TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A study to determine whether folic acid and vitamin B supplements help the heart has been cut short, because the pills weren't doing any good and might have even caused participants harm.

"This confirms what a lot of recent studies have found -- no benefit of taking vitamin B supplements to reduce the risk of heart disease, and it raises a few red flags," said Alice H. Lichtenstein, Gershoff professor of nutrition at Tufts University, Boston.

CHICAGO - The American Medical Association on Thursday issued a formal apology for more than a century of discriminatory policies that excluded blacks from participating in a group long considered the voice of U.S. doctors.

The apology stems from initiatives at the nation's largest doctors' group to reduce racial disparities in medicine — from the paltry number of black physicians to the disproportionate burden of disease among blacks and other minorities.

The firestorm that erupted last month over Ricki Lake choosing homebirthing and the AMA's subsequent statement about how it feels hospital births are safer got me thinking. Should women have choices when it comes to birthing options? Or should women rely on hospitals?