Kaiser Health News – Page 23

Dr. Gerald Ciebien, a dentist, prepares to take an X-ray of patient Andrew Lyons' teeth during a 2005 dental exam at the Harbor Light Center in Chicago. The American Dental Association states abdominal shielding "may not be necessary" and says its guidance on shielding is under review.

Some hospitals say using lead aprons for X-rays does more harm than good. Lurie will stop using the shields this spring.

January 17, 2020 at 1:17 p.m.

Patients have come to expect a technician to drape their torsos with a heavy lead apron when they get an X-ray, but new thinking among radiologists and medical physicists is...

The National Consumer Law Center's model medical debt law would require substantial discounts for families of four with income below $103,000 and relief for patients with even higher incomes facing catastrophic bills.

Hospital group mum as members pursue patients with lawsuits and debt collectors

January 16, 2020 at 2:37 a.m.

The American Hospital Association, the biggest hospital trade group, says it promotes "best practices" among medical systems to treat patients more effectively and improve community health. But the powerful association...

For artist inspired by illness, ‘gratitude outweighs pain’

January 15, 2020 at 2:55 p.m.

People often ask Dylan Mortimer how it feels to breathe through transplanted lungs. He gets that a lot because while most people go through life with one pair of lungs,...

Conflicts about living arrangements and health care decisions can threaten relationships between aging parents and their adult children just when understanding and support are needed the most.

Parenting your aging parents when they don’t want help

January 1, 2020 at 3:00 a.m.

David Solie's 89-year-old mother, Carol, was unyielding. "No, I will not move," she told her son every time he suggested that she leave her home and relocate to a senior...

Key death data about heart devices sits in inaccessible Food and Drug Administration reports that can take up to two years for the public to see under open-records laws.

Reports of patients’ deaths linked to heart devices lurk below radar

January 21, 2020 at 6:49 p.m.

The Food and Drug Administration continues to file thousands of reports of patients' deaths related to medical devices through a reporting system that keeps the safety data out of the...

Relationships between adult children and their parents can fray with age. Experts offer help on how loved ones can preserve the love and negotiate those tension-filled final years.

Parenting your aging parents when they don’t want help

December 23, 2019 at 1:20 p.m.

David Solie's 89-year-old mother, Carol, was unyielding. "No, I will not move," she told her son every time he suggested that she leave her home and relocate to a senior...

Taxation has been an effective tool in reducing the number of people who smoke cigarettes. Early studies suggest that hiking prices on vapers might have the same effect.

In campaign to stop teen vaping, states turn to tried-and-true remedy: Taxes

December 19, 2019 at 10:23 a.m.

Kathleen Hambleton once used to spend $100 a week on Marlboro Reds. The 43-year-old nurse from Saxtons River, Vermont, paid a high price for her addiction to smoking, undergoing multiple...

New York's efforts to prevent suicides include testing a brief intervention program for people who have attempted suicide — because they are at risk for trying again. "They steal you for an hour from the universe and make you focus on the worst thing in your life and then coach you through it," Jessica Lioy says.

Among US states, New York’s suicide rate is the lowest. How is that?

December 18, 2019 at 2:02 a.m.

"I just snapped" is how Jessica Lioy describes her attempt in April to kill herself. After a tough year in which she'd moved back to her parents' Syracuse, New York,...

Ryan Sommer, head of security at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, leads violence de-escalation training and defense tactics for Scripps staff at different locations throughout San Diego County.

Patient-induced trauma: Hospitals learn to defuse violence

December 17, 2019 at 3:00 a.m.

When Mary Prehoden gets dressed for work every morning, her eyes lock on the bite-shaped scar on her chest. It's a harsh reminder of one of the worst days of...

The health care promises we cannot keep

December 16, 2019 at 2:05 p.m.

It was a promise Matt Perrin wasn't able to keep. "I'll never take away your independence," he'd told his mother, Rosemary, then 71, who lived alone on Cape Cod, Mass.,...

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