DELAND — The case to decide the first of more than 130 local cigarette smokers’ lawsuits against the tobacco industry ended in a mistrial Friday, after a jury deliberated for more than 10 hours but could not break a deadlock. Circuit Judge Robert K. Rouse Jr. told the three men and three women on the jury of Koballa v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. that it “was the second time in 15 years” a verdict could not be reached in hi ... Jump to full article >>

Jimmy Willis spoke to the jury with an electrolarynx pressed against the hole in his throat to blame two tobacco companies for his cancers. “I would say, ‘Take a look at me,’” said Wills, a 30-year smoker from Bradenton who is frail with illness. “I have cancer. They lied about what it would cause you to get.” Willis is suing tobacco companies for millions because he has cancer he said was caused by smoking. H ... Jump to full article >>

The therapeutic revolution of the post-war years ranks amongst the most impressive of all human achievements. So dramatically successful has been the assault on disease that it is almost impossible to imagine what life was like back in 1945, when there were no drugs for tuberculosis or schizophrenia or rheumatoid arthritis, or indeed for virtually any illness that a doctor encountered; a time before open heart surgery, transplantation and cures ... Jump to full article >>

Dear Readers’ Clinic Following recent reports about the elderly needing more sleep than they think, I am worried that, at 68, I’m not getting enough. I sleep for only four or five hours a night. Over the past few years, my sleep patterns have become increasingly disturbed. I’m slim, keep myself active, don’t smoke, drink well within recommended limits, and limit myself to one cup of coffee and two cups of tea a day. Altho ... Jump to full article >>