The coronavirus pandemic slammed nursing homes and other long-term care facilities hard in two heart-breaking waves eight months apart. Covid-19 caused the institutions’ fatalities to spike by almost a third over the year before, leaving roughly 170,000 of the elderly, injured, and ill dead, as well as 4 in 10 Medicare-covered residents infected. Those are….
Continue ReadingArchives for June 2021
High-tech tools can boost blacks’ cancer warnings — and be racially biased
While technological advances may help provide crucial warnings to young men, especially those who are black, about their heightened risk of early-onset colorectal cancer, the rise of other high-tech diagnostic aids may only worsen built-in, harmful racial biases in an array of medical practices. Researchers at the University of Chicago, to their credit, have sought….
Continue ReadingAs delta variant rises and vaccinations fall, stubborn virus digs in for summer
The coronavirus— little more than submicroscopic flecks of genetic material encased in protein and barely a life form — is proving still to be a relentless, lethal bane of humanity. While experts say the coronavirus vaccines may have highly rare side effects affecting the hearts of young recipients (who also respond well to quick treatment),….
Continue ReadingHospitals look mighty craven in deep digs into their draconian debt collection
While medical debt menaces far too many patients, especially those who already struggle because they are poor, sick, and injured, big hospitals are too willing to exploit the legal system with aggressive collection efforts that generate little revenue but lots of grief for patients. Those are some of the takeaways from a raft of articles….
Continue ReadingWho can’t see problems in medical device makers paying surgeons billions?
Billions of dollars have flown from medical device makers to specialists performing back, spine, knee, and hip surgeries, with unsavory cash and practices also accompanying that fiscal tide. Industry officials and doctors defend the sizable and growing payment program, saying it results in better medical hardware that ultimately benefits patients, the independent, nonpartisan Kaiser Health….
Continue ReadingU.S. likely to miss July 4 vaccination goal, with concern rising about variants
The Biden Administration may fall short of its goal of getting 70% of adults in the nation vaccinated against the coronavirus by July 4th, a campaign for which officials are pushing hard still in hopes of quelling the pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 people in this country. All signs continue to point to….
Continue ReadingDozens of tuberculosis infections, including northern Virginia, tied to putty used in orthopedic surgeries
A rare outbreak of tuberculosis among dozens of surgical patients — some of them at hospitals in northern Virginia — is under investigation by federal health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC suspects the infections may be tied to a malleable bone putty used in spinal and other orthopedic procedures…..
Continue ReadingTens of millions keep Obamacare as justices toss a GOP suit for a third time
It’s three strikes now from the U.S. Supreme Court: Have Republicans finally gotten themselves thrown out of their game to strip tens of millions of Americans of their health insurance? The conservative-packed high court, in a 7-2 vote, rejected the latest and third GOP attempt to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans in Congress….
Continue Reading14 million +1 reasons why sexual abuses of young athletes can’t be ignored
It may be time to rewrite that country western tune and advise mommas maybe to not let their babies grow up to be athletes, because of the rising chance that they may be sexually mistreated at high amateur levels, even with the complicity of legendary coaches now stained by ugly legacies of abuse. The disturbing and….
Continue ReadingPrince George’s County finally gets new hospital to replace 75-year-old facility
Poorer communities of color in the region around the nation’s capital are inching toward getting more equitable hospital care — with new facilities slowly coming online to replace decrepit and risky institutions. Politicians and public leaders in Maryland celebrated a decade-long fight to see the opening in Largo of a new hospital, a “620,000-square-foot, glass-paneled….
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