Health
Extra Extra Monday: Nebraska releases prisoners early; Koch brothers hold secret summit; Missile defense system proves unreliable
$40-billion missile defense system proves unreliable | Los Angeles Times The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, or GMD, was supposed to protect Americans against a chilling new threat from “rogue states” such as North Korea and Iran. But a decade after it was declared operational, and after $40 billion in spending, the missile shield cannot be relied…
Read MoreKids with no vaccinations clustered in some schools
“Some Ohio schools might as well have a target painted on the side of the building as far as public-health experts are concerned. In some schools in the state, as many as 1 in 3 incoming kindergartners and newly enrolled older students have parents who oppose vaccines, according to a Dispatch analysis of schools’ immunization…
Read MoreVA executives received $100M in bonuses as problems mounted
Executives and employees of the troubled Veterans Affairs health system enjoyed over $100 million in bonuses, according to the Asbury Park Press. The federal government warned the VA in the past about the growing issue of excessive patient wait times and its detrimental effect on the health care system. Still, VA executives and employees received…
Read MoreTaxpayers face big Medicare tab for unusual doctor billings
More than 2,300 providers – doctors, nurses, physician assistants – earned $500,000 or more from Medicare in 2012 from a single procedure or service, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the data. A few of those providers, including an internist in Los Angeles and a dermatologist in Port St. Lucie, Fla., collected more…
Read MoreDespite evidence of danger, some parents still share beds with infants
The tragedies put the city on pace for a deadlier-than-usual year for bed-sharing infants. Jackson County, meanwhile, has recorded 100 such deaths since 2004 believed to be related to co-sleeping — grim statistics seldom discussed publicly. The deaths continue to increase nationally despite a campaign by the American Academy of Pediatrics to avoid bed-sharing and…
Read MoreTrials of spinal surgery option Infuse were too little, too late
Three years after back surgery, Grace Nestler-Bramm learned that a drug designed to repair her spine was causing new bone to wrap around it and compress nerves. In March, the Cedar Grove resident became one of nearly 1,000 people who are suing Medtronic, the company that markets Infuse — a number certain to grow. A…
Read MoreThe cost of not caring: Inside a mental health system drowning from neglect
States have been reducing hospital beds for decades, because of insurance pressures as well as a desire to provide more care outside institutions, USA TODAY reports. Tight budgets during the recession forced some of the most devastating cuts in recent memory, says Robert Glover, executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program…
Read MoreFatally flawed: Truth gets buried under broken rules
“In a five-part series launched Saturday, the Charlotte Observer reveals that N.C. medical examiners routinely fail to follow crucial investigative steps, raising questions about the accuracy of thousands of death rulings. The living face the consequences. Widows can be cheated out of insurance money. Families may never learn why their loved ones died. Killers can…
Read MoreHow much salt is in your well water? For some, too much
More than half of the private wells in the Town of East Fishkill have higher concentrations of sodium from road salt than some government health standards recommend, according to a new study by local scientists. The findings by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies are preliminary. But they represent the first scientific analysis of well…
Read MoreInside the private umbilical cord blood banking business
The question of whether to pay for storage of a baby’s cord blood is now routinely asked of expectant parents in obstetrician offices and hospital delivery rooms. Many states have passed laws requiring that doctors tell expectant parents their options for cord blood: discard it; bank it privately; or donate it to a public bank,…
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