The director of a California state mental health agency traveled to the U.K. courtesy of Kooth, a digital mental health company with a $271 million contract to build a therapy app for the state’s youth. Weeks earlier, he pressed key legislative staffers to restore a proposed cut to Kooth’s funding.
This legislative cycle, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills affirming reproductive rights and mandating insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, but the Democrat was reluctant to impose new regulations and frequently cited costs for vetoing bills.
Uber and Lyft have become a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure for transporting ailing people from their homes — even in rural areas — to medical care sites in major cities such as Atlanta.
California legislators for years have granted extensions on a 1994 law requiring hospitals to retrofit their buildings to withstand earthquakes. Gov. Gavin Newsom in September vetoed an extension for all hospitals but signed a bill granting relief to rural and “distressed” hospitals and some others.
Facing a dire shortage of bilingual and culturally attuned therapists, an Oakland, California, community clinic serving Asian immigrants has trained staffers in a victim support unit to provide lay counseling.
In California, where abortion rights are guaranteed, there’s a loophole. The growth of Catholic hospital systems, which restrict reproductive health care, has left patients with no other option for care. That will be the case for pregnant women in Northern California, with a hospital set to close its birth center.
For decades, the pulse oximeters used in hospitals, ambulances, and homes have underestimated the oxygen needs of darker-skinned patients. The FDA is preparing guidelines to fix that. But will the new rules go far enough?
A famed breast cancer surgeon has created a California alternative to a major Texas event. Yet many doctors believe boycotting medical conferences in states that criminalize abortion accomplishes nothing and can be harmful.
A California ballot measure would roll back some decade-old criminal justice reforms that have become fodder for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Stiffer penalties for shoplifting have gotten much of the attention, but the measure also allows controversial treatment requirements for repeat drug offenders.
Democratic congressional hopefuls in California are highlighting the anti-abortion records of vulnerable Republican incumbents, many of whom have moderated their stances ahead of the election. With control of the U.S. House at stake, Democrats hope to convince voters that their candidates will do more to protect women’s health.
