lawyer, Tom Weisselberg, said that under an agreement made when the film was produced, “for financial purposes Mr. Forstater was to be treated as the seventh Python” and entitled to the same share of “Holy Grail” merchandising and spin-off income as the other members.

But the lawyer said Forstater had not received his fair share of royalties from the stage show, which has been a hit around the world. It ran on Broadway for almost four years to 2009 and is still playing in London’s West End.

Weisselberg said Forstater, who was declared bankrupt earlier this year, had been forced to go to court because of his “difficult financial circumstances.”

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Hockey Coaches Defy Doctors on Concussions, Study Finds

Despite several years of intensive research, coverage and discussion about the dangers of concussions, the idea of playing through head injuries is so deeply rooted in hockey culture that two university teams kept concussed players on the ice even though they were taking part in a major concussion study.

The study, which will be published Friday in a series of articles in the journal Neurosurgical Focus, was conducted during the 2011-12 hockey season by researchers from the University of Western Ontario, the University of Montreal, Harvard and other institutions.

“This culture is entrenched at all levels of hockey, from peewee to university,” said Dr. Paul S. Echlin, a concussion specialist and researcher in Burlington, Ontario, and the lead author of the study. “Concussion is a significant public health issue that requires a generational shift. As with smoking or seat belts, it doesn’t just happen overnight — it takes a massive effort and collective movement.”

The study is believed to be among the most comprehensive analyses of concussions in hockey, which has a rate of head trauma approaching that of football. Researchers followed two Canadian university teams — a men’s team and a women’s team — and scanned every player’s brain before and after the season. Players who sustained head injuries also received scans at three intervals after the injuries, with researchers using advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques.

The teams were not named in the study, in which an independent specialist physician was present at each game and was empowered to pull any player off the ice for examination if a potential concussion was observed.

The men’s team, with 25 players and an average age of 22, played a 28-game regular season and a 3-game postseason. The women’s team, with 20 players and an average age of 20, played 24 regular-season games and no playoff games. Over the course of the season, there were five observed or self-reported concussions on the men’s team and six on the women’s team.

Researchers noted several instances of coaches, trainers and players avoiding examinations, ignoring medical advice or otherwise obstructing the study, even though the players had signed consent forms to participate and university ethics officials had given institutional consent.

“Unless something is broken, I want them out playing,” one coach said, according to the study.

In one incident, a neurologist observing the men’s team pulled a defenseman during the first period of a game after the player took two hits and was skating slowly. During the intermission the player reported dizziness and was advised to sit out, but the coach suggested he play the second period and “skate it off.” The defenseman stumbled through the rest of the game.

“At the end of the third period, I spoke with the player and the trainer and said that he should not play until he was formally evaluated and underwent the formal return-to-play protocol,” the neurologist said, as reported in the study. “I was dismayed to see that he played the next evening.”

After the team returned from its trip, the neurologist questioned the trainer about overruling his advice and placing the defenseman at risk.

“The trainer responded that he and the player did not understand the decision and that most of the team did not trust the neurologist,” according to the study. “He requested that the physician no longer be used to cover any more games.”

In another episode, a physician observer assessed a minor concussion in a female player and recommended that she miss the next night’s game. Even though the coach’s own playing career had ended because of concussions, she overrode the medical advice and inserted the player the next evening.

According to the report, the coach refused to speak to another physician observer on the second evening. The trainer was reluctant to press the issue with the coach because, the trainer said, the coach did not want the study to interfere with the team.

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Jewel parent says sale talks proceeding

Exterior of Jewel-Osco's first "Green Store" located at 370 N. Desplaines in Chicago. (Antonio Perez / November 29, 2012)

By Emily Bryson York




Chicago Tribune reporter

6:51 a.m. CST, November 30, 2012

Supervalu, the Minneapolis-based parent of Jewel-Osco said sale talks are proceeding after stock closed down more than 18 percent Thursday, to $2.28.

The beleaguered grocery chain was likely moving to combat reports that sale talks with suitor Cerberus Capital Management had stalled over funding.

"The company continues to be in active discussion with several parties," according to the statement. "There can be no assurance that this process will result in any transaction or any change in the Company's overall structure or its business model."

Supervalu, the third-largest U.S. grocery chain, has acknowledged sale talks since the spring. The company has been closing stores and cutting jobs as it has underperformed competitors like Dominick's parent Safeway and Kroger.

If Supervalu does not sell to Cerberus, it may have to restructure on its own or sell off individual assets, which could have big tax consequences, Bloomberg said.

Reuters reported last month that buyout firm Cerberus was preparing a takeover bid for Supervalu, the third-largest U.S. supermarket chain.

Cerberus officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

-- Reuters contributed to this report

In addition to Jewel, Supervalu owns Albertsons, Cub and other regional grocery chains.

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Winning Powerball tickets sold in Arizona, Kansas City area

The winning numbers for the record Powerball jackpot were drawn Wednesday night. The numbers are 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and Powerball 6. The jackpot rose to $579.9 million by the time of the drawing.

Tribune staff and wire report

9:22 a.m. CST, November 29, 2012

Two lucky ticket holders — one in Arizona and another in Missouri — are waking up Thursday to new lives as multimillionaires after the largest Powerball jackpot drawing ever.

Powerball officials said two tickets matched all six numbers to win the record $587.5 million jackpot. The numbers drawn for Wednesday night for the second-highest jackpot in U.S. lottery history are 5, 16, 22, 23, 29. The Powerball is 6.

It was not clear whether the winning tickets belonged to individuals or were purchased by groups.

One of the winning tickets was sold in the Kansas City area but the winner has yet to come forward, Missouri Lottery spokesman Gary Gonder said. The ticket holder has 180 days to claim the prize.

Gonder said he would visit the store that sold the winning ticket to help with an expected onslaught of media attention. No details on that store have been released.

Arizona lottery officials said early Thursday they had no information on the Grand Canyon State's winner or winners, but they planned to announce Thursday morning where the ticket was sold.

Americans went on a ticket-buying spree in the run-up to Wednesday's drawing, the big money enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout in U.S. history.

Tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide — about six times the volume from a week ago. That pushed the jackpot even higher, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.

Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neumauer said the jackpot was estimated at $587.5 million by early Thursday, adjusted slightly upward from the $579.9 million estimate at the time of the drawing. The cash payout was $384.7 million.

Among those who had been hoping to win was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."

The jackpot had already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner.

Midwest

Hoosier Lottery officials say Indiana retailers sold two tickets that just missed on winning a share of the giant Powerball jackpot.

Lottery officials say those tickets worth $1 million were sold at convenience stores in Vincennes and Highland. Those tickets matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball number.

In addition to the winning ticket, the Missouri Lottery said two $1 million winning Powerball tickets were also sold in the state-- one in Joplin and the other in Kansas City.

Tribune staff and the Associated Press contributed

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Lindsay Lohan arrested on assault charge in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Lindsay Lohan was arrested Thursday after police said she hit a woman during an argument at a New York City nightclub.

The “Mean Girls” and “Freaky Friday” star was arrested at 4 a.m. and charged with third-degree assault.

She left a police precinct nearly four hours later with a black jacket pulled over her head. She was wearing leggings, a green mini skirt and high-heels, and drove off in a black SUV with a driver and another man who was seen going in and out of the precinct.

She allegedly got into the spat with another woman at Club Avenue, in Manhattan‘s Chelsea section. She struck the woman in face with her hand, police said. The woman did not require medical attention.

Lohan’s publicist did not immediately return a call for comment.

The arrest is Lohan’s latest brush with law enforcement in New York City.

She was involved in a NYPD investigation in September after alleging a man had assaulted her in a New York hotel, but charges against the man were later dropped.

Also in September, the actress was accused of clipping a man with her car outside another Manhattan nightclub, but prosecutors chose not to move ahead with charges.

In October, police were called to her childhood home on Long Island after a report of fight between her and her mother. An investigation revealed “no criminality.”

The actress was also involved in a car accident in California this summer that sent her and an assistant to a hospital, but didn’t result in serious injuries for anyone. The accident remains under investigation.

In May, she was cleared of allegations that she struck a Hollywood nightclub manager with her car.

Lohan remains on informal probation for taking a necklace from a jewelry store without permission last year. That means she doesn’t have to check in with a judge or probation officer but could face a jail term if arrested again.

Her latest film, “Liz & Dick,” in which she portrays screen icon Elizabeth Taylor, premiered on Lifetime on Sunday.

Lohan also recently filmed “The Canyons,” an indie film written by “Less Than Zero” and “American Psycho” author Bret Easton Ellis.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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French court clears Continental in Concorde crash

French appeals court on Thursday absolved Continental Airlines of blame for a 2000 Concorde crash that killed 113 people and cleared a mechanic at the U.S. airline of the charge of involuntary manslaughter.

The verdict comes over a decade after the accident helped to spell the end of the supersonic airliner. A previous court ruled that a small metal strip that fell onto the runway from a Continental aircraft just before the Concorde took off from Paris, caused the crash.

Continental was originally fined 200,000 euros and ordered to pay the Concorde's operator, Air France, a million euros in damages. Continental appealed the verdict which it described as unfair and absurd.

Welder John Taylor was cleared of a 15-month suspended prison sentence for having gone against industry norms and used titanium to forge the piece that dropped off the plane.

Continental, now part of United Continental Holdings , had been ordered under the original ruling to pay 70 percent of any damages payable to families of victims. Airbus parent EADS would have to pay the other 30 percent.

The crash sped up the demise of the droop-nosed Concorde - the fastest commercial airliner in history and a symbol of Franco-British co-operation - as safety concerns coupled with an economic downturn after 9/11 drove away its wealthy customers.

The Air France Concorde, carrying mostly German tourists bound for a Caribbean cruise, was taking off from Paris on July 25, 2000 when an engine caught fire. Trailing a plume of flames, it crashed into a hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport. All 109 passengers and four people on the ground died.

After modifications, the plane returned to service but its operators, Air France and British Airways, retired it in 2003, citing high operating costs and a drop in demand.
 

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Powerball sales 'blistering' as jackpot hits $500 million

The Illinois Lottery says Powerball tickets are selling at a "blistering" pace as the jackpot reached $500 million.

Over a 30-minute period around the middle of the day Tuesday, the Illinois Lottery sold more than $200,000 in Powerball tickets across the state.

Lottery officials expected the pace of sales to increase even more ahead of tonight's drawing for the largest jackpot in Powerball history.

A $656 million Mega Millions jackpot set a world lottery record in March. That prize was split three ways. One of the winning tickets was held by Merle and Patricia Butler of Red Bud in southern Illinois. The retired couple took home nearly $119 million.

Powerball has not had a winner for two months, and the pot has already grown by nearly $175 million due to brisk ticket sales after no one won the top prize in Saturday's drawing.

The next drawing for the prize on Wednesday night would dish out a whopping $327.4 million and counting if paid as a lump sum. Alternatively, the $500 million can be paid out in an annuity over three decades.Powerball is sold in 42 states,Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.

Among dreamers across the nation lining up at an Arizona grocery store in Tucson for a shot at Wednesday's prize was metal shop worker Errol Simmons, 54, entrusted with a list of lucky numbers by a dozen or so co-workers.

"I've got to get this right," he said as he checked through the list. "I don't want to be the guy who lost us half a billion dollars because I couldn't count.

"If we win, I'll buy a new truck," he said. "For each day of the week."

Looking sharp in a blue pin striped suit, Portland, Oregon, financial adviser Aaron Pearson, 36, said he was taking care to pick his own numbers for the first time - although he was unsure what he would do with the huge jackpot should he win.

"I have no idea. I'd invest it and live off of it. I'd give to charities. I'd start a foundation," he mused.

The chance of winning the jackpot are about one in 175 million, compared to about one in 280,000 for being struck by lightning.

Despite the long odds, the record payout has drawn interest from around the world, said Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based. Lottery officials have received calls and emails from people outside the United States asking if they can buy a ticket from afar. They cannot.

"Sales across the country are just through the roof. It means lots of people are having fun with this, but it makes it difficult to keep up with the (jackpot) estimate."

The previous top Powerball prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed

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Rihanna’s “Unapologetic” tops Billboard album chart

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B singer Rihanna shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Tuesday with her seventh record “Unapologetic,” scoring her first No. 1 album despite mixed reviews.

“Unapologetic,” which topped iTunes charts in 43 countries just hours after its release on November19, sold 238,000 copies according to Billboard, scoring the 24-year-old singer from Barbados her best opening sales week to date.

The album’s lead single “Diamonds” landed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week, giving Rihanna her 12th No. 1 single and tying her with Madonna and The Supremes for the fourth-most chart-topping singles in Billboard history.

“Unapologetic” left some critics unsettled by the singer’s harder sound and close-to-home lyrics. One track in particular that had everyone talking is “Nobody’s Business,” Rihanna’s collaboration with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who was charged with assaulting her three years ago.

The album has been promoted extensively by Rihanna, who embarked on a seven day tour across seven cities around the world, accompanied by a plane full of fans and journalists.

The full Billboard charts will be released on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The New Old Age Blog: Doctor's Orders? Another Test

It is no longer news that Americans, and older Americans in particular, get more routine screening tests than they need, more than are useful. Prostate tests for men over 75, annual Pap smears for women over 65 and colonoscopies for anyone over 75 — all are overused, large-scale studies have shown.

Now it appears that many older patients are also subjected to too-frequent use of the other kind of testing, diagnostic tests.

The difference, in brief: Screening tests are performed on people who are asymptomatic, who aren’t complaining of a health problem, as a way to detect incipient disease. We have heard for years that it is best to “catch it early” — “it” frequently being cancer — and though that turns out to be only sometimes true, we and our doctors often ignore medical guidelines and ongoing campaigns to limit and target screening tests.

Diagnostic tests, on the other hand, are meant to help doctors evaluate some symptom or problem. “You’re trying to figure out what’s wrong,” explained Gilbert Welch, a veteran researcher at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

For these tests, medical groups and task forces offer many fewer guidelines on who should get them and how often — there is not much evidence to go on — but there is general agreement that they are not intended for routine surveillance.

But a study using a random 5 percent sample of Medicare beneficiaries — nearly 750,000 of them — suggests that often, that is what’s happening.

“It begins to look like some of these tests are being routinely repeated, and it’s worrisome,” said Dr. Welch, lead author of the study just published in The Archives of Internal Medicine. “Some physicians are just doing them every year.”

He is talking about tests like echocardiography, or a sonogram of the heart. More than a quarter of the sample (28.5 percent) underwent this test between 2004 and 2006, and more than half of those patients (55 percent) had a repeat echocardiogram within three years, most commonly within a year of the first.

Other common tests were frequently repeated as well. Of patients who underwent an imaging stress test, using a treadmill or stationery bike (or receiving a drug) to make the heart work harder, nearly 44 percent had a repeat test within three years. So did about half of those undergoing pulmonary function tests and chest tomography, a CAT scan of the chest.

Cytoscopy (a procedure in which a viewing tube is inserted into the bladder) was repeated for about 41 percent of the patients, and endoscopy (a swallowed tube enters the esophagus and stomach) for more than a third.

Is this too much testing? Without evidence of how much it harms or helps patients, it is hard to say — but the researchers were startled by the extent of repetition. “It’s inconceivable that it’s all important,” Dr. Welch said. “Unfortunately, it looks like it’s important for doctors.”

The evidence for that? The study revealed big geographic differences in diagnostic testing. Looking at the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, it found that nearly half the sample’s patients in Miami had an echocardiogram between 2004 and 2006, and two thirds of them had another echocardiogram within three years — the highest rate in the nation.

In fact, for the six tests the study included, five were performed and repeated most often in Florida cities: Miami, Jacksonville and Orlando. “They’re heavily populated by physicians and they have a long history of being at the top of the list” of areas that do a lot of medical procedures and hospitalizations, Dr. Welch said.

But in Portland, Ore., where “the physician culture is very different,” only 17.5 percent of patients had an echocardiogram. The places most prone to testing were also the places with high rates of repeat testing. Portland, San Francisco and Sacramento had the lowest rates.

We often don’t think of tests as having a downside, but they do. “This is the way whole cascades can start that are hard to stop,” Dr. Welch said. “The more we subject ourselves, the more likely some abnormality shows up that may require more testing, some of which has unwanted consequences.”

Properly used, of course, diagnostic tests can provide crucial information for sick people. “But used without a good indication, they can stir up a hornet’s nest,” he said. And of course they cost Medicare a bundle.

An accompanying commentary, sounding distinctly exasperated, pointed out that efforts to restrain overtesting and overtreatment have continued for decades. The commentary called it “discouraging to contemplate fresh evidence by Welch et al of our failure to curb waste of health care resources.”

It is hard for laypeople to know when tests make sense, but clearly we need to keep track of those we and our family members have. That way, if the cardiologist suggests another echocardiogram, we can at least ask a few pointed questions:

“My father just had one six months ago. Is it necessary to have another so soon? What information do you hope to gain that you didn’t have last time? Will the results change the way we manage his condition?”

Questions are always a good idea. Especially in Florida.

Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”

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Grim forecast for U.S., global recovery

WASHINGTON — In a grim new forecast, a leading international economic group sharply cut its outlook for U.S. and global growth next year and warned that the debt crisis in Europe and fiscal policy risks in America could plunge the world back into recession.

As it stands now, the industrialized world is looking at a muted and uneven recovery over the next two years, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Paris-based OECD projected gross domestic product across its 34 member nations — which include the U.S., Japan and the 17-nation Eurozone — to grow a sluggish 1.4% next year. That is down from 2.2% that the group had forecasted six months earlier.

Growth prospects in the U.S. also were slashed for next year. Experts at the OECD now see inflation-adjusted GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity, rising 2% next year in the U.S., roughly equivalent to this year and down from its earlier forecast of an increase of 2.6%.

The new projections are all the more sobering in that they are based on assumptions that Europe's debt crisis won't get much worse and that the U.S. won't go over the so-called fiscal cliff — a combination of more than $500 billion in automatic tax hikes and federal spending cuts slated to begin at the start of next year.

Quiz: How much do you know about the 'fiscal cliff'?

"If key adverse risks cannot be averted, and especially if the Eurozone crisis were to intensify significantly, the likely outcome would be considerably weaker, potentially plunging the global economy into deep recession and deflation, with large additional rises in unemployment," the OECD said.

The report, released Tuesday, is on the pessimistic side.

Although economists widely agree on the recession risks in the event that the U.S. isn't able to solve the fiscal impasse, a number of experts now say that the U.S. and global economies could see considerably stronger growth next year if Washington can reach agreement on tax and spending policies that avoid a big fiscal contraction in 2013.

"The economy in the U.S. is really poised to grow," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, noting that GDP growth in the U.S. could surge to a solid 3.5% or higher next year if the budget issues are resolved.

The latest forecast from the Federal Reserve, compiled in mid-September, sees U.S. GDP increasing 2.5% to 3% next year.

Baumohl's reasons for greater optimism include a recovering housing market, improving job growth and healthier personal finances, all of which should help drive stronger consumer spending.

Total consumer debt, which has fallen for four years, dropped by $74 billion to $11.31 trillion in the third quarter from the previous quarter, and it is now down $1.37 trillion from the peak in September 2008, according to a report Tuesday from the New York Fed.

Reflecting these trends, the Conference Board said Tuesday that its latest survey showed consumer confidence at its highest level since early 2008, results similar to a survey by the University of Michigan.

American business sentiments, however, have been more cautious of late, and many companies have held back on making investments in recent months. But banks are generally in good shape, and big companies are sitting on mountains of cash and are expected to ramp up investments once the fiscal and tax pictures become clearer.

The OECD report nodded to these factors, but noted that the global recovery slowed markedly over the last year amid faltering confidence and weakening world trade, in part because of problems in the Eurozone, which contributed to an unexpectedly strong slowdown in developing countries such as China.

The 17-nation Eurozone will probably remain in recession well into next year, the OECD said.

Meanwhile, Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has fallen back into a downturn after a growth spurt last year aided by massive reconstruction spending following the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The Japanese economy is expected to move at a lumbering pace over the next two years.

The outlook for China, Brazil and India — three of the biggest developing economies, none of which is a member of the OECD — looks comparatively brighter:  Growth will probably accelerate next year and in 2014, with China, the world's second-largest economy, again leading the pack.

The OECD forecast sees China's GDP expanding 8.5% next year and nearly 9% in 2014 after slowing this year to about 7.5%.

Although far from immune from the troubles in the U.S. and Europe, which still account for much of the global demand for goods, China and other major emerging economies have more wherewithal to boost growth than their more-indebted developed counterparts by ramping up government spending and lowering interest rates.

The report notes that spending cuts throughout OECD member countries have taken a toll on economic growth, particularly in the Eurozone, where GDP growth for next year was slashed to -0.1% from a positive rate of 0.9%.

Many developed countries are now struggling with financial and economic challenges related to an aging population, large public debts and high unemployment.

Assuming Europe's debt crisis stabilizes, the Eurozone is forecast to recover in 2014. For OECD countries overall, GDP growth is projected to pick up in 2014 to 2.3%.

The U.S. economy is expected to outperform most other OECD nations in 2014, with its GDP stepping up to a more sturdy growth of 2.8%. That compares with the Fed's forecast of 3% to 3.8% growth in 2014.

Either way, U.S. economic growth isn't likely to come close to keeping up with the rapid advance of developing countries, notably China.

Last year, the U.S. accounted for 23% of the global economy, with the Eurozone and China tied for second, each with a 17% share each.

But by 2030, the OECD estimates, China's share of the global economy will rise to 28%, while the U.S. will slip to No. 2 with 18% of world GDP, and the Eurozone's share will fall to 12%.

don.lee@latimes.com

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Girl, 15, fatally shot: 'You just ripped our hearts out'

Police are searching for a man who killed a 15-year-old girl on the South Side.The shooting happened on the 6900 block of South Campbell Avenue around 9:15 p.m. Monday.

A high school sophomore studying to be an architect was shot to death as she stood with friends in a backyard in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side, police said.

Porshe Foster, 15, was with several other teens when someone walked up and opened fire around 9:20 p.m. Monday in the 6900 block of South Campbell Avenue, according to police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro, citing preliminary information.

Porshe was struck in the back and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. She was pronounced dead there at 10:06 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Police said the shooting apparently was gang-related but that Porshe did not appear to be the intended target. A red vehicle was seen driving around the block several times before the shooting, but authorities have not determined whether it was related to the shooting, police said.

No suspects were in custody this morning.

Porshe was with her best friend when she was shot, her mother Bonita Foster told the Tribune this morning. She was able to make it inside a nearby home before collapsing, her best friend told Foster.

The friend called Foster, who said she rushed to Advocate Christ but her daughter was already dead. "She didn't deserve it at all," Foster said.

Foster was a sophomore at Ace Technical Charter High School, where she played basketball and volleyball and was studying to be an architect, her mother said. She leaves behind her parents, five older sisters and an older brother.

Bonita Foster asked for prayers for her family, and she urged anyone with information about the shooting to go to the police.

“This thing has to be stopped,” Foster said. “It’s foolishness. The only thing that was accomplished is that you just ripped our hearts out of our chests. And for what?”

Community activist Andrew Holmes also called on "anybody that knows any information, just turn this information over. Someone that was in that crew knows who fired and discharged that weapons and took that young lady's life.

"This is somebody's child killing another child."

WGN-TV contributed

asege@tribune.com

Twitter: @AdamSege

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New Jersey’s Christie, more popular than ever, seeks re-election

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican star who has enjoying record-high popularity for his hands-on approach to Superstorm Sandy, on Monday filed papers announcing his intention to seek a second term next November.

Christie, a popular surrogate on Republican Mitt Romney‘s failed presidential campaign, delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention this summer and is considered a popular choice to run for president in 2016.

Despite his popularity on the national stage, Christie – known for his blunt, sometimes over-the-top style – has sometimes struggled to win over his constituents in liberal New Jersey, where Democrats control both houses of the legislature.

Since Sandy tore through the state on October 29, laying waste to large stretches of the Jersey Shore, Christie’s approval rating has jumped 19 percentage points.

Christie appeared to set politics aside, touring the damage with Democratic President Barack Obama days before November 6 Election Day, and showing a personal touch with residents who lost their homes or loved ones in the storm.

Christie has a 67 percent favorability rating among registered voters, up from 48 percent in October, according to the Rutgers-Eagleton poll.

Since taking office three years ago, Christie’s signature achievement has been a 2011 law that made sweeping changes to the state’s pensions and health benefits for state workers.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Clearing the Fog Around Personality Disorders

For years they have lived as orphans and outliers, a colony of misfit characters on their own island: the bizarre one and the needy one, the untrusting and the crooked, the grandiose and the cowardly.

Their customs and rituals are as captivating as any tribe’s, and at least as mystifying. Every mental anthropologist who has visited their world seems to walk away with a different story, a new model to explain those strange behaviors.

This weekend the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association will vote on whether to adopt a new diagnostic system for some of the most serious, and striking, syndromes in medicine: personality disorders.

Personality disorders occupy a troublesome niche in psychiatry. The 10 recognized syndromes are fairly well represented on the self-help shelves of bookstores and include such well-known types as narcissistic personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, as well as dependent and histrionic personalities.

But when full-blown, the disorders are difficult to characterize and treat, and doctors seldom do careful evaluations, missing or downplaying behavior patterns that underlie problems like depression and anxiety in millions of people.

The new proposal — part of the psychiatric association’s effort of many years to update its influential diagnostic manual — is intended to clarify these diagnoses and better integrate them into clinical practice, to extend and improve treatment. But the effort has run into so much opposition that it will probably be relegated to the back of the manual, if it’s allowed in at all.

Dr. David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the task force updating the manual, would not speculate on which way the vote might go: “All I can say is that personality disorders were one of the first things we tackled, but that doesn’t make it the easiest.”

The entire exercise has forced psychiatrists to confront one of the field’s most elementary, yet still unresolved, questions: What, exactly, is a personality problem?

Habits of Thought

It wasn’t supposed to be this difficult.

Personality problems aren’t exactly new or hidden. They play out in Greek mythology, from Narcissus to the sadistic Ares. They percolate through biblical stories of madmen, compulsives and charismatics. They are writ large across the 20th century, with its rogues’ gallery of vainglorious, murderous dictators.

Yet it turns out that producing precise, lasting definitions of extreme behavior patterns is exhausting work. It took more than a decade of observing patients before the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin could draw a clear line between psychotic disorders, like schizophrenia, and mood problems, like depression or bipolar disorder.

Likewise, Freud spent years formulating his theories on the origins of neurotic syndromes. And Freudian analysts were largely the ones who, in the early decades of the last century, described people with the sort of “confounded identities” that are now considered personality disorders.

Their problems were not periodic symptoms, like moodiness or panic attacks, but issues rooted in longstanding habits of thought and feeling — in who they were.

“These therapists saw people coming into treatment who looked well put-together on the surface but on the couch became very disorganized, very impaired,” said Mark F. Lenzenweger, a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. “They had problems that were neither psychotic nor neurotic. They represented something else altogether.”

Several prototypes soon began to emerge. “A pedantic sense of order is typical of the compulsive character,” wrote the Freudian analyst Wilhelm Reich in his 1933 book, “Character Analysis,” a groundbreaking text. “In both big and small things, he lives his life according to a preconceived, irrevocable pattern.”

Others coalesced too, most recognizable as extreme forms of everyday types: the narcissist, with his fragile, grandiose self-approval; the dependent, with her smothering clinginess; the histrionic, always in the thick of some drama, desperate to be the center of attention.

In the late 1970s, Ted Millon, scientific director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology, pulled together the bulk of the work on personality disorders, most of it descriptive, and turned it into a set of 10 standardized types for the American Psychiatric Association’s third diagnostic manual. Published in 1980, it is a best seller among mental health workers worldwide.

These diagnostic criteria held up well for years and led to improved treatments for some people, like those with borderline personality disorder. Borderline is characterized by an extreme neediness and urges to harm oneself, often including thoughts of suicide. Many who seek help for depression also turn out to have borderline patterns, making their mood problems resistant to the usual therapies, like antidepressant drugs.

Today there are several approaches that can relieve borderline symptoms and one that, in numerous studies, has reduced hospitalizations and helped aid recovery: dialectical behavior therapy.

This progress notwithstanding, many in the field began to argue that the diagnostic catalog needed a rewrite. For one thing, some of the categories overlapped, and troubled people often got two or more personality diagnoses. “Personality Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified,” a catchall label meaning little more than “this person has problems” became the most common of the diagnoses.

It’s a murky area, and in recent years many therapists didn’t have the time or training to evaluate personality on top of everything else. The assessment interviews can last hours, and treatments for most of the disorders involve longer-term, specialized talk therapy.

Psychiatry was failing the sort of patients that no other field could possibly help, many experts said.

“The diagnoses simply weren’t being used very much, and there was a real need to make the whole system much more accessible,” Dr. Lenzenweger said.

Resisting Simplification 

It was easier said than done.

The most central, memorable, and knowable element of any person — personality — still defies any consensus.

A team of experts appointed by the psychiatric association has worked for more than five years to find some unifying system of diagnosis for personality problems.

The panel proposed a system based in part on a failure to “develop a coherent sense of self or identity.” Not good enough, some psychiatric theorists said.

Later, the experts tied elements of the disorders to distortions in basic traits.

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Holiday sales soar on Cyber Monday

Web shopping soared on Cyber Monday, continuing a strong start to the holiday season.

Online sales were up 26.6 percent from last year by Monday evening, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks data from 500 retail sites. ComScore meanwhile, expected online sales to hit a record of about $1.5 billion by day's end.

Cyber Monday has become the biggest online shopping day in recent years as employees head back to the office but continue to cybershop for holiday gifts. The growth of smartphones and tablets has only increased that ability, an opportunity Web retailers have been eager to exploit.

This year, retailers aggressively pushed "Pre-Black Friday" promotions and flooded consumers with emails touting good deals in the days before Thanksgiving. As a result, the big shopping days of Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have blurred into a sale-laden week.

Some retail analysts had worried that strong online sales growth on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday would entice shoppers to buy earlier, threatening revenue later in the season.

"So far, that is not the case," said Jay Henderson, the strategy director for IBM Smarter Commerce. "Extending the shopping season has really just fueled additional online spending rather than cannibalizing days later in the season."

Sales across Amazon.com, the largest online retailer, had risen 52 percent from the previous year by midmorning Monday, according to ChannelAdvisor, which offers services to third-party sellers on e-commerce sites. Meanwhile, eBay sales volume increased 57 percent, the firm said.

The average online order size on Cyber Monday was $130.30. That was down from almost $200 during the whole of Cyber Monday last year, according to IBM.

But Monday's discounts on the websites of bricks -and-mortar retailers weren't necessarily as broad or as deep as consumers could find if they shopped in the days before, according to Michael Brim, founder of deal site BFAds.net. "We're not seeing across the board the lowest prices like we do on Black Friday or Thanksgiving," he said. "It's better than the average weekly sales, but it's not on the level of Black Friday … yet," he said.

Most retailers — about 97 percent — were expected to offer Cyber Monday deals this year, up from 90 percent last year, according to the National Retail Federation. That means good deals were there for the finding on sites that might not normally have sales, Brim said.

Laptops and apparel at specialty sites were popular items Monday, Brim said.

Amazon offered $30 off its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet, which usually sells for $159. The deal was available only on Cyber Monday.

Hoffman Estates-based retailer Sears said it found that a number of its shoppers opted to buy online and pick up merchandise in the store, according to spokesman Tom Aiello, who declined to say whether online traffic increased Monday. Shoppers want "to save on shipping, or they want to touch it — and get it the same day and make sure they've got that gift in their hands," he said.

Tribune news services contributed.

crshropshire@tribune.com

Twitter @corilyns

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Vaughn to be sentenced for murder of wife, 3 kids

Christopher Vaughn is to be sentenced today for killing his wife and their three children in the family's SUV as they drove to a downstate waterpark.

The sentencing of Vaughn, 37, comes two months after jurors convicted him of murdering his 34-year-old wife Kimberly and their children — 12-year-old Abigayle, 11-year-old Cassandra and 8-year-old Blake.

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  Kimberly Ellen Vaughn, 34, with husband Christopher Vaughn and their three children Cassandra Ellen Vaughn, 11, lower left, Blake Philip Vaughn, 8, lower center and Abigayle Elizabeth Vaughn, 12, on Kimberly's graduation day from from Phoenix University in 2007.
  
  













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  Oswego, IL, USA
  
  

There's little suspense about a sentence heading into the hearing in Will County Court in Joliet. Vaughn faces a mandatory life term for the quadruple-murders.

But the hearing gives relatives a chance to confront the Oswego man and tell the court about the victims.

Prosecutors say the computer specialist planned the murders in advance. They say he saw his family as obstacles to his dream of starting a life subsisting in Canada's wilderness.

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Rolling Stones turn back clock with hit-filled comeback

LONDON (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones turned back the clock in style on Sunday with their first concert in five years, strutting and swaggering their way through hit after familiar hit to celebrate 50 years in business.

Before a packed crowd of 20,000 at London‘s O2 Arena, they banished doubts that age may have slowed down one of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands, as lead singer Mick Jagger launched into “I Wanna Be Your Man”.

More than two hours of high-octane, blues-infused rock later, and they were still going strong with an impressive encore comprising “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.

In between there were guest appearances from American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, who delivered a rousing duet with Jagger on “Gimme Shelter” and guitarist Jeff Beck who provided the power chords for “I’m Going Down”.

Former Rolling Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were also back in the fold, performing with the regular quartet of Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards on guitar and Charlie Watts on drums for the first time in 20 years.

“It took us 50 years to get from Dartford to Greenwich!” said Jagger, referring to their roots just a few miles from the venue in southeast London. “But you know, we made it. What’s even more amazing is that you’re still coming to see us…we can’t thank you enough.”

The Sunday night gig was the first of two at the O2 Arena before the band crosses the Atlantic to play three dates in the United States.

The mini-tour is the culmination of a busy few months of events, rehearsals and recordings to mark 50 years since the rockers first took to the stage at the Marquee Club on London‘s Oxford Street in July, 1962.

There has been a photo album, two new songs, a music video, a documentary film, a blitz of media appearances and a handful of warm-up gigs in Paris.

“STYLE AND PANACHE”

The reunion nearly did not happen. One factor behind the long break since their record-breaking “A Bigger Bang” tour in 2007 has been Wood’s struggle with alcohol addiction, while Jagger and Richards also fell out over comments the guitarist made about the singer in a 2010 autobiography.

But they eventually buried the hatchet, and Richards joked in a recent interview: “We can’t get divorced – we’re doing it for the kids!”

Critics were fulsome in their praise of the first comeback gig.

“Keith Richards has said that the beauty of rock and roll is that every night a different band might be the world’s greatest. Well, last night at the O2 Arena, it was the turn of the Rolling Stones themselves to lay claim to the title they invented,” wrote Neil McCormick of the Daily Telegraph.

“And they did it with some style and panache.”

The big question on every fan’s lips is whether the five concerts lead to a world tour and even new material. The Stones sang their two new tracks “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot”, which appeared on their latest greatest hits album “GRRR!”.

Richards has hinted that the five concerts ending at the Newark Prudential Center in the United States on December 15 would not be the last.

“Once the juggernaut starts rolling, it ain’t gonna stop,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. “So without sort of saying definitely yes – yeah. We ain’t doing all this for four gigs!”

The band has come in for criticism from fans about the high price of tickets to the shows – they ranged from around 95 pounds ($ 150) to up to 950 pounds for a VIP seat.

The flamboyant veterans, whose average age is 68, have defended the costs, saying the shows were expensive to put on, although specialist music publication Billboard reported the band would earn $ 25 million from the four shows initially announced. A fifth was added later.

“Everybody all right there in the cheap seats,” Jagger asked pointedly as he looked high to his left at the arena. “They’re not really cheap though are they? That’s the trouble.”

Among the biggest cheers on the night were for classics including “Wild Horses”, “It’s Only Rock and Roll” and “Start Me Up”.

There was even time for the odd reference to their advancing years.

“Good to see you all,” said Richards with a mischievous grin. “Good to see anybody.”

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Agency Investigates Deaths and Injuries Associated With Bed Rails

Thomas Patterson for The New York Times

Gloria Black’s mother died in her bed at a care facility.

In November 2006, when Clara Marshall began suffering from the effects of dementia, her family moved her into the Waterford at Fairway Village, an assisted living home in Vancouver, Wash. The facility offered round-the-clock care for Ms. Marshall, who had wandered away from home several times. Her husband Dan, 80 years old at the time, felt he could no longer care for her alone.

Thomas Patterson for The New York Times

Gloria Black, visiting her mother’s grave in Portland, Ore. She has documented hundreds of deaths associated with bed rails and said families should be informed of their possible risks.

But just five months into her stay, Ms. Marshall, 81, was found dead in her room apparently strangled after getting her neck caught in side rails used to prevent her from rolling out of bed.

After Ms. Marshall’s death, her daughter Gloria Black, who lives in Portland, Ore., began writing to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Food and Drug Administration. What she discovered was that both agencies had known for more than a decade about deaths from bed rails but had done little to crack down on the companies that make them. Ms. Black conducted her own research and exchanged letters with local and state officials. Finally, a letter she wrote in 2010 to the federal consumer safety commission helped prompt a review of bed rail deaths.

Ms. Black applauds the decision to study the issue. “But I wish it was done years ago,” she said. “Maybe my mother would still be alive.” Now the government is studying a problem it has known about for years.

Data compiled by the consumer agency from death certificates and hospital emergency room visits from 2003 through May 2012 shows that 150 mostly older adults died after they became trapped in bed rails. Over nearly the same time period, 36,000 mostly older adults — about 4,000 a year — were treated in emergency rooms with bed rail injuries. Officials at the F.D.A. and the commission said the data probably understated the problem since bed rails are not always listed as a cause of death by nursing homes and coroners, or as a cause of injury by emergency room doctors.

Experts who have studied the deaths say they are avoidable. While the F.D.A. issued safety warnings about the devices in 1995, it shied away from requiring manufacturers to put safety labels on them because of industry resistance and because the mood in Congress then was for less regulation. Instead only “voluntary guidelines” were adopted in 2006.

More warnings are needed, experts say, but there is a technical question over which regulator is responsible for some bed rails. Are they medical devices under the purview of the F.D.A., or are they consumer products regulated by the commission?

“This is an entirely preventable problem,” said Dr. Steven Miles, a professor at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, who first alerted federal regulators to deaths involving bed rails in 1995. The government at the time declined to recall any bed rails and opted instead for a safety alert to nursing homes and home health care agencies.

Forcing the industry to improve designs and replace older models could have potentially cost bed rail makers and health care facilities hundreds of million of dollars, said Larry Kessler, a former F.D.A. official who headed its medical device office. “Quite frankly, none of the bed rails in use at that time would have passed the suggested design standards in the guidelines if we had made them mandatory,” he said. No analysis has been done to determine how much it would cost the manufacturers to reduce the hazards.

Bed rails are metal bars used on hospital beds and in home care to assist patients in pulling themselves up or helping them out of bed. They can also prevent people from rolling out of bed. But sometimes patients — particularly those suffering from Alzheimer’s — can get confused and trapped between a bed rail and a mattress, which can lead to serious injury or even death.

While the use of the devices by hospitals and nursing homes has declined as professional caregivers have grown aware of the dangers, experts say dozens of older adults continue to die each year as more rails are used in home care and many health care facilities continue to use older rail models.

Since those first warnings in 1995, about 550 bed rail-related deaths have occurred, a review by The New York Times of F.D.A. data, lawsuits, state nursing home inspection reports and interviews, found. Last year alone, the F.D.A. data shows, 27 people died.

As deaths continued after the F.D.A. warning, a working group put together in 1999 and made up of medical device makers, researchers, patient advocates and F.D.A. officials considered requiring bed rail makers to add warning labels.

But the F.D.A. decided against it after manufacturers resisted, citing legal issues. The agency said added cost to small manufacturers and difficulties of getting regulations through layers of government approval, were factors against tougher standards, according to a meeting log of the group in 2000 and interviews.

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