An HHS office has resolved more than half of complaints about possible violations of the medical privacy rule issued after the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act without investigation, according to a Des Moines Register review of state and federal records. Since the rule took effect in 2003, 38,000 U.S.

Caribbean nations will establish national HIV/AIDS workplace policies as soon as a regional policy modeled after International Labour Organization guidelines is ready, the Jamaica Observer reports.

Several consumer advocacy and business groups on Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., plan to announce a multimillion-dollar national television advertising campaign that will feature "Harry and Louise" and seek to promote health care in the presidential election, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The New York Times' Larry Altman on Tuesday analyzed the focus of the XVII International AIDS Conference, which was held earlier this month in Mexico City. According to Altman, the conference focused on the "longer haul" in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and the "mood" at the conference was "much more sober" compared with previous meetings.

UK scientists have found a more accurate way to detect aggressive bowel cancers using a stem cell marker protein; they hope that the new development will improve treatment and survival for thousands of patients.

A Chicago hospital is preparing to send a 30-year-old patient back to Mexico. Francisco Pantaleon, who is in this country illegally, had a brain hemorrhage last month and is in a coma at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.

The hospital says his immediate family consents to returning him to his home country, but Pantaleon’s sister and cousin have retained a lawyer to fight the hospital. The Chicago Tribune has the story.

The practice of hospital deporting immigrants has been in the public eye lately — the New York Times had a big piece on the subject earlier this month.

Hospitals are obliged to arrange for patients’ post-hospital care, and Medicaid doesn’t cover long-term care for illegal immigrants.

“It’s important to make sure that hospitals aren’t permitted to dump patients on an international level when they can’t do it on a local level,” a lawyer working with Pantaleon’s sister and cousin told the Trib.

Pantaleon, who has been in this country for 11 years, is uninsured and was working at a carwash, the article says. Officials at the hospital say he’s unlikely to recover from his coma, and they’ve arranged to transfer him to a hospital in Acapulco, Mexico.

“We can’t arrange long-term care here, so we try to do the best we can in the country of origin,” the hospital’s chief medical officer at told the Trib.

Photo: iStockphoto

The following is a summary of selected women's health-related blog entries.

"Health care reform is a divisive issue in Washington, but there is wide agreement on one solution to lower costs and improve care": health care information technology, Drew Greenblatt, president and owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products and a member of the board of the National Association of Manufacturers, writes in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell on Tuesday discussed the efforts of two young black dentists in Chicago who are seeking to improve the oral health of black men. Mitchell notes that according to the American Dental Association, more than 50% of black men have untreated dental decay and black men are less likely than other men to have decayed teeth repaired.

The AP/Boston Globe on Saturday examined the positions of the three New Hampshire gubernatorial candidates on abortion rights and other issues.According to the AP/Globe, both Democratic candidates -- current Gov. John Lynch and Katy Forry, a retired teacher who is challenging Lynch in the Sept. 9 primary -- said they support abortion rights.