Nation in brief

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 25, 2000

Study: Uninsured not getting care

CHICAGO -- High numbers of uninsured adults aren't getting needed medical care, and the problem is especially severe among those not in good health, Harvard researchers say.

The findings contradict the notion that the nation's uninsured can get needed services through various "safety net" measures, the researchers wrote in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nearly 10 percent of the 223,128 survey respondents had been without health insurance in the long term, which means for at least one year.

About 70 percent of the long-term uninsured who were in poor health and about half of those who were in fair health said they had not gotten care such as checkups or treatment for specific problems.

Twenty-six percent of the long-term uninsured with high blood pressure or diabetes said they hadn't had a checkup in two years.

"From a public health perspective, these numbers are very concerning," said the researchers, led by Dr. John Ayanian, associate professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard and at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Elsewhere

BOAT SINKS: An 8-year-old boy died and his grandmother was critically injured after a pleasure boat hit a sewage pipeline and sank off El Segundo, Calif., authorities said. The cabin cruiser carrying five adults and the child went down Monday around 9:15 p.m. Four of the victims were pulled from the water by nearby boaters.

OVERWEIGHT TODDLER: A 3-year-old girl who was taken into state custody in Albuquerque, N.M., because she weighed 120 pounds will eventually be returned to her parents under an agreement announced by a judge Tuesday. Anamarie Martinez-Regino has been in custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department since Aug. 25. A state social worker had said the girl would die unless she followed a special diet, exercised more and used a breathing machine when she slept. The judge did not say when the girl would be returned to her parents.

BODIES FOUND: A man who stonewalled investigators for months about two children missing from his Massachusetts religious sect led a search team Tuesday to two tiny bodies buried deep in the Maine wilderness. The remains, believed to be those of infant Jeremiah Corneau and 10-month-old Samuel Robidoux, were found in makeshift pine coffins in a remote part of Baxter State Park. Positive identification and the causes of death were pending. Prosecutors believe Jeremiah was either stillborn or died within minutes of his birth. Samuel allegedly starved to death after he stopped nursing. David Corneau, father of Jeremiah and a member of the sect, used a hand-drawn map to pinpoint the site after he and searchers were flown to the area by float plane.

HUSBAND FOUND GUILTY: A plastic surgeon accused of killing his wife 15 years ago and dropping her body into the ocean from an airplane was convicted Tuesday of murder. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, 44, faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison at sentencing Nov. 20. His wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, 29, vanished in 1985. Her body was never found, and the prosecution's case was mostly circumstantial.

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