Equipment failures in two clinics in Cleveland and San Francisco not only resulted in the loss of thousands of frozen human embryos and eggs, the incidents also have raised new concerns about safeguards and regulation of booming and costly fertility programs. Experts said the mishaps were uncommon, and they were hard pressed to explain how advanced….
Continue ReadingObstetrics/Prenatal Care
Sleep deaths and other evidence show U.S. has far to go on kids’ health
Many grown-ups may love to grin, coo, and snuggle with babies and little kids, telling themselves that they’d bust through walls for the sake of adorable youngsters’ well-being. But evidence indicates the nation has a far way to go to better children’s health. Although the U.S. spends more per capita than most wealthy, democratic nations….
Continue ReadingPresident O? Let’s first look hard at her role in hyping health humbug
Oprah Winfrey’s recent rousing broadcast speech — both in accepting an entertainment industry group’s lifetime achievement award and denouncing sexism and sexual harassment in Hollywood — also opened the door to a reconsideration of how this talented, smart, accomplished, powerful, and wealthy celebrity icon long has helped to foster a barrage of health and medical….
Continue ReadingThe U.S. way? Rich reap good health, while poor toil in sickness
Here’s something that many Americans likely would want to think twice about letting happen: Should good health and long lives be just another of the spoils reserved to the rich? Vox, a news and information site, has posted a provocative dig into national data on longevity — a measure that has raised experts’ concern with….
Continue ReadingWhat’s a key factor in black moms’ high death rates? Segregated hospitals
The bad news for expectant black moms isn’t confined to those living in the nation’s capital: A new investigation has found higher risks of harm for women in New York, Florida, and Illinois when they deliver at hospitals that disproportionately serve black mothers. ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative site, analyzed two years of hospital inpatient….
Continue ReadingUnited Medical Center’s woes deepen as ratings group rips DC-area hospitals
Even as District of Columbia officials struggle with deepening woes at the United Medical Center (UMC), advocates from a national, independent, and nonprofit group have offered a dim review of hospitals in the DC area. The bad news keeps piling on at UMC, a leading provider of medical care for communities of color in the….
Continue ReadingElmo and George Washington University get caught up in researcher-PR hype
Elmo and the Colonials won’t make it as a new Saturday morning hit cartoon show. But the colorful characters might play a tangential part in some important lessons for consumers and some supposedly serious institutions on preserving the public trust in published, medical-scientific research. Healthnewsreview.org, a nonprofit and independent watchdog of health information, rightly has….
Continue ReadingIn a sadly still unequal U.S., parasites flourish and rural moms can’t get care
It can be too easy to forget the unfortunate, inequitable legacy of the Old South, especially how racist Dixie created stark racial health disparities. But sometimes a foreigner’s jab in the ribs can remind us how making America great again could mean tending much better to our collective p’s and q’s in public health, especially….
Continue ReadingD.C. hospital crackdown shows how patient safety information stays secret
Health officials caught expectant mothers, local politicians, and the D.C. community off guard by ordering the only full-service hospital in the southeast part of the District of Columbia to stop delivering babies and to shut its nursery for 90 days. Details weren’t provided as to why D.C. regulators slapped restrictions on United Medical Center’s obstetrics….
Continue ReadingWay Too Many American Moms Still Die in Childbirth
A new investigation of one of the great shames of American medical care raises big questions about why labor and delivery is more dangerous to new mothers in the U.S. than just about anywhere else in the civilized world. To their considerable credit, National Public Radio and Pro Publica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative news site, have joined….
Continue Reading