Hospital lauches investigation after patient set on fire during surgery -

Hospital lauches investigation after patient set on fire during surgery - 




The chief of surgery at New York’s Lincoln Hospital “set a patient on fire” during an operation, causing severe burns on the man’s neck and chest, The Post has learned.
Dr. Jay Yelon was performing a tracheotomy on April 19 to insert a breathing tube when his electronic scalpel, which gives off tiny sparks, came close to the patient’s oxygen supply, igniting a “minor explosion,” hospital insiders say.
Before the fire was extinguished, unconscious Enrique Ruiz suffered second-degree burns on his neck and chest. He awoke from sedation in searing pain.
“I feel like my chest was on fire,” Ruiz, 52, told his brother, Amauri.
Sources at the South Bronx hospital charge a whitewash, saying Yelon failed to mention the patient’s burns in a post-surgery report; he claimed the flames were extinguished with “no danger to the patient.”
“I don’t know anything about it,” Yelon repeatedly told The Post, refusing to answer any questions or acknowledge his role.
Such mishaps that harm patients must be reported immediately to the state Health Department. Spokesman Peter Constantakes first said the Lincoln incident was reported as harmless, but later confirmed, “There was a fire and burns. We’re looking into it.”




Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/burn_unit_doc_4NQeBkygB4iE7ELTDNEzGJ

Facebook Stops Users From Posting ‘Irrelevant Or Inappropriate’ Comments -

Facebook Stops Users From Posting ‘Irrelevant Or Inappropriate’ Comments - 




Today was just another Saturday morning in blog land when Robert Scoble, the well-known tech startup enthusiast, went to post a comment on a Facebook post written by Carnegie Mellon student (and TechCrunch commenter extraordinaire) Max Woolf about the nature of today’s tech blogging scene. Scoble’s comment itself was pretty par-for-the-course — generally agreeing with Woolf’s sentiments and adding in his own two cents.


But when Scoble went to click post, he received an odd error message:


“This comment seems irrelevant or inappropriate and can’t be posted. To avoid having comments blocked, please make sure they contribute to the post in a positive way.”


Now, Facebook makes no apologies for working to create a safe and clean environment on its corner of the web by shutting down abusive or harassing behavior, content such as pornography, or general spamming of the system. This particular method policing “inappropriate” comments may be new, but it would fall within the same realm.


But even so, this instance seems to be a very strange enactment of any kind of Facebook policy. Scoble posted his original comment in its entirety on his Google+ page, and it’s clear that it contains no profanity or even any obvious argumentative language.


Of course, what makes a comment “positive” or “negative” is a very subjective thing. Since Facebook is a global site, and what is acceptable in one culture is offensive in another, the company generally relies on a combination of software algorithms and notifications from other users to identify inappropriate behavior. This seems to show a glitch in that system.


Read more -
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/05/facebooks-positive-comment-policy-irrelevant-inappropriate-censorship/ 

Reporter is interrupted by a loogie hocking woman on the streets of Chicago -

Reporter is interrupted by a loogie hocking woman on the streets of Chicago -

Surveillance cameras are now so powerful that they can zoom in on individual spectators & read their text messages -

Surveillance cameras are now so powerful that they can zoom in on individual spectators & read their text messages - 




Surveillance cameras are now so powerful that they were able to zoom in on individual spectators at the Rugby World Cup and read their text messages.


Details of police monitoring used for the first time during the tournament were discussed at a privacy forum in Wellington yesterday, at which it was revealed that the average person is digitally recorded about a dozen times a day – and even more if they use email and social media frequently.


Superintendent Grant O'Fee told the forum how one incident at the Rugby World Cup "tweaked in my head" a concern about possible privacy breaches.


Camera operators who were scanning the crowd for unruly behaviour or suspicious packages chose to zoom in on a person who was texting.


"He was actually texting about the poor quality of the game of rugby. But it did occur to me that there was an issue there - had he been texting something that was of some consequence to us, there may have been privacy issues."


He confirmed later that the level of monitoring used during the World Cup would continue for all big test matches.


CCTV now operates inside many buildings, including hospitals, supermarkets, malls, and around public toilets.


There are 11 cameras in Wellington city centre, recording 24 hours a day.


In Britain, drone cameras, mobile cameras on cars and cameras on police helmets are in frequent use.


Soon, technology will exist that can pick up on raised voices, and sniffing devices will be able to detect drug residue, Stirling University lecturer William Webster told the forum.


Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said some overseas developments were amazing and she imagined there would be concern if and when that technology was implemented in New Zealand.


Civil liberties lawyer Michael Bott warned against becoming desensitised to digital surveillance.


"It's quite worrying when we, by default, move to some sort of Orwellian 1984 where the state or Big Brother watches your every move. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and we don't realise what we are giving up when we give the state the power to monitor our private lives."


Ms Shroff said that, although reading someone's text messages in public could cause concern, the legitimacy of the action depended on what it was used for.


"We need to be aware of that – that potentially texting in a public place can be caught on a CCTV camera. If the text showed the person was plotting a riot or something, then it might well be legitimate for the police to use that under the coverage of exemption for law-enforcement activities.


Read more -
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/6848897/Powerful-surveillance-cameras-read-texts

U.S. military wants to plant nanosensors in soldiers to monitor health on future battlefields -

U.S. military wants to plant nanosensors in soldiers to monitor health on future battlefields - 




The U.S. military wants to plant nanosensors in soldiers to monitor health on future battlefields and immediately respond to needs, but a privacy expert warns the step is just one more down the road to computer chips for all.


“It’s never going to happen that the government at gunpoint says, ‘You’re going to have a tracking chip,’” said Katherine Albrecht, who with Liz McIntyre authored “Spychips,” a book that warns of the threat to privacy posed by Radio Frequency Identification.


“It’s always in incremental steps. If you can put a microchip in someone that doesn’t track them … everybody looks and says, ‘Come on,’” she said. “It’ll be interesting seeing where we go.”


According to a report at Mobiledia, the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has confirmed plans to create nanosensors to monitor the health of soldiers on battlefields.


The devices also would report data to doctors. But privacy analysts have expressed concern that the implants could be used not just to monitor health but to keep track of and possibly control people.


DARPA describes the technology on which it is working as “a truly disruptive innovation,” which would diagnose, monitor vital states and “even deliver medicine into the bloodstream.”


According to LiveScience.com, “Solving the problem of sickness could have a huge impact on the number of soldiers ready to fight, because far more have historically died due to illness rather than combat.”


The report suggested that for special forces, “the practical realization of implantable nanosensors capable of monitoring multiple indicators of physiological state could be a truly disruptive innovation.”


Already being researched is the concept of nanosensors diagnosing disease.


DARPA expects to launch a second effort focused on treatment later this year.


Albrecht said the move is another step in the trip down the road of having every person implanted with a chip that might very well monitor health but also other areas of life.


Microchipping, she said, already is “par for the course” for pets in many parts of the nation, and that acceptance will make it easier to require it for people.


Read more -
http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/u-s-military-developing-spychips-for-soldiers/