Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Featured Link - OncoLink.org

OncoLink is a site sponsored by the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It contains a vast amount of information about the disease, treatment, coping, and many other aspects. It's worth a look for anyone who has a friend or family member suffering from cancer. Here is a short description from the site:

About OncoLink

OncoLink was founded in 1994 by Penn cancer specialists with a mission to help cancer patients, families, health care professionals and the general public get accurate cancer-related information at no charge. Recent changes have been made to OncoLink to update the look and feel of our site.

OncoLink is designed to make it easy for the general public to navigate through the pages to obtain the information that they want. The home page has buttons and hypertext links. If you click on the buttons or the underlined text with your mouse, you will go directly to your area of interest.

Through OncoLink you can get comprehensive information about specific types of cancer, updates on cancer treatments and news about research advances. We update the information everyday and provide information at various levels, from introductory to in-depth. If you are interested in learning about cancer, you will benefit from visiting OncoLink.

When Cancer Won’t Bring a Social Security Check

This guest post is by Ms. Alexis Bonari.

Although Social Security implemented changes in its “Malignant Neoplastic Diseases” criteria in November of 2009, determining disability as a result of cancer can still be difficult. In many cases, extra time is needed for Social Security to decide whether or not disability may be granted. This is due in part to the large number of treatment options available for most cancers. Often, combinations of treatments are prescribed and rotated, enabling deferment of a decision until treatment options have been exhausted (13.00E3). Additionally, if symptoms can be attributed to “temporary” reactions to cancer-treating drugs, a disability decision may be deferred until these symptoms subside and allow for clear judgment based solely on the presence or absence of debilitating cancer (13.00G3). These symptoms resulting from therapies can last up to a year and, in some cases, even longer.

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Disability Issues

Although it may seem that Hodgkin’s affects only young adults, there are many individuals over the age of 55 who suffer from the condition. Males aged 45 and older are at risk for diminished success in treating Hodgkin’s, which is generally considered to be a highly treatable cancer. Challenges that prevent these individuals from receiving disability can be severely detrimental to both health and financial viability.

When attempting to collect Social Security disability benefits based on cancerous diseases, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma can be especially difficult. If it reappears over twelve months after completion of treatment, Social Security considers Hodgkin’s a new disease rather than a recurrence (13.00K1c).  This can be frustrating, as a new disease often takes longer than a recurrence to receive a disability decision. Initial disability may also take a year to obtain, as Hodgkin’s must resist treatment for twelve months in order to merit disability. The only other option is to undergo a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, which secures disability for at least twelve months following the procedure.

Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She often can be found blogging about general education issues as well as information on college scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Tanning Beds May Get Closer Scrutiny Based On Findings About Skin Cancer Risk

I continue my rant against tanning beds. I think these things are dangerous, and I'm frustrated that my friends and employees continue to use them.

Here are excerpts from an article in the Washington Post about tanning salons:

The Food and Drug Administration called its March 25 hearing in the wake of a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization. That report, which covered X-rays and other devices that emit radiation, reclassified tanning beds into the highest cancer risk category -- "carcinogenic to humans," along with substances such as tobacco smoke and asbestos. Previously, WHO had classified tanning lamps as "probably" carcinogenic.

The report, published in the journal Lancet Oncology last summer, said that the risk of melanoma increases by 75 percent when use of tanning beds starts before age 30.

Since the mid-1980s, the FDA has regulated tanning beds as Class I medical devices, putting them in the same low-risk category as bandages and tongue depressors. At the hearing, most of the presenters asked the advisory panel to recommend that the FDA either ban the machines outright or at least more strictly regulate their use, especially by minors.

In the end, the panel urged the FDA to make tanning beds Class II or III devices, which would allow the FDA to regulate them more closely. It also recommended that more prominent warning labels be required. (The $5 billion tanning industry is also facing a new 10 percent tax on tanning-bed fees starting July 1, a component of the new health-care legislation. )

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and the CDC estimates that 65 to 90 percent of those tumors are caused by exposure to ultraviolet light or sunlight. Like the sun, tanning beds produce UVA and UVB rays, as well as Vitamin D. Most tanning beds emit about 95 percent UVA rays, which penetrate deep into the skin and give that bronzed look that many people find attractive, and 5 percent UVB rays, which hit the top layers and are most responsible for sunburns. According to the WHO, tanning beds are many times stronger than the midday summer sun in most countries and are therefore more dangerous.

Cancer Hazards of Tanning Beds May Lead to Federal Ban for Teenager

The cancer hazard of tanning beds is a particular concern to me. I have had several employees over the years who visit tanning salons far too frequently, against my fatherly advice. I was just as bad when I was young, although since we didn't have tanning beds, I just played outdoors to get tan. But we didn't know as much about skin cancer back then. Now, there's no good excuse to subject your body to harmful sunlamps. Yes, a nice tan is attractive, but it doesn't add enough to your appeal to make it worth the risks of cancer mutilating your body when you're older.

Texas bans tanning salon use by kids under age 16.5, and requires parental permission for use by kids under age 18. Here are excerpts from a recent article by the Associated Press discussing the possibility of a federal ban on tanning bed use by teenagers:

Federal health experts say more restrictions are needed to protect teenagers from the cancer risks of tanning beds, including a potential ban for people under 18.

A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended Thursday that the agency put tighter controls on artificial tanning, ranging from requiring parental consent forms to banning the practice in younger teens.

The FDA has regulated sunlamps for more than 20 years, but a recent report by the World Health Organization tied the devices to skin cancer, prompting a call for tougher rules.

The WHO analysis showed that the deadliest form of skin cancer increases 75 percent in people who use tanning beds in their teens and 20s.

More than 30 states already have tanning salon regulations in place — including a handful that require parental consent — but new FDA requirements would apply nationally.

The panel also recommended the FDA add bolder warning labels to tanning beds and change how they are regulated.

Dr. William James, president of the American Academy of Dermatology Association, said his group has seen a startling increase in skin cancer among women in their teens and twenties.

"What was formerly considered a disease of older men is ballooning in young women, the very target audience and number one customer of the tanning industry," James said.

Nearly 69,000 U.S. cases of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, were diagnosed last year. Also linked to ultraviolet exposure are basal and squamous cell cancer carcinomas, which affect more than 1 million Americans a year. They're usually easily removed but the American Cancer Society counts 2,000 annual deaths.

Fair-skinned people who don't tan easily are at highest risk for skin cancer. Melanoma is particularly linked to sunburns at a young age, though it is usually diagnosed in the 40s and 50s.

Gruesome and Graphic Cigarette Warnings Coming Soon?

HealthDay News is reporting on the possible changes to cigarette packages under new U.S. regulations contained in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. These regulations apparently will require manufacturers to devote a large percentage of the front and back of packs of cigarettes to graphic images of the damage smoking can do to a person. Here are some excerpts from the HealthDay News article:

Would a gruesome picture of a cancer-ravaged mouth with rotting teeth make you think twice about buying a pack of cigarettes?

That's the goal of new federal regulations expected to go into effect within three years. The rules will require tobacco companies to cover at least half of the front and back of packages with graphic -- and possibly gruesome -- images illustrating the dangers of smoking.

If U.S. regulations are modeled after those already in place in Canada and other countries, the warnings will be shocking: blackened lungs, gangrenous feet, bleeding brains and people breathing through tracheotomies.

Though hard to look at, the more graphic the image, the more effective in discouraging smoking, said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of the university's Center for Tobacco Control, Research and Education.

"The graphic warnings really work," Glantz said. "They substantially increase the likelihood someone will quit smoking. They substantially decrease the chances a kid will smoke. And they really screw up the ability of the tobacco industry to use the packaging as a marketing tool."

Under the law, the FDA has two years to issue specifics about the new graphic warnings tobacco products will be required to carry. Tobacco companies then have 18 months to get them onto packages.

With much at stake for tobacco companies, there will be much wrangling over the details, Glantz said.

Yet research shows the FDA shouldn't compromise, Glantz said. The more frightening the image, the greater the anti-smoking effect, he said.

Despite some research that has suggested images that are too stomach-turning may backfire because people eventually ignore them, new research is showing the most graphic images pack the most punch, said Jeremy Kees, an assistant professor of marketing at Villanova University.

In a yet-to-be published study, Kees had 541 adult smokers in the United States and Canada view a mild image of a smoker's mouth with yellowed teeth; a moderately graphic image of a diseased mouth; and a third photo of a grotesque, disfigured mouth.

The most disturbing photo evoked the most fear, prompting more smokers to say they intended to quit, Kees said.

While the new regulations may also include no-nonsense, text warnings such as "Smoking Makes You Impotent" and "Smoking Kills," the images will have the broadest reach, Hammond said.

Non-English speakers can understand the picture of a diseased mouth, as can people who are illiterate. Smokers tend to have lower literacy levels, Hammond noted.

And kids will get the message too, potentially stopping them from ever lighting up. "You have 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds who can understand that picture," Hammond said.

Elsewhere, graphic warnings seem to be helping to drive down smoking rates. In Canada, about 13 percent of the population smokes daily, a 5 percent drop since the graphic warnings were adopted in 2000, Hammond said. About 21 percent of the U.S. population smokes daily, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Link of the Day - Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Support Group

LifeRaftGroup.org is a support group for victims of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor, or GIST. Here is information from the Web site:

The Life Raft Group (LRG) is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization providing support, through information, education, and innovative research to patients with a rare cancer called GIST (Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor). Since we received our non-profit status in June, 2002, we have expanded our outreach efforts to many thousands of patients, and their doctors. Local chapters have formed in a growing number of cities throughout the world.

Membership in the LRG is free as is access to our website, our Newsletter and our office based assistance programs.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) belong to a group of cancers called soft tissue sarcomas. Sarcomas are a rare type of cancer that can occur in connective tissues, bones, muscles, fat, nerves, blood vessels, and cartilage. Sarcomas are derived from the general class of cells known as "mesenchymal cells". In contrast, most of the "common" cancers, such as lung cancer, skin cancer, and prostate cancer, are derived from a different type of cell, known as "epithelial cells", the cells which line the body's many surfaces. Why does this distinction matter? Because carcinomas and sarcomas behave very differently and are treated differently. Sarcomas are much less common than carcinomas. As a result, there are relatively few oncologists who specialize in treating sarcomas.

Although the exact incidence is still somewhat unclear, it is now estimated that, in the United States, between 5,000 and 10,000 people each year develop GISTs.

About 40-70% of GISTs arise from the stomach, 20-40% arise from the small intestine, and 5-15% from the colon and rectum. GISTs can also be found in the esophagus (<5%). Sometimes GISTs develop outside the intestinal tract in the abdominal cavity.

Link of the Day - LungCancer.org

LungCancer.org is a site furnished by CancerCare. CancerCare has been mentioned here in an earlier post. LungCancer.org has specific information about lung cancer, of course, and provides specific information for patients, care givers, and medical professionals. Here is the Mission Statement of LungCancer.org:

In 1998, CancerCare founded lungcancer.org as part of our ongoing programs for people with lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and women, and we have developed a wide range of programs to meet the needs of the more than 175,000 people a year who are diagnosed with this disease.

One of our programs is lungcancer.org which has been and continues to be an important source of information for our lung cancer patients and their families, and an excellent referral to CancerCare’s free professional counseling, education programs and financial assistance for people with lung cancer.

Link of the Day - HealthCentral By Dr. Dean Edell

HealthCentral.com has a very interesting collection of videos by Dr. Dean Edell. The video topics range from ADHD to Yoga.