Mar 01 Meet the R2D2 of hospital technology By Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News These R2D2-esque robots ferry carts of stuff around the vast hospital complex — food, linens, medications, medical waste and garbage. And they do it more efficiently than humans. Continue reading
Feb 29 Watch 7:42 Ransomware attack takes down LA hospital for hours By PBS News Hour One of the greatest threats to private cybersecurity today is ransomware -- a cyberattack that blocks access to a computer until the hacker is paid a ransom. The problem recently took on new urgency when a hospital in Los Angeles… Continue watching
Feb 29 One family's lonely struggle against their child's rare disease By Laura Santhanam “You have to learn about the illness,” she said. “You have to figure out how to explain it to every person you meet every day.”… Continue reading
Feb 29 Rocky home lives could hinder kindergartener success, study finds By Lisa Gillespie, Kaiser Health News Very young children who endure neglect, abuse and dysfunctional home lives go on to struggle as kindergartners, leaving them at risk for more difficult years as adolescents and adults, a new study finds. Continue reading
Feb 26 CDC: Zika virus linked to 'series of miscarriages' in pregnant women By Nsikan Akpan Today, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention gave updates on their virus response efforts, U.S. cases involving pregnant women and 14 investigations into sexual transmission of the virus. Continue reading
Feb 26 First uterus transplant in the U.S. offers pregnancy hope By Melissa Bailey, STAT A 26-year-old patient underwent a uterine transplant, the first in the US, on Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic. Continue reading
Feb 25 NIH taking first steps to huge precision medicine project By Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is moving ahead with a major project to learn how to better tailor treatments and preventive care to people's genes, environment and lifestyle. Continue reading
Feb 24 Why 'vaginal swabbing' your newborn might not be a good idea By Megan Thielking, STAT Parents-to-be increasingly request 'vaginal swabbing' after C-section births, but experts caution it could introduce viruses to the baby. Continue reading
Feb 24 HealthCare.gov 'passive' on heading off fraud By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press WASHINGTON — With billions in taxpayer dollars at stake, the Obama administration has taken a "passive" approach to identifying potential fraud involving the president's health care law, nonpartisan congressional investigators say in a report due out Wednesday. Continue reading
Feb 23 Watch 8:07 State governments strive to curb epidemic of fatal opioid abuse By PBS News Hour Abuse of opioids such as heroin, oxycontin and methadone led to 28,000 deaths last year, according to federal agencies. Many states are taking steps to combat the epidemic, but proposed solutions have attracted their own share of controversy and criticism. Continue watching