Category: Health

Jessica Layman estimates she has called more than 150 doctors in the past few years in her search for someone to prescribe opioids for her chronic pain. “A lot of them are straight-up insulting,” said the 40-year-old, who lives in Dallas. “They say things like ‘We don’t treat drug addicts.’” Layman has tried a host […]

McROBERTS, Ky. — Like most coal miners’ loved ones, Liz Williams has endured many days and nights of worry. Throughout the four decades her husband, Michael, worked in underground Appalachian mines, Liz was aware of the risks: collapse, explosions, asphyxiation. But black lung — a chronic condition caused by breathing in coal dust — wasn’t […]

Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News Diego never imagined he’d carry a gun. Not as a child, when shots were fired outside his Chicago-area home. Not at age 12, when one of his friends was gunned down. Diego’s mind changed at 14, when he and his friends were getting ready to walk to midnight Mass for […]

Dan Weissmann When Sandeep Swami received a $1,339 bill for a quick and uneventful emergency room visit for his 11-year-old daughter, he pushed back.  The charge was a “facility fee” for the hospital, though the treatment entailed only a six- to seven-minute consultation with a doctor. Because Swami had a high-deductible health plan and had […]

A bill advancing in the Colorado legislature would encourage schools to begin teaching students lifesaving skills before graduation, but critics contend it’s little more than a “feel-good” measure devoid of vital requirements and funding. Colorado is one of 10 states where laws don’t mandate CPR training for high school students, according to the American Heart […]

When Paula Chestnut needed hip replacement surgery last year, a pre-operative X-ray found irregularities in her chest. As a smoker for 40 years, Chestnut was at high risk for lung cancer. A specialist in Los Angeles recommended the 67-year-old undergo an MRI, a high-resolution image that could help spot the disease. But her MRI appointment […]

The Host President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal includes new policies and funding boosts for many of the Democratic Party’s important constituencies, including advocates for people with disabilities and reproductive rights. It also proposes ways to shore up Medicare’s dwindling Hospital Insurance Trust Fund without cutting benefits, basically daring Republicans to match him on […]

La ansiedad es el trastorno psicológico más común que afecta a los adultos en Estados Unidos. En las personas mayores, se asocia a una angustia considerable y a problemas de salud, disminución de la calidad de vida y elevadas tasas de discapacidad. Sin embargo, cuando el U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, un influyente panel de […]

In 1956, Alma Merrick Helms announced that she was bound for Stanford University. But she would not be attending classes. Upon learning that there was a “special shortage of women’s bodies” for medical students, this semiretired actress had filled out forms to donate her corpse to the medical college upon her death. As historians of […]

Una joven madre de Antelope Valley, en California, baña a sus hijos y los viste con ropa impecable, asegurándose de que tengan el mejor aspecto posible en las citas médicas. “Les cepillo los dientes antes de ir al dentista. Son alguna de las cosas que hago para protegerme de un trato injusto”, explicó a investigadores. […]