Friday, Dec 06th
Last update08:59:07 AM GMT
Health Glance
One of the country’s largest insurers said Thursday it was pulling back a change in how it would pay for anesthesia care in certain states, after doctors and politicians loudly protested.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield told providers in New York, Connecticut, Missouri and Colorado that beginning in February, it would use Medicare metrics to determine payment rates for anesthesia, which is based on how long and complex a procedure is.
The son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent killed himself after suffering adverse side-effects from antidepressants prescribed by a Buckingham Palace doctor, an inquest has found.
Thomas Kingston, 45, whose marriage to Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019 was attended by the late Queen, died from a self-inflicted wound, the senior coroner for Gloucestershire concluded.
The financier was found dead at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds in February.
Gabriella, 43, told the inquest at Gloucestershire coroner’s court on Tuesday that the public needed to be warned about the effects of medications used to treat mental health conditions, or more people could die.
Idaho can enforce a first-of-its-kind “abortion trafficking” law against those who harbor or transport a minor to get an abortion out-of-state without parental consent, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
But the San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals in its ruling blocked a part of the law that prohibits “recruiting” a minor to get an abortion.
Idaho, which bans abortion in nearly all cases, passed the abortion trafficking law in 2023. It made “recruiting, harboring, or transporting” a minor with the intention of helping her get an abortion and conceal it from her parents or guardians a crime punishable by two to five years in prison.
Lourdes Matsumoto, a lawyer and advocate who works with victims of sexual violence, and two groups that support abortion rights sued the state to challenge the law soon after it was passed.
“We were both healthy as can be,” said Bonnie Krall. “We had just finished a giant trip to the Western United States, we came back, and bam, Bob was diagnosed.”
Bob didn’t have COVID but instead two very rare forms of cancer. Then, Bonnie got similar news.
Doctors are hailing a new way to treat serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attacks that marks the first breakthrough for 50 years and could be a “gamechanger” for patients.
A trial found offering patients an injection was more effective than the current care of steroid tablets, and cuts the need for further treatment by 30%.
The results, published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, could be transformative for millions of people with asthma and COPD around the world.
Benralizumab is a monoclonal antibody that targets specific white blood cells, called eosinophils, to reduce lung inflammation. It is used as a repeat treatment for severe asthma at a low dose, but the trial found a higher single dose could be very effective if injected at the time of a flare-up.
Life expectancy in the United States varies by more than 20 years depending on your race and ethnicity and where you live, according to new research. The authors call the level of health disparities "truly alarming."
In the study, published Thursday in The Lancet, researchers analyzed death records from the National Vital Statistics System and population estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics from 2000 to 2021.
Large disparities in life expectancy were apparent throughout the study period but grew more substantial over time, particularly during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors noted.
Higher usage of personal care products among pregnant or nursing women leads to higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in their blood and breast milk, new research shows, presenting a serious health threat to developing children.
The new study helps connect the dots among previous papers that have found concerning levels of PFAS in personal care products, umbilical cord blood, breast milk and shown health risks for developing children.
The analysis of data from 2,000 women is the largest to compare personal care product usage with PFAS levels, and the findings are “alarming” said Amber Hall, a Brown University researcher and study co-author.
“It’s not only getting in blood and breast milk, but it’s getting in there at high enough levels that we’re able to connect it with greater frequency of use,” Hall said.
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