California is weighing stiff penalties for hospitals and other healthcare entities that don’t stay under state spending limits, potentially levying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if these providers don’t take steps to rein in rising healthcare costs.

If the state Office of Health Care Affordability adopts the fines next week, ...Read more

“No more operations,” he said.

It was mid-January 2026, and my then-73-year-old husband, Mike Salmon, had just started bouncing back from a three-month ordeal of three operations related to aortic aneurysms, sepsis, and a terrifying descent into delirium tied to a stay in the intensive care unit. Now, after another potentially fatal aortic ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I'm getting a new driver's license and am thinking about checking the "organ donor" box for the first time. I don’t know anyone who’s been an organ donor, and my family and friends haven’t talked about this. Can anyone donate?

ANSWER: People of many ages, backgrounds and health histories may be eligible to become organ ...Read more

Northwestern University economist Chuck Manski studies decision-making amid uncertainty. That prepared him better than many other cancer patients to decide whether to stay on an immunotherapy treatment that was making him very ill.

For six months in 2022, Manski received monthly infusions of nivolumab to fight advanced melanoma. The drug ruined...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania, state officials said Tuesday, marking the first fatalities involving the highly contagious disease in the state in 35 years and the only measles-related deaths reported nationally so far this year.

Both were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, the center of a major ...Read more

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just west of the St. Johns River, which divides this sprawling city racially and economically, 2-year-old A’mahri Robinson was murdered in his mother’s arms.

Ladonna Johnson was rocking A’mahri to sleep in March when he was shot in the head with a gun she kept for protection.

A’mahri loved going outdoors and ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania, state officials confirmed Tuesday, the first fatalities from the highly contagious disease in the state in 35 years and the only deaths involving the highly contagious disease reported nationally so far this year.

The deaths occurred in Lancaster County, the center of a major ...Read more

Misinformation and distrust are among the challenges facing public health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they confront the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record. Even though the virus has faded from U.S. headlines, key organizations are still at work providing medical care and training to counter the spread of the disease.

...Read more

The City Council of Pueblo, Colorado, voted to ban the distribution of syringes through syringe service programs starting in May 2024.

Also called needle exchanges, these programs are run by community organizations that provide healthcare services. The impetus for the ban, as council members noted, was syringe litter in public spaces....Read more

Lactose intolerance makes drinking milk or eating ice cream a literal pain. For some people, eating a dairy treat can lead to bloating, nausea and diarrhea. You might’ve experienced its effects yourself. If so, you may think of lactose intolerance as a defect rather than the norm.

But did you know that most people in the world today...Read more

While America is suffering a mental health crisis, the good news is that tens of millions of people are getting help. In 2023, 60 million adults reported having sought counseling or treatment in the previous year, and the numbers continue to rise.

Psychotherapy works because of what’s known as the therapeutic frame, a set of boundaries that ...Read more

For years, health insurers have argued that the arbitration system through which they dispute bills must be broken because providers win so often — which obliges insurance companies to pay medical expenses they sought to avoid. Physicians, hospitals and air ambulances prevail in more than 80% of disputes under the No Surprises Act, which took ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland officials declared a measles outbreak in three counties as cases continue to rise, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

Officials identified St. Mary’s, Carroll and Cecil counties as outbreak spots. MDH is investigating 14 new confirmed cases in unvaccinated Maryland residents. No public exposures have been ...Read more

No matter what grade your child is entering this fall, your back-to-school checklist is probably already filling up. Here's why a thorough physical and a sports physical should be on your checklist.

An annual visit with your pediatrician provides an up-to-date picture of your child’s growth, development and overall health. For many healthy ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Alex Anderson and Meg Nohner were driving through the heart of Minneapolis on a recent weekday when they got a call from headquarters: A woman was talking to herself outside a business on Lake Street.

Part of the city’s behavioral crisis response team, Anderson and Nohner arrived to find a tall woman wearing bright blue yoga ...Read more

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a bill Thursday that offers greater protections for reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare — both for patients and for providers in the state — by making it a crime to intervene against such care.

The new law strengthens existing reproductive healthcare protections and also broadens them to now ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday outlined potential changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, suggesting kids shots should be spread farther apart in contrast to recommendations from pediatric groups.

The request for information fulfills directives outlined in President Donald Trump’s executive order ...Read more

What comes to mind when you think about preventing teen suicide? Crisis hotlines, maybe. Emergency interventions. Those matter – but prevention often starts earlier, in everyday relationships at home, school and in the community. A parent asking about a teenager’s day over dinner, for instance. Or a teacher helping a student find purpose ...Read more

The World Health Organization estimates that in 2026 nearly 11 million people will contract the virus that causes measles. Most of these cases will occur in Africa and Asia, but many countries in the Americas and Europe are reporting outbreaks affecting hundreds or thousands of people.

There is no treatment for measles, but vaccines ...Read more