A look at public health news from around the web.
Experiencing toxic effects after being assaulted by a venomous marine plant? Perhaps you're having relationship problems with your in-laws? The codes that your doctor uses to bill your insurance company got an overhaul this week for the first time in decades. And as Kaiser Health News reports in this highly entertaining article, the new codes get very specific.
Missouri May Lose Abortion Provider To A State College Rule Change
While Planned Parenthood's president was grilled by lawmakers in DC, activists protested a decision by the University of Missouri that may end abortion services at one of two clinics in the state where a woman can have one. Side Effects' Rebecca Smith has that story.
Sick is a podcast from Side Effects about the things that can happen to our bodies, and how we respond. In this week'sepisode, a strange trigger gives a woman seizures and makes life a daily struggle.
EPA Sets New Air Standards, Aggravates Industry and Environmentalists
Pollutants from oil refineries, ozone levels, and farm-workers' exposure to pesticides were all targets of new stricter rules set by the EPA this week. The new standard on ozone - a chemical found in smog that contributes to respiratory illnesses- is kicking up a controversy, as NPR reports.
The Guardian Sheds Light On A Little-Understood, But Life-Altering Disease
In a series of articles this week, The Guardian brought attention to what its editors call "a silent source of unnecessary misery." The paper arguesthat endometriosis, a reproductive disorder that causes debilitating pain, sexual dysfunction and infertility for millions of women, does not get the funding or the specialized medical attention it deserves.
