Health Care
Missouri Senate advances bill banning transgender care for minors
A bill that would stop physicians from providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors who have not already begun treatment passed Missouri’s Senate Thursday in a party-line vote. The legislation originally sought to ban all gender-affirming care, but after negotiations was amended to allow transgender youth to continue their treatment if they started before Aug. 28, […]
Legal questions, inquiries intensify around rural Missouri hospital closures
A year after private equity-backed Noble Health shuttered two rural Missouri hospitals, patients and former employees grapple with a broken local health system or missing out on millions in unpaid wages and benefits. The hospitals in Audrain and Callaway counties remain closed as a slew of lawsuits and state and federal investigations grind forward. In […]
Has your family been impacted by radioactive waste near St. Louis? We want to hear from you
Shortly after World War II, the federal government dumped massive piles of radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project in several areas of greater St. Louis, including near the airport, in Weldon Spring and along Latty Avenue next to Coldwater Creek. Those piles were repeatedly moved and reburied and, to this day, 47,000 tons of radioactive […]
Missourians with developmental disabilities languish in hospitals, jails, shelters
On a Friday afternoon in late December, Geri Curtis received a disturbing phone call informing her she had only five days to find a new home for a developmentally disabled person. As part of her job as public administrator for Livingston County, she had become legal guardian of a person with severe developmental disabilities two […]
What plaintiffs targeting abortion pill want might not even be possible
At the center of the federal anti-abortion lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the abortion drug mifepristone and the regimen that reportedly accounts for the majority of abortions in post-Roe America. That’s why the whole country is bracing itself for a ruling from a notoriously anti-abortion judge in Amarillo, Texas. The attention […]
Missouri Senate approves four-year ban on medical procedures for transgender minors
After 13 hours of overnight debate, the Missouri Senate gave initial approval Tuesday morning to a pair of bills that would limit medical procedures for transgender children and place restrictions on transgender girls playing school sports. Both bills still need to be approved one more time by the Senate before being sent to the House. […]
Missouri Democrats once again filibuster ban on medical procedures for transgender minors
The Missouri Senate returned from its spring break Monday with Democrats resuming their filibuster of a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children. The Senate reconvened to debate legislation sponsored by Sen. Holly Thompson-Rehder, R-Scott City, that began as a ban on transgender girls participating in school sports but was expanded to include […]
Ending a pregnancy in 14 states leaves few options. Some are looking to Europe and India for help
The pills came in a dark salmon-colored envelope sealed with a plastic covering that traveled more than 7,000 miles, over a dozen time zones from Nagpur, India, in almost exactly one week. They were placed partially under the doormat of a home in a state with one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the […]
As opioid overdose deaths keep rising, report urges lawmakers to develop new approaches
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published Thursday. That means they should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises. The 600-page volume — which the authors […]
Temp nurses cost hospitals big during the pandemic. Missouri lawmakers are mulling limits
To crack down on price gouging, proposed legislation in Missouri calls for allowing felony charges against health care staffing agencies that substantially raise their prices during a declared emergency. A New York bill includes a cap on the amount staffing agencies can charge health care facilities. And a Texas measure would allow civil penalties against […]
Pentagon to halt use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS as cleanup costs mount
WASHINGTON — Battered by years of criticism from U.S. lawmakers and environmental advocates, the Department of Defense will stop purchasing PFAS-containing firefighting foam later this year and phase it out entirely in 2024. The replacement for Aqueous Film Forming Foam has yet to be determined, and advocates are frustrated it’s taken so long to halt […]
Fired CEO alleges slander, conspiracy in suit against northeast Missouri hospital
The ousted administrator of a northeast Missouri hospital is accusing board members and employees of conspiring to have him fired by falsely claiming he violated federal laws and embezzled millions. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Dr. Randy Tobler claims he has been unable to find employment because of the way he was fired in August […]