Smoking rates in the U.S. are plummeting. According to the CDC, there were three million fewer smokers in 2010 than in 2005. The factors contributing to this decline are are fairly obvious: improved educational efforts; cessation programs; higher cigarette taxes; tighter state and local anti-smoking laws; and a growing stigma…
It’s no secret that Texans are fat and that they’re getting fatter. Right now, almost one in three qualify as obese, with that ratio expected to nearly double over the next two decades. The picture is almost as grim for kids. According to a 2011 study, one in five children…
In March 2011, after federal inspectors visited Keeneland Nursing and Rehab, a Weathorford nursing home, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a report detailing a laundry list of concerns. The report concluded that staff were medicating patients unnecessarily so they’d be easier to deal with. One nurse reportedly…
Last legislative session, Representative Bill Zedler, a Republican from Arlington, wanted to hear about abortions in Texas. All of them. In great detail. Zedler filed a piece of legislation that would have required a woman having an abortion to fill out and submit to the state a detailed questionnaire about…
In November 2011, a 28-year-old woman visited the Irving office of Dr. Hector Oscar Molina for an arm lift and breast implants. Molina, ignoring the fact that he had no formal plastic surgery training, that his patient was a dangerously heavy 300-plus pounds, that his office wasn’t technically sterile, and…
Perhaps you were hoping that the upcoming legislative session wouldn’t be yet another round of conservative lawmakers vying with one another to show just how deeply and sincerely anti-abortion they are. Or maybe that’s exactly what you look for in a lawmaker: an eagle eye and a vise grip on…
Seven months ago, the influential anti-abortion advocacy group Americans United for Life released its annual report, Defending Life 2012, featuring an enthusiastic blurb from Governor Rick Perry, who called the report “ammunition in a fight that is far from over.” In return, AUL was full of praise for Texas, saying…
The West Nile outbreak of 2012 isn’t officially over, at least not according to Dallas County health officials, but it may as well be. There hasn’t been a death reported in more than six weeks, the number of new cases is basically nil, and for most of us, the scenes…
Last legislative session, your lawmakers in the Texas Legislature cut $73.6 million from the state’s family planning budget, a move which, impressively, has somehow resulted in far fewer patients being served, for more money per patient. Don’t ask us how they managed that one. As Emily Ramshaw writes this morning…
Governor Rick Perry vows that the Medicaid expansion prescribed under Obamacare won’t come to Texas, the state with the highest rate of uninsured in the country. He fears it would render Lone Star State health care a mere “appendage” of the federal government. The feds, of course, would pick up…
In the last legislative session, Texas lawmakers cut the state’s family planning budget by two-thirds, a loss of around $73.6 million over the next two years. The reason behind this, naturally, was that “family planning” is clearly a secret code word for “abortion.” “Of course this is a war on…
Midlothian is not likely to make a list of places you want to move, even one of those made-up Forbes lists. If the hulking smokestacks and the fact that there is a Cement Valley there don’t scare you off, then the reports of abnormally high rates of cancer, stillbirths, respiratory…
When Kaitlyn Samuels was 4 months old, her parents, Mark and Jennifer, worried that she couldn’t reach for her toys. Doctors initially assured them that it was probably normal, but after two months brought little improvement they ordered a battery of neurological tests that revealed Kaitlyn had a very rare…
Mark Henry Kett’s troubles with the Texas Medical Board began on Feb. 23, 2008, when Carrollton police received a disturbance call at his home. They found Kett armed with a semi-automatic pistol and ranting about assassins who had come to his house to kill his wife. He had fired off…
It’s been nearly a year since Texas legislators slashed the state’s family planning funding, diverting $73 million to a variety of other programs. That was about two-thirds of the total family planning budget, and the conservative lawmakers who orchestrated the cuts were vocal about why they’d done it: to harm…
Until recently, Dr. Wayne Soignier worked out of his office on Royal Lane, primarily providing medical evaluations for the Texas workers’ compensation system. At some point, the Texas Department of Insurance became concerned about his professional conduct and called him to appear before a two-member panel of physicians. The meeting…
Some six million Texans are one health emergency away from financial ruin, and the state of affairs in Dallas County isn’t any better. Nearly 30 percent of its residents are uninsured. That’s 672,681 of our neighbors whom the health insurance markets have excluded, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau…
Governor Rick Perry, it may shock you to learn, is not such a big fan of abortion. Perry vowed some time ago to create a new, Texas-run version of the Women’s Health Program, one that would ban doctors from discussing or “promoting” abortion with their patients. It would also explicitly…
Quick: What day is it today? If you answered Tuesday or September 18, you’re technically right but you’re actually very, tragically wrong, because it’s National Cheeseburger Day which a) exists and b) is a great opportunity to check out a new burger joint. It’s also, perhaps, time to reflect on…
Dallas was already having its worst-ever year for West Nile at the end of July, but things were only going to get worse, as August would prove to be the outbreak’s worst month. The number of confirmed human cases in Dallas County jumped by 10 or 12 or 19 per…
There are times when I’m particularly grateful I’m not a woman. Watching my wife give birth is one. Reading a consumer advisory about tainted tampons is another. Kimberly-Clark, the Dallas-based personal hygiene conglomerate, sent word yesterday that it is recalling large quantities of Kotex Natural Balance Tampons. Why, you ask?…
It’s an easy thing for a state to rationalize. Every year, the percentage of Texas residents who are technically obese inches up slightly. It’s just by a percentage point or so, so maybe it’s a rounding error or a gravitational anomaly that affects every Texans’ scale. Besides, who doesn’t overindulge…
