Florida Foster Kids Are Given Powerful Medications, but Feds Find State Oversight Lacking

The powerful anti-seizure drug the 5-year-old boy had been taking for more than a year made him “almost catatonic,” his new foster mom from Florida’s Pinellas County worried. And there was no paperwork showing that the boy’s biological mother or a judge had authorized the psychotropic medication, Keppra, as required by state law. “I was …

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Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’

Sept. 21 This week on the KFF Health News Minute: Government efforts to recover billions in Social Security overpayments can leave beneficiaries who can’t work because of a disability in a precarious situation, and some health systems have started charging patients fees for physicians’ responses to emailed questions. Sept. 14 This week on the KFF …

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A Decades-Long Drop in Teen Births Is Slowing, and Advocates Worry a Reversal Is Coming

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cicely Wilson’s work doesn’t end when she leaves her day job as a lactation consultant, doula, and child care expert. Wilson founded a nonprofit called Sunnyside Up Youth Pregnancy Services, which connects girls ages 13 to 19 with resources they need to care for their babies. After-hours, she looks for affordable Nashville …

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Epidemic: The Tata Way

In June 1974, epidemiologist Larry Brilliant appeared in TISCO News, published by Tata Steel, talking with fellow smallpox eradication workers. The left image’s caption reads: “Vaccination without pricks. A jet gun (seen above), which was also used in the campaign, could give 500 to 700 vaccinations an hour.” The right image’s caption reads: “Preparing for …

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Massive Kaiser Permanente Strike Looms as Talks Head to the Wire

Kaiser Permanente and union representatives pledged to continue negotiating a new contract up until the last minute as the threat of the nation’s latest large-scale strike looms next month. Unless a deal is struck, more than 75,000 health workers will walk out for three days from Oct. 4-7, disrupting care for KP patients in California, …

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