This week: we learn how to get better at talking about life cycles and monthly cycles, and how not to discipline our kids. Plus, a powerful opioid causes concern in Northern California, and Missouri Medicaid recipients line up for dental care before it's too late. Don't miss important reporting on the troubled state of health care for ex-prisoners (down at the bottom of the page).
You can get Side Effects' weekly roundups as an email Friday mornings. Just sign up here.
Study: Spanking Kids Does Harm, Not Good
Nearly half of American parents admit to spanking their kids. But according to a review of the research, spanking doesn't improve behavior, and it likely has a negative effect. Vox has more.
Fentanyl-Laced Pills Spread Across Northern California
Fentanyl is a opioid painkiller 50-100 times more powerful than morphine, and several times more common than heroin. In a spate of overdoses in Sacramento and the Bay Area, pills that were labeled as less powerful drugs were found to contain fentanyl. The San Jose Mercury News reports.
.
300,000 Patients' Dental Care In Limbo As Missouri Struggles To Fund Coverage
Medicaid patients in Missouri are getting their dental care paid for for the first time in 11 years...but just for a few months, and even that's not for sure. Side Effects' Bram Sable-Smith reports.
Most women and girls who menstruate require something males don't: pads or tampons. In this brand new episode from our podcast Sick, hosts Jake and Bram learn that when society gets to know more about what homeless women - and the rest of us - go through every month, things get a little more fair. Listen here. (We promise it won't hurt a bit).
Indianapolis Festival Aims To Demystify Death
The prolong-life-at-all-costs mentality in health care is costing a great deal, both in dollars and agony at the end of life. If we talked about death more, would we get smarter about the way we die? To that end, the recent Before I Die Festival held in Indianapolis - the first of its kind in the US - exposed participants to death-related art, discussion, and even human remains. Side Effects' Jake Harper reports.
Thousands Leave Maryland Prisons With Health Problems And No Coverage
People just out of prison have a lot of health concerns, from addiction relapse to diabetes and hepatitis C. The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion was meant to cover these individuals. But even in states that expanded Medicaid, Kaiser Health News discovered, the majority of ex-inmates leave incarceration uninsured and without access to needed medications. Many end up in the ER, or worse. Read the story.
