At the end of 2013, there were just over 76,600 Texans living with HIV, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That’s a lot. A decade ago, the figure was about 50,000. Texas ranks fourth among states in total HIV cases and 11th in HIV cases per capita,…
Nina Pham, the Texas Health Presbyterian nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola in the United States, is suing the hospital. Pham was among the first healthcare workers assigned to treat Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who was exposed to Ebola in West Africa before being diagnosed…
As the vaccine “debate” has gained speed in the aftermath of a measles outbreak centered on Disneyland in California, reaction from the libertarian right has been fascinating. Senator Rand Paul stuttered something about vaccines needing to be voluntary and walked up to the thoroughly debunked “vaccines can cause mental disorders”…
Texas lawmakers are trying to strip Planned Parenthood clinics of funding that goes to breast and cervical cancer screenings for poor women because, as always, abortion. Not that a dime of taxpayer money ever — ever — pays for abortions at Planned Parenthood or anywhere else. But this is Texas,…
The fallout that’s come from state lawmakers Kevin Eltife’s and Stephanie Klick’s introduction of legislation that would legalize low-THC cannabis oil for use by Texans with intractable epilepsy is a prime example of what happens when you fight the symptom rather than the disease. The two Republicans’ bills are tailored…
Records obtained by the Austin American-Statesman show just how far North Texas school districts were willing to go to assuage parents’ Ebola fears last fall. Seven DFW districts — Burleson, Grapevine-Cooley, Garland, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Highland Park, Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Royse City — spent money on various levels of “deep cleaning” for…
The final pre-Supreme Court skirmish over Texas’ restrictive abortion legislation known as HB2 kicked off today in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The state, as it has throughout the fight over the law, stuck to the same bullshit. “Texas adopted HB2 for the purpose of raising the standard…
The first time any of us in the office considered that Dallas might become the Ebola epidemic’s American focal point was Tuesday, September 30. We watched Dallas County Health and Human Services director Zach Thompson brief the Dallas County Commissioners Court about the status of a then unidentified man we…
It was over four years ago when agents from the Food and Drug Administration began hearing disturbing complaints about USPLabs, the corporation headquartered in Dallas that sells “nutrition” powder, dietary supplements and other products to bros trying to beef up their builds. Customers complaining of bad reactions included a 16-year-old…
Oak Cliff’s University General Hospital, touted as one of Mayor Mike Rawlings’ GrowSouth success stories, is on life support — or maybe in an induced coma — while its owners try to sell the 111-bed facility. Houston-based University General Health Systems Inc., which purchased the former South Hampton Community Hospital…
When Texas Health Presbyterian was still in the middle of its Ebola public relations fallout, hospital officials had an ever-shifting series of explanations for why Thomas Eric Duncan was initially misdiagnosed and sent home. The hospital had at first made a subtle suggestion that the misdiagnosis was a nurse’s fault…
It was something that was inevitable once Thomas Eric Duncan was sent home from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with antibiotics on September 26. There would be legal action against the hospital for its treatment of Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States. Wednesday morning,…
Jerry Jones, who’s served as the Dallas Cowboys’ team physician since 1989, told KRLD 105.3 Wednesday morning that the team’s quarterback, Tony Romo, will be medically able to play Sunday against the 6-1 Arizona Cardinals. Romo, who had two back surgeries in 2013 — one before the season to remove…
Amber Vinson, the second Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to contract Ebola during treatment of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, is being released from Emory University Hospital near Atlanta. “I’m so grateful to be well,” she said. “While this is a day of…
A little-known perk of being a Texas hospital is that if a broke accident victim visits you for emergency treatment, you get to lay claim to any money the victim wins through the courts later. It’s officially called a “hospital lien,” legal through a state statute that’s been on the…
Nina Pham is Ebola free. The National Institutes of Health announced Friday morning that Pham, the first of Thomas Eric Duncan’s treatment team to be diagnosed with Ebola, has successfully fought off the disease and will able to return to Dallas later Friday. “She has no virus in her, she…
Counting down the days (15) until our fair city is, officially, Ebola-free. Here’s what’s happening: The condition of the patients Late yesterday afternoon, Amber Vinson’s family announced that she was Ebola-free, meaning that the there was no detectable viral load in her blood. She remains at Emory University Hospital near…
As hysteria fades, people’s lives are still being affected. Here’s what’s happening: The conditions of the patients Late Tuesday afternoon, Nina Pham was upgraded from fair to good condition by her treatment team at the National Institutes of Health. Amber Vinson is still stable at Emory University Hospital near Atlanta…
On Monday, Governor Rick Perry announced that UT Southwestern Medical Center, Methodist Health System and Parkland Hospital System would be partnering to open a dedicated Ebola treatment center at the Methodist Campus for Continuing Care in Richardson. With Wednesday’s opening, we spoke to residents and workers near the center to…
With 17 days until the last person in direct contact with one of Dallas’ three Ebola patients finishes monitoring, here’s the latest: The condition of the patients: Amber Vinson’s mother, Debra Berry, discussed her daughter’s condition on Good Morning America early Tuesday. Mom says Vinson remains weak, but is doing…
Here’s a roundup of the (mostly good) Ebola news from over the weekend: The condition of the patients: Amber Vinson is still being treated at Emory University hospital in Atlanta. She remains in stable condition. Over the weekend, her family issued a statement asking for privacy and disputing claims that…
On Monday afternoon, dozens of nurses, doctors and other healthcare employees convened at the front entrance of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to discuss the recent controversy about how the hospital handled the Ebola outbreak. Despite definitive comments in support of the hospital, Presby’s nurses remained tight-lipped on what actually happened…
