Health

Skip to content

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Today's Paper|Get Win Paper

Keep reading by creating a free account or signing in.

Subscribe|Support Local News

Keep reading by creating a free account or signing in.

News Sports Business Opinion Politics Entertainment Life Food Health Real Estate Philly First Obituaries Jobs

Pottstown Hospital was part of a multihospital purchase by Tower Health in 2017. When it was a for-profit facility, the hospital’s property taxes brought more than $900,000 a year to the local school district, school officials said.

Philly jury awards $3.5 million to family of dementia patient allegedly raped in Pottstown Hospital

Rita Quigley, 79, was hospitalized in Tower Health's Pottstown Hospital after a fall in 2020. Her family says she was raped during that stay.

Springfield Hospital is one of the two Crozer Health hospitals that Prospect Medical Holding has closed for inpatient care since 2022. Crozer's remaining hospitals, Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, are expected to remain open until around March 28 with funding from the Foundation for Delaware County.

Foundation for Delaware County gives money to keep Crozer hospitals open for two more weeks

Harold Brubaker

President Donald Trump.

Under Trump, Social Security resumes what it once called ‘clawback cruelty’

David Hilzenrath, KFF Health News, and Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group

A Dryptosaurus aquilunguis skeleton at the museum's entrance. It was the world's first-ever discovered tyrannosaur, found in 1866, a mile from the museum site at what is now Ceres Park.

Photos of new South Jersey fossil park and dinosaur museum

Emily Bhatnagar was 17 in this photo when she started the "For Love & Buttercup" book drive. The books were stored in her family's restaurant in Gaithersburg, Md.

Penn student getting a new honor for starting ‘For Love & Buttercup,’ a nonprofit that donates books to sick kids

A health-care worker vaccinates a man at a community COVID-19 vaccination clinic run by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in West Philadelphia in February 2021.

Philadelphia News

Former Philly health department employee who raised concerns about racial equity in the COVID-19 response sues the city

Dianna Coleman accuses the health department of racial discrimination, retaliation, and creating a hostile work environment.

Long-COVID patients are frustrated that federal research hasn’t found new treatments

Along with claiming the lives of 1.2 million Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has been described as a mass disabling event. Estimates vary, but the CDC puts it at 17 million adults.

Sarah Boden, KFF Health News

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine are delivered to Penn Medicine's Pennsylvania Hospital on Dec. 15, 2020.

Penn’s royalties from Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine grow to at least $2 billion after new settlement

A patient receives the monkeypox vaccine at the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity in North Philadelphia in 2022. The Black Doctors Consortium hosted the clinic.

Where to find free vaccines in Philadelphia this winter

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine are delivered to Penn Medicine's Pennsylvania Hospital on Dec. 15, 2020.

Penn’s royalties from Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine grow to at least $2 billion after new settlement

A patient receives the monkeypox vaccine at the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity in North Philadelphia in 2022. The Black Doctors Consortium hosted the clinic.

Where to find free vaccines in Philadelphia this winter

Expert Opinions

Expert Opinion | As an oncologist, I have advice: Don’t wait until retirement to enjoy life

While not everyone can just "live for today," postponing travel and other plans can mean regret if illness befalls you.

Mikkael A. Sekeres, Washington Post

People often put off many of their dreams until retirement. But with the statutiory retirement age of of 66 or 67 and the average cancer diagnosis happening at age 66, sometimes deferred dreams lead to regret.

People often put off many of their dreams until retirement. But with the statutiory retirement age of of 66 or 67 and the average cancer diagnosis happening at age 66, sometimes deferred dreams lead to regret.

Expert Opinion | As an oncologist, I have advice: Don’t wait until retirement to enjoy life

While not everyone can just "live for today," postponing travel and other plans can mean regret if illness befalls you.

Mikkael A. Sekeres, Washington Post

When your medicine comes with a long list of side effects

Jeffrey Millstein, For The Inquirer

Prescription drugs displayed in a glass flask.

CDC firings undermine public health work far beyond Washington

Rachana Pradhan, KFF Health News

Demonstrators protest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) layoffs in front of the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

How the hidden epidemic of violence against nurses affects health care

Jason Blomquist, The Conversation

Connecticut Nurses Honor Guard member Kelly Salata, of Clinton, wipes a tear away during a vigil for Joyce Grayson at the Connecticut State Capitol's North Lobby in 2023 in Hartford, Conn. The death of the 63-year-old mother of six is sparking renewed calls to better protect health care workers from a wave of violent attacks across the country. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant via AP)

Expert opinion | Is gluten-free the health bonanza we believe? A new study weighs in

Sachin Rustgi, The Conversation

Gluten-free items have become a marketing bonanza. But are they better for your health? MUST CREDIT: Tom McCorkle for The Washington Post

A Dryptosaurus aquilunguis skeleton at the museum's entrance. It was the world's first-ever discovered tyrannosaur, found in 1866, a mile from the museum site at what is now Ceres Park.

Photos of new South Jersey fossil park and dinosaur museum

A visitor pops up into a dome in a diorama in the “Dinosaur Coast Gallery” at the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University during a media preview March 5, 2025, before the museum officially opens March 29. The dome is entered through a child-sized tunnel, part of the interactive environment depicting the authentic lives of East Coast dinosaurs from 66 million years ago.

First Look: Edelman Fossil Park & Museum with full-scale replicas, fossil quarry, and VR experience

A Dryptosaurus aquilunguis skeleton at the museum's entrance. It was the world's first-ever discovered tyrannosaur, found in 1866, a mile from the museum site at what is now Ceres Park.

Photos of new South Jersey fossil park and dinosaur museum

A visitor pops up into a dome in a diorama in the “Dinosaur Coast Gallery” at the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University during a media preview March 5, 2025, before the museum officially opens March 29. The dome is entered through a child-sized tunnel, part of the interactive environment depicting the authentic lives of East Coast dinosaurs from 66 million years ago.

First Look: Edelman Fossil Park & Museum with full-scale replicas, fossil quarry, and VR experience

Wind blows a woman's hair around at 11th and Arch Streets on windy day last month in what has been quite a windy start to 2025.

Philly is under a wind alert again Friday, the 6th time in the past week

Anthony R. Wood

A pedestrian holds on to his cap on a windy day last month during what has been quite gusty period. More gusts are expected Wednesday.

Severe storms are possible in the Philly region Wednesday during the late-day commute

Anthony R. Wood

Wind blows a woman's hair around at 11th and Arch Streets on windy day last month in what has been quite a windy start to 2025.

Philly is under a wind alert again Friday, the 6th time in the past week

Anthony R. Wood

A pedestrian holds on to his cap on a windy day last month during what has been quite gusty period. More gusts are expected Wednesday.

Severe storms are possible in the Philly region Wednesday during the late-day commute

Anthony R. Wood

Reproductive Health

Four Philly abortion providers talk about the calling that drives them to do emotionally challenging work

“If abortion is legal but there’s nobody to provide them, we don’t have legal abortion,” said Lisa Perriera, medical director of The Women’s Center’s five clinics.

Sarah Gantz and video by Lauren Schneiderman

6:44

6:44

Four Philly abortion providers talk about the calling that drives them to do emotionally challenging work

“If abortion is legal but there’s nobody to provide them, we don’t have legal abortion,” said Lisa Perriera, medical director of The Women’s Center’s five clinics.

Sarah Gantz and video by Lauren Schneiderman

Post-Roe, contraceptive failures carry bigger stakes

Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News

Birth control failures can have big consequences in a post-Roe United States.

Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion provider. Most Philadelphians who go there aren’t ending a pregnancy.

Bobbie Trotenberg, a patient escort, watched as a patient entered Planned Parenthood in Center City after she walked her to the door in Philadelphia on July 20.

How overturning ‘Roe v. Wade’ will affect abortion access in Pa., NJ

People gather outside the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building for the Bans Off Our Bodies rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, October 2, 2021. The rally is part of demonstrations happening across the country defending women’s rights to seek abortions.

Pa. could see a surge of 8,500 abortion patients from other states

High schoolers from Philadelphia walk through the north portal of Philadelphia's City Hall to meet up with other students to protest for abortion rights on May 25, 2022.

Pan African Sisterhood Health Initiative (P.A.S.H.I.) volunteer Gail Hoffman (right) makes pads with other volunteers at the Ujima Friends Peace Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

Dozens of Black women in Philly gather weekly to sew reusable period pads for girls in Africa and beyond

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle A. Henry last month.

Health & Pharma

Pa., N.J. join settlement with generic drug firms accused of price-fixing. Consumers may be eligible for refunds.

Pan African Sisterhood Health Initiative (P.A.S.H.I.) volunteer Gail Hoffman (right) makes pads with other volunteers at the Ujima Friends Peace Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

Dozens of Black women in Philly gather weekly to sew reusable period pads for girls in Africa and beyond

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle A. Henry last month.

Health & Pharma

Pa., N.J. join settlement with generic drug firms accused of price-fixing. Consumers may be eligible for refunds.

The Opioid Crisis

Purdue Pharma and owners to pay $7.4 billion in settlement to lawsuits over the toll of OxyContin

Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press

A Kensington Hospital wound care outreach van welcomes patients in 2023. The authors write that deploying mobile treatment units to reach people where they are is one of the ways to treat the wave of medetomidine or "rhino tranq" that is involved in one in five fentanyl-related deaths in Philadelphia.

Hospitals must develop new protocols as overdose crisis enters dangerous new phase

Kevan Shah and Suhanee Mitragotri, For The Inquirer

Purdue Pharma and owners to pay $7.4 billion in settlement to lawsuits over the toll of OxyContin

Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press

A Kensington Hospital wound care outreach van welcomes patients in 2023. The authors write that deploying mobile treatment units to reach people where they are is one of the ways to treat the wave of medetomidine or "rhino tranq" that is involved in one in five fentanyl-related deaths in Philadelphia.

Hospitals must develop new protocols as overdose crisis enters dangerous new phase

Kevan Shah and Suhanee Mitragotri, For The Inquirer

Special Reports

Lily Walker (left) with her cousin Peter Cellucci on the steps of the Washington Monument fountain at Eakins Oval at the 20th annual CHOP Parkway Run & Walk on Sunday in Philadelphia.

A medical mystery: Why two Philly-area cousins, just miles apart, got rare brain cancers

Pediatric cancer is rare. Malignant brain tumors in kids are even rarer. But these two cousins are in treatment for different, though equally aggressive, types of brain cancer — at the same time.

Hazel Rollerson, mother of Elwood Porter, who died of an overdose in the summer of 2021, shown here with the ashes of her son, in her home in Sicklerville, New Jersey, Tuesday, August 16, 2022.

Overdoses are killing a record number of Philadelphians as deaths soar among Black residents

Aubrey Whelan and Kasturi Pananjady

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.

Philadelphia News

From August 2022: Philly FOP picked problematic doctors for police ‘injured on duty’ benefit

Barbara Laker, David Gambacorta, and William Bender

6:44

Four Philly abortion providers talk about the calling that drives them to do emotionally challenging work

Sarah Gantz and video by Lauren Schneiderman

Mary Adamson (center), an ICU Nurse at Temple University Hospital, with other Temple nurses. Adamson wrote a piece about all of the nurses that remain in the profession.

5 medical professionals on why they stay as hospital workers flee post-COVID

Mary Adamson, Maureen May, Uhura Free Russ, Latoya Charise Nesbitt, Carlos Aviles, and Jonathan Ley

© 2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC
Terms of Use/ Privacy Policy/ Cancellation Policy/ California Notice/ California residents do not sell my data request
California residents do not sell my data request