Californians have accomplished something that federal regulators have failed to — despite long, difficult campaigning. Voters in the biggest state in the nation not only have banned Big Tobacco from peddling its flavored products that target and exploit communities of color and the young. They also have defeated the industry in its legal challenges. Big….
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Watchdog agency taking fire for big problems safeguarding food and drugs
In regular places, when alarms blare and it becomes clear that a big, important something is broken and threatens folks’ well-being, those with common sense race to make needed fixes. Washington, D.C., is different. And members of Congress, the White House, and top federal bureaucrats already may be dodging a desperately needed reckoning for the….
Continue ReadingIn nursing homes and hospices, too little oversight, too much profiteering
What happens when the highly vulnerable — older, sick, injured, and debilitated people — get left in the hands of profit-obsessed private enterprises operating under woefully lax regulatory oversight? Big messes abound, as news organizations have reported after taking deep dives into the workings of the “hustle” of for-profit hospice programs, or the chronic staffing….
Continue ReadingBotched. Belabored. Enough already. Fix the FDA and Philips recall
While critics long have ripped the Food and Drug Administration for its weak oversight of medical devices and its too cozy relationships with their makers, the federal agency and a Dutch global conglomerate have given millions of U.S. consumers a big, infuriating, prolonged exposure to just how bungled the oversight of this industry can be…..
Continue ReadingGiving many thanks on yet another holiday fraught with health concerns
Millions of us will have much to give thanks for during the annual holiday, which, like several of its recent versions, again will be a time of health wariness and uncertainty, too. The seasonal feast — which brings so many the joy of not only a grand meal but also the pleasure of gathering with….
Continue ReadingNursing homes reckon with big suits and prospect of tough staffing rules
The Biden Administration is encountering stiff industry opposition but is forging ahead with plans to announce in coming months major regulatory reforms that advocates hope finally will force nursing homes to meet minimum staffing guidelines to care for some of the nation’s most vulnerable. The tragic devastation of long-term care facilities and their residents by….
Continue ReadingWalmart, with $3.1 billion plan, joins big pharmacies in settling opioid suits
Walmart has offered to pay $3.1 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits filed against the deep-pocketed retailing giant, accusing it of complicity through its nationwide pharmacy operations in the lethal opioid abuse and overdose crisis. The Bentonville, Ark., -based company insists it committed no wrong and the states, counties, cities, Indian tribes, and others who….
Continue ReadingBig Tobacco may talk of transitions. Its pursuit of profits speaks louder.
Consumers, politicians, and federal regulators should not make the mistake of thinking that Big Tobacco somehow will go, as the poet put it, quietly into that good night. The fortunes are still too big to be made in peddling products that persist as some of the greatest preventable threats to Americans’ health, industry players keep….
Continue ReadingHospitals assailed for Emergency Department crush, causing long, risky waits for patients
Almost three dozen leading groups representing a range of doctors, specialists, and other health workers have called on the Biden Administration to deal urgently with the long-running but increasing and dangerous practice of hospitals allowing their emergency care facilities to be overwhelmed because they also are parking patients waiting for rooms and treatment. This “boarding”….
Continue ReadingFor beleaguered consumers, key health information is deceptive or scant
Already sick, injured, and debilitated by age and other circumstance, U.S. patient-consumers get battered with misleading information from shady firms about insurance coverage under the Medicare program and with too little word from hospitals about too spare charitable care that could help the beleaguered with bankrupting medical bills. Democratic investigators for the U.S. Senate Finance….
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