Yes, Farrah Fawcett's cancer has returned, just three months after she was given the all-clear following treatment for rectal cancer. But not all of what is appearing in the media is true, and Fawcett now finds herself fighting for both her life and the truth.

The National Enquirer was right about Fawcett's recurrence -- a malignant polyp has been found in the area where her original cancer began. But reporters for this magazine are wrong about their previous take on her illness.

Farrah Begs: Let me Die was one previous headline. Such words were never spoken, says Fawcett who is planning to file a lawsuit against the Enquirer for libel, invasion of privacy, and infliction of emotional distress regarding numerous fabricated articles about her cancer journey.

This negativity is not only harmful to Fawcett and her family, says her spokesperson. It also jeopardizes Fawcett's chances for a successful recovery, and it's disrespectful to thousands of others surviving cancer.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) of Ohio has filed a lawsuit challenging the state's workplace smoking ban. The ban exempts some military veterans' halls and other private clubs -- and the ASC says this is not OK.

The exemption waters down the law and exposes people to secondhand smoke, say ACS spokeswoman Wendy Simpkins.

The smoking ban was approved by 58 percent of voters in November, took effect in December, and will result in fining beginning the first week in May. The law prohibits smoking in most public places, such as restaurants, bars, and office and excludes tobacco shops, designated hotel rooms, and enclosed areas of nursing homes. Halls and clubs can be excluded from the law only if there are no employees.

Jay Carey, spokesman for the state Health Department, says public health officials have the authority to set rules for enforcement. They ultimately decided that VFW halls and other private clubs were exempt if they had only members as employees. For the exemption to apply, such clubs also must be nonprofit and in a freestanding building. No nonmembers or children under age 18 can be present.

The ACS argues that the state rules are confusing and make the law unworkable.

Fewer women are getting mammograms. Facilities offering mammograms are closing. Mammogram machine usage is declining. And we don't really know why.

"We're heading in the wrong direction," says Carol Lee, professor of radiology at Yale University School of Medicine and chair of the American College of Radiology's commission on breast imaging.

"If this decline holds up, it will be very worrisome," she says.

"We're looking at a possible increase in deaths if we see this continue," according to Diana Balma, vice president of public policy at Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Studies don't show which women -- rich or poor, young or old, educated or uneducated -- are skipping these critical screenings, but there are a few possible reasons for this dangerous drop.

Think about this:

Perhaps there are fewer facilities, staffed by fewer radiologists and technologists due to high lawsuit rates and modest reimbursement. This is scary -- because the number of women old enough to get screened is increasing.

Women may be missing out on all sorts of necessary medical care because of inadequate health insurance or other access problems.

Women may be choosing, for whatever reasons, not to get mammograms, despite strong public urging that women age 40 and older get screened one time every year.

And now think about this:

Recent news about declining breast cancer rates may not be all that good. It may not be that fewer women are developing breast cancer. It may simply be that fewer women are getting early diagnoses because of irregular or nonexistent screening.

The beloved member of our family, Spotted Calamity Jane, the oldest of our two Dalmatians had to be put down on February 17. It was the hardest decision I personally ever had to make, knowing when it was time to put her out of too much pain. The tears continue to flow and I know will for a long time. She had survived breast cancer at the age of 4 and continued to live a happy life loving her runs on the beach. 2 1/2 years ago she was diagnosed with renal failure, something that is irreversible but we continued to give her a low protein diet and top notch vet care and monitoring that included some acupuncture. It came to a point where we knew the pain was outweighing the good quality of life and the end was not far away and it was time to end the suffering. For 13 years she brought us joy and laughter and unconditional love. She was the leader and companion to our other 8 year old Dalmatian Kiva, who is deaf and followed Cally everywhere watching everything that she did. Watching the two of them running and playing on the beach in the water and sand are memories I will always carry. So we decided to have Cally cremated so we could spread her ashes out on the beach that she loved so much.

Then we were faced with another heart break. Seventeen days later we were told that her ashes had been lost and it floored us. It sent me curled up in a bed crying for a whole day. Family members and friends were outraged as our hearts once again tried to overcome the loss. We were told to get an attorney and sue for compensation. In quietness I walked through the trails in the woods near our house and thought what good could come from all of this. The vet of course refunded our money and offered to buy a memorial stone or something for us. I told him we would think about things. Then I decided that her life and the joy that she brought us should go to something positive and that I did not want to go through the stress and negativity of a law suit and staring at a meaningless stone memorial would not make it any better. That wouldn't change anything. So I suggested to the vet and the cremation services company, to donate money to my favorite charity, Indie Music For Life, that works with independent singer songwriters and comedians to raise money for cancer research and educational awareness programs on the benefits of music and laughter as therapy to cancer patients. This turned the tragedy into a positive. We have the great memories of her life with us and the knowledge that even in her death she has brought more good to the world. Cally is the beautiful dark colored Dalmatian on the left in this picture. Her spots continued to grow and grow which made her look like a black Dalmatian with white spots. We called her "our little negative" for those of you in the photography field that understand reverse imaging. She was a rare jewel and always a positive in our lives.

It is a they said, she said lawsuit of family against family as the children of Darrell Wayne Perry, a Nashville songwriter with credits that include Tim McGraw's Not a Moment Too Soon; Lorrie Morgan's What Part of No; Toby Keith's A Woman's Touch, I Only Miss You, and Every Promise I Ever Made; accuse their evangelical preaching aunt Darlene Bishop, and sister to the deceased, of causing the death of Perry by promising to cure him with prayer after his throat cancer diagnosis in 2003.

Perry's children say Bishop claimed she was cured of cancer through prayer and promised to cure her brother in the same way. According to news reporting, in her book Your Life Follows Your Words, Bishop wrote that faith and prayer cured her of her cancer and her brother Perry of his cancer. In a deposition, she is said to have admitted she was never diagnosed with cancer by a physician, even though she believed she had the disease.

After Perry's death from cancer, Bishop became the executor to his estate. According to the children, Bishop has not given them any of their inheritance, estimated at $750,000 dollars. The children are suing their aunt for wrongful death, clergy malpractice and fraud. Bishop denies all allegations.

The level of grief and the depth of sadness felt when losing a family member to cancer is without measure. You would think that nothing worse could possibly happen. This turn of events following the cancer diagnosis and death of Perry, however it turns out, and wherever the truth is to be found, has reached a new depth in an abyss of empty darkness.

Just days before the 5th anniversary of the September 11th tragedy, Mt. Sinai Medical Center released a health report on the variety of illnesses suffered by rescue workers and city residents who were present at the scene. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against NYC by 8,000 of these workers who blame the toxic atmosphere and lack of health warnings from city officials for the onset of cancers, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases developed after exposure to the site.

The toxic metals and particles floating in the air above the pile of rubble that day are the same toxic elements found in cigarette smoke -- and these particles became deeply embedded in rescue workers and volunteers lungs. A special warning has been issued to those present at the site to now quit smoking, to avoid making their symptoms worse.

NY senator-D Hillary Clinton, along with other state representatives, are urging more federal funding for health care for these individuals. The new study has also helped establish new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of 9/11 related illnesses. As many of the volunteers and crisis workers now live in other areas of the country, the guidelines provide much needed understanding of their ailments to unaware doctors.

In January 2002, a young woman in her 30s Cynthia Storm went to see the doctor after she discovered a lump in her breast. When a mammogram and ultrasound failed to detect a tumor, the doctor did not order a biopsy, and because of this, Storm's breast cancer diagnosis was not made as soon as it could have been.

When the breast lump was eventually biopsied in October of that year, the cancer had spread.

Experts testified that the delay in diagnosis led to surgery and chemotherapy that might not have been necessary had the breast cancer been diagnosed earlier in the year. The jury awarded Storm $770,000, including $250,000 for pain and suffering, $150,000 for loss of life's pleasures, $100,000 for disfigurement, $50,000 for embarrassment, $20,000 for unpaid medical expenses and $200,000 for loss of earnings. Her husband, Christopher, was awarded $125,000 for loss of consortium.

Jo-Ann Campbell is suing her former employer, IntelliSoft Group of Nashua, a software company, because she says after her diagnosis of breast cancer they made the work environment uncomfortable -- and then they fired her.

According to the lawsuit, Campbell said Mary D'Amelio, the wife of the company's chief executive officer, John D'Amelio, told her she shouldn't be considered full time and should be reduced to part time, and Mary D'Amelio went on to tell her she was costing the company $10,000 dollars.

During breast cancer surgery and radiation treatment, Campbell said she was keeping up with the workload. Eventually, she was terminated. Campbell was a senior trainer who earned $55,000 a year. IntelliSoft denies she was discriminated against in any way and states they fully expect to win the lawsuit. You can read more details of the story here.

Summer surf and sand. Planning a day trip or weekend vacation at the beach? You could be putting yourself and your family at short-term and long-term health risk. From bacterial pollution to toxic chemicals, some of our beaches are dirty enough to cause serious concern.

In an effort to combat beach pollution, the Milford Environmental Concerns Coalition in Milford Connecticut, hosts a beachwater quality initiative called the Freedom Lawn Contest, recognizing local residents who show their commitment to protecting water quality by growing beautiful lawns and gardens without the use of chemicals, pesticides or fertilizers.

According to Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), every coastal state has a beach pollution problem. In 2000, the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) was passed by Congress, requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise the current health standards by October 2005. The FDA missed the deadline, and indicates it will not be able to finish updating the standards until 2011. The NRDC announced it is suing the EPA for failing to modernize the standards as ordered by Congress six years ago.

The NRDC has published a 349-page report, Testing the Waters 2006: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches, available as a PDF document.

What is fundamentally missing in a human being that could stoop so pathetically low as to tell people his child has cancer and then later tell them his child died from cancer -- when none of it is true? I know, innocent until proven guilty but the way things are stacking up in this story, it does appear Michael Ruffalo told a new employer his 3-year-old son had cancer, spent months reporting on his child's failing health and then topped it off by announcing the death of his son.

Ruffalo got caught in the lie when the Atlanta-based software firm Lancope Inc., tried to send flowers to the funeral. The fake funeral. "When you hear of somebody's child being ill and ultimately the child dying, you feel for that person," said Lancope's chief financial officer, David Cocchiara, whose company put Ruffalo on paid leave within weeks of hiring him because of his son's cancer diagnosis.

To absolutely make matters worse, if that is possible, Ruffalo has done this before with a previous employer. EncryptX Corp., an e-mail security company, said that shortly after hiring Ruffalo they got an e-mail about his son. "We tried to send flowers to the funeral home and they said we never heard of him." EncryptX wrote off the $21,464 dollars they paid him as a bad experience.

Lancope Inc. is suing Ruffalo.

Did you know, statistically, that one out of every 10,000 patients who have surgery leave the operating room with a surgical sponge or other foreign object inside their body? While this type of unfortunate incidence is rare, it does happen and there are people attempting to come up with a way to make sure the odds of it happening are reduced to zero.

One solution being considered is the placement of a radiofrequency ID (RFID) chip in surgical sponges. At the end of surgery, a wand to detect the chip is waved over the patient. The wand would alert the surgical staff if a sponge has been left in the body of the patient.

The current method involves a sponge count. Sponges are counted before surgery and then counted again at the end of surgery. But, according to the researchers, counting is susceptible to human error. At this time, they are working out the cost-effectiveness of the chip in surgical sponges -- and how they would go about changing work flow in the operating room.

The first time you hear incredulous news you might be inclined to wonder aloud in stunned amazement -- how did that happen?! -- which is exactly how I reacted when I read about John Heron in Scotland, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer and scheduled to have his cancerous tumor removed only to have his healthy kidney removed instead. The hospital apologized, his wife refused comment. Aren't there just times when saying you are sorry just does not mean what it could. I understood his wife's silence. There are events in life that just leave you speechless. What happened to Heron more than qualified.

In today's The Daily Times of Marysville Tennessee is a new report that Goldie Claude has quite a bit to say about the surgeon who removed her healthy kidney and left the cancerous kidney. The 86 year-old woman is distraught and suing her doctors over the tragic error. Before the operation she worked two 12-hour shifts every weekend taking care of patients at a small health care facility. Bless her heart, she's 86. According to Claude, who is left with one-third of one kidney, says she can't work now and is having nervous spells. I can imagine.

There is a lesson here that needs to be put forward. In the event you ever find yourself scheduled for surgery, take a permanent marker and ask a trusted family member or friend to write on your body instructions on what should be removed. With arrows if necessary. Never mind if you grew up with your mother telling you to quit writing on yourself with a ballpoint pen. Just do it. Remember what happened to John and Goldie.

The image in the photo of diesel exhaust pouring out of the back of the big yellow school bus makes me want to cough and I am no where near the back of the bus. Imagine the children sitting inside the bus, where much of that bus diesel's own exhaust is entering back inside the cabin from cracks in the exhaust train and through windows and doors. Two environmental groups imagined it -- and based on disturbing studies of the effects on school children from the 40 different chemicals classified as toxic contaminants that make up diesel exhaust -- have filed a lawsuit in California to force Laidlaw Transit Inc., of Naperville, Illinois, to put written warnings on buses about the dangers of cancer-causing pollutants the buses emit. Air pollution from diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen. The State of California knows it. The EPA knows it.

So, Katie Couric is moving to CBS, and Meredith Viera, one of the ABC co-hosts of The View, accepted an offer to replace Couric at NBC. Which left Viera's job at ABC open. Who did Barbara Walters choose as the new co-host? Rosie O'Donnell. What are Walters and ABC thinking? Jerry Springer ratings steeped in controversy is all I can figure out.

Once upon a time, I was a Rosie O'Donnell fan. As a comedian, I thought she was funny. As an advocate for children, I thought she was generous. But she cancelled all that out the day she allegedly told one of her staff, who was battling breast cancer, that "liars get cancer," because apparently, O'Donnell was feeling even more mean-spirited than usual that day. To be accurate, during a lawsuit Rosie magazine publishers filed against O'Donnell for breach of contract -- Cindy Spengler -- who was head of marketing at Rosie magazine, testified that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying. "You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again.

Before that, I do not think the larger audience had any idea O'Donnell harbored such dark spite in her heart. The statement, while obviously appalling and unforgivable, is also stupefying considering O'Donnell -- at the age of 10 -- lost her mother to breast cancer. But no matter now, as to the why of it all. You can't unring a bell. I am not a huge daytime television viewer, but come September, you can rest assured, no one at my house will be channel surfing ABC. People has the bland noncommittal announcement of The View's choice for new co-host. The Boston Herald has a snarkier version of the story. As a breast cancer survivor, now you have mine. 

The Oregon Supreme Court, calling conduct by Philip Morris "extraordinarily reprehensible," upheld a $79.5 million dollar punitive damage award for the Jesse Williams family. Williams, a janitor, 38 years a smoker, was 67 years old when he died of lung cancer. The Williams family, claiming the tobacco company knew the health dangers of their product, and deliberately concealed that knowledge from the consumer, originally won the lawsuit against the tobacco giant in 1997.

Phillip Morris appealed, arguing Williams was aware of the dangers of cigarette smoking, and chose to smoke of his own free will. The courts have not agreed. In addition to the nearly $80 million dollars awarded, the Williams family will receive $500,000 for pain and suffering. Phillip Morris plans on filing an appeal to today's ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court.

How would you rule in this lawsuit?