Month: October 2012

For more than 35 years, the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups has advocated on behalf of the state's elderly, disabled and their families…But the coalition and its current firebrand executive director, Nino Amato, now claim they're under siege from top officials in the Walker administration for sharply opposing the governor on several key issues, including Medicare reform and President Obama's Affordable Care Act. (CAPITAL TIMES, 10/31)

A Greendale pediatrician on Tuesday surrendered his medical license after professional regulators began an investigation into his admitted 1987 molestation of two Boy Scouts. The case of Thomas Kowalski, 75, was revealed in secret Boy Scouts of America records that became public recently as part of litigation against the organization in California, and was reported locally Oct. 20. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/31)

More than $1 million in savings from downsizing two units at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex should be spent on expanding community mental health programs, advocates told the County Board at a public hearing Monday on the 2013 budget. Doing so would keep faith with a policy adopted by the County Board last year and help in a long-promised transition, said Barbara Beckert, manager of the Milwaukee office of Disability Rights Wisconsin. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/30)

When Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said in a video posted online that 47% of Americans depend on government and believe they are victims, hospital stocks spiked higher. When Romney beat President Barack Obama in the first debate this month, hospital stocks declined. The outcome of the presidential race has high stakes for health care stocks. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/29)

UW-Madison surgeon Thomas Zdeblick told some doctors that a type of spinal surgery using a bone-growth substance carried a risk of sterility in men, according to documents released Thursday from a U.S. Senate investigation. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 10/26)