Do you sometimes lose your train of thought or feel a bit more anxious than is typical for you? Those are two of the six questions in a quiz on a website co-sponsored by the makers of Aduhelm, a controversial new Alzheimer’s ... [Continue Reading]
After 18 Months, Sutter Antitrust Settlement Finally Poised for Formal Approval
More than 18 months after Sutter Health agreed to a tentative settlement in a closely watched antitrust case joined by the California Attorney General’s Office, the judge presiding over the case indicated she would sign off on the terms, ... [Continue Reading]
Biden’s July Executive Order Includes Drug Pricing Provisions. But Will They Do Enough?
President Joe Biden’s executive order of July 9 included various steps toward making good on campaign promises to take on pharmaceutical companies by allowing the importation of prescription drugs and curbing the high cost of medicines. ... [Continue Reading]
Hospital ‘Trauma Centers’ Charge Enormous Fees to Treat Minor Injuries and Send People Home
The care was ordinary. A hospital in Modesto, California, treated a 30-year-old man for shoulder and back pain after a car accident. He went home in less than three hours. The bill was extraordinary. Sutter Health Memorial ... [Continue Reading]
Dying Patients With Rare Diseases Struggle to Get Experimental Therapies
At 15, Autumn Fuernisen is dying. She was diagnosed at age 11 with a rare degenerative brain disorder that has no known cure or way to slow it down: juvenile-onset Huntington’s disease. “There’s lots of things ... [Continue Reading]
Teen Volunteers Get a Foot in the Door for Nursing Home Careers
Jasmine De Moya, 17, has dreamed for years of working in the medical field, and she yearned to spend time with older people, missing her grandparents, who live in the Dominican Republic. A program sponsored by the New Jewish Home health system in New ... [Continue Reading]
Drugmakers’ Spending on Stock, Dividends and Executive Pay Exceeds Research, Democrats Say
The largest drug companies are far more interested in enriching themselves and investors than in developing new drugs, according to a House committee report released Thursday that argues the industry can afford to charge Medicare less for ... [Continue Reading]
Federal Speech Rulings May Embolden Health Care Workers to Call Out Safety Issues
Karen Jo Young wrote a letter to her local newspaper criticizing executives at the hospital where she worked as an activities coordinator, arguing that their actions led to staffing shortages and other patient safety problems. ... [Continue Reading]
Covid’s Lingering Effects Can Put the Brakes on Elective Surgeries
The week before Brian Colvin was scheduled for shoulder surgery in November, he tested positive for covid-19. What he thought at first was a head cold had morphed into shortness of breath and chest congestion coupled with profound fatigue and loss of ... [Continue Reading]
Doctors’ Lobby Scores ‘Major Victory’ on Bill to Hold Physicians Accountable
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The board that licenses and disciplines doctors in California is failing to hold bad actors accountable, endangering patients in the process. That’s the verdict of state lawmakers and patient advocates who have been ... [Continue Reading]
A Hospital Charged $722.50 to Push Medicine Through an IV. Twice.
Claire Lang-Ree was in a lab coat taking a college chemistry class remotely in the kitchen of her Colorado Springs, Colorado, home when a profound pain twisted into her lower abdomen. She called her mom, Jen Lang-Ree, a nurse practitioner who worried ... [Continue Reading]