Sixteen-year-old Adismarys Abreu had been discussing a long-lasting birth control implant with her mother for about a year as a potential solution to increasing menstrual pain. Then Roe v. Wade was overturned and Abreu joined the throng of teens rushing to their doctors as states began to ban or severely limit abortion. "I'm definitely not [...]
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Two years after Oregon residents voted to decriminalize hard drugs and dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars to treatment, few people have requested the services and the state has been slow to channel the funds. When voters passed the state's pioneering Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act in 2020, the emphasis [...]
Government health officials have said 4.4 million Americans have rolled up their sleeves for the updated COVID-19 booster shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the count on Sept. 22 as public-health officials bemoaned President Joe Biden's recent remark that "the pandemic is over." The White House said more than 5 million people [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged earlier this week that its response to the nation’s infant formula shortage was slowed by delays in processing a whistleblower complaint and test samples from the nation's largest formula factory. A 10-page report from the agency offers its first formal account of the factors that led [...]
Doctors should regularly screen all adults under 65 for anxiety, an influential health guidelines group proposed earlier this week. It’s the first time the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended anxiety screening in primary care for adults without symptoms. The proposal is open for public comment until Oct. 17, but the group usually affirms [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Suzy Fitzgerald remembers looking out the windows as wildfire flames surrounded the hospital where she worked. "We had fire in all three directions," Fitzgerald recalled. "I thought, 'Oh gosh, this is serious. We need to get these people out.'" Fitzgerald helped with the evacuation of 122 patients from Kaiser Permanente's Santa [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Emmanuel Obeng-Dankwa is worried about making rent on his New York City apartment, he sometimes holds off on filling his blood pressure medication. “If there’s no money, I prefer to skip the medication to being homeless,” said Obeng-Dankwa, a 58-year-old security guard. He is among a majority of adults who say [...]
WASHINGTON — A panel of federal health advisers voted last week to recommend approval for an experimental drug to treat Lou Gehrig's disease, a remarkable turnaround for the much-debated medication that was previously rejected by the same group earlier this year. The Food and Drug Administration advisers voted 7-2 that data from Amylyx Pharma warranted [...]
Harold Lewis has been fighting drug addiction for years, but only recently started thinking recovery could be fun. The 59-year-old former cook earned small prizes — candy, gum, gift cards, sunglasses and headphones — for attending meetings and staying in treatment for opioid addiction during a 12-week program in Bridgeport, Conn. "Recovery should be fun [...]
States around the country are making it easier for new moms to keep Medicaid in the year after childbirth, a time when depression and other health problems can develop, but tight government budgets and the program's low reimbursement may ultimately limit this push or make it hard for women with extended coverage to find doctors. [...]