Health & Safety

VA addiction therapist Brandon Coleman, now on administrative leave, testified about widespread problems with privacy breaches before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs in September.

Privacy Violations Rising At Veterans Affairs Medical Facilities

9:37am December 30, 2015

Deceased veterans' documents were sent to the wrong widows. VA workers snooped on patients who had committed suicide. And whistleblowers contend the VA violated their medical privacy.

2015 Was Another Rough And Tumble Year For Obamacare

7:33am December 30, 2015

by Scott Horsley

The Affordable Care Act survived another challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court this year. But the still-fragile marketplace is showing the strain of rising health care costs.

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In Defense Of Food Stamps: Why The White House Sings SNAP's Praises

8:38pm December 29, 2015

by Vanessa Rancano

Republicans in Congress want to cut SNAP funding by 20 percent and transform the program. But proponents, including economists in the White House, say it keeps millions of families out of poverty.

A 'Celtic Curse' Has Roots Stretching Back To The Bronze Age

8:28pm December 29, 2015

by Rae Ellen Bichell

In people with hemochromatosis, iron builds up and can overload the heart and other organs. Geneticists looking at 5,000-year-old human remains say the disorder may have had evolutionary advantages.

Sue McConnell is one of more than 130 transgender veterans receiving treatment at the Tucson Veterans Affairs hospital.

New VA Clinic Opens For Transgender Vets

8:17pm December 29, 2015

by Jimmy Jenkins

The Tucson Veterans Affairs hospital is expanding treatment to the needs of trans veterans, one of the first such facilities in the U.S. to do so. The clinic's services include hormone treatment.

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Health & Safety

Draft Of CDC's New Prescribing Guidelines Stirs Debate

6:18pm December 29, 2015

by Robert Siegel

Since 1999, prescription opioid sales have quadrupled in the U.S. Now, as the country faces an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, doctors are divided over how much prescriptions are the problem.

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Medical workers surround 34-day-old Noubia, the last known patient to contract Ebola in Guinea, as she was released from a Doctors Without Borders treatment center in Conakry on Nov. 28.

A Cause For Cautious Celebration: Guinea Is Ebola-Free

5:38pm December 29, 2015

by Maanvi Singh

After two years and over 2,500 deaths, the country's epidemic has officially ended, the World Health Organization says. Health groups will be watching to ensure the virus doesn't re-emerge.

A CVS store on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, N.Y.

Repeat Violators Of Health Privacy Laws Often Go Unpunished

3:35pm December 29, 2015

Regulators have logged dozens, even hundreds of complaints against some health providers for violating federal patient privacy law. Warnings are doled out privately, and sanctions are rarely imposed.

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Health & Safety

How Sound Reveals The Invisible Within Us

3:31pm December 29, 2015

Microscopes illuminate the tiny. But sound? Scientists didn't really see it as all that important, until an amazing invention came along that opened new worlds: the stethoscope.

Actor John Boyega attends the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Hollywood. Boyega, the son of Nigerian immigrants, grew up in London.

Health & Safety

John Boyega Is Awakening 'Star Wars' Fans In Nigeria

3:11pm December 29, 2015

by Chinelo Onwualu

The actor who plays Finn, a disillusioned Stormtrooper in the new film, has said he's "a confident, Nigerian, black, chocolate man." Nigerian filmgoers are over the moon.