Rural Americans are likelier to develop chronic pain than their urban counterparts, a grim trend exacerbated by limited access to healthcare, age and economic status. A study conducted by the University of Texas at Arlington, released last week, found that more than a third of people in rural areas experience increased pain or are nearing a chronic pain diagnosis. Residents in urban areas, meanwhile, aren't as vulnerable to persistent, years-long pain and are likelier to experience no pain at all.
Out-of-state doctors are pushing for laws that will make it harder to detect who prescribes and sends abortion medication, as anti-abortion lawmakers look for ways to stop the flow of pills to their states.
Lack of access to healthy food is a threat to the lives of cancer survivors—a significant and often overlooked factor affecting their long-term health outcomes. A new study shows that those experiencing food insecurity had a 28 percent relative increase in risk of death as compared to those who were food secure.
The Oregon Senate passed a bill on Monday to put new safeguards in place in an effort to reduce workplace violence against healthcare workers. Senate Bill 537 would require violence-prevention procedures in healthcare settings, as well as data tracking for incidents of workplace violence.
City hospitals and homeless shelters are already feeling the weight of this week's heat wave, in which temperatures are expected to reach 100 degrees with a heat index of 102 degrees. Newark activated a Code Red for 11 a.m. Sunday, June 22 through 8 a.m. Thursday, June 26 – the city's first Code Red of the season with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees for two days or more.
Dr. Andre Obua drove 18 hours from Miami to Terre Haute, Indiana. He pulled up to the home of a local kidney specialist and allegedly opened fire, striking the kidney doctor in the hand before being wrestled to the ground. The only thing more unexpected than the act of violence was the apparent motive. Accused in the shooting, which occurred one month after the brazen murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York City, was Obua, a highly educated medical resident with a promising career. But Obua had become fixated on one of the least-understood corners in the big business of medicine — kidney dialysis.