| Phillies Notebook: For Benson, new deal sets new timeline with Phillies
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Despite Kris Benson's current bout with soreness in his surgically repaired right arm, the Phillies still believe he will be in a position to help the team sometime in May. The team has finalized a new contract with the potential starter, sources said, increasing the minor league salary he will receive as well as creating a new date on which he can opt out of his contract. If Benson isn't on the major league roster and pitches in more than 10 minor league innings before May 15, he can opt out of the deal. Otherwise, he can opt out if he isn't added to the big league roster by June 1. Benson's original contract contained a clause that enabled him to opt out if he wasn't added to the big league roster by March 25. But recent shoulder soreness has set back his progression.
Eye surgery, water problems bring requests
One request for assistance with rent and another to pay for connection to the county water line were received this week at Lex-Care. Gabriel Brown, a social worker at the Jessie Clark Youth Services Center, is working with a single mother of three. She needs $750 to pay her landlord. She is on unpaid medical leave. She has been diagnosed with a hereditary eye disease that has caused retinal infection in both eyes. In the past two months she underwent two surgeries, one on each eye. She will be temporarily blind until she fully recovers from those operations. Then she will have Lasik surgery on each eye and her sight is expected to be normal. She has applied for temporary disability benefits. She is waiting for a decision. Her landlord is aware of the situation and is willing to work with her.
FDA panel to review laser eye surgery
SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators plan to review whether a popular type of laser eye surgery is improving patients' lives, a senior Food and Drug Administration official said on Monday. Dr. Daniel Schultz, director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said a number of concerns have been raised concerning patient satisfaction with the vision correction procedure, known as laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, or LASIK. An agency advisory panel will hold a public meeting to discuss the issue, Schultz said, but he did not give a date. Companies that could be affected by such a meeting include LASIK device makers such as Advanced Medical Optics Inc, as well as LASIK providers such as TLC Vision Corp and LCA-Vision Inc.
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