Archives: Morning Breakouts

The findings of new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that only one in five malpractice lawsuits results in a payout. The authors conclude that the truth behind these numbers is complicated.

Since the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the health law's individual mandate, some experts are wondering if Dems did enough to protect the measure from legal challenges.

The health sector has provided job growth even in the economy's darkest days, but it now may be showing sluggishness.

"Ten Somali children under the age of five are dying every day of hunger-related causes in a refugee camp in Ethiopia, according to the U.N. refugee agency," the Guardian reports (Rice, 8/16). UNHCR "said high child mortality levels had been compounded by a suspected measles outbreak at the 25,000-capacity Kobe camp," but children are now receiving vaccinations, according to BBC News (8/16).

The cigarette makers say the required labels violate free speech rights and will cost millions of dollars to produce.

Nature News reports on "the possibility of unintended public-health consequences" of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV and pharmaceutical company Gilead's plan to ask the FDA to evaluate its combination antiretroviral (ARV) drug Truvada for use in healthy people.

The "reports during the past two weeks of two recent infections and another death" from H5N1 (avian) influenza "raised little concern except among public health officials," Robert Gatter, co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies and professor of law at Saint Louis University, writes in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion piece, adding that "[t]he fact that bird flu in developing nations receives little public attention reveals that the world has become complacent about this threat."