About 41 percent of U.S. adults with hypertension are unaware they have it, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Left untreated, high blood pressure can increase the risk for heart disease and stroke. The American College of Cardiology defines hypertension as having systolic blood pressure of 130 mm Hg or above, or diastolic blood pressure of 80 mm Hg or above.
Lisa Domski, a Catholic who was terminated for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, has been awarded nearly $13 million in damages. A Detroit jury ruled that Blue Cross Blue Shield discriminated against Lisa Domski, by denying her request for a religious exemption from the company's vaccine mandate, which she made based on her 'sincerely held religious beliefs.'
A federal judge has again given the state more time to end its practice of holding mental health patients in emergency departments for prolonged periods. Last year, Judge Landya B. McCafferty ordered the state to end ER boarding by May 2024, saying those patients should not spend more than six hours in the ER before getting into treatment. This spring, McCafferty extended the original deadline through December 2024 when the state said it needed more time to comply. Last month, McCafferty again pushed that deadline back, giving the state until the end of next March.
A judge has found a northeast Missouri hospital board guilty of 'gross violations' of the Sunshine Law and voided all the actions taken during illegal closed meetings in August 2022. Circuit Judge Rick Roberts also ruled that Scotland County Hospital must pay a civil fine of $5,000 and attorneys fees to its former CEO, Dr. Randy Tobler. Tobler sued the hospital in March 2023, alleging he had been slandered, the target of a conspiracy to remove him and that the board vote to fire him was done at a meeting that violated the Sunshine Law. The slander and conspiracy counts were dismissed from his lawsuit, and a trial was held in September on the Sunshine Law violations.
Wellpath Holdings Inc., one of the largest providers of healthcare services to prisons and jails across the U.S., has filed bankruptcy after failing to meet its debt obligations while grappling with high labor costs. The H.I.G. Capital-backed firm, which filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion to $10 billion each. In a separate statement, Wellpath said it has secured a $522 million debtor-in-possession financing facility from some lenders and plans to sell some businesses.
The DOJ is moving to block UnitedHealth Group's $3.3 billion purchase of Amedisys Inc. over concerns the deal would harm competition in the market for home health services, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The report said antitrust officials have signed off on a lawsuit to be filed in federal court as soon as this week to stop the deal.