A New Test Could Save Arthritis Patients Time, Money, and Pain. But Will It Be Used? Arthur Allen SAN DIEGO — Erinn Maury knew Remicade wasn’t the right drug for Patti Schulte, a rheumatoid arthritis patient the physician saw at her Millersville, Maryland, practice. Schulte’s swollen, painful joints hadn’t responded to Enbrel or Humira, […]

  Patients Facing Death Are Opting for a Lifesaving Heart Device — But at What Risk? Daniel Chang and Holly K. Hacker Too old and too sick for a heart transplant, Arvid Herrman was given a choice: Have a mechanical pump implanted in his heart, potentially keeping him alive for several years, or do nothing […]

  New Doula Benefit ‘Life-Changing’ for California Mom Molly Castle Work VICTORVILLE, Calif. — When Mia Bloomer found out she was pregnant with her fourth child, she wanted a different birth experience. She wanted to feel empowered, informed, and heard — elements she found lacking during her earlier births. Somewhat by accident, Bloomer, 26, found […]

  ‘Financial Ruin Is Baked Into the System’: Readers on the Costs of Long-Term Care Jordan Rau, KFF Health News and Reed Abelson, The New York Times Thousands of readers reacted to the articles in the “Dying Broke” series about the financial burden of long-term care in the United States. They offered their assessments for […]

  In New Year, All Immigrants in California May Qualify for Medicaid Regardless of Legal Status Bernard J. Wolfson Milagro, a Peruvian immigrant in Riverside County, California, has had spotty access to health care in the two decades she’s been in this country. The 48-year-old, who works as the office manager at a nonprofit, can […]

  People With Disabilities Hope Autonomous Vehicles Deliver Independence Tony Leys GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. ― Myrna Peterson predicts self-driving vehicles will be a ticket out of isolation and loneliness for people like her, who live outside big cities and have disabilities that prevent them from driving. Peterson, who has quadriplegia, is an enthusiastic participant in […]

  Rift Over When to Use N95s Puts Health Workers at Risk Again Amy Maxmen Three years after more than 3,600 health workers died of covid-19, occupational safety experts warn that those on the front lines may once again be at risk if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes its committee’s advice on […]

  LA County Invests Big in Free Virtual Mental Health Therapy for K-12 Students Molly Castle Work LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County public schools are rolling out an ambitious effort to offer free mental health services to their 1.3 million K-12 students, a key test of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s sweeping, $4.7 billion program […]

  Millions in Opioid Settlement Funds Sit Untouched as Overdose Deaths Rise Katheryn Houghton and Aneri Pattani Nearly a year after Montana began receiving millions of dollars to invest in efforts to combat the opioid crisis, much of that money remains untouched. Meanwhile, the state’s opioid overdose and death counts continue to rise. The money […]

    As Foundation for ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis Cracks, Fallout Spreads Renuka Rayasam and Markian Hawryluk and Samantha Young When Angelo Quinto’s family learned that officials blamed his 2020 death on “excited delirium,” a term they had never heard before, they couldn’t believe it. To them, it was obvious the science behind the diagnosis wasn’t […]