Health

Health


B.C. health authority warns of possible privacy breach after police recover documents

An RCMP investigation has revealed a possible privacy breach for thousands of employees who worked or work at a health authority in British Columbia’s Interior.  Interior Health says police contacted them in January about finding a document during its investigation that contained everything from social insurance numbers to home addresses for about 20,000 people. The […]

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Maryland Senate approves legal protections for gender-affirming care

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Gender-affirming treatment in Maryland would be protected from criminal and civil actions brought by other states under a measure approved Tuesday by the state Senate. The Democrat-controlled Senate voted 33-13 for the measure that would provide the same legal protection offered by the state for abortions. It now goes to the […]

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Judge blocks Texas from collecting info on transgender children receiving gender-affirming care

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Friday temporarily blocked state Attorney General Ken Paxton from forcing an LGBTQ+ advocacy group to hand over information about transgender children receiving gender-affirming medical care. The ruling came just one day after PFLAG National went to court to try to stop Paxton’s office from getting the information. […]

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Montana judge declares 3 laws restricting abortion unconstitutional, including a 20-week limit

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Three Montana laws restricting abortion access are unconstitutional, including a ban on abortions beyond 20 weeks of gestation, a state judge said in granting a motion for summary judgment filed by Planned Parenthood of Montana. The 20-week ban and the two other laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2021 — […]

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Health-care AI: The potential and pitfalls of diagnosis by app

This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. ___ If health is a fundamental human right, health-care delivery must be improved globally to achieve universal access. However, the limited number of practitioners creates a […]

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West Virginia medical professionals condemn bill that prohibits care to at-risk transgender youth

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Hundreds of medical professionals in West Virginia have signed a letter condemning a bill advancing in the House of Delegates that would bar transgender youth at risk for suicide from accessing medical interventions such as hormone therapy. The bill before the full House would completely ban minors’ access to hormone therapy […]

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Canada’s Genetic Non-Discrimination Act has only had a limited impact on the use of genetic information by life insurers

This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. ___ The advancement of genetic technologies in the past three decades has spotlighted the urgent need to address genetic discrimination. Genetic discrimination is the differential adverse […]

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Ontario documents show patient complaints over cataract billings

As Ontario prepares to expand the number of private clinics that perform publicly funded cataract surgeries, documents show those procedures form one of the most common complaints the province receives from patients about unfair billing practices. The Canadian Press submitted a freedom-of-information request for copies of complaints made under the law banning medical professionals from […]

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State governments looking to protect health-related data as it’s used in abortion battle

Some state governments and federal regulators were already moving to keep individuals’ reproductive health information private when a U.S. senator’s report last week offered a new jolt, describing how cellphone location data was used to send millions of anti-abortion ads to people who visited Planned Parenthood offices. Federal law bars medical providers from sharing health […]

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The Census Bureau is considering how to ask about gender identity. People have their opinions

The U.S. Census Bureau is thinking about how to ask about sex. People have opinions. Dozens of health officials, civil rights groups, individuals and businesses have weighed in about how the statistical agency should ask about sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time on its most comprehensive survey of American life.  An Associated […]

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Kansas’ AG is telling schools they must out trans kids to parents, even with no specific law

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ attorney general is telling public schools they’re required to tell parents their children are transgender or nonbinary even if they’re not out at home, though Kansas is not among the states with a law that explicitly says to do that. Republican Kris Kobach’s action was his latest move to restrict […]

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New York woman sentenced to probation and fines in COVID aid fraud schemes

NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn woman who pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with various pandemic-era relief schemes was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation and $650,000 in penalties. Prosecutors said Chanette Lewis, 32, carried out some of the schemes by leveraging her job at a call center, part of a New York […]

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