Doctor Accepts Oral Sex from Patient

Australian doctor Martyn Mendelsohn, 49, from Sydney was accused of having non-consensual sexual intercourse with a woman during a consultation at his surgery in May 2005. The 49-year-old woman had claimed Dr Mendelsohn took advantage of her at his Hunters Hill practice. On the very day of the trial, the charge against the ear, nose and throat surgeon was dismissed. The Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed that this, and another charge dating back to 1999, would not be prosecuted:

"The DPP says that on the available evidence there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction," the spokesman said.

That was not the end of Dr. Martyn Mendelsohn's troubles. He is now facing a disciplinary hearing in front of the NSW Medical Board. The Healthcare Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into the matter. The board said Dr Mendelsohn would be free to practice but had certain conditions placed on him, including that he obtain the approval of the board before changing the nature or place of his practice, and that he have a third party, in this case a registered nurse, present while treating or interviewing patients.

The doctor has admitted to having oral sex with the 49-year-old woman in question. He however claims that she was the aggressor and was only showing him her gratitude for performing surgery on her nose after being hit by her boyfriend.

According to the woman, after the incident took place she asked her boyfriend to take her to the police where she accused the doctor of sexually assaulting her. She told police that Dr. Mendelsohn was kissing her, touching her breasts and ejaculating in her mouth.

Dr. Mendelsohn's story is a lot different. He admitted that he allowed his patient to perform oral sex on him. He told the commission that she had arrived late at his surgery after the staff had gone home for the day and was demonstrably grateful that he had agreed to see her. He said she started to get flirtatious with him commenting on his looks and hugging him saying, "You look after me, I'll look after you".

"He says she then leaned down and unzipped his trousers and performed oral sex on him. He says she swallowed his semen and did not spit." Mr Phillip Strickland, the commission's barrister, said.

The doctor explained to the tribunal that he felt "devastated" after the incident. He performed surgery on her nose, but refused to continue the treatment after what happened. The NSW Medical Board has the power to remove the doctor from the medical registry if it feels that his behavior warrants it. The case continues....

Praying Parents Charged in Child's Death

Dale and Leilani Neumann, parents of Madeline Kara Neumann, were charged with second-degree reckless homicide, Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad announced. If convicted, the couple could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Madeline Kara Neumann,11, of Weston, Wisconsin died of diabetic ketoacidosis. Her parents, believed so strongly in the power of prayer, that they refused to seek medical attention for their daughter until it was too late to save her life. Read the entire story here.

A copy of the police investigation into Kara's death is available here

District Attorney Jill Falstad in preparing the charges against the Neumanns looked at the "progression of the illness" and the response of the parents:

"By that Saturday (the day before the girl's death) you had an 11-year-old child who wasn't eating, so she wasn't getting any nourishment, she wasn't taking in any fluids, she wasn't walking, she was struggling to get to the bathroom," Falstad said. "She really was very vulnerable and helpless. And it seemed apparent that everybody knew that. As her illness progressed to the next morning being comatose . . . it just is very, very surprising, shocking that she wasn't allowed medical prevention (attention).

"She had a disease that was treatable and her death could have been prevented," Falstad said.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=hfMsAgNdGno]

The Neumanns are represented by their attorney, Gene Linehan, who declined to comment on the charges. However, it seems as if the Neumanns knew that their daughter was very sick but they were determined to heal her through prayer. Leilani Neumann said in a written statement to police that she never considered taking the girl, who was being home-schooled, to a doctor, even when her husband Dale made such a suggestion:

"We just thought it was a spiritual attack and we prayed for her. My husband Dale was crying and mentioned taking Kara to the doctor and I said, 'The Lord's going to heal her,' and we continued to pray," she wrote.

The Neumanns did reach out to the Unleavened Bread Ministries, founded by David Eells. In an email they requested that Eells pray for their daughter to be healed, which he did. Like the Neumanns, Eells says his church does not believe in medical intervention. Eells also wrote that the Neumanns have posted testimonials on their Web site but are not "'under' our ministry."

Falstad, the district attorney, said the case is likely to be precedent-setting in Wisconsin.

"There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the availability of a 'religious defense' in this case," Falstad said in a prepared statement to announce the charges. "In our nation, we have a constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. We also give parents leeway in matters of child rearing. However, neither is absolute. In this case, it was necessary to weigh freedom of religion and parenting rights against the state's interests in protecting children."

Wisconsin state law appears to allow an exemption from child abuse charges for parents who engage in treatment by spiritual means through prayer. But the exemption applies only if the use of prayer alone is the basis for charges. Prosecutors say that exemption does not extend to homicide cases.

Masturbation Reduces Cancer Risk

Forget all that stuff about going blind and hairy palms. Researchers now say that frequent masturbation is not only good for you but may reduce the risk of getting prostate cancer. They say cancer-causing chemicals could build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly.

Australian researchers questioned over 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer and 1,250 who had not about their sexual habits.

They found those who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to develop the cancer. The protective effect was greatest while the men were in their 20s. Men who ejaculated more than five times a week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer later in life.

The researchers suggest that ejaculating may prevent carcinogens accumulating in the prostate gland. The prostate provides a fluid into semen during ejaculation that activates sperm and prevents them sticking together. The fluid has high concentrations of substances including potassium, zinc, fructose and citric acid, which are drawn from the bloodstream.

Studies conducted on animals have shown that certain carcinogens such as 3-methylchloranthrene, found in cigarette smoke, are also concentrated in the prostate. According to Dr. Giles fewer ejaculations mean that carcinogens are able to build up in the prostate:

"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis. The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."

Giles accepts the possibility that the men who completed the questionnaires could have lied about their habits. But he doubts this skewed the results, since questions about masturbation are unlikely to evoke the same macho exaggeration as questions about, say, number of sexual partners.

Another theory put forward by the researchers is that ejaculation may induce prostate glands to mature fully, making them less susceptible to carcinogens. Anthony Smith, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne, said the research could affect the kind of lifestyle advice doctors give to patients.

"Masturbation is part of people's sexual repertoire. If these findings hold up, then it's perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate," he said.

Dr. Andrew Weil, when asked about the health effects of masturbation, said masturbation is a normal sexual behavior that just about everybody engages in - 95 percent of males and 89 percent of females, according to current statistics. For many people, however, it remains a taboo subject and a practice that is still regarded as perverse or immoral. As recently as the late 19th century, medical doctors condemned masturbation as destructive to mental health, even recommending amputation of the penis as a way to cure the habit in compulsive males.

In my view, masturbation can be a normal expression of sexuality in both men and women. When done compulsively or addictively it can be irritating or exhausting, but in moderation it is medically harmless and may even be healthy.

Teenwire.com has an article on masturbation myths in which they debunk some of the commonly held views on the subject. They include:

• Masturbation is unhealthy


• Only people who "can't get any" masturbate


• Girls don't masturbate


• It's bad to masturbate everyday

So in summary it looks like it is O.K. to go ahead and masturbate as much as you like. It does no harm and may even protect you against prostate cancer. However there are rules and regulations that should be obeyed as suggested by the good people at Georgia Tech.

And if anyone tells you to stop having so much fun just point them to this blog!!