COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri has settled a collection of personal injury and false advertising claims over knee surgeries for $16.2 million, in what appears to be one of its largest public payouts in recent years.

This story also ran on St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It can be republished for free.

The 22 plaintiffs, a handful of whom were minors, filed suits from 2018 through 2020 over “BioJoint” surgeries pioneered by two university employees, orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Stannard and veterinarian Dr. James Cook. The procedure involves a complex operation that the Mizzou BioJoint Center’s website calls a “biological joint restoration,” replacing parts of the knee with cadaver bones or cartilage to treat arthritis or joint damage. Some plaintiffs alleged in court documents that the procedure was sold to them as a way to avoid a traditional artificial knee replacement.

Plaintiffs alleged in court documents that Stannard did not … Read the rest

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For the first time since its enactment in 2010, the Affordable Care Act is slated for major benefit expansions, courtesy of the covid relief bill approved by Congress this week. But the changes are only temporary, so the measure also tees up a fight to make them permanent.

Meanwhile, the uneven distribution of vaccines continues — with some states finding themselves with more shots than takers, while others continue to have too many arms chasing too few shots. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is caught in the middle — trying to issue guidelines that will encourage people to see the vaccine as a ticket to a freer life, while not encouraging dangerous behavior as the coronavirus — and its more transmissible variants — is still spreading widely.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Tami … Read the rest

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Rickie Andersen took a brief break from work in March after she fell ill. Her cough, fever and chills were typical covid-19 symptoms, but coronavirus tests were so scarce she could not obtain one to confirm the diagnosis.

After Andersen returned to her job as an information systems project manager in the San Francisco Bay Area, she struggled with profound fatigue, cognitive difficulties and other disabling complaints. For six months, she tried to keep awake during meetings and finish basic tasks that took much longer than before.

Finally, she decided to retain legal help so she could take advantage of the disability insurance coverage offered as an employee benefit. “I realized this is not going to be a short-term thing,” Andersen said.

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are experiencing what is being called “long covid” — a pattern … Read the rest

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El hijo de Ana, de 9 años, fue el primero en presentar síntomas de covid en marzo pasado. Poco después, la inmigrante indocumentada de 37 años y sus otros tres hijos, incluyendo una con asma, tuvieron dificultades para respirar.

Durante las tres semanas siguientes, la familia luchó contra la enfermedad en aislamiento, mientras amigos y vecinos dejaban comida en la puerta de su casa en Colorado Springs, Colorado. Ana y sus hijos nunca se hicieron una prueba para confirmar que contrajeron el virus, pero la presión en sus pulmones, la fiebre, el dolor de cabeza, y la pérdida del olfato y el gusto la convencieron de que no podía ser otra cosa.

“Fue horrible”, dijo Ana, residente de Colorado por más de dos décadas, quien solicitó que no se usara su apellido debido a su estatus migratorio.

Casi un año después, los efectos del virus van mucho más allá de … Read the rest

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Griffin Dalrymple is an energetic 7-year-old who loves going to school in Eureka, Montana. But two years ago, the boy described by his mother, Jayci, as a “ball of fire” was suddenly knocked back by severe bacterial pneumonia that hospitalized him for two weeks.

As her son lay in the intensive care unit with a tube in his tiny lungs, Jayci began imagining worst-case scenarios. She worried that if Griffin ended up needing a lung transplant, he might be refused because he has Down syndrome.

“It was terrifying knowing that they could deny him certain lifesaving services,” she said.

Denying organ transplants to people with intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities like Down syndrome or autism is common in the United States, even though it is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to one widely cited 2008 study, 44% of organ transplant centers said they would not add a child … Read the rest

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Tim Dupin thought — or at least hoped — that Missouri firefighters, paramedics and other emergency medical services personnel would be among the first to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

After months of feeling overlooked by elected leaders in the distribution of safety equipment and other resources, surely, Dupin thought, their role on the front line of the medical system would be recognized. They had, throughout the pandemic, responded to calls the way they always had: Without regard to whom or what they would encounter at the scene, interacting with people who could have the coronavirus, despite often having makeshift personal protective equipment and masks that were old, faulty or moldy.

Dupin, a captain with the Kansas City Fire Department and president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42, was dumbfounded when the recommended vaccine schedule … Read the rest

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KHN correspondent Rachana Pradhan discussed vaccine production and supply chains on KERA’s “Think” with host Krys Boyd, C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” and PBS’ “NewsHour Weekend.” She also joined Newsy to discuss how federal rules restrict patients and their doctors from knowing whether someone has been infected by a covid-19 variant.

• Click here to hear Pradhan on KERA, C-SPAN, or PBS
• Read “After Billions of Dollars and Dozens of Wartime Declarations, Why Are Vaccines Still in Short Supply?” by Pradhan and California Healthline editor Arthur Allen

• Click here to hear Pradhan on Newsy
• Read “Have a Case of a Covid Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You” by Pradhan and KHN senior correspondents Christina Jewett and JoNel Aleccia

Montana correspondent Katheryn Houghton and Midwest editor and correspondent Laura Ungar joined Yellowstone Public Radio to discuss Adam Meier, Montana’s pick for health director, and his political legacy in Kentucky.

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This story also ran on San Diego Union Tribune. It can be republished for free.

California rolled out a statewide covid vaccination website this week aiming to streamline the appointment process after months of criticism, but the site is riddled with its own snags, preventing many from signing up for shots.

The vaccine sign-up website, My Turn, is the state’s answer to a previous hodgepodge of vaccination appointment systems that residents had to log on to through websites belonging to various hospitals, pharmacies, clinics and many of California’s 58 counties.

The site, created by tech giant Salesforce, is being integrated into insurer Blue Shield of California’s $15 million contract with the state to take over its covid vaccination distribution system. My Turn is considered a clearinghouse, allowing most California residents to register for covid vaccinations and then receive an alert when they’re eligible to sign up for a vaccine appointment. … Read the rest

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There’s good news and bad news on covid-19 this week. On the one hand, several million doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine authorized by the FDA for emergency use are already going into the arms of people around the nation. And the Biden administration has brokered a deal with rival manufacturer Merck to produce even more doses of the J&J vaccine, which can be transported and administered more easily than the covid vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

But at the same time, the covid-19 caseload is starting to rise again, and public health experts worry that boost could be accelerated by the spread of more transmissible virus variants that might not be covered by the available vaccines. Nevertheless, Republican governors in several states, including Texas, are rolling back some public health precautions, including mask mandates, over … Read the rest

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