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I teach doctors how to interpret test results – and the labels ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ often hide what matters most
Mr. V felt tightness across his chest. His deepest breaths felt shallow. He sought help at an emergency department, where a resident physician found several worrying signs, including swelling of his hands and legs as well as heart enlargement on a chest X-ray.
Everything seemed to point to one diagnosis: heart failure, where the heart...Read more
Mayo Clinic Q&A: What are 5 ovarian cancer signs women may overlook?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have a friend who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but she didn't have any obvious symptoms. What are some signs or symptoms women should pay attention to and get checked out?
ANSWER: Unfortunately, ovarian cancer can be a difficult-to-detect disease early on because its symptoms often are vague and easily mistaken for ...Read more
Medical debt is crushing hospital patients in Los Angeles. Health officials may have a fix
LOS ANGELES — Every Tuesday, Naman Shah sees tuberculosis patients at a small public clinic in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. Shah, a physician and epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, pores over images of battered lungs, listens to labored breathing, and checks medications.
It’s part of an initiative ...Read more
Mayo Clinic Q&A: What are 5 ovarian cancer signs women may overlook?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have a friend who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but she didn't have any obvious symptoms. What are some signs or symptoms women should pay attention to and get checked out?
ANSWER: Unfortunately, ovarian cancer can be a difficult-to-detect disease early on because its symptoms often are vague and easily mistaken for ...Read more
'Medicare for All' message attracts voters buckling under medical bills
LANSING, Mich. — Christina Starks-Clay doesn’t know how “Medicare for All” would work exactly, but she’s willing to bet it’d be better than what she has now.
Standing in line for U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s town hall in the state’s capital in September, she whipped out her phone to pull up a screenshot. It was of the ...Read more
Ask the Pediatrician: Short stature in children: What It means and when to check growth
Short stature means a child is much shorter than most children the same age and sex. While sometimes short stature is typical in some children, it can be associated with an underlying medical condition. October is Dwarfism Awareness Month, shining an annual light on children with short stature, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has helpful ...Read more
Digital headaches
Americans spend an average of 5 hours and 16 minutes a day on their phones. (Gen Z spends 6 hours and 27 minutes and baby boomers spend 4 hours and 19 minutes.) But at the same time, more than half of Americans want to cut down on phone usage for better time management (67%); improve mental health (64%); increase focus and attention span (57%); ...Read more
Woman With Bladder Stones Should Minimize Supplement Use
DEAR DR ROACH: I have uncomfortable bladder stones, and I'm on a low-oxalate diet to help prevent more stones. I also have osteoporosis, and my blood work shows high calcium. My doctor suggests Prolia, which I question since I am a 95-year-old female and exercise daily. I have switched my calcium citrate to calcium with magnesium and stopped ...Read more
Two NC adults die after contracting West Nile virus, state health department says
Two adults from central North Carolina have died after contracting West Nile virus, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The department announced the deaths on social media Friday. The deaths come after the department reported the first case of the disease in a Gaston County resident earlier this year. A West Nile ...Read more
Six measles cases confirmed in southeast Minnesota
Six unvaccinated people have confirmed measles infections in a cluster of cases in southeastern Minnesota.
Fillmore County Public Health announced the total late this week, calling the cases “connected” and warning “the case count may continue growing in the days and weeks ahead.”
People should “continue watching for measles symptoms...Read more
Measles cases reach 4,080 for the year -- the highest in decades
Measles cases for the calendar year surpassed 4,000 for the first time in decades, with as many as five deaths in Pennsylvania, as the federal government steps in with financial help for states but also fans vaccination fears and skepticism.
A weekly report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed 4,080 cases this year as of ...Read more
AI, tech leaders are lobbying Trump health officials in a government-run chat room
A cadre of elite techies, financiers, and high-level Trump administration officials have spent a year quietly charting an extraordinary and rapid campaign to persuade Americans to use apps and other artificial intelligence-powered tools to manage their healthcare and medical records.
As that campaign has unfolded, administration officials have ...Read more
Dengue cases continue to rise after heavy rain in Tampa Bay
TAMPA, Fla. -- After days of rain across the Tampa Bay area, local officials are ramping up efforts against an unprecedented rise in cases of dengue fever this year.
As of Oct. 1, Hillsborough has seen 223 confirmed dengue fever cases, the most in the state. But that number is likely much higher, Florida Department of Health officer Carla Fry ...Read more
When abortion and surrogacy law collide, contracts can’t answer the hardest questions
Surrogacy arrangements – agreements for someone to carry a pregnancy for the intended parents – have existed for millennia, and modern surrogacy contracts for half a century.
These contracts typically address parental rights, the possibility of abortion, medical instructions, health insurance and payment of expenses, each side ...Read more
Sexual assault survivors’ stories may shift over time – a psychologist explains why it doesn’t mean they’re lying
If a person’s story changes in the weeks following an alleged sexual assault, are they not telling the truth?
It’s a criticism I’ve seen on social media and heard in the public conversation surrounding the lawsuit filed in September 2026 by a plaintiff known as Jane Doe, a former student at Cornell University, accusing seven ...Read more
Explosion in tick diseases spurs race for treatment and prevention
Drugmakers are pushing to develop effective defenses against Lyme disease as intensifying tick seasons continue to put more people at risk, with trials focused on vaccines and on drugs designed to block the pests’ ability to infect.
Companies including Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. have stepped up efforts 24 years after the only Lyme vaccine ...Read more
Mayo Clinic Q&A: How are rotator cuff tears treated?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I've been diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear. What factors determine the best treatment approach, and what can I expect during recovery?
ANSWER: To better understand whether a rotator cuff tear may require surgery, it helps to first understand what the rotator cuff is and how it works.
The rotator cuff is a group of muscles ...Read more
Pa. measles outbreak is nation's worst, echoing deadly 1991 Philadelphia epidemic
The child gasped for air, sitting alone in front of an upstairs television, near death inside her Northeast Philadelphia home.
As a measles outbreak ravaged the city, Philadelphia’s deputy health commissioner, Robert Ross, used the home phone to call a judge for a court order to treat the girl. Her family worshiped at Faith Tabernacle ...Read more
How To Distinguish Whether An Irregular Heartbeat Is Normal
DEAR DR. ROACH: You recently used the term "abnormal irregular heartbeat." I've had an irregular heartbeat for decades without seemingly ill effects. My doctors haven't put any restrictions on my vigorous cycling or any other activities that I do at 84 years old. Does this mean that I have normal irregular heartbeats? Is there an implied ...Read more
Make sure you're getting your vitamin D from healthy sources
According to the Cleveland Clinic, 35% of U.S. adults are vitamin D deficient. But 49% of men and 59% of women age 60 and older take a vitamin D supplement -- and more than 3% of U.S. adults take supplements containing 4,000 IU or more! D-structive for some folks, it turns out.
An observational study in BMJ Open found that for people age 65 and...Read more
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Popular Stories
- AI, tech leaders are lobbying Trump health officials in a government-run chat room
- When abortion and surrogacy law collide, contracts can’t answer the hardest questions
- Mayo Clinic Q&A: What are 5 ovarian cancer signs women may overlook?
- Ask the Pediatrician: Short stature in children: What It means and when to check growth
- 'Medicare for All' message attracts voters buckling under medical bills






















