Public Health

Tens of thousands of American lives could be saved each year with a concerted national effort to emulate what top military and civilian trauma centers are doing, a prestigious panel of top medical experts reported Friday. “It is time for a national goal owned by the nation’s leaders: zero preventable deaths after injury,” said a […]

Everything from our plastic water bottles and cosmetics to our non-stick frying pans contains chemicals that accumulate in our bodies. But it is unclear what effects these chemicals might have on human health and well-being. A report released this week by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., attempts […]

Zac Talbott sees the irony of running an opioid treatment program from a former doctor’s office. “The funny thing is, a lot of patients are like, ‘This is where I first started getting prescribed pain pills,’ ” Talbott said. Now, the Tennessee native says those same patients are coming to his clinic in Chatsworth, Georgia, a […]

Childhood diabetes rates are on the rise, and a report released Monday pointed to the impact that the cost of their care could have on families — even those who have employer-sponsored health insurance. The study, conducted by the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), found that children as old as 18 with diabetes who were […]

Maggie Eastman considers it the worst decision she ever made. In 2003, beset by $30,000 in tuition debt and imbued with a burst of altruism, Eastman, a college senior, decided to donate her eggs to help an infertile couple have a baby. Over the next decade she donated nine more times, earning a total of […]

Abortion is one of the more common procedures performed in the U.S., more common even than appendectomy. But as clinics in Texas close, finding a place in the state where medical residents training to be OB-GYNs can learn to do abortions is getting harder. “There are places in Texas where there are OB-GYN residents who […]

Every year, more than 100 new obstetrician-gynecologists graduate from a Texas residency program and enter the medical workforce. Theoretically, all have had the opportunity during their four years of residency to learn about what’s called “induced abortion” — named that to distinguish it from a miscarriage. But the closure of abortion clinics in Texas — […]

First published May 17, 2016; Last updated June 23, 2016 The Obama administration says the Zika virus is the nation’s next big public health threat. But there is continuing disagreement on how much money it will take to counter it and where that money will come from. And delays in reconciling those visions could be […]

What led to the abrupt fall of FluMist — the nasal spray version of influenza vaccine — which until recently was considered the preferred alternative to the injectable vaccine for younger children? No one is quite sure, but there were hints of trouble for the past three flu seasons. On Wednesday, an advisory panel to […]

Cecilia Ramirez is worried about her weight and troubling symptoms that hint of diabetes, but she won’t seek medical help because she can’t afford it. “I don’t go to the doctor when I’m sick — it’s too expensive,” she said. Though she is a sales worker at an insurance agency in Highlandtown, an East Baltimore […]