News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Health & Science



Watchdog office says NC could have saved $226M

North Carolina could have saved up to $226 million if regulators had acted more quickly to contain costs in a program that provides non-medical care for mental health patients living at home, a legislative watchdog agency said Monday.

Updated: Jul. 6, 2009 5:52 PM | Full story

Final rules out for government stem cell research

The government issued final rules Monday expanding taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells, easing scientists' fears that some of the oldest batches might not qualify and promising a master list of all that do.

Updated: Jul. 6, 2009 5:22 PM | Full story

Proposed care cuts prompt fight

Two distinct narratives are at war in a controversy over whether North Carolina should cut as much as $100 million over two years from in-home care for older and disabled people.

Updated: Jul. 6, 2009 5:37 AM | Full story

Rare primates to leave sanctuary in Congo

For generations, bonobos have lived just outside the limelight, as their well-known cousin, the common chimpanzee, became a cause célèbre, largely through the good works of famed anthropologist Jane Goodall.

Updated: Jul. 6, 2009 5:31 AM | Full story

4 million baby floats recalled

Around 4 million baby floats made by Aqua-Leisure Industries have been recalled, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Updated: Jul. 6, 2009 12:14 PM | Full story

First obstacle to health-care plan: cost

Four divisive issues could dash President Barack Obama's hopes of overhauling health care: cost, creating a government-run plan, taxing workers' benefits and penalizing employers that don't offer coverage.

Updated: Jul. 5, 2009 7:03 PM | Full story

Cardiac plan wins support

Johnston Health medical officials give top marks to a WakeMed partnership proposal to expand cardiac care in Johnston County, which has one of the state's higher death rates from heart disease.

Updated: Jul. 1, 2009 10:58 PM | Full story

Have health problems? You're not alone in N.C.

North Carolina has a higher rate of obesity than 38 other states, and that translates into more diabetes and hypertension, a national health report shows.

Updated: Jul. 1, 2009 8:58 PM | Full story

Law targets mental hospitals

A new state law will give the public a glimpse behind the curtain at state psychiatric hospitals and other mental health facilities when a patient dies.

Updated: Jul. 2, 2009 6:02 AM | Full story

Bill lets sizable medical malpractice awards be made public

Consumers will soon be able to know whether their doctors have paid medical malpractice awards under a bill approved this week by state lawmakers.

Updated: Jul. 1, 2009 11:23 PM | Full story

Tainted soil tested in central Durham

Residents of inner-city Durham got a glimpse of several "brownfields" properties that will be tested for contaminants under a $400,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Brownfields are areas where environmental concerns hinder development.

Updated: Jul. 2, 2009 5:59 AM | Full story

Don't be alarmed, but it is alive!

It looks like blob of wriggling pudding staring out through a single, puckered eye. You can see it caught on camera, clinging to the concrete pipes below Raleigh's Cameron Village: the Sewer Monster.

Updated: Jul. 2, 2009 6:52 AM | Full story

WHO paper: TB vaccine could kill babies with HIV

The World Health Organization says a study has shown that babies with HIV could die if given a standard tuberculosis vaccine.

Updated: Jul. 1, 2009 5:51 AM | Full story

Obesity rates rising, Mississippi's still fattest

Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.

Updated: Jul. 1, 2009 8:49 PM | Full story

Limits urged for drug in Tylenol

Prescription drugs like Vicodin and Percocet that combine a popular painkiller with stronger narcotics should be eliminated because of their role in deadly overdoses, government experts said Tuesday.

Updated: Jun. 30, 2009 9:03 PM | Full story

More Stories
Advertisements

Losing Walt

Alzheimer's slowly steals a man's memory and understanding as his wife struggles to adapt.

Mental Disorder: The series

Read the N&O's five part series on the state's failure to reform mental health services.

Know health in the Triangle

Fact finder for information on allergies and pollen.
Learn more.


Fact finder on how to keep you and your family fit.
Learn more.


Fact finder on flu and colds.
Learn more.


Fact finder on food and nutrition.
Learn more.

Special Advertising Section

Race for the Cure
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, June 13, 2009

2009 Celebrate Nursing
2009 Direct Care Nurses of the Year

Celebrating Allied Health Professions
Celebrating allied health professionals who provide care for NC citizens

Life & Science
Experience an interactive music installation where movement is transformed into sound.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 2008
5K Run/Walk & 1-Mile Fun Run/Walk on Saturday, June 14

Celebrate Nursing
Features nurses who have made a difference in their patients’ lives, even if it is just for a moment.

Health and Fitness
Eat smart and move more in 2008!

From the Wire

Local & State

World News

Technology News

Nation

Politics

Weird News

A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company