Standing on the sidewalk outside the Arizona Department of Health Services building in Phoenix, midwife Wendi Cleckner addressed the crowd of about 200 men and women—many cradling babies or holding protest signs. “What we want is safe birth in Arizona,” said Cleckner, president of the Arizona Association of Midwives, which…
The percentage of Arizona children who don’t have health insurance is shrinking, but, for the fifth year in a row, the state remains among the worst in the nation for access to care, according to a new report from Georgetown University. Ten percent of Arizona children were uninsured in 2014,…
Arizona babies are the least likely in the country to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest immunization survey. About 84 percent of the state’s children between the ages of 19 and 35 months have received the MMR shot,…
Arizona is calling in U.S. health officials to investigate an outbreak of the rare — and sometimes fatal — mosquito-borne illness St. Louis Encephalitis. Nationally, there are typically only about 20 cases of St. Louis Encephalitis annually, said Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for the Disease Control Division at the…
The director of the Arizona Department of Health Services has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging a new abortion law requiring doctors to advise women that a chemical abortion can be reversed because it hasn’t hurt anyone yet. The lawsuit, brought by a group of physicians…
Arizona officials have agreed to delay the implementation of a new abortion law requiring doctors to tell women that medication-induced abortions may be reversed until federal courts can review it. Three Arizona doctors and Planned Parenthood, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit earlier this month contending…
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, filed suit in federal court today to block an Arizona law requiring doctors to tell patients it is possible to reverse a medication-induced abortion. Arguing that there is “no credible medical evidence” that supports the…
For the first time in more than a decade, the percentage of Arizona kindergartners getting exempted from vaccinations by their parents actually went down. The Arizona Department of Health Services reports this week that 4.6 percent of the state’s kindergartners this year haven’t been vaccinated due to a parent’s personal…
“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio after police busted into a squalid Wittman mobile home Wednesday to find 54 dogs and 18 cats crawling over urine-stained furniture. One striped cat, nestled inside an old, cardboard produce box, was nursing three Chihuahua puppies. Another lay…
Within a week, Governor Doug Ducey is expected to say yay or nay to a proposal that would block the state from cooperating with the Affordable Care Act. Among other things, House Bill 2643 would prohibit Arizona from building a state-run healthcare exchange — a move that some say could…
The outbreak of measles in Arizona is likely over. Health officials counted seven confirmed cases of measles in Arizona stemming from the outbreak at Disneyland late last year and have been waiting over the past three weeks to determine whether anyone else developed measles. It can take up to 21…
Chalk one up for patient rights: the Arizona Court of Appeals has opened the door for people to sue prescription-drug companies under the state’s consumer fraud act. Previously, the court held pharmaceutical companies liable for warning doctors about dangerous side effects — but not the people who were actually taking…
A Phoenix-area doctor who’s received national media attention for his stance against vaccinating children, is under investigation by one of the state’s medical boards. Dr. Jack Wolfson, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, is under investigation by the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners for several recent complaints, the agency confirmed to…
With seven confirmed cases of measles in Arizona, and perhaps 1,000 people in the state exposed to the disease, health officials are urging everyone to get vaccinated against the disease if they haven’t already done so. At the same time, other individuals and groups are using the outbreak as an…
With seven measles cases now identified in Arizona, health officials estimate that more than 1,000 people in the state may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease. Five of those confirmed cases, including a family of four who lives in Pinal County, were linked to the December measles outbreak…
UPDATE January 29: The state health department estimates more than 1,000 people could have been exposed to measles statewide. Click here for details. A second case of measles stemming from the outbreak at Disneyland has been confirmed in Maricopa County. County health officials say the infected, a woman, may have…
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health has confirmed a case of measles in the county, which is being linked to an outbreak in Disney theme parks in California. The woman with measles in Maricopa County wasn’t identified by county officials, but the woman, in her fifties, has since recovered…
The future of Arizona’s Medicaid expansion was thrown in doubt on Wednesday after the state Supreme Court ruled that a legal challenge to the program could move ahead. Thirty-six Arizona lawmakers who voted against the Medicaid bill in 2013 were injured as a group, the court ruled in an opinion…
Ebola may have the nation on high alert, but the deadly virus hasn’t yet made its way to Arizona. With the late summer’s heavy flooding, locals should be more concerned about mosquito-borne diseases, officials say, especially the West Nile virus. “West Nile virus is here; we know it’s here, and…
With the widespread Ebola outbreak in West Africa and yesterday’s death of the first patient diagnosed on U.S. soil, Arizona medical authorities are preparing in case an outbreak occurs here. There have been no diagnoses of Ebola virus infection in the state, and the few scares have not been serious…
Phoenix Children’s Hospital has announced a groundbreaking new institute slated to analyze patients’ unique genetic makeup to create personalized treatment plans. The institute is to focus on precision medicine, essentially an analysis of seriously ill patients and their disease at the molecular level. Precision medicine is used to create precise…
The Ice Bucket Challenge has raised millions of dollars for the ALS Association, but some people question whether it’s safe. One local teacher/business owner has banned her employees from participating after one of her students experienced adverse health effects following the challenge…
