Author: Al Cross
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Number of Kentucky babies born addicted keeps rising quickly as heroin replaces harder-to-get prescription painkillers
Despite the crackdown on prescription painkillers, more Kentucky babies are being born addicted, “fueled by a recent spike in heroin use,” much of it by people who have found prescription...
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Activist seeking stronger rules on reporting health-care infections says industry lobbyists misled legislative committee to kill bill
“Health-care industry witnesses appeared to have presented incorrect information” to the House Health and Welfare Committee in speaking March 6 against House Bill 460, which would require all health-care facilities...
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Rogers, other drug-caucus chair file bill to reverse FDA’s approval of new painkiller; competing company has alternative
Illustration from PainAndDepression.com U.S. Reps. Hal Rogers of Somerset and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts have introduced a bill to withdraw federal approval of a new formulation of hydrocodone that is...
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Todd County weekly’s editor-publisher wonders why so many uninsured locals haven’t signed up for health insurance
With open enrollment in the new health-insurance exchanges ending March 31, at least one country editor is wondering why most people in his community who lack coverage haven’t take advantage...
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Statewide smoking ban dead for this year, as House Democrats worry about political ramifications in fall elections
The sponsor of a bill for a statewide ban on smoking in enclosed public places said it is dead for this year, Tom Loftus reports for The Courier-Journal. Westrom “It’s...
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Rural health advocate pleads with legislature to ‘end the tobacco epidemic in rural Kentucky’
Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, looks at a Smoke Free Kentucky display in the state Capitol. The group added black wreaths after the smoking-ban bill died. (Courier-Journal photo by Jonathan Palmer) The...
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Senate OKs bill to regulate e-cigarettes just like tobacco products
A bill to limit the sale of electronic cigarettes in the same way as sales of tobacco products passed the state Senate on Thursday, March 6. Senate Bill 109, sponsored by...
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House passes bill creating new type of order for end-of-life care, to be signed by patient and physician
An end-of-life order known as “medical order for scope of treatment” would be allowed in Kentucky under a bill that passed the Kentucky House on an 86-7 vote Thursday, March...
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Wear blue on Friday, March 7 to mark Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and encourage screening and colonoscopies
Friday, March 7 will be “Dress in Blue Day” to mark National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and to help raise awareness about colon cancer in Kentucky, according to Madeline Abramson, wife...
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Sponsor of statewide smoking ban says House leaders are blocking a vote to protect some members from political fallout
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The bill for a statewide smoking ban has stalled, with the prime sponsor saying House leaders are blocking a vote to protect members who...