Health
Paxlovid Cuts Covid Death Risk. But Those Who Need It Are Not Taking It.

As Covid rises again, killing about 1,500 Americans each week, medical researchers are trying to understand why so few people are taking Paxlovid, a medicine that is stunningly effective in preventing severe illness and death from the disease. A study of a million high-risk people with Covid found that only about 15 percent who were […]

Updated: Jan 4, 2024
Ohio Governor Blocks Bill Banning Transition Care for Minors

Background Lawmakers passed the measure earlier in December. Those in favor of the bill argued that parents are pressured by doctors to sign off on transition care treatments for their children. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Gary Click, said parents are “being manipulated by the physicians.’’ In addition to banning transition care for minors, the bill […]

Updated: Dec 29, 2023
Serious Medical Errors Rose After Private Equity Firms Bought Hospitals

The rate of serious medical complications increased in hospitals after they were purchased by private equity investment firms, according to a major study of the effects of such acquisitions on patient care in recent years. The study, published in JAMA on Tuesday, found that, in the three years after a private equity fund bought a […]

Updated: Dec 26, 2023
Bristol Myers to Acquire the Drugmaker Karuna for $14 Billion

Bristol Myers Squibb, the global pharmaceutical giant, said on Friday that it would acquire Karuna Therapeutics, which makes drugs to treat schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s, in an all-cash deal valued at $14 billion as it looks to strengthen its pipeline of neuroscience drugs. Bristol Myers said in a statement that it would pay $330 per share […]

Updated: Dec 22, 2023
How Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Surgery Became a Big Business

Later in 2020, Ms. Lavelle also complained to the board, describing how she had been traumatized by her daughter’s tongue-tie release. The lactation board, which reports its disciplinary decisions, has not taken action against Ms. Henstrom. A spokeswoman for the board, Susan Brayshaw, declined to comment on the complaints, citing a policy of confidentiality. “Some […]

Updated: Dec 21, 2023
What to Know About the Effects of Ketamine

An autopsy report released by the Los Angeles County medical examiner on Friday said the death of “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, who was found face down and unresponsive in a hot tub at his home on Oct. 28, resulted from the “acute effects” of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties. Ketamine has become increasingly popular […]

Updated: Dec 16, 2023
Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Abortion Pill Access

The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it would decide on the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, the first major case involving abortion on its docket since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure more than a year ago. The Biden administration had asked the justices to intervene after a three-judge panel […]

Updated: Dec 13, 2023
Dr. John A. Talbott, Champion of Care for the Mentally Ill, Dies at 88

Dr. John A. Talbott, a psychiatrist who championed the care of vulnerable populations of the mentally ill, especially the homeless — many of whom were left to fend for themselves in the nation’s streets, libraries, bus terminals and jails after mass closures of state mental hospitals — died on Nov. 29 at his home in […]

Updated: Dec 9, 2023
Bellevue Hospital Rushes Patients Into Weight-Loss Surgery

Early one morning in February, a guard clanged on the door of David Mustiga’s jail cell on Rikers Island. Soon, the 43-year-old was shackled and put on a bus to Bellevue. Rikers detainees often struggle to get even rudimentary medical care. But Mr. Mustiga and 10 other prisoners have undergone elective bariatric surgery at Bellevue, […]

Updated: Dec 7, 2023
Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care

It’s a good day when Frank Lee, a retired chef, can slip out to the hardware store, fairly confident that his wife, Robin, is in the hands of reliable help. He spends nearly every hour of every day anxiously overseeing her care at their home on the Isle of Palms, a barrier island near Charleston, […]

Updated: Dec 4, 2023