Gale Scott

Modern medicine focuses too much on extending life and too little on making sure that's the kind of life patients want. Using conversational skills like those of psychiatrists, that can change for the better.

Veterans with PTSD did better when they adopted dogs, a Texas study found.

Until recently anorexia nervosa was thought to be a problem for females only. That thinking has changed and specialists are now looking at ways to treat eating disorders in adolescent boys and men.

Buprenorphine made treatment for addiction to opioids available in a daily pill. Trial results to be presented in Atlanta, GA show an implanted form of the drug could make treatment even more convenient.

Congenital heart disease may have the same name in adult and pediatric care but the two conditions can often require vastly different approaches in care. Despite that work in the field is being done to help patients of all age maintain a high quality of life.

As congenital heart patients transition from pediatric care to adult care there is a world of new challenges awaiting them. How they approach those challenges and how their doctors help them in that time can determine how they manage the condition in the future.

Treatment of adult congenital heart disease has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few decades but there is still much more work to be done. Areas of research like stem cells could be part of the future of treating this condition in the future.

A lot has been done to bolster the treatment of congenital heart disease and managing the risks of this patient population. Because of that these patients are able to live a longer and fuller life including pregnancy and childbirth like other people.

Even the most severe cases of congenital heart disease can be treated to a level where they can safely navigate high risk pregnancies.

It was not that long ago that women with congenital heart disease were discouraged from becoming pregnant. Thanks to advances in diagnosis and treatment that is no longer the case.

What should physicians tell patients who are worried about lead in their drinking water? Filtering that water is an easy first step, and there are others.

As the country has seen headlines about exposure to lead recently there have been more questions than answers about what that means for people and how much lead is safe in daily life.

Not worried about lead in your water? You should be, says Newark toxicologist Steven Marcus, MD.

Restrictions on e-cigarettes, hookahs, and other tobacco products are about to get a lot tighter. The FDA is going to regulate them just like cigarettes, prohibiting their sale to minors.

Hepatitis C infection mortality in 2013 surpassed the total combined number of deaths from 60 other infectious illnesses, the CDC reports.

Children and teens admitted to the hospital with pneumonia had a shorter length of stay with ibuprofen treatment than with acetaminophen, a Bronx team reported.

Patients with the hereditary degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP) may delay their loss of daytime vision by taking a traditional Chinese plant remedy Lycium barbarum also known as goji berry or wolfberry.

Liver transplant centers may be letting their sickest patients die waiting for a donor liver in an effort to improve their statistics on successful transplants, a new study charges.

US birth rates show fewer teenagers are having babies--at least in states where abortion is readily available--but ethnic and racial disparities remain a challenge.

Under the threat of lawsuits, seven major commercial insurers doing business in New York will now cover direct acting antivirals for patients with HCV infection, as will NY's Medicaid program. The plans will also stop denying coverage to patients who abuse drugs or alcohol.

The field of obstetrics and gynecology is constantly moving forward including new treatments for conditions like fibroids as well as work on new surgical treatments like uterine transplants. All these changes can present a wide range of challenges for health care professionals who work in this area of medicine.

As fibroids become a more common problem facing doctors and patients new treatment methods are being developed to address it. From new medications to various procedures these can allow patients to get the care they needed without affecting their quality of life as much as previous choices may have.

Once a patient is diagnosed with fibroids it is up to the doctor to determine the best course of treatment. Even as more treatment options are being developed there are already some solid choices depending on the age of the patient and other factors.

With fibroids being a fairly common condition in the United States doctors are becoming more adept at the diagnosis process and finding treatment methods for these patients.

Overdoses of acetaminophen can cause liver failure. In promising animal studies, a Bronx team believes it has a potential way to mediate that toxicity.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved a long acting dual bronchodilator.

Doctors in Oklahoma would lose their medical licenses for professional misconduct if they performed abortions, under a measure awaiting that state's governor's signature.

Why didn't dozens of young patients diagnosed with hepatitis C get treatment in Princeton, NJ? New CDC study offers reasons.

Is a methacetin breath test superior to MELD scores in predicting mortality in liver failure?

Being overweight in itself is a risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but people of normal body mass index (BMI) can have lean NAFLD and if so they are in even greater danger.