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Latest California Healthline Stories

Politics and Pandemic Fatigue Doom California’s Covid Vaccine Mandates

Even in deep-blue California, Democratic lawmakers pulled their proposed covid vaccine requirements before they had a vote. The lawmakers blamed the ebbs and flows of the virus, the public’s short attention span, and opposition from public safety unions.

Betting on ‘Golden Age’ of Colonoscopies, Private Equity Invests in Gastro Docs

An aging population in need of regular cancer screenings has driven private equity companies, seeking profits, to invest in many gastroenterology practices and set up aggressive billing practices. Steep prices on routine tests are one consequence for patients.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A(nother) Very Sad Week

Two mass shootings in two weeks — one at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers — have reignited the “guns-as-public-health-problem” debate. But political consensus seems as far away as ever. Meanwhile, the FDA is in the congressional hot seat over its handling of the infant formula shortage. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Rachana Pradhan of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Dr. Richard Baron, head of the American Board of Internal Medicine, about how doctors should discipline colleagues who spread medical misinformation.

Burned Out by Covid and 80-Hour Workweeks, Resident Physicians Unionize

In California and beyond, physician trainees working long hours for what in some states amounts to little more than minimum wage are organizing to seek better pay, benefits, and working conditions. More than 1,300 of them at three L.A. County public hospitals will vote May 30 on whether to strike.

Agotados por covid y por trabajar 80 horas a la semana, médicos residentes deciden sindicalizarse

Los residentes son médicos recién recibidos, que han terminado la carrera de medicina, y deben pasar de tres a siete años de formación en hospitales universitarios antes de poder ejercer de forma independiente. Ganan poco y trabajan mucho.

As ‘Trigger Law’ Looms, New Clinic Preps to Provide Abortions in Conservative Bastion

A Wyoming clinic slated to open this summer would be the only one in the state to provide procedural abortions and the closest option for some people in surrounding states. But its fate is uncertain now that the Supreme Court looks poised to strike down Roe v. Wade.

California Schools Try to Outrace Covid Outbreaks

A covid outbreak on a field trip. Another at prom. Yet administrators are reluctant to expose their schools to legal challenges by again requiring masks for students and staffers. That leaves parents fretful and confused.