Tagged: Health and Medicine

A second patient at Western State Hospital has died violently in less than a week.  Lakewood Police say 20-year-old Megan Templeton hanged herself with a bed sheet at the state's largest psychiatric hospital.

The state has been trying to crack down on ER visits for conditions that are not critical. But health care providers say the state’s policies go too far, they’re unsafe for patients, and will shift costs to hospitals.

Hospitals and emergency room doctors want to address the problem their own way. They’ve put together what they call best practices for reducing unnecessary ER visits. A key component of that is using an electronic health information system.

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Flu season is hanging on longer than usual in parts of the Northwest say health officials. That’s shown in cases of the flu and also via web searches. Google queries for terms like “muscle aches,” ”flu symptoms” and “thermometer” are being used to track where flu is hitting now.

Secretary of Health Mary Selecky announced today that as of last month, there have been 640 cases of whooping cough. That’s compared to 94 in the same period last year.

Selecky: “If this pace continues, we’re on track to have the highest number of whooping cough cases in our state in decades.”

Religious beliefs and contraception collided today in the Idaho House of Representatives. a majority of state lawmakers voted to send a message to the President and U.S. Congress to reject a new birth control policy.