Medical care

NEW YORK — Angelina Jolie says she had a double mastectomy after learning she has a gene mutation linked to breast cancer, the disease that killed her mother at age 56.

Writing in Tuesday’s New York Times, the Academy Award-winning actress said she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent chance of ovarian cancer before the surgery because of an inherited gene known as BRCA1.

“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could,” wrote Jolie, 37. Three months of medical procedures for the mastectomies culminated with breast reconstruction and implant surgery on April 27, she said.

OGDEN — Patients who have surgery done with robotics typically have less blood loss, less post-operative pain, shorter hospital stays, lowered requirement for pain medication and a faster return to normal activities and work, an Ogden doctor says.

Intuitive Surgical Inc., the maker of the da Vinci robotic system, was used in nearly 400,000 surgeries across the country last year. Some of its uses include prostate surgery, hysterectomies, kidney removal, gallbladder removal and heart valve repair.

But the million-dollar system has come under scrutiny lately, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is looking into a spike of reported problems that include five deaths, a robotic hand slapping a patient on the operating table and a robotic hand grasping onto tissue and not letting go. Lawsuits filed by family members claim the surgeons who performed the procedures on their loved ones were insufficiently trained.

So is it time to go back to traditional laparoscopic and open surgeries?

OGDEN — Rylee Funk was at McKay-Dee Hospital, having a cast put on her right arm Monday morning.

The West Haven Elementary School second-grader didn’t actually break any bones, however. She was on a field trip with classmates to learn about the ins and outs of the hospital and how it’s not such a scary place to visit.

"Our Friend the Hospital," sponsored by the Weber Medical Alliance, is designed to help children alleviate and conquer fears they may have while visiting a hospital.

SALT LAKE CITY — A local lawmaker’s push to help facilitate the introduction of biosimilar drugs to the Utah market has cleared a key committee hurdle.

SB 78, sponsored by Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, received a favorable recommendation in a Senate committee Wednesday and now advances to the Senate for further review.

Biosimilar drugs are popular in Europe and contain an active drug substance made by a living organism or are derived from a living organism by means of controlled gene-expression methods.

RIVERDALE — Austin Sevens, of Uintah, is a University of Utah nursing student who is working on his clinical experience at Primary Children’s Medical Center.

He enjoys serving young patients at that hospital every time he’s there.

But Tuesday morning, he had the chance to do something else for them. He ate pancakes with his mother-in-law.

OGDEN — The faces of Emily Porter and Sabrina Wood light up when the girls talk about giving service — Emily says she loves playing the violin for local senior citizens, and Sabrina has gone as far as Mexico to help install stoves.

OGDEN — Two local hospitals have been recognized for leading the way as top performers, using evidence-based care with positive patient outcomes.

Ogden Regional Medical Center and Brigham City Community Hospital represent the top 18 percent of Joint Commission hospitals reporting core measure performance data for 2011.

The Top of Utah hospitals are among six in the state and 620 nationwide recognized for exemplary performance.