Public health officials in Massachusetts are investigating whether a patient in a Cape Cod hospital has the human form of mad cow disease. Dr. Alfred DeMaria, the state's director of communicable disease control, confirmed Sunday to The Associated Press that tests are being done to see if the patient has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and whether it's the variant attributed to mad cow ... Mad cow disease _ medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE _ causes spongy holes in the brain. Eating meat products contaminated with mad cow disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal human malady.

Prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation

Carney Hospital's troubles may lead to closure and conversion to other uses.

household employment matching service, specializes in matching nannies, au pairs, governesses, babysitters and more with families seeking qualified nannies and domestics.

The Massachusetts plan is far from perfect, but is important as an experiment in making health care more available.