Prescription weight loss drugs: What to know
WeightWatchers’ acquisition of a telehealth company is just the latest commercial push into the market for a new generation of medications that promise significant weight loss. WeightWatchers will introduce its 3.5 million members to drugs that have been touted on social media by celebrities. These injected medications mimic the action...
Medical tourism: Traveling outside U.S. for care is common
The recent kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico highlights a common practice for many people in the U.S.: traveling to other countries for medical care that either is not available at home or costs a lot less. The four were abducted — leading to the deaths of two — during...
WeightWatchers gets into prescription weight loss business
WeightWatchers’ stock soared Tuesday after the company said it is getting into the prescription drug weight loss business with the acquisition of Sequence. Sequence is a telehealth provider that offers users access to drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity under the brand names including Ozempic, Wegovy and Trulicity. The...
Lawsuit: Western Psych staff mistook nurse’s disabilities, injected him with antipsychotic meds
A former charge nurse at Pittsburgh’s Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic has filed a lawsuit alleging that colleagues mistook symptoms of his disabilities for substance abuse and injected him with an antipsychotic medication before trying to have him involuntarily committed. Aaron Diamond, now of Lehigh County, had worked as a...
FDA: 2 more eyedrops brands recalled due to risks
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are alerting consumers about two more recalls of eyedrops due to contamination risks that could lead to vision problems and serious injury. The announcements follow a recall last month of eyedrops made in India that were linked to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections. One person...
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month — and the disease is hitting people younger
March has been designated National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, bringing with it more tools and information for individuals on screenings and risk. According to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, one in 24 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer (the second deadliest cancer in the U.S.) in their lifetimes. “Colon cancer...
Proposed bill would give Pa. doctors more leeway in prescribing medical marijuana
A bipartisan bill expected to be introduced soon in Harrisburg would loosen regulations of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program and could substantially increase the number of cannabis patients in the state. A memo on the legislation co-sponsored by state Sens. Jim Brewster, D-McKeesport, and Mike Regan, R-York, said the bill would...
Carnegie Mellon air quality data shows levels of ‘potential concern’ from Ohio derailment site
Carnegie Mellon University scientists monitoring the air near the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment site found levels of pollution from most chemicals measured to be of low or minimal risk, but at least one pollutant was detected at levels of “potential concern.” Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M University teamed...
The implications of Walgreens’ decision on abortion pills
Walgreens says it will not start selling an abortion pill in 20 states that had warned of legal consequences if it did so. The drugstore chain’s announcement Thursday signals that access to mifepristone may not expand as broadly as federal regulators intended in January, when they finalized a rule change...
Officials: Person dies after brain-eating amoeba infection
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — A person in southwest Florida has died after being infected with an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba, health officials said. The Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County confirmed the death Thursday. The agency had previously issued an alert last month, warning residents about the Naegleria fowleri...
How officials cracked case of eyedrops that blinded people
NEW YORK — The patients’ eyes were painfully inflamed. They could sense light but could see almost nothing else. A doctor called one case the worst eye infection he’d ever seen. It was the beginning of a national outbreak caused by an extremely worrisome bacteria — one that some say...
Lilly plans to slash some insulin prices, expand cost cap
Eli Lilly will cut prices for some older insulins later this year and immediately give more patients access to a cap on the costs they pay to fill prescriptions. The moves announced Wednesday promise critical relief to some people with diabetes who can face thousands of dollars in annual costs...
U.S. agencies sow confusion over ‘lab leak’ theory of covid origins
A report from the Wall Street Journal on Monday said sources inside the U.S. Department of Energy now believe with “low confidence” that the global spread of covid-19 was “most likely” the result of a laboratory leak in China. The report contradicts four other U.S. agencies that have investigated how...
Low-calorie sweetener may increase risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds
We all know staying away from sugar has been of caution for ages, but has the time come to start keeping an eye on sugar substitutes as well? Apparently, a new study said consuming food or drinks flavored by a sugary replacement called erythritol — often found in Splenda packets,...
UPMC cites employment costs, pandemic as profits fell in 2022
Pittsburgh-based health care giant UPMC reported profits of about $238 million during 2022, a 71% drop compared to the previous year. Edward Karlovich, executive vice president and chief financial officer of UPMC, called it a “difficult year in health care,” but said UPMC made long-term investments in 2022 to improve...
Merged Excela, Butler health system is struggling financially, CEO says
Economic storm clouds are on the horizon for the newly combined Excela and Butler health systems, and a “significant expense reduction plan” is in the near future, according to an internal letter signed by President and CEO Ken DeFurio. In the letter — sent to employees and medical staff at...
Experts in lawsuit say mental health care at Allegheny County Jail is ‘grossly inadequate’
Experts retained as part of a federal lawsuit over the treatment of mentally ill people being held at Allegheny County Jail said the facility’s mental health care is “shockingly substandard.” The expert reports filed this month in federal court blamed the problems on issues including:A shortage in medical staffing.A lack...
UPMC, head of cardiothoracic surgery will pay $8.5M to feds to settle lawsuit
UPMC, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon there and a physicians group will pay the federal government $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of knowingly submitting hundreds of false claims to Medicare, failing to follow medical standards for surgery and knowingly placing patients at risk. The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed...
Former ‘Mr. Pittsburgh’ overcomes cancer, creates fitness hotline for seniors
Nick Majoris still has the green fiberglass mask with holes that was placed over his head and bolted to a table during radiation treatments for throat cancer. It has “X” marks where the radiation was directed. A reminder of a time when he didn’t feel well, he keeps it to...
Regional initiative launches on patient safety and technology in health care
Think about your smartphone. You rarely leave home without it, and there’s a team dedicated to making sure the device is upgraded and meaningful to you. But a dedicated team to making sure health care is safer for patients — and that workers can work in the best environments —...
Feds seek to limit telehealth prescriptions for some drugs
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration moved Friday to require patients see a doctor in person before getting attention deficit disorder medication or addictive painkillers, toughening access to the drugs against the backdrop of a deepening opioid crisis. The proposal could overhaul the way millions of Americans get some prescriptions after...
Flu vaccine worked well in season that faded fast, CDC says
NEW YORK — Early estimates suggest the flu vaccine performed well in a U.S. winter flu season that has already dissipated. The vaccines were more than 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital,...
FTD explained: Experts on brain disorder’s symptoms and treatment
Fans and followers of Hollywood icon Bruce Willis were shocked and saddened by the news of the actor’s diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, a rare form of dementia. The family shared the diagnosis with fans to help raise awareness of this condition, releasing this statement about Willis’ condition to...
How the Ohio train derailment impacted Pa.’s air and water quality
Social media sites have been full of hyperbole and misinformation since a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, early this month. Some viral posts have falsely claimed that the derailment and subsequent controlled burn were part of the deadliest environmental disaster in history — even...
Amazon closes $3.9B buyout of health company One Medical
NEW YORK — Amazon said Wednesday it has closed its $3.9 billion acquisition of the primary care organization One Medical. The e-commerce giant has said the buyout, which was announced in July, is a key component of its growing health care business, which includes its online drugstore Amazon Pharmacy and...
