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Doctors, consumers and politicians say big federal cuts to Medicaid funding would jeopardize the treatment a lot of kids rely on. The state would either have to make up lost funding or cut benefits.
People often turn to public restrooms as a place to get high on opioids. It has led some establishments to close their facilities, while others are training employees to help people who overdose.
Doctors are beginning to pay attention to injuries, such as brain damage or kidney failure, that can afflict people who survive an overdose.
Unlike heroin, fentanyl routinely shuts down breathing in seconds, and it's becoming more common.
Just a few grains of pure fentanyl is enough to kill most users. But law enforcement sources say stopping the supply of the deadly synthetic opioid from China and Mexico is very difficult.
So far this year, more than one in four donations in New England are from people who died after a drug overdose — a much higher rate than in the U.S. overall, though it's not clear why.
Recreational marijuana is on the ballot in five states in November. What do we know about pot's effects on the brain?
A Boston health clinic that treats transgender kids and teens finds that the percentage of its young patients who are adopted is higher than expected. These kids might need extra support, doctors say.
As doctors and nurses learn more about what the body goes through during drug use, they are changing the treatment they provide for patients on heroin and other drugs.
A refrigerator-sized machine could someday make lifesaving drugs on site when outbreaks occur or where medicine is in short supply, like on the battlefield.
The FDA could soon approve an implantable form of a drug used to treat opioid addiction. While the approach helped patients avoid relapse in tests, its price may be prohibitive for some, doctors say.
A nonprofit group in Boston working with homeless people will convert a conference room and provide medical supervision for people after they have taken heroin.
A state analysis reveals that the majority of overdose deaths in 2014 came from heroin or prescription opioids taken in combination with cocaine, anti-anxiety medications or alcohol.
Massachusetts spent $632 million more on health care last year than it aimed to, according to a report from the state’s Center for Health Information and Analysis.
A study done in Massachusetts highlights the difficulties consumers face in trying to find out how much health care services cost.
WBUR compiles a database for pregnant women to compare hospitals in Massachusetts.
A third of adults say they have gone online to get help diagnosing symptoms, but a study shows the results are often inaccurate.
Two years after the marathon bombing, Martha and Alvaro Galvis still suffer from physical wounds and emotional pain.
A state law now requires insurers to reveal prices of their medical tests, and the variation is amazing, bargain hunters say. An MRI of the back is $614 at one place; $1,800 at another.
Under a new state law, Massachusetts insurers have to post how much tests and procedures cost at different providers in a consumer-friendly way.
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