With U.S. road deaths spiking 20-year highs, everyone who travels in any fashion on the country’s roads must be as savvy as possible about staying safe, including by thinking twice about where to go to receive medical checks and treatment after any seemingly minor vehicle wrecks and by forgoing bike riding while high on drugs….
Continue ReadingBig hospitals’ buck-raking schemes exploit poor and pile on medical debt
Big hospitals and hospital chains that enjoy the financial and reputational benefits of nonprofit or charitable status have taken major fire for maximizing profits while piling on patients’ crushing medical debt and exploiting the poorest and most vulnerable of the injured and sick. Medical economists, in recent times, have zeroed in on hospitals and their….
Continue ReadingMDs should screen most adults for anxiety, top U.S. advisory panel says
Americans live such nerve-wracking, glum, stressful lives that not only young people but also adults up to age 65 would benefit from regular screening during their doctor visits for anxiety and depression. That’s the draft recommendation, newly issued and up for public comment, by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent, blue-ribbon group that….
Continue ReadingHollywood puts appearances above all in fad injections of diabetes drug
Troubling but perhaps predictable news is traveling from a vanity trend-setting capital of this country: Hollywood stars have made the taking of a relatively new prescription drug, targeted for the treatment of diabetes, into a fad. The injectable drug semaglutide, whose brand name is Ozempic, has become a must-have among A-listers because of one of its….
Continue ReadingSexually transmitted diseases are spiking at alarming rate, experts warn
One of humanity’s favorite activities also has become riskier than ever in health terms, experts say, as U.S. cases of sexually transmitted diseases are increasing so much that one expert describes the situation as “out of control.” In official terms, reported syphilis cases rose 26% last year, hitting their highest rate in three decades and….
Continue ReadingAppellate judges zero in on corporate twists of bankruptcy shield
Federal appeals judges have expressed skepticism about the scheming by Big Pharma and other big corporations to twist U.S. bankruptcy laws to let wealthy, powerful defendants shield themselves from major claims of harms filed by plaintiffs seeking justice in civil courts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia has been asked….
Continue ReadingSome sensible guidance on exercise, diet, sleep and weight gain
We’re barraged by so much health hokum that it’s a relief when common-sense reminders come along about crucial wellness concerns like exercise, diet, and sleep. Timely information on these issues has been reported by the Washington Post (here on movement myths and here on sleep and weight), the Athletic on a soccer nutritionist’s insights on….
Continue ReadingIt’s past time for Congress to reconsider propriety of FDA ‘user fees’
Members of Congress, as usual, are racing to meet a deadline: This time, to determine the funding for the federal Food and Drug Administration, an agency with some of the most consequential responsibilities affecting Americans’ health. In their furious political and financial machinations, though, lawmakers aren’t asking the tough, critical question about the FDA’s leading….
Continue ReadingStrike by 15,000 in Minnesota a clear sign of growing crisis in nursing
The coronavirus pandemic has not only caused sustained damage to the U.S. health workforce, it also apparently has accelerated a looming crisis in nursing care, as has been shown by a three-day strike by 15,000 private-sector nurses in Minnesota. Theirs was the largest such walkout by nurses and it sought to underscore how pay inequities,….
Continue ReadingTwo U.S. regulatory agencies rip nursing homes for sketchy debt collection
Two federal regulatory agencies have rebuked nursing homes and their debt collectors, warning them that they may be breaking the law with sketchy efforts to make loved ones and friends pay for the care of sick, injured, and debilitated residents in long-term facilities. Bottom line: A lot of the forms that you may sign for….
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