Healthcare Regulation and Reform

I was a bit surprised by how readily this new physician I visited agreed to prescribe more pain medication for me. My previous experience before I was a cancer patient was that doctors were unwilling to prescribe highly addictive drugs — but they weren’t palliative care doctors, like him.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform

Duane Middleton died shortly after a routine colonoscopy. Then his life insurance provider denied his wife any benefits, a decision later held up in court. So how could three judges conclude that Middleton's death didn't qualify as an "accident"?

Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Health Insurance and Costs, Patient Safety and Ethics, Aging

Duane Middleton's colon was torn during a colonoscopy, and he died shortly after. His death was ruled an accident. But when Middleton's wife sought benefits from his insurance policy, she was told his death didn't meet the policy's definition of an accident.

Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Health Insurance and Costs, Patient Safety and Ethics, Aging

As health reform gets underway, will employers still provide health insurance for workers or leave them to fend for themselves in the new insurance exchanges? We sort out the issues and offer resources for your work.

Health Insurance and Costs, Healthcare Regulation and Reform

The nurse wheeled my young friend Alexander’s gurney into the emergency room. As she walked away from him, she shot out a parting remark: “This is how you lose a leg – or your life.”

Health Insurance and Costs, Healthcare Regulation and Reform, Poverty and Class