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Treating Long COVID is rife with guesswork
Medical equipment is still strewn around the house of Rick Lucas, 62, nearly two years after he came home from the hospital. He picks up a spirometer, a device that measures lung capacity, and takes a deep breath — though not as deep as he’d like. Still, Lucas has come a long way for someone […]
App attempts to break bankruptcy barriers for those in medical debt
An unplanned and complicated pregnancy pushed Carlazjion Constant of Smyrna, Tennessee, to the financial brink. Her high-deductible health insurance paid virtually nothing toward the extra obstetrician visits needed during her high-risk pregnancy. Just as those bills totaling $5,000 came due last year, a real estate company started garnishing her paycheck over a broken lease during […]
Self-managed abortions gain attention, but ‘helpers’ risk legal trouble
At a recent rally in Nashville, Tennessee, Planned Parenthood organizer Julie Edwards looked out at some of the “back-alley abortion” imagery on signs, including bloody coat hangers. Edwards reminded the crowd, driven into the streets by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision on abortion rights, that it’s not like the old days before Roe […]
Medical boards pressured to let it slide when doctors spread COVID misinformation
Tennessee’s Board of Medical Examiners unanimously adopted in September a statement that said doctors spreading COVID misinformation — such as suggesting that vaccines contain microchips — could jeopardize their license to practice. “I’m very glad that we’re taking this step,” Dr. Stephen Loyd, the panel’s vice president, said at the time. “If you’re spreading this […]
Republican politicians embrace Ivermectin as COVID cure, even though science doesn’t
When state senators in South Carolina held two hearings in September about COVID-19 treatments, they got an earful on the benefits of ivermectin — which many of the lawmakers echoed, sharing experiences of their own loved ones. The demands for access to the drug were loud and insistent, despite federal regulators’ recent warning against using […]
Are masks a forever thing?
Masks and physical distancing are proving to have major fringe benefits, keeping people from getting all kinds of illnesses — not just covid-19. But it’s unclear whether the protocols will be worth the pain in the long run. The teachers at New Hope Academy in Franklin, Tennessee, were chatting the other day. The private Christian […]