California Hospitals: Progress in Stemming Devastating Sepsis Blood Infections

Patient Safety: Nine California hospitals have made dramatic progress in stemming the tide of potentially fatal bloodstream infections known as sepsis, Victoria Colliver reports for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Medical Marijuana: Quelle surprise. In Michigan, most people getting medical marijuana referrals from doctors seek them to alleviate chronic pain rather than for cancer, AIDS wasting or other serious conditions, Dawson Bell and John Wisely report for the Detroit Free Press.

Environmental Health: National Geographic's Anne Casselman reviews what's happened to the health of people living in the wake of the now-one-year-old BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Smoking Bans: By 2020, all Americans could be subject to smoking bans in workplaces, bars and restaurants if state and local bans continue to be enacted at the rate they have been, reports Mike Stobbe for the Associated Press. Here is the MMWR report his story is based on.

Sleep Deprivation: Most night-shift workers never adapt to their unusual schedules, sometimes suffering poor health as a result. Mary Louise Kelly of NPR reports in the wake of headlines about air traffic controllers found sleeping on the job.

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Photo credit: Dank Depot via Flickr