Category Archives: US healthcare

Kentucky man declared brain dead wakes up during organ harvesting

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Case of Anthony Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials

A man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons in his home state of Kentucky were in the middle of harvesting his organs for donation, his family has told media outlets.

As reported Thursday by both National Public Radio and the Kentucky news station WKYT, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials. Officials within the US’s organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family told the outlets their experience highlights a need for at least some reform.

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Missouri sees first positive bird flu case without known animal contact

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Also first time for someone with H5 virus to be hospitalized, and CDC says it is studying patient specimen more

A person in Missouri with no known animal contact has tested positive for H5 bird flu, the state’s department of health and senior services said Friday.

It’s the first time a patient in the US outbreak has had no known exposure to sick animals. And it is the first time someone has been hospitalized with bird flu – though it’s not clear yet whether influenza was the reason for hospitalization or it was incidental.

This article was updated on 6 September 2024 to correct that the Missouri department of health and senior services, not the state’s agriculture department, made the announcement about a person testing positive for H5 bird flu.

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Mosquito-borne virus prompts public health restrictions in Massachusetts – and backlash

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Climate crisis could accelerate spread of mosquito-borne diseases like eastern equine encephalitis, experts warn

Local officials in Massachusetts have issued warnings about mosquitoes carrying eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), and, in one case, placed restrictions on the use of public fields at night, prompting backlash from some residents.

Public health experts, and others, are also concerned that such mosquito-borne viruses could become more common in the United States because of the climate crisis.

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Fewer US women received early and adequate prenatal care last year – CDC

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Decline in early prenatal care was accompanied by 5% rise in number of patients who received no prenatal care at all

Fewer women received early and adequate prenatal care in 2023, new data released this week by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.

The small year-over-year decline comes amid tectonic shifts in women’s rights and access to reproductive healthcare in the US and in spite of a federal government initiative meant to improve prenatal care access. Seventeen states ban abortion at conception or soon after.

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Biden and Harris celebrate landmark deal to lower medication prices

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President declares ‘we finally beat big pharma’ as he joins Harris on stage in Maryland for first time since exiting race

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Thursday cast themselves as the champions of American seniors in a David-and-Goliath fight against big pharmaceutical companies, at a joint event touting a landmark deal to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

“We finally beat big pharma,” the US president declared, sharing the stage with his vice-president for the first time since he abandoned his re-election bid in late July and Harris replaced him as the Democratic nominee.

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Deli meat-linked listeria outbreak kills two and sends two dozen to hospital

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Largest number of people affected were in New York, and the two who died were from Illinois and New Jersey

At least two people have died and more than two dozen were hospitalized in an outbreak of listeria food poisoning linked to meat sliced at grocery store deli counters, US federal health officials said on Friday.

At least 28 people in a dozen states have gotten sick, though the largest number, seven, were in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The people who died were from Illinois and New Jersey. Samples were collected from 29 May to 5 July and so far, all of the people known to be part of the outbreak have been hospitalized.

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Nevada activists secure signatures for vote on abortion access in November

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Nearly double number of signatures needed turned in to get measure to enshrine abortion rights in constitution on ballot

Activists in Nevada, a key state in the upcoming US presidential elections, announced on Monday afternoon that they had turned in nearly double the number of signatures they need to get an abortion-related measure on the November ballot.

Nevada currently allows abortions up until fetal viability, or the point at which an infant can survive outside the womb, which is generally pegged to around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

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Forgiving medical debt after it is sent to collections has fewer benefits – study

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Experts partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a medical non-profit that buys and forgives debt, found it had little effect on people’s credit scores and mental health

Medical debt is the most common form of debt in collections in the US. But forgiving that debt once it has gone to collections may provide fewer health and financial benefits than once hoped.

A new study by researchers who partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit that buys and forgives medical debt, found “disappointing” results when people’s bills were purchased and forgiven, with little impact on people’s credit scores and willingness to go to the doctor.

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Medical studies find no trace of physical harm in Havana syndrome patients

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Two new studies find no significant differences between US government officials suffering from condition and control group

Two new medical studies have found that US government officials suffering from Havana syndrome symptoms did not show any discernible physical damage or alteration.

One of the studies published on Monday by the federally funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined brain imaging, while the other looked at blood biomarkers and clinical assessments of hearing, vision, hand-eye coordination, cognitive ability and balance.

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‘Outrageous and unacceptable’: Biden and Harris decry Alabama court ruling on IVF

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President and vice-president speak out against ruling while Haley attempts to retract comments on embryos being babies

The decision of the Alabama supreme court on in vitro fertilization, granting legal protections to frozen fertilized eggs, drew fire from President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders on Thursday, laying responsibility for the decision on the US supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade in 2022.

“A court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said in prepared remarks on Thursday. “The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”

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Doctors fighting US opioid epidemic say insurance barrier impedes treatment

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Prior authorization requires permission to be sought before prescribing critical drugs, which could cost lives, doctors say

In the midst of the worst overdose epidemic in US history, addiction medicine specialists say a bureaucratic hurdle is adding to the difficulty of getting people in treatment: an insurance industry tactic called “prior authorization”.

Loathed by doctors of all stripes, prior authorization requires healthcare providers to seek permission from insurance companies before they prescribe a treatment. Doctors in addiction medicine said the requirement is both unnecessarily burdensome and could cost lives.

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Generic drugs in the US are too cheap to be sustainable, experts say

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Non-brand-name drugs are one inexpensive part of the healthcare system but they’re driving some manufacturers out of business

Generic drugs are the singularity of American healthcare – they are too cheap. And it’s driving some manufacturers out of business altogether.

Drug prices regularly sparks recrimination and outrage on Capitol Hill, such as a recently announced investigation by Senate Democrats and Bernie Sanders into the price of albuterol inhalers.

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‘Happy to be alive’: US woman gets limbs amputated after kidney stone surgery

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Doctors told Kentucky woman she would need quadruple amputation to save her life after kidney stone infection spread

A Kentucky woman who unexpectedly learned she would lose her legs and arms during what she thought would be a relatively routine bout with a kidney stone is confronting her plight by focusing on what she still has.

“I’m just so happy to be alive,” Lucinda “Cindy” Mullins – who’s raising two sons with her husband – recently told the Kentucky news station WLEX. “I get to see my kids. I get to see my family. I get to have my time with my husband.

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‘I feel like a criminal for quitting’: nurses in the US fight ‘stay or pay’ agreements

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Filipino nurses for Ohio-based company say they have been forced to pay thousands in fees after signing training contracts

Filipino nurses are calling for the US’s top labor watchdog to review controversial “stay or pay” training repayment agreement provisions that have left them facing lawsuits and thousands of dollars in fees after they quit their jobs.

Training repayment agreement provisions (Trap) are contracts employers require workers to sign before beginning a job and stipulate that if a worker leaves the job before a specified time, they owe substantial fees.

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Texas judge blocks ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors

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Ruling comes on same day Missouri judge rules similar law can take effect, prohibiting doctors giving crucial care to trans youth

A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state’s upcoming ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, the latest in a legal fight over efforts by conservatives to restrict such care around the country.

The decision came on the same day a Missouri judge ruled that a similar law can take effect.

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US approves first RSV vaccine for use during pregnancy to protect babies

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CDC must now weigh in on vaccine to fight respiratory infection in vulnerable newborns

US regulators on Monday approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women so their babies will be born with protection against the scary respiratory infection.

RSV is notorious for filling hospitals with wheezing babies every fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Pfizer’s maternal vaccination to guard against a severe case of RSV when babies are most vulnerable – from birth through six months of age.

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Pig kidney keeps working for over a month in brain-dead man’s body

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Medical breakthrough marks longest pig kidney has functioned in a human, setting stage for operations in living patients

A pig’s kidney transplanted by surgeons into a brain-dead man has continued to function normally for more than a month – a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients.

The latest experiment, announced on Wednesday by New York University Langone Health, marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one, and it’s not over. Researchers will track the kidney’s performance for a second month.

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A hero twice over: US paramedic saves lives of two people in one family

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Kristi Hadfield saved John Cunningham, a military veteran, in 2016 and years later, donated a kidney to his daughter, Molly

A paramedic who once restarted a US military veteran’s heart has now saved the life of that man’s daughter.

Kristi Hadfield’s life-saving heroics in benefit of retired marine John Cunningham and his daughter Molly Cunningham Jones earned a heartwarming narrative feature from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week, which went viral among social media platforms that aggregate uplifting news stories.

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FDA advisers say new Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab slows cognitive decline

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Panel’s opinion could pave way for full regulatory approval next month for treatment of disease that affects 6.5m Americans

A panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration agreed that a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease was beneficial for slowing cognitive decline, paving the way for full regulatory approval next month.

Earlier this year, the drug, known as lecanemab, was granted partial, or accelerated, approval, but that restricted it to people who could pay $26,500 a year or were enrolled in a clinical trial. Under its current status, it is not available under the public health programs Medicare and Medicaid.

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US health authorities reportedly plan to stop tracking Covid on community level

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Instead of using colour-coded system focusing on spread of virus by county the CDC will track hospitalisation rates

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly plans to stop tracking the spread of Covid-19 on the community level across the country, signalling what could be the federal government’s readiness to reconsider priorities in its approach to the pandemic despite the World Health Organization’s declaration that it is still ongoing.

Instead of using its colour-coded Covid-19 tracking system that focuses on the spread of the virus by counties, the CDC will pivot its tracking focus mostly to hospitalisation rates, CNN first reported on Friday.

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