Florida hospitals ask immigrants about their legal status. Texas will try it next

Florida hospitals ask immigrants about their legal status. Texas will try it next

McALLEN, Texas — For three days, the staff of an Orlando medical clinic encouraged a woman with abdominal pain who called the triage line to go to the hospital. She resisted, scared of a 2023 Florida law that required hospitals to ask whether a patient was in the U.S. with legal permission. The clinic had … Read more

Senate committee to vote to hold Steward Health Care CEO in contempt

Senate committee to vote to hold Steward Health Care CEO in contempt

BOSTON — Members of a Senate committee looking into the Steward Health Care bankruptcy said they plan to adopt two resolutions next week to hold Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt — one for civil enforcement and another for certification to the United States Attorney for criminal contempt — after he refused to … Read more

Congressional Democrats push resolution that says hospitals must provide emergency abortions

Congressional Democrats push resolution that says hospitals must provide emergency abortions

WASHINGTON — A resolution introduced by Congressional Democrats would make clear that U.S. emergency rooms need to provide emergency abortions when a woman’s health or life is at risk, despite strict state abortion bans. Legislators cited a report by The Associated Press that found more than 100 pregnant women have been denied care since 2022 … Read more

Feds rarely punish hospitals for turning away pregnant patients

Feds rarely punish hospitals for turning away pregnant patients

As the pregnant woman’s contractions rolled in every two minutes, staff at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, dispatched an ambulance to send her elsewhere. Just two minutes later, she gave birth to a 6-pound baby girl in the cab of the ambulance down the road from the 900-bed … Read more

Kamala Harris gives abortion rights advocates the debate answer they’ve longed for in Philadelphia

Kamala Harris gives abortion rights advocates the debate answer they’ve longed for in Philadelphia

WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden gave bumbling remarks about abortion on the debate stage this summer, it was widely viewed as a missed opportunity — a failure, even — on a powerful and motivating issue for Democrats at the ballot box. The difference was stark, then, on Tuesday night, when Vice President Kamala Harris … Read more

Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, being turned away from ERs despite federal law

Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, being turned away from ERs despite federal law

WASHINGTON — Bleeding and in pain, Kyleigh Thurman didn’t know her doomed pregnancy could kill her. Emergency room doctors at Ascension Seton Williamson in Texas handed her a pamphlet on miscarriage and told her to “let nature take its course” before discharging her without treatment for her ectopic pregnancy. When the 25-year-old returned three days … Read more

More money could result in fewer trips to ER, study suggests

More money could result in fewer trips to ER, study suggests

Giving cash to poor people could result in fewer emergency department visits, a new study suggests. The study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at almost 2,900 low-income people who applied for a lottery in the Boston suburb of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Nearly 1,750 of them got up to $400 per … Read more

Street medicine teams search for homeless people to deliver lifesaving IV hydration in extreme heat

Street medicine teams search for homeless people to deliver lifesaving IV hydration in extreme heat

PHOENIX — Alfred Handley leaned back in his wheelchair alongside a major Phoenix freeway as a street medicine team helped him get rehydrated with an intravenous saline solution dripping from a bag hanging on a pole. Cars whooshed by under the blazing 96-degree morning sun as the 59-year-old homeless man with a nearly toothless smile … Read more

How does heat kill? It confuses your brain. It shuts down your organs. It overworks your heart.

How does heat kill? It confuses your brain. It shuts down your organs. It overworks your heart.

As temperatures and humidity soar outside, what’s happening inside the human body can become a life-or-death battle decided by just a few degrees. The critical danger point outdoors for illness and death from relentless heat is several degrees lower than experts once thought, say researchers who put people in hot boxes to see what happens … Read more

NHS rolls out ‘health MOTs’ for older patients arriving at A&E

NHS rolls out ‘health MOTs’ for older patients arriving at A&E

Tests will include blood pressure, heart health, mobility and malnutrition checks (Image: Getty) Older people who end up in A&E will be offered “health MOTs” to ensure they get the right care and reduce their risk of hospital admissions. Extra checks are being rolled out for patients over the age of 65 with frailty-related conditions … Read more