The Health News – 22 Oct 2014

Overview

• Queensland’s auditor-general has uncovered a multi-billion-dollar debacle in the planning and delivery of three new hospitals.

• While love for our own kind might drive us to fight with others, thinking our enemy is driven by hate can hinder conflict resolution, say researchers.

• A 71-year-old with a rare form of cancer is back on his feet after having his heel removed and replaced with a 3D printed titanium replica.

Stories Discussed
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 22nd October 2014. Read by Rebecca Foster.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-21/new-qld-hospitals-cost-22b-more-than-promised/5830132

Queensland’s auditor-general has uncovered a multi-billion-dollar debacle in the planning and delivery of three new hospitals.

A report tabled in Parliament found the cost of building the three tertiary hospitals – promised by then premier Peter Beattie in 2006 – was underestimated by $2.2 billion.

Auditor-general Andrew Greaves found many failures in how the Beattie government planned and approved the building of the Gold Coast University Hospital, the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital and the Sunshine Coast Public University Hospital.

The expected final cost of the three projects is $5.08 billion – some $2.2 billion more, or 77 per cent higher, than initial estimates.

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The report also said it was impossible to conclusively show whether the hospitals were worth building.

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Premier Campbell Newman said the report shows why it was necessary for Queenslanders to vote the former government out.

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http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/10/21/4110680.htm

While love for our own kind might drive us to fight with others, thinking our enemy is driven by hate can hinder conflict resolution, say researchers.

This bias in “motive attribution” can make us pessimistic about negotiation and compromise, and ultimately lead to intractable conflicts, they say.

“Hatred is an intractable emotion,” says social psychologist Dr Jeremy Ginges, of the University of Melbourne.

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Many conflicts, such as that between the Israelis and Palestinians, are so long-standing that they appear to be intractable.

Despite possible solutions being obvious to outsiders, the parties in the conflict seem to have problems negotiating and voting for compromise, says Ginges.

In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he and colleagues report on a series of studies that found possible clues as to why this is the case.

After interviewing 995 Israelis and 1266 Palestinians, the researchers found each side was biased in how they explained their own, versus the other side’s, motives for aggression.

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Each side thought the other side was attacking them out of hate, says Ginges.

The researchers say they have found evidence of a previously unidentified fundamental bias in “motive attribution”.

Ginges says the effects were consistent and large, and held regardless of gender, political affiliation and age.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-21/rare-cancer-sufferer-receives-3d-printed-heel/5830432

A 71-year-old with a rare form of cancer is back on his feet after having his heel removed and replaced with a 3D printed titanium replica.

In June, Len Chandler was diagnosed with a rare cartilage cancer in his right heel.

He was advised by doctors at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne that surgery was the only treatment option and that could involve an amputation of the leg below the knee.

Mr Chandler said he was bracing for the worst possible news.

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But just a few months later a radical alternative helped him back on his feet.

Combing modern medicine and technology, surgeons scanned Mr Chandler’s heel into a computer to generate a digital copy before creating a plastic 3D model of his new bone.

Scientists at the CSIRO then used the model to print a titanium replica heel.

Professor Peter Choong from St Vincent’s Hospital was then a part of the team to implant the new body part.

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After surgery in July and about 12 days in hospital Mr Chandler was able to return [to] his home in Rutherglen, in country Victoria.

He said he was recovering well and was already walking with crutches.

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