Health

Repeatedly targeted by airstrikes, Syrian doctors feel abandoned

By Marcia Biggs

In Syria’s ongoing war, doctors are under attack in the very places they expect to be safe: their hospitals. Last week, pro-government forces bombed a maternity hospital in the northwestern city of Idlib -- just one of the more than…

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There’s buzz around Zika, but could yellow fever become the next pandemic?

By Emily Baumgaertner, Scientific American

Yellow fever could be on the verge of exploding out of central Africa and spreading to Asia, which has never before suffered a major outbreak. The most likely route of transmission: any one of the thousands of unvaccinated Chinese expatriates…

Why some doctors feel ‘completely in the dark’ about medical marijuana

By Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News

States are beginning to require doctors to take continuing medical education courses that detail how marijuana interacts with the nervous system and other medications, as well as its side effects.

How are states meeting health care shortages for pregnant women?

By Michael Ollove, Stateline

Nearly half the counties in the U.S. don’t have a single obstetrician/gynecologist and 56 percent are without a nurse midwife, according to the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Federal state of emergency ends in Flint as researchers say water crisis in recovery

By Michael D. Regan

A federal state of emergency issued this year after residents of Flint, Michigan, were exposed to lead contamination in their water supply ended on Sunday.

Why Aedes aegypti are so good at transmitting Zika, and other FAQs

By Kamala Kelkar

There are nearly 200 types of mosquitoes in the U.S., but one of them -- Aedes aegypti -- has been making headlines for transmitting Zika virus more frequently than any of the others have so far.

Scientists test use of virtual reality to diagnose pedophilia

By Shanoor Seervai, STAT

A handful of scientists are testing a controversial practice of using virtual reality to diagnose pedophilia in men in hopes of helping them manage their sexual desires before they act on them.

Hospitals are throwing out organs and denying transplants to meet federal standards

By Casey Ross, STAT

Hospitals across the United States are throwing away less-than-perfect organs and denying the sickest people lifesaving transplants out of fear that poor surgical outcomes will result in a federal crackdown.

What are PFASs, the toxic chemicals being found in drinking water?

By Mark Scialla

Six million Americans are exposed to hazardous levels of PFAS chemicals due pollution from military and industrial sites, according to a new study from Harvard University.

Unexpected cost increase could complicate future Medicaid expansion

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

In a recent report to Congress, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the cost of expansion was $6,366 per person for 2015, about 49 percent higher than previously estimated.