The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) has petitioned the country’s National Board of Health and Welfare, citing a strong correlation between an “alarmingly high suicide rate” and transgender people who are denied surgery.

“Breast implants for transgender women are, in many cases, a very important measure for them to function with their new identity and allow them to fit in as women in everyday life,” RFSL wrote. “Plastic surgery for transsexual patients, to a large extent, saves lives,” it added.

The organisation pointed out that the suicide rate among patients denied the procedure is 30 to 40 percent, compare with 1.6 percent in the general population. It also claims that there are inconsistencies in how the issue is handled in different parts of the country, citing Södra Älvsborgs hospital in Alingsås, western Sweden, which recently denied a transgender woman’s application for the surgery.

“It’s not acceptable that a small and vulnerable group of transgender people such as this transsexual group is given different rights to care depending on where in the country they live,” RFSL wrote. The organisation is calling for national guidelines, emphasising “an individual’s value and right to decide over their identity”.

“RFSL demands that care for transgender people be given under the same conditions regardless of where one lives in Sweden,” the group wrote, according to a report by The Local.

The defendants, who deny the bodily injury charges, issued two-day-old babies with the powerful antiseptic Chlorhexidine rather than a sugar solution, as the products were kept in almost identical bottles.

The infants in question were all rushed to intensive care when the error was realised, and some had to be placed on respirators. One child was issued with an emergency baptism in hospital and is still to fully recover despite the passing of several years.

“We’re not saying that any of the nurses did it on purpose. The issue is that these injuries would not have occurred if the nurses had been careful,” district prosecutor Tapio Mäkinen said in court, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

The nurses, however, are claiming that the pharmacy which packaged the liquids is to blame. “Why isn’t the pharmacy on trial? Both solutions were put in identical bottles,” said a legal representative of one of the defendants.

More and more people without Icelandic medical insurance are said to be seeking medical assistance; including residents who have lived in the country for less than six months. Currently they pay ISK 8,800 (EUR 55) per hour, or fraction thereof, spent in an ambulance; but that figure will go up to ISK 35,000 (EUR 218) from Sunday. In addition to this they currently pay ISK 660 for every kilometre driven; but that figure will go up to ISK 2,000 in 2012 and 15 kilometres will be the minimum distance charged. That means that non-insured people will pay a minimum of ISK 65,000 for ambulance transport and insured residents of Iceland will pay ISK 5,500. As with travel to every country, it is advisable to have valid travel insurance which covers medical fees when visiting Iceland.

From 1st January insured individuals will pay ISK 5,300 in hospital admittance fees instead of the current ISK 5,000 and fees for seeing a specialist physician will go up from ISK 3,900 to ISK 4,200. Discount cards will be given to those who have already paid ISK 29,500 or more in hospital fees for the year.

The cost of going to see a general practitioner at a health centre will remain unchanged.

Prescription medicines will increase in cost by around five percent; meaning that asthma medication (for example) will go up from ISK 6,200 to ISK 6,500. Those whose medicine is paid for by the state will not be affected by the change.

Everyone who has been legally resident in Iceland for six months automatically becomes a member of the Icelandic social insurance system, regardless of nationality. This applies unless intergovernmental treaties say otherwise. More here.

The study, which questioned 217 medical personnel working at Stockholm South General Hospital (Södersjukhuset), also revealed that one-in-ten do not believe it is their responsibility to enquire about how a woman came by her injuries.

Between 15 and 20 Swedish women are killed by their partners every year, with around half of those having previously sought medical attention for injuries sustained through abuse. According to Sveriges Radio (SR), the country’s casualty departments are often the only point of contact between the women and the system.

“The study shows that we still have a lot of work to do in terms of people’s attitudes,” Maaret Castrén, a professor in emergency medicine working with clinical research and training at the hospital, told SR.

“I was somewhat surprised that it’s still considered not to be our job to investigate the cause of women’s injuries and that people still think that women’s behaviour in some way gives a man the right to hit them,” Castrén said, adding that she believes more emphasis should be placed on the issue during basic medical education and on-the-job training.

Head of the Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence Against Women (Nationellt centrum för kvinnofrid – NCK) at Uppsala University, Professor Gun Heimer, said the findings of the survey are in line with other international research. “What’s important with the study is that the results are highlighted and we can see that this is how things are and now we have to be better,” she told SR.

Doctors desperately tried to reattach a torn off piece of flesh, which neighbours had managed to recover and keep on ice, in an operation which lasted for 15 hours.

According to reports, it was the woman’s own mixed breed animal which unexpectedly attacked her, chewing off flesh from her top lip to her eye. Specialist Stina Klasson explained that it was important to make sure that blood was flowing into the torn off flesh which surgeons managed to do within the first hour of the procedure.

Leeches were employed because of their blood sucking ability and because they also help to thin the blood. Klasson said that when the usual supplier of the creatures ran out, more had to be transported from Britain. In all, 358 of the blood suckers were used.

The woman was admitted to hospital in August and doctors say that she is now doing well. They managed to save the whole of her nose and said that the results are encouraging. However, it is likely that she will require more re-constructive surgery in the future.

According to specialist Jens Larson, who was also involved in the operation, the woman is able to breathe properly as well as talk and eat. It is thought that the procedure was the first of its kind ever to have been performed in the region. The dog has been destroyed.

Scientists from the Icelandic Heart Association and the University of Iceland have identified several different parts of the genome which control blood pressure.

The research is taking place as part of an international project and it is hoped that the discoveries will lead to the development of new types of treatment for high blood pressure sufferers, a statement from the Heart Association of Iceland declares.

The project’s discoveries are discussed in the latest online edition of the Nature and Nurture Genetics journal, where it is explained that 16 previously-unknown genes have been discovered so far, including during research into ageing and in the Reykjavik heart research.

Veli-Pekka Nurmi, the director of Finland’s Accident Investigation Board, said the fire was able to spread quickly through the building because the pipe ducts and cables were not fitted with proper seals.

A total of 168 staff members and patients, some of which were still in their hospital beds and under anaesthetic, had to be evacuated in the early hours of the morning when the automatic fire alarm sounded. There were no fatalities, but three hospital workers had to be treated for smoke inhalation.

With police and rescue personnel assisting the Investigation Board, it was concluded on Saturday where the fire started, but not how. “An electric cable was probably already damaged or the short circuit occurred at a poorly soldered contact,” Nurmi said. He added to YLE that “cat-size” openings across the building prevented the fire doors from containing the blaze.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of euros will be needed for the repairs to the building, which contained a trauma ward, accident & emergency department and two medicine departments. The hospital’s insurance companies will be charged with picking up the tab.

Juha Rantasalo, technical director for the Turku University Hospital, said, “It is a pity building inspectors did not have the same knowledge on safety issues 20 to 30 years ago as they do today.” He added, however, that the construction company cannot be held responsible for the disaster.

There is no evidence that the H1N1 virus itself would have caused narcolepsy, which sees afflicted people suffer from sudden and frequent daytime ‘sleep attacks’, but those who received the Pandemrix injection were found to have a higher genetic propensity for the disorder than the general population.

A compensation system is in the process of being established in Finland for some of the 100 youngsters who have reported contracting narcolepsy since receiving the vaccine. Similar studies on Pandemrix results have also turned up the same results in Norway, Sweden and France.

The 50 year-old physician, who specialises in treating people with eating disorders at Rigshospitalet in Osterbro, has told a court that the methodology used on at least five women was part of his ‘alternative treatment’.

“Anorexic patients, generally speaking, have a hard time accepting how they look naked. That’s why I took a number of photographs of genitalia to get them adjusted to seeing them,” he said, according to metroXpress newspaper.

Talking about how he made one patient use a sex toy in front of him, the doctor told the court, “It was to help her. She was having a hard time with her sexuality and with her genitalia. It was to get her to feel better about her body.”

Police found more than 600 nude photographs on the doctor’s computer, which he claims were either already on the hard drive when he salvaged the machine from the street, or that they were deposited there by a virus without his knowledge. He also tried to discredit one of the girls who testified against him, claiming: “She’s saying it to get attention. She has previously cut herself as a form of self-abuse.”

Three of the patients claim they were forced to sign contracts allowing the doctor to take naked pictures of them. According to metroXpress, one girl told the court, “I just wanted to be healthy so I did what he said.”

The 50 year-old denies sexual abuse and the case is ongoing.

“I understand that this is already required by law some places in the USA, for example in New York,” Johnsen told Visir.is. This has had the effect that restauranteurs are taking much more notice of what they put into the food they serve. “It means that dishes which were maybe 1,200 calories have dropped down to 700 calories,” Johnsen says.

“This is a massively important issue for public health in Iceland,” Johnsen states — adding that such a move could help in the fight against obesity and weight-related illnesses; including heart disease and diabetes. He says that reduced calorie intake is even more important in fighting obesity than regular exercise.

Johnsen says his idea is not an attack on restaurants and would not damage them. In fact those restaurants which already count calories are praised by customers for caring about public health, he adds.