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Catherine Sweeney was one of the reporters in the witness room during the attempted execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. The journalists knew that a recent execution hadn’t gone according to plan and that Pike’s lawyers had predicted failure because of a health condition. They’d even asked for her to be hanged instead.
The death penalty is legal in 27 states, and lethal injection is the primary method. That means involving medical professionals to store, test, and inject the drugs. After a botched execution in Tennessee, doctors and nurses there say medical professionals need to be removed from the process completely.
In most states, people with Medicaid coverage will have to prove they’re working, volunteering, or studying starting Jan. 1. But Montana put the rules into effect early, and they’re sowing uncertainty and anxiety.
A nonprofit and a local public health agency are subsidizing marketplace health insurance for Austin music artists, even as shifting marketplace conditions make the program a more expensive proposition. It’s becoming a model for other cities and sectors.
Federal programs that support brain injury research and services are in flux, with lapsed legislation and a diminished injury-tracking workforce. Still, in rural Pennsylvania, children with acquired brain injuries gathered for a summer camp that emphasized community, confidence, and fun.
Healthcare workers at a Michigan hospital have been on strike since last September. Violence on the job is one reason behind it, with federal data showing hospital workers are seven times as likely to be injured on the job due to violent acts as members of the general working population.
Special Medicaid programs in many states allow disabled people to work while receiving benefits, and most limit how much participants can earn and the assets they can hold. Some Iowans are pushing lawmakers to remove those limits, which they say can dampen their career prospects.
Drug test strips are credited with saving lives, but a new policy will limit how funds can be used for them. Advocates of harm reduction strategies who responded to a mass overdose in Baltimore say distributing them will get harder. Federal officials say the strips enable drug use.
When the Trump administration upended years of vaccine advice, it left pediatricians in a quandary. Many say they can no longer direct families to the CDC as a trusted source of information. So some are creating their own.
The city wants to stop health crises before they happen and is creating a new service to do that when people call 911.
Amid advancements in treatment and screening, more Americans are surviving the disease. But many are left with psychological scars, such as lingering anxiety and depression.
RaDonda Vaught was convicted of negligent homicide for accidentally dispensing a deadly drug to a patient. She now gives speeches about hospital safety in an era of automation and artificial intelligence.
Doctors, lawmakers, and other advocates are joining forces to promote recommended childhood vaccines.
Mobile crisis units are trained to respond to emergency calls when people are experiencing delusions or hallucinations. But unlike police departments, which are generally funded by local taxpayers, mobile crisis teams don’t have a single, reliable funding source. As a result, some are closing down, despite successful operations and local support.
Louisiana is one of the worst-performing states when it comes to health outcomes of mothers and infants. New Orleans is trying to catch health issues early and get families off to an easier start by adding health visits during the crucial first months of life.
The Trump administration has made the future of federal funding for cancer research uncertain. At one groundbreaking breast cancer research lab, work that could save lives has slowed significantly.
An estimated 4.8 million people are expected to go without health coverage because Congress did not extend enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans. But even without a health plan, people will need medical care in 2026. Many of them have been thinking through their plan B to maintain their health.
Seniors are the fastest-growing segment of homeless Americans. Shelters are struggling to take in people with mobility issues and other chronic health conditions that can make living in a shelter nearly impossible. But specialized shelters for seniors are cropping up around the country to fill the gap.
Some advocates and lawmakers want to impose national regulations on the gambling industry but would settle for reining in excessive betting at the state level.
Amid concerns that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is undermining trust in vaccines and public health science, some states are seeking new sources of scientific consensus and changing how they regulate insurance companies, prescribers, and pharmacists. Colorado has been at the front of this wave.
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