Health category, Page 31

When Dr. Bob Gorby of Westmoreland Allergy and Asthma Associates in Greensburg notices the tree in his home’s backyard starting to bud, he knows it’s tree pollen season. “It’s early this year a little bit,” he said. “Tree pollen can come out as early as late February, but it’s very...

More than six in 10 of the abortions in the United States last year were done through medication, up from 53% in 2020, new research shows. The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, said about 642,700 medication abortions took place in the first full calendar year after...

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced a comprehensive ban on asbestos, a carcinogen that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year but is still used in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and other products. The final rule marks a major expansion of EPA regulation under a...

Call it a reversal of fortune. After losing money in 2022, Pittsburgh’s Highmark Health rebounded last year. The health insurance giant posted net income of $533 million even as it grappled with operating losses at its Pittsburgh-area hospitals. That compares with a $346 million loss in 2022, due largely to...

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, says UPMC has assured him that dental patients transferred from its soon-to-close Montefiore center “will be easily absorbed” into the University of Pittsburgh Dental School clinic without undue treatment delays. He said the hospital system said most employees from the Montefiore operation have been...

When Lucas James’ mom came to pick him up from school two years ago, Lucas knew something was terribly wrong. “I had on-and-off fevers, and we ended up having to do a blood test,” said Lucas, 14. “I was at school when my mom had gotten notified. “She was so...

Medical student Rachel Kann said she couldn’t be happier to find out she’ll be staying in Pittsburgh. “This is my dream come true. … I’m just so grateful to have gotten the chance to stay in this amazing city for seven more years and practice here,” Kann said. A Fox...

A much-awaited treatment for postpartum depression, zuranolone, hit the market in December, promising an accessible and fast-acting medication for a debilitating illness. But most private health insurers have yet to publish criteria for when they will cover it, according to a new analysis of insurance policies. The lack of guidance...

Don’t be surprised if your doctors start writing you overly friendly messages. They could be getting some help from artificial intelligence. New AI tools are helping doctors communicate with their patients, some by answering messages and others by taking notes during exams. It’s been 15 months since OpenAI released ChatGPT....

ATLANTA — A year ago, Georgia lawmakers said they were striking a balance when they banned most gender-affirming surgeries and hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18, but let doctors continue prescribing puberty blockers and let minors then receiving hormone replacement therapies continue. Now state Sen. Ben Watson, the...

A UPMC decision to close its Montefiore dental center has state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, worried about how many patients will be displaced and the potential impact on their care. Frankel sought an explanation for the closure in a letter sent Friday to UPMC, a copy of which was...

For Sean Carey, long covid proved fatal. Carey contracted an early strain of covid in July 2020 when he and his wife, Meghan, lived in Daytona Beach, Fla. “He had pain that was too inhumane to live with,” his wife said. “He had tremors that were like lightning bolts going...

As Terrance Kurhansky’s case made its way through Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system, it became clear to his attorney and the presiding judge that their options were limited, and none of them was ideal. Kurhansky, 83, was charged in 2019 with attempting to murder his neighbor. Police said he used a...

Covid-19 stole Lisa Merlo’s lungs, limbs — and nearly her life. But it wasn’t done. The 57-year-old West Deer resident continues to cope with the disease’s latest attack on her body: long covid. Merlo said she was told she had a 20% chance of living after a covid diagnosis in...

Several U.S. discount retailers recalled packages of ground cinnamon after federal health officials warned that they were contaminated with high levels of lead. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert for six brands of cinnamon, including those sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. The move...

Lou Gehrig’s disease took away Grace Armant’s ability to speak, but the 84-year-old still has plenty to say about her insurance. UnitedHealthcare has rejected several requests from her doctors for coverage of a machine Armant needs to breathe as she deals with the fatal illness. “They are no good,” Armant...

Millions of Americans who have dropped pounds and boosted their health using popular obesity drugs like Wegovy are facing a new dilemma: What happens if they stop taking them? Many worry, rightly, that they’ll regain weight and revert to old habits. In clinical trials, patients who paused the drugs put...

Mutual Aid ambulance is hoping to match the success of other emergency medical services in the region as it turns to the communities it serves to boost revenue. Ken Bacha, director of community outreach, hasn’t seen any checkbooks open yet, but he hopes that providing the municipalities that Mutual Aid...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers racing to restart in vitro fertilization services in the state are set to weigh final approval for legislation shielding providers from the fallout of a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children. The state Senate and House will consider identical bills Wednesday that would...

Get your orders in while you can — the federal free covid test program is shutting down again at the end of the week. The program, run through the U.S. Department of Health and the United States Postal Service, has provided free at-home covid-19 rapid tests in sets of four...

Seated at a table of nonscientists, Kaigham “Ken” Gabriel explained how an ordinary-looking construction site in Hazelwood just might propel Pittsburgh to the forefront of reducing medical costs through gene therapy manufacturing. To make his point, the newly hired CEO of the University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge initiative pulled from his...

Using artificial intelligence technology, doctors may soon get a helping hand with diagnosing pediatric ear infections. A new software tool developed by UPMC and Pitt scientists analyzes video captured of a child’s ear canal via an auriscope connected to a smartphone camera to help determine if the patient has an...

WASHINGTON — Americans should expect yet another update of the covid-19 vaccine this fall at about the same time as flu shots are available, the top U.S. public health official said Monday. Researchers are working on selecting a strain for the upcoming version, and will probably wait until May to...

When Barbie Fordyce of Greensburg pulled up to the drive-thru window to get her medications at Mainline Pharmacy in Harrison City on Monday, it was for the last time. “It’s a crying shame,” Fordyce said. “I’ve been coming here forever.” The business has been a community staple for decades. But...