Emergency Room

Getting High From This Drug For Diarrhea Can Be Fatal

4:09pm May 03, 2016

by Alison Kodjak

An increasing number of opioid abusers are taking huge doses of Imodium to ease withdrawal symptoms or get high. But at those high doses, toxicologists warn, the normally safe drug can stop the heart.

Seven years ago, Johns Hopkins Hospital collaborated with Baltimore's Safe Streets program to bring violence prevention workers into the hospital to meet with the injured and settle conflicts. Now, the health department in Baltimore is trying to revive th

Baltimore Sees Hospitals As Key To Breaking A Cycle Of Violence

6:35pm April 08, 2016

by Andrea Hsu

The city's health department wants to send ex-offenders who are trained to be "violence interrupters" to hospitals to talk with victims. Chicago has found such a program prevents repeat injuries.

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Hospitals Adapt ERs To Meet Patient Demand For Routine Care

5:38pm March 10, 2016

by Abe Aboraya

Many Floridians and other Americans turn to the ER for problems that aren't emergencies, a poll suggests, even though the experience can be unpleasant. Some ERs are striving to change their image.

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Dr. Max Lebow examines the ear of 4-year-old Charlotte Anderson at Reliant Immediate Care in Los Angeles. Charlotte's mom brought her to the urgent care clinic because Charlotte was having balance problems.

Can't Get In To See Your Doctor? Many Patients Turn To Urgent Care

10:16am March 07, 2016

by Patti Neighmond

A recent poll shows 27 percent of Americans have visited an urgent care center in the past two years. Why? Most cite convenience.

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Criminologist Joseph Richardson is skeptical that the federal government alone can solve the data problem for police shootings. "There has to be a more pioneering, innovative approach to doing it," he says.

Could Hospital ERs Provide Missing Data On Police Shootings?

6:18pm February 04, 2016

by Vanessa Rancaño

If police violence is considered a public health issue, then doctors and nurses might be able to compile basic information about shootings involving law enforcement that go unreported.

Going to an out-of-network emergency room can be costly.

ER Docs Say Rule Change Could Raise Patients' Out-Of-Network Bills

2:42pm December 24, 2015

by Michelle Andrews

Two physicians groups say federal government regulations for out-of-network emergency care payments will cost consumers more because insurers will pay less.

Dr. Janina Morrison, right, speaks with patient Jorge Colorado and his daughter Margarita Lopez about Colorado's diabetes at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

Community Health Workers Reach Some Patients That Doctors Can't

2:51pm October 29, 2015

by Anna Gorman

Los Angeles is finding that community health workers — problem solvers who are untrained in medicine, but fluent in compassion — can be key to helping the county's sickest and neediest get better.

Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee has found that connecting people with primary care doctors reduces the number of emergency room visits.

A Hospital Reduces Repeat ER Visits By Providing Social Workers

5:32pm October 23, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

Some people return to the emergency room again and again because it's their only source of medical care. A Wisconsin hospital hired social workers to help patients find more appropriate care.

Dietary Supplements Send Thousands To ERs Yearly

6:42pm October 14, 2015

by Rob Stein

More than 23,000 Americans end up in emergency rooms each year after taking dietary supplements, an analysis shows. Most cases are linked to weight-loss products or energy-boosting supplements.

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Dr. Bill Mahon says a gorgeous coast and the chance to practice a more personal style of community medicine lured him to remote Fort Bragg, Calif., 35 years ago.

Help Wanted: Last Pediatrician On Mendocino Coast Retires

8:27am August 31, 2015

by Farida Jhabvala Romero

For 35 years, Dr. Bill Mahon has tended newborns and broken bones, given kids checkups and spinal taps. But luring new doctors with big debt and urban dreams to the redwoods is harder than it sounds.