you could have done radiology. you could have done nothing. you chose surgery, right? why? >> well, you know, i had an aggressive form of cancer. and prostate cancer. and thank goodness, michael milken, who i had not met, but my brother frank had met, had called and really sort of cleared up all that fuzziness that was going on. because, you know, when you first hear the word "cancer," you just think of a black hole there and there's no way out. and then i talked to michael, and he gave me a list of doctors to check with. and i settled on having the surgery done after visiting with bill catallona in st. louis. and, you know, it's ten years. i knock on wood, and i'm very thankful for -- for the price -- prostate cancer foundation and mike milken for directing me in the right way. >> larry: it is difficult, john, though, when you hear that -- joe does describe, when they say the tword, you haven't heard it, but can you imagine what it's like to be told? >> my father had cancer. >> sort of why i was here is i think that i have been affected in a different way. it was my father

department at the hospital and write me a piece about radiology. what? i guarantee you would find some great little human trauma, some great little thing to write about that is how i would encourage people who want to write, find something you don't know anything about. take notes, learn how to type faster. yes, sir? >> [inaudible] what made you want to make non-fiction versus fictional stories? >> the need to get paid. [laughter] >> nonfiction you can sell a proposal and then get down advance against royalties while you are doing the book. fictional you have to write the book before you can sell it so you need nine months, a year, a year and half, you need to have that much money to live. i don't. so i have got to do it this way. i have an awful, all of s have novels and our computers i've got about three of them, have got one that is further along than others. fiction in a way you think well that is easier. you get to make it up. right? but in another sense, nonfiction you have got the story told for you and you have got the characters. the trick

their starting salaries are a lot lower than for specialists like radiology and cardiology. >> i owe60,000 in medical school loans. >> reporter: it's not just the pay. it's the paperwork. dr. kate adkinson is drowning in it and says that's what's keeping doctors away from primary practices. >> this is the reason why. >> reporter: too much paperwork? >> too much paperwork. >> these are particularly bad. >> reporter: the reality is that the doctor and her nurse practitioner treat 3,000 patients. >> aetna, cigna. >> reporter: filling out hundreds of different forms takes a staff of 11. she simply can't make ends meet. >> do you know i lost a staff person last year to starbucks, because they could pain her more money? >> reporter: what good is insurance if doctors like adkinson can't afford to stay in business? >> this doctor said it's a good first step. >> reporter: unless that card is of value to them, what good is it? >> that's the steps we have to get to next. >> reporter: including ways to entice more doctors into primary practice, so that everyone has a card and a proper care. dr.

as the former director of the fda center for devices and radiological health frankly acknowledged, he said quote, the fda's system of approval devices isn't perfect and unexpected problems do arise. last year, 15 devices were recalled due to defects. in 2009, there have already been ten. the fact is the fda conducts the approval process with minimal resources, and simply does not have adequate funds to generally assure that devices are safe or to properly and effectively re-evaluate approvals as new information becomes available. moreover, the fda relies on manufacturers to provide information about their products. once on the market, the fda relies on manufacturers to track devices and monitor for problems. however, without the threat of any liability, there is little incentive for manufacturers to report problems to the fda or to the public. this puts thousands of consumers at risk of harm. indeed, thousands have already been harmed in instances where manufacturers knew of problems with the device, but withheld that information from the patients. in our system of justice, access to

is that starting salaries for primary care doctors are a lot lower than for specialists like in radiology, cardiology and urology. >> i've been in practice for ten years now and i still owe $60,000 on my medical school loans. >> reporter: but it's not just the pay. >> these are the different forms. the mass health ones. >> reporter: ...it's the paperwork. dr. kate atkinson is drowning in it and says that's what's keeping doctors away from my mare practices. >> this is the reason. why. >> reporter: too much paperwork? >> too much paperwork. these are particularly bad. >> reporter: the reality here is that dr. atkinson and her nurse practitioner treat 3,000 patients. >> etna, cigna forms. there's at least over 100 forms. >> reporter: but filling out hundreds of different forms takes a staff of 11. she simply can't make ends meet. >> do you know i lost a staff person last year to starbucks because they could pay her more money that i could pay her? >> reporter: to starbucks, maggie, and therein lies the point. if you have health care insurance it doesn't mean a lot if primary care doctors li

according to the american college of radiology, 83 million ct scans were performed in 2007. they caution that patients should not avoid important medical imaging due to fears that may be raised by the new research. but agree with the study authors that the patients should only get the procedures if the benefits outweigh the risks. for today's health minute, i'm susan hendricks. >>> well, police and the stun gun granny. tonight she is known as robbery suspect, and she is behind bars. >>> and we can only guess. he must have saved a bundle in alimony. why would he agree to do this? we'll have details coming up. >> watch abc 2 news any time on channel 1 with comcast on demand. seem smooth and strong to irreversible damage. no different. irreversible loss of enamel. enamel shield enamel loss by forming against acid attack. toothpastes dentists check most. save your enamel. be gone for good. enamel shield. with the rinse. >>> abc 2 news at 5:30 is just minutes away. hello, everybody. i'm terry owens. who will replace the liberal line in the united states senate? the efforts now un

we can put aside our radiological -- our ideological views. buc>> it is well-known that he d to wear his mickey mouse tie. there is no other way to ask this question. your 85 years old. >> i am. >> you are up about and i understand you go to work every day. >> i work every day, but i technically retired. i keep the office and the phone and the computer and i am writing a book in doing little work here and there. >> what are you writing a book about? but i suppose it is a memoir. >> -- i suppose it is a memoir. >> wanted to wait this long? >> it is time. >> you are 85. don hewitt is 88. walter cronkite is 92. eunice shriver was 88. how do you do it at this stage? how do you look at life at this stage? >> pretty much the way that i did 20 years ago or 30. there are things to be done. i have a wonderful wife. we have a lot to talk about. we have a lot to remember. i have a lot of good friends. i have written four books and one of the fellows of broke a book with is working on a memoir. >> what bove did you write together before? >> we wrote a goo

because we have that capability, i sent this patient who normally i would have said to stop, down to radiologynd, and they call me and say that we can save him, but if we save him, he will lose his kidneys. we are sure of that. ok? if i did not have the family that i could talk to at that point, i would have said go ahead. that would have committed that man to dialysis and he probably would have died within a month. but i would have been afraid to not proceed on the pier of -- on the fear of what if the family did not want us to go ahead? fortunately, i had a family that elected to stop. my point is, if the family had not been available, we would have done what we do, which is to take the next up. a lot of times it is easier than just saying stop. that drives up the cost of health care. >> we are right in the middle of the fast track wearing for the emergency room. it is in this type of place that you have a lot of defensive medicine, based on the tort reform you're talking about and based on one end to cover yourself. could you explain that? >> a lot of people that go to emergency room does n

muniz is chairman of the department of radiology at gbmc. he says the benefits of a cat scan far outweigh the risks of the study. >> you are not going to get cancer from having one, two, six or 20 cat scans. there may be a slight increase risk of cancer fromming -- from having numerous studies. >> reporter: john wilkes needs a cat stan scan to help doctors fix a heart problem. >> i can't get my heart fixed without having a cat scan. >> reporter: but in many cases, dr. muniz says the scans aren't necessary. especially when it comes to children. >> reporter: in 1980, 3 million cat scans were done in the u.s. that number rose to 62 million in 2008. more than 4 million were children. >> reporter: there are alternatives to having a cat scan. an ultrasound or mri, for example. but doctors say the images may not come out as clearly. >> they are very, very useful for looking at functional information. they don't have the resolution of the cat scan. and they are very, very expensive studies. >> reporter: as for john wilkes, he's going to take his cha

muniz is chairman of the department of radiology at gbmc. he says the benefits of a cat scan far outweigh the risks of a study. >> you are not going to get cancer from having one, two, six, or 20 cat scans. there may be a slight cancer risk from having numerous studies. >> reporter: john wilkes needs a cat scan to help doctors fix a heart problem. >> i can't get my heart fixed without a cat scan. >> reporter: but in many cases, dr. muniz says the scans aren't necessary. especially when it comes to children. >> 1980, 3 million cat scans were done in the u.s. that number rose to 62 million in 2008. more than 4 million were children. there are alternate -- alternatives to having a cat scan. an ultrasound or mri, for example. but doctors say the images may note come out -- not come out as clearly. >> they are very, very useful for looking at functional information. they don't have the resolution of the cat scan. and they are very, very expensive studies. >>> as for john wilkes, he is going to take his chances. >> if there is a risk involved, i'm

because of that, i said this patient down to radiology. they quickly shoot some stududue they call me and say, "we can do this, we can save him, but if we save him, he will lose his kidneys, we are sure of that." now, if i did not have a family that i could talk to at that point, i would have said go ahead. that would have committed at 86- year-old to dialysis company probably would have died within a month -- committed to that 86- year-old to dialysis, and he probably would have died within a month. but i would have been afraid to not proceed on the fear of what if the family really wanted to go ahead and say, you could have saved him, which we could have and we did not. fortunately, i had a family who understood everything and elected to stop. but my point is that if the family had not been available, we would have done what we do, which is to take the next step, which is a lot of times easier than saying, let's stop. that drives up the cost of health care. >> we are right in the middle of a fast-track room, emergency room. it is in that

down to radiology, they quickly shoot some studies.ey called me and said, we can do this, we can save him. but if we save him, he will lose his kidneys, we are sure of that. now, if i did not have the family that i could talk to at that point, i would have said, go ahead. that would have committed that 86-year-old man to dialysis, and he probably would have died within a month. all right. but i would have been afraid to not proceed on the fear of what if the family really wanted to go ahead, and said, you could have saved him. which we could have, and we didn't. fortunately i had a family who understood everything and elected to stop. but my point is if the family had not been available, we would have done what we do. which is to take the next step, which allot of times is easier than saying stop. and that drives up the cost of health care. >> i understand we are in the middle of the fast-track room for the emergency room, and it's in this place you have a lot of defensive medicine, based on tort reform and based on wanting to cover yo

advises americans to stock up on plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect themselves against radiological or biological attack. july 23rd, 200 3shgs the white house admits that the cia, months before the president's state of the union address, expressed strong doubts about the claim that iraq had attempted to buy uranium from niger. on the 24th, the congressional report on the 9/11 attacks siis issued. an fbi informant was living with two of the future hijackers. iraq had no link to al qaeda. 28 pages of the report are retacting. and july 29th, 2003, three days late area mid all of the negative headlines. homeland security warnings of terror attempts to use airplanes for suicide attacks. december 17th 2shgs, 2003, tom says the attacks were preventab preventable. then a federal appeals court says they cannot detain jose padilla indefinitely without charges and the chief u.s. weapons inspector in iraq dr. david kay who announced he found no weapons of mass destruction there announces he'll resign his post. december 21st, 2003, four days later, the sunday before christmas -- >> today the uni

the threat of a nuclear or radiological device is of grave concern, and, reducing that threat is a key administration priority. but we must be equally prepared for biological or chemical threats, which are capacities al qaeda has sought for years. we have seen greater use of ieds and suicide bombers and terrorist attacks around the world. and, given our responsibilities for enforcing our immigration laws, and protecting our ports of entry, we are also keenly aware that illegal immigration is not only a matter of sovereignty, but, could pose a national security threat as well. the reality, that potential terrorists could use a variety of ways to enter the country illegally, fake documents, visa overstays and even border tunnels make this so. now, dhs monitors and shares information about potential home-grown threats as well. these can be individuals, radicalized by events abroad, or lone wolf attacks. and, last, but certainly not least, we are spending considerable time and attention on the cyberworld. under the obama administration's new cyber plan, dhs retains the lead role protecting

advises americans to stock up on plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect themselves against radiologicalogical attack. july 23rd, 2003, the white house admits that the cia, months before the president's state of the union address, expressed strong doubts about the claim that iraq had attempted to buy uranium from niger. on the 24th, the congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is issued. it criticizes government at all levels. it reveals that an fbi informant was living with two of the future hijackers. iraq had no link to al qaeda. 28 pages of the report are redacted. on the 26th, american troops are accused of beating iraqi prisoners. and july 29th, 2003, three days later, amid all of the negative headlines. >> word of a possible new al qaeda attack. >> homeland security issues warnings of further terrorist attempts to use airplanes for suicide attacks. december 17th, 2003, tom ridge -- thomas kean says the attacks were inevitable. then a federal appeals court says they cannot detain jose padilla indefinitely without charges and the chief u.s. weapons inspector in iraq dr. david kay wh

it provided health care, pharmaceutic pharmaceutical, laboratory, radiology.rancisco can qualify. how much people are required to pay depending upon what their income is. >> in my opinion, much more thorough care than i had when i was insured. >> we had ayeared only a minimal amount of start up, $750,000. the rest of the money comes from one of three sources. we receive the state federal grants, we receive money through the employer spending requirements, that requires businesses that haver more than 20 businesses to spend health karpd an to finally participate. we've figured out the confident of the care and use that money for a broader set of people. we're able to sup

♪ >>> tdas y's joof the day, customer service reps for laurel and capital radiology billings. post an opening you have, go to myfoxdc.com and look for the link to the job shop. >>> well, pee wee hermon's show is coming to the stage. >> after 20 years of retirement he's coming back. the characters such as cherry, the talking chair will be featured and the show will run in october for ten days. there -- june for -- jennifer hudson delivered a 7-pound boy on monday. he's david daniel. everyone's fine and she and the baby's father were engaged last year. >> we have a former american idol contestant in the studio today. >> there you go. that's blake luis. you remember him from season 6. we'll chat with him, after the break >>> it's a record setting day at the capital. we're live in union station. 30,000 plus pairs of jeans are going to help the environment and get someone in the guinness book of world records. stay with us. get schooled in style, at the jcpenney hottest back to hool sale tired of waiting for your savings? with an instant money couponrom jcnney, get $10 off instantl

medical care, hospital care, emergency care, pharmaceutical, laboratory, radiology, for people within san francisco. any adult who is uninsured in san francisco who qualify, how much people are required to pay depends upon what their income is. >> in my opinion, much better and more thorough care than i had when i was insured. >> we have required only a very minimal amount of the general funds to start up $750,000. the rest of the money comes from one of three resources. we receive the state-federal grants, we are receiving money through the employer's spending requirement that requires businesses that have more than 20 employees to spend money on health care and then finally to participate and pay. we figure out how to decrease the cost of care and use that money to cover a broader set of people. what we're able to do is to supplement all of the money that is existing to enable people to care for a group of people that they would by and large already care for. >> i wish everybody had access to the kind of medical treatment that i get because it's just fantastic. >> all right. so if y

where immigration is politically vexing because of splits both parties and scrambles the usual radiological alignment. i believe there is no clear majority in the country on this. i think he agrees with me on this. one-third of america favors providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. one-third -- or less, these are all third, you can argue about the exact size. another third is opposed. then there is an ambivalent middle that knows the status quo is unsustainable and is sympathetic in principle to a comprehensive solution, yet is also upset about the government possibly to control illegal immigration. i'm going to offer a couple of numbers on this ambivalence. in the obama administration, they have worries of the rhone. it's entirely true that the president won with overwhelming support from latino voters. they were very important in helping him carry mexico, colorado, and nevada, and arguably north carolina and indiana. but the margin for so small there, you could attribute the victory to any demographic group you want to name. latino leaders insist that the president keep hi

more than half the radiological measuring stations are in place and plus the instruments they have arefar more sensitive than they had in 1999. and so the verification question is now much less hypothetical and, oh, let me tell you how great it's going to . we have things that are -- for example, the north korean 400-ton -- you know, .5 killi ton nuclear test was detected by something like 20 stations, i believe, a that was -- you know, so we've actually -- >> what was it? >> their first test and the most recent test which most people think it was 3 or 4 killitons. >> which one is this >> north korea? but the system passed with flying colors and so that's -- unfortunately, the north koreans tested a nuclear weapon but the good part is we got to test our verification system. i guess, if you want to find some tiny silver lining, you could find that. so i'm not -- you know, i'm not encouraging the north koreans to be our calibration source. but, you know, you make do with what you can. so that is where that stands. i don't know much more that i can talk to you about the technology until y

i served as consultant to fda center for devices in radiologic health since 2003 and previously chaired the fda's poe-market and heart device advisory panels. i hope that you will appreciate that fda marketing clearance or approval of a medical device does not guarantee its safety. in particular, manufacturers' responsibilities for product safety extend well beyond initial fda approval. the u.s. supreme court's regal decision eliminates an important consumer safeguard, the threat of manufacturer liability, and will lead to less safe medical devices and an increased number of patient injuries. we are very fortunate to have the preeminent regulatory system in the world. the u.s. food and drug administration regulates more than 100,000 different medical devices manufactured by more than 15,000 companies. they receive several thousand new and supplemental device applications annually, and they are mandated by congress to complete their premarket evaluations in a timely fashion. thankfully, there are many superb fda engineers, physicians, scientists and public servants who work tirelessly to

because we have that capability, i sent this patient who normally i would have said just stop down to radiologycalled me and they said we can do this. we can save him, but if we save him, he will lose his kidneys. we are short of that. -- we are sure of that. if i did not have the family that i could talk to at that point, i would have said the go ahead. that would have committed that man to undergo dialysis and he probably would have died within a month. i would have been afraid to not proceed on the fear of what if the family really wanted to go ahead and said you could have saved him, which we could have, and we did not. fortunately i had a family that understood everything and elected to stop. if the family had not been available, we would have done what we do, which is to take the next step, which a lot of times is easier than just saying stop. that drives up the cost of health care. host: we are right in the middle of the fast-track room of the a emergency room. it is in this place where you had a lot of defensive medicine based on the reform that you are talking about and wanting to cove

spending a lot of money in recent years on terrorism and getting ready for rge chemical biological radiological nuclear explosive defense. so a lot of wt we have been doing and experience with national disasters, floods, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc., they are very much mass casualty even oregon to. there has been great thought and good work and we will talk about that in a second that has gone into bioterrorism community disease outbreaks but i would say in he hospital preparedness program which is one of the government's programs to prepare for disasters and the homeland security programs they have been mass casualty oriented not so much public emergency and that is what is different in this kind. for us in california and i think a lot of our partners around the country will try to simplify this and break it down. we are looking at building a system that has thr different components. the rst is building capacity and capabilities. looking at what is there in the existing health care system trying to strengthen that, build field deployable resources. secondly, as we look athe