On September 13, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reached a $4.75 million legal settlement with the parents of a student who died from an alcohol overdose in 1997. Scott Krueger, an 18-year-old freshman, fell into an alcohol-induced coma after drinking an excessive amount of alcohol at a university fraternity pledge function, and died three days later. The settlement comes at a time when underage drinking on college campuses appears to be spiraling out of control, with an increasing number of drinking-related incidents and fatalities.   More  

Would you rather watch Survivor or a debate between Al Gore and George Bush? If you're like most Americans, based on recent ratings, you probably picked the reality show set on an island, not in a debate hall.   More  

Online pharmacies allow patients to purchase medicine without having to go to the drug store. These sites give them direct access to information about the drugs and direct contact with the pharmaceutical companies thatwhich they didn't have before. The new technology, however, has a major drawback: it makes it a lot easier to buy prescription drugs without the advice or supervision of a doctor. Is it time for the federal government to move in and stop these abuses?   More  

Since its introduction in 1988, Prozac has become the most widely prescribed antidepressant in the world. An estimated 35 million people worldwide have taken the drug to combat depression, and its name has become as familiar a brand as Kleenex or Coca-Cola. Prozac belongs to a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which increase the level of the neurotransmitter serotonin that is absorbed by receptors in the brain. Depression has been linked to an imbalance of neurotransmitters, chemicals that allow nerve cells in the brain to communicate. By regulating the flow of serotonin, drugs like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft have been shown to alleviate many of the debilitating symptoms of depression and allow sufferers to function normally with few side effects. In early July, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Prozac to treat women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The drug will be marketed under a new name, Sarafem, to treat the mood swings and other symptoms women suffer from severe PMS.   More  

Americans are getting fatter and fatter every year. It is estimated that as many as one in five Americans is obese, a condition defined as being more than 30 percent above the ideal weight based on height. Even more alarming is that fact that obesity rates for children have doubled over the past 20 years, and overweight children are being diagnosed with obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes, sleep apnea and respiratory illnesses that in the past have only afflicted adults.   More