Eight hospital employees have lost their jobs after refusing to get the flu shot, which became mandatory for all staff this year.

Workers at IU Health Goshen Hospital in Indiana had the option to file for medical or religious exemptions -- but were then given the boot when they wouldn't get the vaccine.

The hospital says its new stricter rules are meant to protect patients with weaker immune systems, since the flu can be particularly dangerous and even deadly if those people catch it. While I appreciate that they're looking out for their patients' well-being, I have to wonder: what about the rights of their own employees?

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Just when you thought it was safe to head back to the county fair! Swine flu is back folks and officials say that petting those cute piggies is the surest way to get sick.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention warned there is an increase in cases linked to swine at fairs across the country.

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One would think any product to benefit breast cancer research would be a good thing, but a new perfume from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation is causing a big stink. The scent, named "Promise Me," is expected to raise at least $1 million for breast cancer research. What could possibly be wrong with that?

The fact that it's perfume. Perfumes and scented products are known to make chemotherapy patients nauseated, not to mention the fact that studies have shown a link between chemicals in perfumes and breast cancer. Naturally, breast cancer survivors are seeing red when it comes to this pink product. 

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Birth advocates like to talk about how you should trust your body, give in, let it do what it needs to do, and especially tell people who are trying to make you go against your instincts to kindly STFU. Medical science really does show that the less the process is interfered with (unless there are issues that need intervention), the better off both Mom and the baby are.

Becky Powers was 28 weeks along in her pregnancy when the H1N1 virus she contracted landed her in the hospital, in really, really bad condition. She was put on an ECHMO (heart and lung) machine and dialysis, and in a medically-induced coma with less than 25 percent of her lung capacity. She'd been given a 10 percent chance of surviving.

In this state, without being an active participant, she gave birth to her first child. Vaginally.

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Not everyone on the other side is a mindless sheep, okay?

As if insurance isn't costly enough, physician Rahul K. Parikh has announced that he and a colleague think it's time to make people who don't vaccinate pay higher insurance premiums.

He says the poorer people who will be affected by it are the ones who've bought into celebrity scare tactics, and those who it won't affect financially, more affluent families, aren't the ones who are moving against vaccinations in the first place (which means he hasn't seen studies that show that the poorer the person, the more likely they are to have vaccinated on the AAP's schedule).

He seems to think we're all idiotic, fear-mongering, celebrity-bowing cattle, and I'd like to flip him a giant, um, something offensive.

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You might not know who Trish Keenan is, but you may be hearing some of her songs on indie radio stations today and through the weekend. Fans on Twitter are mourning the death of the young "Broadcast" singer with the hauntingly clear and mesmerizing voice. She'd been in the hospital battling pneumonia, a complication from the H1N1 virus, for weeks.

The swine flu claimed a young, seemingly healthy woman. Lest we forget this is a serious bug when not caught in time. Not that I'm telling you to get vaccinated or anything ...

The band never went mainstream in the U.S. -- their biggest claims to fame here was their song "Before We Begin," used in the Season Four finale of the show The L Word. The song "The Book Lovers," the one that got the attention of record labels, was also featured on the soundtrack of the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The fairly obscure band with the psychedelic '60s feel was most widely known in electronic music circles.

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Old and busted: Regular old flu. New hotness: Swine flu. Yes, much like the dreaded bell bottoms of the 60s and ugly neon of the 80s, swine flu is making a comeback. And it's coming back hard.

Think it's not going to hit here in the States this year? That all that hype in Britain and Asia is just crazy talk? Think again. There's a reason the CDC snuck the H1N1 vaccine into your annual flu shot this year.

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In a hospital in England, Fallon Devaney, a 25-year-old mother of four, lies near death from the swine flu. Even more tragic, she is pregnant with her fifth baby, a baby who may never be born. Her family has canceled Christmas while they hold vigil at her side.

Devaney was admitted to the hospital last week with difficulty breathing and swine flu symptoms, and has now developed pneumonia. Doctors put her in a medically induced coma, and have told her mother they may have to take the baby in order to have a chance at saving her life. "If she can't fight it because she's carrying the baby, we may have a very difficult decision to make," her mother told London's Daily Mail.

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