Health

‘I could live 30 years – but want to die’: Has assisted dying in Canada gone too far?

‘I could live 30 years – but want to die’: Has assisted dying in Canada gone too far?

Fergus Walsh Medical editor Camilla Horrox Global health producer BBC April Hubbard sits on the theatre stage where she plans to die later this year. She is not terminally ill, but the 39-year-old performance and burlesque artist has been approved for assisted dying under Canada’s increasingly liberal laws. Warning: This article contains details and descriptions some readers may find disturbing …

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Senate Confirms Dr. Oz to Ovrsee Medicare and Medicaid

Senate Confirms Dr. Oz to Ovrsee Medicare and Medicaid

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor, 53-45 and mostly along party lines to lead Medicare and Medicaid, which insure nearly half of all Americans. The future of both programs is the subject of fierce debate: Republicans are contemplating significant cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans. The Trump administration and G.O.P. …

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What to Know About Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

What to Know About Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Carbon monoxide gas, which is invisible and odorless, can be fatal. It can kill people in their homes as they sleep, seeping undetected from generators. It can accumulate within the walls of closed garages, wafting from cars left running by residents seeking warmth or power in a storm. On Thursday, another fatality by unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning was confirmed. Miller …

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Overlooked No More: Katharine McCormick, Force Behind the Birth Control Pill

Overlooked No More: Katharine McCormick, Force Behind the Birth Control Pill

This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. Katharine Dexter McCormick, who was born to a life of wealth, which she compounded through marriage, could have sat back and simply enjoyed the many advantages that flowed her way. Instead, she put her considerable fortune — …

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No drinks with sweeteners for younger children, say UK advisors

No drinks with sweeteners for younger children, say UK advisors

Michelle Roberts Digital health editor, BBC News Getty Images Younger children should not be given any drinks containing artificial sweeteners, UK experts are now advising. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommendations apply to beverages such as sugar-free ‘toothkind’ squash that has ingredients such as aspartame, stevia, saccharin and sucralose. It says preschool children should become accustomed to drinking …

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Assisted dying: California man invites BBC to witness his death

Assisted dying: California man invites BBC to witness his death

Fergus Walsh Medical editor Camilla Horrox Global health producer BBC This is the last picture of Wayne with his wife Stella (right) and children Emily and Ashley (left), taken on the day of his death It’s 10am, and in a little over two hours, Wayne Hawkins will be dead. The sun is shining on the bungalow where the 80-year-old lives …

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C.D.C. Cuts Threaten to Set Back the Nation’s Health, Critics Say

C.D.C. Cuts Threaten to Set Back the Nation’s Health, Critics Say

The extensive layoffs of federal health workers that began on Tuesday will greatly curtail the scope and influence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the world’s premier public health agency, an outcome long sought by conservatives critical of its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services shrinks the C.D.C. by …

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Justices Weigh Challenge to South Carolina’s Bid to Defund Planned Parenthood

Justices Weigh Challenge to South Carolina’s Bid to Defund Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case arising from South Carolina’s attempt to deny funding to Planned Parenthood. But the question the justices grappled with was a relatively narrow one, focused on whether individuals may sue the state to obtain medical services from Planned Parenthood unrelated to abortion. In 2018, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, a …

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Supreme Court Rules Against Makers of Flavored Vapes Popular With Teens

Supreme Court Rules Against Makers of Flavored Vapes Popular With Teens

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration had acted lawfully in rejecting applications from two manufacturers of flavored liquids used in e-cigarettes with names like Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry, Signature Series Mom’s Pistachio and Suicide Bunny Mother’s Milk and Cookies. In a unanimous decision written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the justices …

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