The 1,200-mile border it shares with Mexico makes Texas one the most vulnerable states when it comes to imported infectious diseases. In a majority of cases, Customs and Border Protection officers are unable to detect these public health threats at ports of entry, according to a new Centers for Disease Control study.
Health care
In-depth reporting on public health, healthcare policy, hospitals, and wellness issues shaping communities across Texas, from The Texas Tribune.
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Criminal Justice
Weed All About It
For nearly a decade, advocates of expanded use of medical marijuana have been spurned by the Texas Legislature — but giving up isn’t how they roll. So they’re trying again with a limited proposal.
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Health care
Banned Parenthood?
State Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, wants Planned Parenthood’s clinics out of the state’s Women’s Health Program, which provides family planning services — but not abortions — to impoverished Medicaid patients. He says a 2005 law should exclude them already. But for years, the state’s Health and Human Services Commission has allowed those clinics to participate, for fear that barring them might be unconstitutional. Deuell has asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to clear up the matter, hoping it will free up the agency to push Planned Parenthood out.
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Health care
An Itchy Situation
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently said that children should not be kept out of school if they get head lice — the opposite of what Texas law requires. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has this report.
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Health care
Birthing Control [Updated]
Should lawmakers pay hospitals more for refusing to induce early labor, which reduces neonatal costs and harm to mothers? Or should the state be kept out of the private decisions of patients and their physicians?
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Health care
Pols in Purgatory
State Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra, D-South Padre Island, who is awaiting prosecution on corruption charges, is the latest Texas elected official under indictment but not yet convicted to languish in career-crippling limbo.
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Health care
TribBlog: Family Planning Quandary?
Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, wants the attorney general to decide whether a Texas family planning rule — one that bans the state’s Women’s Health Program from contracting with clinics that “perform or promote” abortions — is constitutional.
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Health care
TribBlog: Warren Jeffs Headed For Texas?
The Utah Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to reverse polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs’ felony rape convictions has opened the door for his prosecution here — and has likely made it easier to extradite him to Texas.
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Health care
TribBlog: Wait Times Drop In Texas ERs
Wait times in Texas emergency rooms dropped by 14 minutes between 2008 and 2009, but it still takes just over 4 hours to be seen by an ER doctor, according to a new study by the health care research group Press Ganey.
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Health care
TribBlog: How Much Do Kids Count?
Texas ranks 34th nationally in childhood well-being, has the third highest teen birth rate and is experiencing a rapid increase in child poverty, according to new numbers released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS Count data center.