Health

Herman S. Belmont, 93, a Philadelphia psychiatrist in the forefront of child mental-health advocacy, died Saturday, April 20, of heart failure at the Quadrangle in Haverford. Before moving to the Quadrangle in 2003, he lived with his family in Elkins Park. During a 45-year career, Dr. Belmont worked on behalf of children here and across the country, his family said. He developed ways of designing services and providing treatment to youngsters outside a hospital setting. From those efforts emerged some of Philadelphia's first community mental-health programs for children and youth.

This story has been updated. IN A MOVE that the LGBT community called "historic," City Council approved a bill yesterday that would require the city's health plan to pay for transgender city workers to complete "gender-confirmation surgery. " The bill also would require newly constructed or renovated city-owned buildings to have gender-neutral bathrooms. "We're continuing on the American road to full equality and civil rights for all of our citizens," said Councilman Jim Kenney, who sponsored the bill at the request of the LGBT community.

By Arthur Caplan and David Magnus The headlines were frightening. Parents had not been properly informed that doctors were putting their extremely premature infants at risk in a study of oxygen treatment. The lead government agency providing oversight to biomedical research said the informed-consent forms did not tell the parents about "reasonably foreseeable risks," which included blindness and death. This would be a horrific violation of research ethics if it were true.

CHICAGO - It has been 60 years since doctors concluded that addiction was a disease that could be treated, but today the condition still dwells on the fringes of the medical community. Only one cent of every health-care dollar in the United States goes to addiction, and few alcoholics and drug addicts get care. One huge barrier, say many experts, has been a lack of health insurance. But that barrier crumbles in less than a year. In a major break with the past, 3 million to 5 million people with drug and alcohol problems - from homeless drug addicts to working moms who drink too much - suddenly will become eligible for insurance coverage under the new health-care overhaul.

Emotions linger after disasters Kaitlyn Greeley burst into tears when a car backfired the other day. She's afraid to take her usual train to work at a Boston hospital. "This is how people live every day in other countries. But I'm not used to it here," said Greeley, 27, a technician at Tufts Medical Center, who was on duty Monday when part of the hospital was briefly evacuated even as blast victims were being treated in the ER. Anger, crying jags, and nightmares are all normal for survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings and witnesses to the mayhem.

RINCON, Puerto Rico - Several years ago, I found myself needing a certain type of vacation - one that would help me reset life and that combined my passions: fitness and sports, the outdoors and travel, healthy food and new people. I wanted much of the planning done for me. I also wanted the ability to break from any itinerary. And I wanted to go alone without feeling lonely. A reasonable cost, a variety of activities, and a warm location also were important. So I started searching online for "active vacations" and "fitness trips" and "wellness retreats.

THE NUMBER of Philadelphians who need free or low-cost health care has increased, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Northeast, home to a severely underserved, uninsured, high-risk population, according to health-care advocates. At Health Center 10, on Cottman Avenue near Bustleton, the average wait for first-time adult patients is 251 days, city Health Commissioner Donald Schwarz told City Council during a budget hearing Wednesday. That's 15 fewer days than last year, but still much higher than the average at all eight city-run health centers, 83 days, he said.

The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Cos., a Philadelphia-based manager of Medicaid and other government-sponsored health benefits in 13 states, changed its name to AmeriHealth Caritas, the company announced.   The name change was a condition of Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania's 2011 sale of its stake in AmeriHealth Mercy to Independence Blue Cross and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan for $194 million, plus a $43 million pledge to be paid over seven years to the Mercy Health System Foundation.

Ralph F. Moriarty, 92, of Gladwyne, an executive who envisioned a merger of Main Line hospitals into a single health-care system and brought his vision to life, died Wednesday, April 10, at Lankenau Medical Center of complications from a stroke. Mr. Moriarty ended his days in the hospital where he had served as president and a member of the board of trustees from 1970 until retiring in 1988. During that time, he had the foresight to see that with the changing economic climate, the Main Line's hospitals would fare better if they banded together for efficiency, said his son Frank C. Acting on that instinct in January 1985, Mr. Moriarty guided the creation and development of Main Line Health, which has grown to be one of the largest employers in the Philadelphia area.