Kaiser Health News – Page 24

Lorraine Bonner's lawsuit alleges a Covidien stapler caused her bowel leak. Bonner says that Covidien hid "the true risks of using the device from surgeons and patients."

Medical device failures brought to light now bolster lawsuits and research

December 13, 2019 at 3:03 a.m.

Lorraine Bonner felt as though she was the only one. The surgical staples used to seal her colon after surgery had leaked, she has alleged in a lawsuit, spurring additional...

Employees work in a pharmacy in Berlin's Mitte district. Germany has struggled much less with opioid addiction than the United States.

How Germany averted an opioid crisis

December 11, 2019 at 3:00 a.m.

In 2016, 10 times as many Americans as Germans died as a result of drug overdoses, mostly opiates. Three times as many Americans as Germans experienced opioid addiction. Even as...

Dr. Arthur Kleinman and his wife, Joan. Dr. Kleinman's new book describes his awakening to the realities of caregiving when Joan was diagnosed with a rare form of early Alzheimer's disease.

As his wife’s caregiver, a doctor discovers what’s missing at health care’s core

December 24, 2019 at 1:48 p.m.

Caring for someone with a serious illness stretches people spiritually and emotionally, often beyond what they might have thought possible. Dr. Arthur Kleinman, a professor of psychiatry and anthropology at...

As his wife’s caregiver, a doctor discovers what’s missing at health care’s core

December 9, 2019 at 3:38 p.m.

Caring for someone with a serious illness stretches people spiritually and emotionally, often beyond what they might have thought possible. Dr. Arthur Kleinman, a professor of psychiatry and anthropology at...

Flat influenza immunization rates worry public health officials who say the vaccine is the best weapon to prevent the flu.

Efforts to move the needle on flu shot rates get stuck

December 5, 2019 at 1:27 a.m.

It's free and available everywhere. Yet most Americans skip the annual flu shot — with the number of dispensed vaccines barely changed in the past decade, despite government removal of...

A recently published report found that patients were dramatically more likely to resort to out-of-network providers for mental health and substance abuse treatment than for other conditions.

Affordable mental health care? It’s getting even tougher to access

December 12, 2019 at 9:39 a.m.

Eleven years after Congress passed a law mandating that insurers provide equal access for mental and physical health care, Americans are actually finding it harder to obtain affordable treatment for...

The flu shot is a prime example of how the health care system's lack of transparency can lead to disparate costs.

The startlingly high cost of the ‘free’ flu shot

January 14, 2020 at 12:10 p.m.

In the Byzantine world of health care pricing, most people wouldn't expect that the ubiquitous flu shot could be a prime example of how the system's lack of transparency can...

Shetland is half golden retriever, half Labrador retriever — and he's a lieutenant commander in the Navy and a clinical instructor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.

Sit, heal: Dog teaches military medical students the merits of service animals

November 26, 2019 at 4:21 p.m.

The newest faculty member at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences has a great smile — and a wagging tail. Shetland, not quite 2 years old, is half...

Betty Schottler, middle, was born with profound hearing loss. In the early days, it took Betty's big sister, Ellie, left, banging on a toy drum to capture the newborn's attention. Now Betty hears with the help of a cochlear implant.

For newborns with hearing loss, screening opens window to a world of sound

December 3, 2019 at 2:24 p.m.

Four-year-old Betty Schottler starts each morning with the same six sounds: (m), (ah), (oo), (ee), (sh) and (s). Her mom makes the sounds first, then Betty repeats them to check...

Betty Schottler holds up part of her cochlear implant.

For newborns with hearing loss, screening opens window to a world of sound

November 25, 2019 at 11:27 a.m.

Four-year-old Betty Schottler starts each morning with the same six sounds: (m), (ah), (oo), (ee), (sh), and (s). Her mom makes the sounds first, then Betty repeats them to check...

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