Feb 19 Trump said mental illness leads to gun violence. Here’s why doctors disagree By Associated Press Mental health professionals welcome more resources and attention, but they say the administration is ignoring the real problem — easy access to guns, particularly the kind of high-powered highly lethal assault weapons used in many of the most recent mass… Continue reading
Feb 19 Analysis: How defeatism undermines tougher gun laws By Alec MacGillis, ProPublica Congress has failed repeatedly to pass any gun-control measures after past calamities, even the 2012 massacre of 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Continue reading
Feb 17 This year’s awful flu season may have just hit a plateau By Helen Branswell, STAT It’s too soon to say the flu season has peaked, but it’s at least possible it may have plateaued. Continue reading
Feb 16 Analysis: 10 ways we can prevent school shootings right now By Elizabeth Englander, Bridgewater State University Because educators observe students’ emotional and behavioral development daily, they are best positioned to detect troubled behaviors and intervene. Continue reading
Feb 13 Watch 9:50 Indiana Medicaid work requirements fuel worries for the poor By Sarah Varney, Jason Kane Indiana is one of the states poised to enact work requirements for some citizens with Medicaid coverage -- a controversial policy and long-sought goal for Republicans. But advocates for the poor have protested loudly in recent months, saying many will… Continue watching
Feb 12 Opioid makers gave $10 million to advocacy groups that promoted use of their pills, report says By Matthew Perrone, Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press The investigation by Missouri's Sen. Claire McCaskill sheds light on the opioid industry's ability to shape public opinion and raises questions about its role in an overdose epidemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of American lives. Continue reading
Feb 12 Donald Trump Jr.’s wife hospitalized after she opened an envelope with white powder By Associated Press Police say Vanessa Trump called 911 Monday morning after opening a letter addressed to Donald Trump Jr. at their midtown Manhattan apartment. Police say she said she was coughing and felt nauseous. Continue reading
Feb 11 Watch 3:29 OxyContin maker Purdue will stop selling doctors on opioids By PBS News Hour Amid several lawsuits that accuse manufacturing giant Purdue Pharma of contributing to the country’s opioid epidemic, the company announced Saturday it will cut sales staff by more than half and stop marketing opioids to doctors. Reporter Lev Facher, who wrote… Continue watching
Feb 11 Watch 3:18 How will CDC cuts affect health programs abroad and at home? By PBS News Hour The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently lost hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts, including a $750 million cut in December. On Friday, President Trump signed a bill that slashed $1.35 billion from its Prevention and… Continue watching
Feb 10 It’s not just athletes: Doctors at the Olympics have also worked years to get there By Leah Samuel, STAT The official U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Division recruits a crew of volunteer doctors — as well as orthopedists, chiropractors, nurses, sports therapists, massage therapists, and more — every two years. Continue reading