Daily Edition for Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Mental health holds, “excited delirium” law, covid cases, vaccines, opioids, Kaiser Permanente workers, vaping, and more are in the news.
Hospitales perderán reembolsos de Medicare si no combaten mejor la mortal sepsis
By Julie Appleby
La sepsis es la respuesta extrema del organismo a una infección y afecta cada año a 1,7 millones de adultos en Estados Unidos.
Feds Hope to Cut Sepsis Deaths by Hitching Medicare Payments to Treatment Stats
By Julie Appleby
A new rule sets specific treatment metrics for suspected sepsis cases in an effort to reduce deaths, but some experts say the measures could add to antibiotic overuse and need to be more flexible.
An Arm and a Leg: John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (Part 1)
By Dan Weissmann
Pharmaceutical patents can drive up the costs of lifesaving medications. Hear what author and YouTube star John Green is doing to make tuberculosis drugs more accessible to the people who need them most.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, October 10, 2023
A batch of new health laws, pain management, maternal health, covid, food safety, health worker strikes, and more are in the news.
Thousands Got Exactech Knee or Hip Replacements. Then, Patients Say, the Parts Began to Fail.
By Fred Schulte
In a torrent of lawsuits, patients accuse Florida device maker Exactech of hiding knee and hip implant defects for years. The company denies the allegations.
Epidemic: Bodies Remember What Was Done to Them
Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India’s sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign.
‘I’m So Burned Out’: Fighting to See a Specialist Amplified Pain for Riverside County Woman
By Molly Castle Work
Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year after what she believes was a severe allergic reaction to iodine. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous phone calls, multiple complaints, and several months to book an appointment.
Narcan, Now Available Without a Prescription, Can Still Be Hard to Get
By Jackie Fortiér, LAist and Nicole Leonard, WHYY
Narcan is available without a prescription. Addiction treatment experts hope this move will increase access to the medication, which can reverse opioid overdoses. But hurdles remain: cost and stigma.
Trump Misplaced Blame When He Said Drug Shortages Were Biden’s Fault
By Michelle Andrews
Former President Donald Trump, who’s running for another term in the White House, recently blamed drug shortages on his successor, President Joe Biden. Our findings don’t align with Trump’s claims; by some measures, drug shortages increased more on Trump’s watch than on Biden’s.
