Lead Stories
Frontiers of Medicine
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In February authorities at National Women’s Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, opened an inquiry into an unusual treatment practiced on premature babies in 1993 and 1994 that may have been the cause of five deaths and eight cases of brain damage. Medical workers struck the babies on their chests for hours at a time to remove congestion from their lungs. Parents who objected were told the treatment was harmless and that most babies enjoyed it.
Music From Hell
At a routine traffic stop in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, in January, Donnie Todd, 17, presented a driver’s license on which Arkansas was spelled “Arkansa” and was cited for suspicion of forgery. However, after investigating, officials said the license was genuine, issued by a county office whose computer was malfunctioning. In February Francis McCabe, 19, pleaded guilty to forging driver’s licenses, a crime detected because he had used a license issued from the same county office as his model.
Send your weird news to Chuck Shepherd, Chicago Reader, 11 E. Illinois, Chicago 60611.
