Latest KFF Health News Stories
In New Hampshire, Even Mothers In Treatment For Opioids Struggle To Keep Children
New Hampshire parents who are trying to overcome opioid abuse face a ticking clock and limited state resources to try to keep their parental rights.
Kate Spade’s Death Ignites Concern About Rising Suicide Rate
At least 45,000 Americans commit suicide every year, often tied to mental health issues or substance abuse.
What Explains The Rising Overdose Rate Among Latinos?
Opioid addiction is often portrayed as a white problem, but overdose rates are now rising faster among Latinos and blacks. Cultural and linguistic barriers may put Latinos at greater risk.
Will We Still Be Relevant ‘When We’re 64’?
Older adults often feel invisible as their interactions with younger people dwindle and hardly anyone seems to seek their advice. To make matters worse, studies link loneliness to weaker immune systems and poorer physical health.
For The Babies Of The Opioid Crisis, The Best Care May Be Mom’s Recovery
Research is just beginning on infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, and doctors are optimistic that normal development is possible. Monitoring the families and making sure parents are treated for addiction is key.
Listless And Lonely In Puerto Rico, Some Older Storm Survivors Consider Suicide
More than six months ago, Hurricane Maria upended routines and shuttered services on the island leading to a sense of despair and isolation, especially among older people.
Use Of Psychiatric Drugs Soars In California Jails
A combination of factors has led to an “astronomical” increase in mentally ill inmates, followed by increased efforts to identify those who need prescriptions. Some say the meds are underprescribed; others, that they are given inappropriately, without the benefit of comprehensive treatment.
Alarming Suicide Rate Jolts Texas Community Into Action
Tyler, Texas, and the surrounding county has the highest suicide rate among the state’s 25 most populous counties, and community leaders are determined to change that.
Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction
About 2,000 Californians died of opioid overdoses in 2016, but access to medications that treat addiction is limited in some parts of the state.
California Lawmakers Seek Reparations For People Sterilized By The State
More than 20,000 Californians were sterilized at state homes and hospitals from 1909 to 1979, most of them women, people with disabilities and immigrants. Now, a state lawmaker wants to provide reparations to the roughly 800 living survivors, many of whom never consented to the procedures or did so under pressure.
To Treat Pain, PTSD And Other Ills, Tennessee Vets Try Tai Chi
In hopes of reducing an over-reliance on pills for anxiety and pain, the Department of Veterans Affairs has taken a turn toward alternative medicine.
Psychiatrist Stays Close To Home And True To Her Childhood Promise
Yamanda Edwards is the only psychiatrist at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, caring for residents in South Los Angeles, a community with a shortage of mental health care.
How Many Opioid Overdoses Are Suicides?
Opioid overdoses and related deaths are still climbing, U.S. statistics show. Teasing out which overdoses are intentional can be hard, but is important for treatment, doctors say.
Women In Medicine Shout #MeToo About Sexual Harassment At Work
Lawsuits and complaints about sexual harassment are piling up in the health care industry as women take on doctors, peers and co-workers.
Docs Worry There’s ‘Nowhere To Send’ New And Expectant Moms With Depression
California’s legislature will soon take up a bill that would require doctors to screen pregnant women and new mothers for mental health problems. Many doctors oppose the idea, and laws elsewhere haven’t increased the number of moms treated.
California’s Tax On Millionaires Yields Big Benefits For People With Mental Illness, Study Finds
The research, focused on Los Angeles County, casts a positive light on a 2004 initiative that expanded mental health services statewide. A recent state audit, however, suggested hundreds of millions of dollars from the initiative were piling up, left unspent by counties.
Oregon Medical Students Face Tough Test: Talking About Dying
Starting this spring, aspiring doctors at the Oregon Health & Science University must prove they can communicate about difficult subjects ranging from admitting medical mistakes to notifying families about a patient’s death.
A Battered Doctor, A Slain Patient And A Family’s Quest For Answers
An addiction-treatment physician fatally shot a troubled ex-Marine after the man pummeled him inside his California office, police records show. The tragedy illustrates how the limited number of clinics available to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug that all but erases opioid withdrawal, can become crowded, chaotic and dangerous.
Mental Health Funding Tied To Florida’s Controversial Gun Legislation
The same Florida bill that would put more guns in schools would provide the state with $90 million more for mental health resources, including $69 million for schools. Advocates say those funds for mental health care are desperately needed.
Trump’s Perfect Score On Brain Test Spawns DIY Cognitive Exam
The makers of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, say the test wasn’t meant for the masses. Now they’re working on a “mini-MoCA” that people who are worried about possible dementia can take online.
