KATU - News - Health

Health official felt pressure from pro-fluoride group about dental data, email says

Days before Portlanders decide whether to add fluoride to the city’s drinking water, newly released internal emails have an anti-fluoride group calling for a state investigation.

Tiny preemies get a boost from live music therapy

As the guitarist strums and softly sings a lullaby in Spanish, tiny Augustin Morales stops squirming in his hospital crib and closes his eyes.

Saudi health workers sickened by SARS-like virus

A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday.

OHSU scientists recover stem cells from cloned human embryos

Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

Doctor with cerebral palsy offers hope

Dr. Jan Brunstrom-Hernandez gently but sternly admonishes a teenage cerebral palsy patient who clearly hasn't been doing his exercises, stressing the importance of keeping muscles loose and limber.

Oregon House approves hospital, nursing home tax

The Oregon House voted Tuesday to extend a tax on hospitals and nursing homes that provides a big portion of the state budget for health care.

KATU's Shellie Bailey-Shah had same genetic test as Angelina Jolie

While being treated for breast cancer in 2008, Shellie Bailey-Shah had the same genetic test as Angelina Jolie to assess the risk of passing a dangerous gene along to her children. We're re-posting her 2008 stories to give you some insight into the test and its ramifications.

Women have new options for breast cancer surgery

Treating breast cancer almost always involves surgery, and for years the choice was just having the lump or the whole breast removed. Now, new approaches are dramatically changing the way these operations are done, giving women more options, faster treatment, smaller scars, fewer long-term side effects and better cosmetic results.

Study questions if bed rest prevents premature birth

New research is raising fresh concern that an age-old treatment for troubled pregnancies - bed rest - doesn't seem to prevent premature birth, and might even worsen that risk.

Huge drug cost disparities seen in health overhaul

Cancer patients could face high costs for medications under President Barack Obama's health care law, industry analysts and advocates warn.