Boston-based Mass General Brigham has drawn criticism from disability advocates and community members over how it’s handling masking at its hospitals, radio station GBH 89.7 reported May 17.
Category: Public Health
State Lawmakers Eye Forced Treatment to Address Overlap in Homelessness and Mental Illness
Democratic politicians in California and Oregon are reconsidering the restrictions of involuntary commitment laws. They argue that not helping people who are seriously ill and living in squalor on the streets is inhumane.
Lawyer Fees Draw Scrutiny as Camp Lejeune Claims Stack Up
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which became law last year, created a pathway for veterans and their families to pursue damage claims against the government for toxic exposure at the military base. Now, advocates and lawmakers worry high lawyer fees could shortchange those injured.
70% of people feel US healthcare system fails to meet their needs: Report
A survey of more than 2,500 U.S. adults found more than 70 percent feel the nation’s healthcare system fails to meet their needs in some way, Time reported May 16.
FDA makes push to address health misinformation
The FDA launched a ‘rumor control’ hub May 16 aimed at combating widespread misinformation about vaccines, medicine, science and health trends.
A Rural County’s Choice: Use Opioid Funds to Pay Off Debt, or Pay Them Forward to Curb Crisis
Greene County, Tennessee, so far has received more than $2.7 million from regional and national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. But most of the money is not going to help people and families harmed by addiction.
Do you own a gun? Hard questions, free gun locks take aim at reducing violence
Do you have access to a gun? Do you live with anyone who has acces to a gun? Clinicians at the University of Michigan’s psychiatric emergency department are asking these hard questions as part of an initiative to reduce gun violence — one gun and one f…
ED visits for mental health conditions fall 10%: CDC
Weekly emergency department visits nationwide for mental health conditions and drug overdoses among adolescents, have fallen by 10 percent, but levels are still slightly increasing for adolescent female patients specifically, according to a May 12…
How physicians pinned down the source of an eye infection tied to blindness, deaths
In February, the CDC issued a warning against a brand of eyedrops linked to dozens of severe eye infections in the U.S. But the bottles were causing infections months before that.
2 cases of highly contagious, drug-resistant pathogen identified in NY
The CDC on May 11 released details about the first two cases of an infection in New York caused by an emerging pathogen known as Trichophyton indotineae.
