Michigan Health Watch

Michigan’s 45-plus year history of annually publishing abortion statistics is ending under a law passed last year.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, antidepressant dispensing has increased by 64% among adolescents, thanks to an increase in anxiety and depression diagnoses.

While Michigan’s tribes have suffered injury from the opioid epidemic, they haven’t benefited from a landmark lawsuit settlement. Some states give tribes millions; Michigan working on a fix.

The behemoth Catholic hospital chain has been forced to pivot from computers to paperwork at times after a cyberattack breached its systems May 8. Warned of longer wait times, patients are expected to keep their appointments unless otherwise directed.

As concerns increase about doctors using drugs, the chair of the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians is sharing his story of abuse, offering hope to fellow doctors.

The national outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has killed nearly 100 million chickens and infected 67 cattle herds across the nation.

Michigan has made ‘harm reduction’ a focus in spending its opioid settlement funds. Two possible law changes could move that effort forward, better protecting needle-access programs and decriminalizing drug test strips.

For decades, newborns whose moms who took illicit or prescribed drugs have been whisked away to hospital nurseries or neonatal intensive care units for clinical care. But ‘rooming in’ together and skin-to-skin contact could be better for Mom, Baby and taxpayers.

A Michigan dairy worker, like the Texas dairy worker earlier this year, reported just one symptom: an eye infection.

Michigan’s pregnancy crisis centers, dismissed as ‘fake clinics’ by some, say they are increasing clinic staff and equipment and uniting for a stronger voice. Abortion providers are expanding services, too.

A ransomware attack at Ascension health system has breached medical records, disrupted patient care, and forced the health care behemoth back to paper records in at least some cases.

U.S. drug deaths fell last year — ‘heartening’ news, according to the CDC’s medical director. Michigan mirrored that trend. Still, nearly 3,000 people died.

At the height of the water crisis, Flint children had lower lead levels than many others in Michigan. But low expectations, trauma and constant anxiety did more harm than lead. ‘Instead of scaring families, we should be reassuring them.’

Ten years after the beginning of the Flint water crisis, the city’s youth are scarred as much by low expectations as by the lead-tainted water. ‘People had already decided who we were. They had ideas about IQ and behavior.’

In a major public-health success story, lead exposure in Michigan children has plummeted in recent decades, including in Flint.

Ascension, which operates 15 Michigan hospitals, says its facilities remain ‘open and operational,’ but patients can expect delays as it tries to recover from the ransomware attack.

A cyberattack that hobbled one of the nation’s largest systems Wednesday continued to wreak havoc Friday.

Michiganders living with opioid use disorder have three FDA-approved medications they can turn to for treatment: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. Here’s how they work.

Federal and state policy changes mean more doctors can prescribe a drug known to help patients fight addiction. But advocates say stigma and other barriers keep Michigan patients from accessing medication assisted treatment.

Avian flu has spread to livestock in at least six Michigan counties. Now, the state is ordering farmers to take more action — the ‘most comprehensive measures in the country.’