Study eyes abusers of prescription meds

Study eyes abusers of prescription meds

chicago

Most people who abuse addictive prescription painkillers get them for free from friends or relatives, while drug dealers are a relatively uncommon source for those at highest risk for deadly overdoses, a government study found.

People who abuse the most frequently often doctor-shop; more than 1 in 4 who used these drugs almost daily said they had been prescribed by one or more physicians. Almost as many said they got them for free from friends or relatives; only 15 percent of the most frequent abusers said they bought the drugs from dealers or other strangers.

Dr. Leonard Paulozzi, a researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with CDC colleagues analyzed four years of nationwide health surveys on nonmedical use of pain relievers including oxycodone and hydrocodone.

4 with new wombs try to get pregnant

LONDON

A Swedish doctor says four women who received transplanted wombs have had embryos transferred into them in an attempt to get pregnant.

He would not say Monday whether any of the women had succeeded. In all, nine women in Sweden have received new wombs since 2012, but two had to have them removed because of complications.

The women received wombs donated by their mothers or other close relatives in an experimental procedure designed to test whether it’s possible to transfer a uterus so a woman can give birth to her own biological child. The women had in vitro fertilization before the transplants, using their own eggs to make embryos.

Disney reaches deal with Dish Network

LOS ANGELES

Dish Network and Disney have reached a landmark deal that envisions the day when Dish will offer a Netflix-like TV service to people who’d rather stream TV over the Internet than put a satellite receiver on their roof.

The deal announced late Monday paves the way for Dish to offer live local broadcasts from ABC TV stations and programming from ABC Family, Disney Channel, ESPN and ESPN2 over mobile devices, set-top boxes and other means, similar to how Netflix’s video streams are delivered today.

No start date for such a service was announced.

US sues Sprint over wiretap expenses

SAN FRANCISCO

Federal officials filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. overbilled government agencies $21 million for wiretap services.

The lawsuit filed federal court in San Francisco alleges that that subsidiary of Sprint Corp. collected unallowable expenses from the FBI, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other government agencies while carrying out court-ordered wiretaps and other electronic intercepts of its customers.

The lawsuit arises from a dispute between communication companies and the federal government over the expense of installing and maintaining wiretaps.

‘Psychic’ sentenced, convicted of fraud

west palm beach, fla.

Convicted “psychic” swindler Rose Marks was sentenced to just over 10 years in federal prison Monday for defrauding clients of her family’s fortune-telling businesses out of more than $17.8 million.

Marks, 62, has been locked up since September when a jury found her guilty of 14 charges after a bizarre monthlong trial.

She was convicted of defrauding numerous clients.

Combined dispatches