With each day that passes, David Nicholson fears that the man who killed his profoundly disabled brother will join the ranks of state school workers who are never convicted for their heinous acts.
Health care
In-depth reporting on public health, healthcare policy, hospitals, and wellness issues shaping communities across Texas, from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Abuse of Power
State employees who commit heinous acts against Texas’ most profoundly disabled citizens rarely get charged with crimes, let alone go to jail. A Texas Tribune review of a decade’s worth of abuse and neglect firings at state institutions found that just 16 percent of the most violent or negligent employees were ever charged with crimes.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Guest Column: The 2010 Agenda: Criminal Justice
In response to shrinking budgets, there’s a risk that lawmakers might feel compelled to scale back funding for treatment and diversion programming. Instead, it’s time for the state to seriously consider closing one or more of the 112 prison units it currently operates.
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Health care
Averitt’s Out. Now What?
The next senator from SD-22 could be the incumbent, Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, Republican challenger Darren Yancy, or a Republican or Democrat whose name is not on the ballot.
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Health care
The Prescription: Business as Usual
As part of his continuing exploration of how the effort to rewrite health care policy is playing in Texas, KUT’s Nathan Bernier reports on one Austin doctor who says that if it weren’t for his ability to opt out of the insurance system, he might have retired many years ago.
Posted in
Demographics
Slow Medicine
As El Paso begins to wear the new off its hard-fought medical school, another Texas border community is starting on the long road to establishing its own. University of Texas System officials are evaluating how long it will take and how much it could cost to train the next generation of doctors in the Rio Grande Valley.
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Health care
The Prescription: On the Edge
Down on the border, there are more uninsured people, fewer primary care physicians, and higher rates of certain chronic illnesses. As part of his continuing exploration of the effort to rewrite health care policy, KUT’s Nathan Bernier talked to a doctor in Eagle Pass.
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Health care
The Prescription: The Doctors are Out
Some physicians in undeserved areas of Texas worry that the doctor shortage is not being addressed in the health care reform debate. As part of his continuing exploration of the effort to rewrite health care policy, KUT’s Nathan Bernier talked to an East Austin doctor who’s doing his best to serve as many patients as possible.
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Health care
Guest Column: The 2010 Agenda: Public Health
Three strategies can move Texas in the right direction, health-wise: a statewide indoor smoking ban, statewide universal K-12 coordinated school health programs, and the serious consideration of all available options to reduce the number of uninsured Texans.
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Health care
Guest Column: Save Rural Health Care Now
Why the 85 percent of Texans in and near urban areas should be concerned about the health care needs of the 15 percent who don’t.
