Medical Treatments

Annette Schiller of Palm Desert, Calif., who was 94 and diagnosed with terminal thyroid and breast cancer, had trouble finding doctors to help her end her life under California's new aid-in-dying law.

Legalizing Aid In Dying Doesn't Mean Patients Have Access To It

2:04pm January 25, 2017

by JoNel Aleccia

People in the six states where aid in dying is legal can have trouble finding a doctor or hospital to assist. Reasons cited include religious objections and doctors' discomfort with hastening death.

A vial of injectable steroids from the New England Compounding Center seen at the Tennessee Department of Health in Nashville in 2012.

Victims Of Contaminated Steroids Still Hurting: 'My Life's Upside-Down'

4:55pm January 24, 2017

by Lynn Jolicoeur

An outbreak of fungal infections tied to contaminated medicines killed at least 64 people and sickened about 700 more. Almost five years later, many people are still feeling the effects.

Melissa Morris outside her home in Sterling, Colo. She quit using heroin in 2012, and now relies on the drug Suboxone to stay clean. She's also been helping to find treatment for some of the neighbors she used to sell drugs to.

Rural Colorado's Opioid Connections Might Hold Clues To Better Treatment

5:14pm January 23, 2017

by Luke Runyon

Opioid abuse is rising fast among those who live in rural areas. Research suggests the drugs' illicit use there spreads rapidly via social networks, which could be part of the solution, too.

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Salma Shabaik holds her newborn son, Ali. When he was born, she held him naked against her bare skin, a practice called kangaroo care. Ali is wearing an ear cap to correct a lop ear.

Kangaroo Care Helps Preemies And Full Term Babies, Too

7:56am January 23, 2017

by Patti Neighmond

Holding a newborn on a parent's bare chest has long been used to help premature babies. Hospitals increasingly recommend it for full term babies, too. Doctors say it reduces pain and lowers stress.

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A large collage decorates a wall of one exam room at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco, Calif. Dr. David Smith, founder of the clinic, says patients and staff call the mural the Psychedelic Wall of Fame.

Haight Ashbury's Free Health Clinic: Middle-Aged And Still Groovy

6:09pm January 22, 2017

by Laurie Udesky

A series of mergers with other nonprofit clinics has transformed the 50-year-old San Francisco clinic into a $110 million health care system that provides networked care up and down California.

Truvada, when taken daily, can vastly reduce the risk of getting HIV in people at high risk.

Spreading The Word About HIV Prevention For African-American Women

1:22pm January 20, 2017

by Jose Soto

African-American women are more likely to be infected with HIV than other women. So the District of Columbia is launching an effort to inform them about PrEP, medication that can reduce their risk.

Some ethicists and consumer watchdog groups worry that the newly revised federal rules governing medical research don't go far enough to protect the rights and privacy of patients.

Scientists Needn't Get A Patient's Consent To Study Blood Or DNA

7:23pm January 18, 2017

by Rob Stein

In its update of ethics rules aimed at protecting patients, the Obama administration decided against a provision that scientists said would hinder research. Consumer advocates aren't happy.

Research with living systems is never simple, scientists say, so there are many possible sources of variation in any experiment, ranging from the animals and cells to the details of lab technique.

What Does It Mean When Cancer Findings Can't Be Reproduced?

4:54pm January 18, 2017

by Richard Harris

Results from some key cancer studies were different when the experiments were redone in different labs. Scientists don't yet know why but say the answer could have health implications for patients.

Several new studies document widespread conflicts of interest in medicine.

From Twitter To Treatment Guidelines, Industry Influence Permeates Medicine

5:23pm January 17, 2017

by Charles Ornstein

Several new studies document widespread conflicts of interest in medicine. The way we think about disease "is being subtly distorted" by financial ties, the authors of an accompanying editorial write.

Seven of the top 10 drugs by U.S. sales in 2015 were orphan drugs.

Drugs For Rare Diseases Have Become Uncommonly Rich Monopolies

5:23pm January 17, 2017

Drugmakers have brought almost 450 orphan drugs to market and collected rich incentives by doing so. But nearly a third of the medicines aren't new or were repurposed many times for financial gain.

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