Gunshot injuries in U.S. surged during pandemic, CDC says
NEW YORK — For every American killed by gunfire, an estimated two or more more survive, often with terrible injuries — a fact that public health experts say is crucial to understanding the full impact of guns on society. A new government study highlights just how violent the recent past...
FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan; here’s what it means
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter. It’s a move that some advocates have long sought as a way to improve access to a...
Millennial Money: Manage the costs of a chronic condition
For millennials with chronic medical conditions — or those raising kids with chronic conditions — health care can be an enormous monthly expense. About 44% of older millennials born between 1981 and 1988 have at least one chronic health condition, including migraines, major depression and asthma, according to a 2021...
CDC report: Tick-borne illness babesiosis on rise in Northeast
As a rare tick-borne disease is on the rise in the northeastern United States, a local professor is awaiting test results to see whether babesiosis is taking hold in the Keystone State. Pennsylvania is among the worst states in the nation for Lyme cases, and concern about its prevalence has...
Surge in eating disorders spurs state legislative action
DENVER — Stranded at home amid pandemic lockdowns in spring 2020, Emma Warford stumbled down a social media rabbit hole in her quest to get in shape. Viral 28-day fitness challenges. YouTubers promising “hourglass abs.” Diet videos where slim-stomached influencers peddled calorie-tracking apps. Warford, then a 15-year-old starting volleyball player,...
UPMC, surgeon deemed ‘high risk’ to Medicare after rejecting oversight
The government office that fights Medicare fraud has put UPMC and one of its star surgeons on a “high-risk” list after determining that they pose a “significant risk to federal health care programs and beneficiaries.” U.S. officials took the action after Pittsburgh’s multi-billion-dollar health system settled a sweeping Medicare fraud...
Autism now more common among Black, Hispanic kids in U.S.
NEW YORK — For the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in Black and Hispanic children than in white kids in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Among all U.S. 8-year-olds, 1 in 36 had autism in 2020, the CDC estimated. That’s up...
Senators press Moderna CEO on covid-19 vaccine price hike
Moderna’s CEO on Wednesday defended a plan to more than quadruple the company’s covid-19 vaccine price, but he also said the drugmaker will work to ensure patients continue paying nothing at drugstores or clinics. Stephane Bancel told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that the drugmaker will...
Massachusetts governor: Pharmacies must stock abortion pills
BOSTON — The governor of Massachusetts reminded pharmacies Wednesday that they are required to stock a key abortion pill, despite a nationwide effort by anti-abortion activists to ban the medication. The action comes as a federal judge in Texas is considering a lawsuit that would overturn decades-old federal approval of...
Superbug fungus cases rose dramatically during pandemic
NEW YORK — U.S. cases of a dangerous fungus tripled over just three years, and more than half of states have now reported it, according to a new study. The covid-19 pandemic likely drove part of the increase, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in the...
DEA warns horse tranquilizer xylazine is making fentanyl overdose crisis worseVideo
The drug xylazine, which has been linked to an increase in overdoses, has now been seized in 48 of 50 states, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced in an alert this week. Xylazine, also known as tranq, is often cut with fentanyl. Xylazine is legal as a horse tranquilizer, but it’s...
Martina Navratilova says doctors told her she is cancer-free
LONDON — Martina Navratilova returned to TV work at Tennis Channel for its coverage of the Miami Open on Tuesday, less than three months after saying she had throat cancer and breast cancer. “It’s great to be back. … Thrilled to be here,” said the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion...
Paul Newman’s camp for sick kids rises from the ashes
ASHFORD, Conn. — Amarey Brookshire was devastated when she heard about the fire at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children — her camp. The February 2021 blaze destroyed much of the retreat in the woods of eastern Connecticut, which was founded by the late actor...
Highmark reports loss in 2022, citing investment losses, supply chain and staffing woes
As with many health care systems, inflation, supply chain woes and staffing challenges took a bite out of Highmark Health’s finances during 2022. Highmark reported a net loss of $346 million on $26 billion in revenue. Excluding investment losses, the organization reported net earnings of about $47 million. Meanwhile, the...
Allegheny Health Network names new president
Allegheny Health Network has named its Chief Operating Officer James Benedict as president of the network. Benedict joined AHN as its executive vice president and COO in 2017. He “was one of the chief architects of the network’s successful operational turnaround and its nearly $2 billion capital investment and market...
Anthony Fauci documentary on PBS covers a career of crisesVideo
NEW YORK — There’s a moment in the new PBS documentary about Dr. Anthony Fauci when a protestor holds up a handmade sign reading, “Dr. Fauci, You Are Killing Us.” It says something about Fauci that it’s not initially clear when that sign was waved in anger — in the...
School library book bans are seen as targeting LGBTQ content
DES MOINES, Iowa — Teri Patrick bristles at the idea she wants to ban books about LGBTQ issues in Iowa schools, arguing her only goal is ridding schools of sexually explicit material. Sara Hayden Parris says that whatever you want to call it, it’s wrong for some parents to think...
‘Ted Lasso’ visits White House, promotes mental health careVideo
WASHINGTON — Fictional soccer coach Ted Lasso used a White House visit Monday to encourage people, even in politically divided Washington, to make it a point to check in often with friends, family and co-workers to “ask how they’re doing, and listen, sincerely,” Comedian Jason Sudeikis, who plays the title...
Did raccoon dogs start covid pandemic? Western Pa. experts weigh in
After international scientists discovered a potential link between the origin of the covid-19 virus and raccoon dogs, medical experts in Western Pennsylvania said the animal could be where the virus began. Samples collected from the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China — where the first human cases of covid-19 were...
Pa. delegation pushes to end opioid treatment co-pays, saying many people thwarted by cost
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey this week introduced a bill that would lower costs for people who need drug addiction treatment. Another Pennsylvania Democrat, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, said she would introduce a similar bill in the U.S. House. What would the bills do? Mainly, they would eliminate insurance deductibles and...
New covid origins data suggests pandemic linked to raccoon dogs
International scientists who examined previously unavailable genetic data from samples collected at a market close to where the first human cases of covid-19 were detected in China said they found suggestions the pandemic originated from animals, not a lab. Other experts have not yet verified their analysis, which also has...
Covid-19 pill Paxlovid moves closer to full FDA approval
WASHINGTON — Pfizer’s covid-19 pill Paxlovid won another vote of confidence from U.S. health advisers Thursday, clearing the way for its full regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The medication has been used by millions of Americans since the FDA granted it emergency use authorization in late 2021....
U.S. pregnancy deaths dropped in 2022, after covid spike
NEW YORK — Deaths of pregnant women in the U.S. fell in 2022, dropping significantly from a six-decade high during the pandemic, new data suggests. More than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to a final tally released Thursday by the Centers for...
Excela-Butler combined health system lays off 13 managers
The newly combined Excela and Butler health systems laid off a total of 13 manager-level staff members on Wednesday, according to spokesperson Tom Chakurda. The positions were eliminated “from across both sides of the new system,” Chakurda confirmed, and were from support functions that did not involve direct care personnel....
Not magic: Opaque AI tool may flag parents with disabilities
PITTSBURGH — For the two weeks that the Hackneys’ baby girl lay in a Pittsburgh hospital bed weak from dehydration, her parents rarely left her side, sometimes sleeping on the fold-out sofa in the room. They stayed with their daughter around the clock when she was moved to a rehab...
