Health & Medicine
Understanding the Future of Psychedelic Therapy in Texas
Many veterans and other Texans living with PTSD and depression have found relief from ketamine, but new state regulations may limit access to the drug.
No Deductibles? No Co-Pays? Is This Texas-Based Health Insurer Too Good to Be True?
Curative says it can turn profits without its customers facing the usual out-of-pocket costs or high premiums. Economists have their doubts.
Texas Acted to Make Ketamine Therapy for Depression Safer. Some Say That Could Cost Lives.
Many providers of the psychedelic mental-health treatment expect to close if a newly clarified state regulation is enforced.
The Story: To Live and Die in Far West Texas
In a remote region with few medical facilities, staff writer Sasha von Oldershausen reports on a nurse providing critical end-of-life care.
This Amarillo Woman Devoted Years to Maintaining America’s Nuclear Arsenal. She’s Paid a Hefty Price.
Spurred by her own painful loss, Sarah Ray has spent two decades helping others seek compensation for cancer and other illnesses likely contracted at the Pantex plant.
A Hidden Problem at the Food Bank
Eating disorders are most often associated with well-off young women. But among an unexpected population in San Antonio, a Trinity University researcher found an unmet need.
Sixteen Hours, Two Flights, and a Pastor on Call: What It Takes for a Texan to Get an Abortion
Since a near-total ban went into effect, tens of thousands of Texans have left the state to access abortion. Here’s how they do it.
Fear of Death Is Alive in Austin
Our medical system is broken. Could the answer lie in exposure to subfreezing temperatures and depriving our bodies of oxygen?
A Texas Health Director’s View from Inside the Measles Crisis
Katherine Wells’s view from inside the West Texas medical crisis.
Inside the Austin Club Offering Raw Milk, Cold Plunges, and Alpaca Raves
At the Sapien Center, those dabbling in the Make America Healthy Again movement can find connection, community, and unpasteurized dairy products.
Their Cows Started Dying Mysteriously. Lawmakers Are Taking Notice.
After losing dozens of farm animals to suspected chemical poisoning, two Texas families are pushing lawmakers for a fertilizer ban.
Ken Paxton Thinks He’s Found the Cause of Our Growing Stupidity: Fluoridated Pokémon Toothpaste
The attorney general alleges Crest and Colgate are “encourag[ing] kids to ingest fluoride toothpaste” with their marketing. It’s the latest in the Texas GOP’s war on nonexistent threats.
Can You Buy Yourself a Longer Life?
An Austin-based health-optimization chain plans a national rollout as interest in the industry—still trying to define itself—booms.
Diabetes Ravaged His Family. Now He’s Working to Spare Others in the Rio Grande Valley.
In a region where the chronic disease is too often viewed as a normal part of life, one advocate is educating children to change that.
A Trip to Africa Moved a San Antonio Teenager to Help Save Lives Overseas
Ariana Chaudhary's nonprofit connects under-resourced doctors abroad with consultations by American specialists, one email at a time.
It Should’ve Been a Routine Procedure. Instead, a Young Mother Became a Victim of Texas’s Broken Medical System.
After Kimberly Ray’s tragic death, her family found out just how hard it is to hold Texas medical providers to account.
Inside the Long-Awaited Renovations of Texas’s Psychiatric Hospitals
As psychiatric facilities get renovated or fully rebuilt across the state, mental health advocates argue that beautiful structures, thoughtful design, and access to fresh air have a role to play in treatment and recovery.
In Mexico’s Mountains, a Houston-Based Nonprofit Offers Health Care to an Isolated People
Mike and Maci Berkeley have spent more than twenty years bringing medical and spiritual attention to the impoverished Tarahumara.
Can Holographic Doctors Save Struggling Hospitals?
A small medical center south of Dallas is the nation’s first to offer 3D telehealth visits, and its CEO believes the technology is a “game changer.”
A San Angelo Doctor’s New Book Highlights the Challenges of Rural Medicine
Oncologist Fazlur Rahman shares lessons from his decades of treating West Texans.
The Texas Doctor Working to Expand Abortion Access in Ohio
As providers like Dr. Bhavik Kumar weigh whether to leave our state in the wake of Dobbs, they’re contending with an ever-shifting legal landscape across the country.
A Rare Disease Causes a Mother’s Body to Attack Her Unborn Child. Now a Texas Doctor Has Found a Drug to Stop It.
The only available treatment for HDFN can itself be fatal, but a clinical trial led by an Austin researcher offers new hope to families.
The Maternal Mortality Rate Surged in Texas in 2020 and 2021
The spike reversed two years of improvement.
If You’re Worried About Vaccinating Your Dog, Please Reread ‘Old Yeller’
Several puppies in a litter transported from Texas to Colorado had rabies, which has no cure and a massive fatality rate in humans.
A Rodeo Doctor Fixes Much More Than Broken Bones
A fixture in bull riding events around the country, Dallas surgeon Tandy Freeman tends to much more than just concussions and broken bones.
A Good Guy With a Gun vs. the National Rifle Association
A firearm-owning ER doctor who treats shooting victims in Houston argues, in a new book, for targeted reforms to help relieve our epidemic of weapon-related deaths.
Doctors Delayed Care for Their Ectopic Pregnancies. Now Their Future Fertility Is Uncertain.
In separate complaints, two women say Texas hospitals violated EMTALA, a federal statute that requires them to provide stabilizing care.
La Grange’s Only Hospital Closed Last Year. Now an Auction Will Decide Its Fate.
After local taxpayers declined to support St. Mark’s Medical Center and federal help couldn't save it, the rural Texas health-care crisis came home to residents of Fayette County.
Welcome Home to the Sandhu Quadruplets, Who Had a 1 in 15 Million Chance
Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire, and Petra Anne Sandhu are finally home after nearly three months in Texas Children’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Blood Tests From a Finger Prick—For Real This Time?
BetterWay, launched by Austin start-up Babson Diagnostics, aims to deliver a service that the Silicon Valley con artists at Theranos only promised.
Could Texas Save Money by Giving Free Ozempic to Diabetes Patients?
The chronic disease runs up hundreds of billions in health-care costs each year, yet only a fraction of patients have access to the highly effective new generation of drugs.
A New Artificial Heart in Houston Might Save Millions
For more than fifty years it has been one of the holy grails of medicine. A team at the Texas Heart Institute recently implanted a promising new model.
Mary Claire Haver Wants to Change How We Think About Menopause
The noted ob-gyn has the attention of millions on social media, where she loves “taking on the haters.”
Mary Claire Haver on How to Handle Hot Flashes in Texas
The Texas ob-gyn offers her top tips for navigating menopause.
Built for Suffering: The Roots of Texas’s Approach to Reproductive Health
In this adapted excerpt from her new book, ‘This Is Going To Hurt,’ Bekah McNeel explores the intersection of theology and abortion rights.
Texas Has Basically Legalized Marijuana. We Have the Proof.
Testing of smokable hemp at eight dispensaries around the state found that all were selling cannabis with potent levels of the psychoactive compound THC.
Two Years After Dobbs, the Texas Medical Board Adopted Rules Clarifying Abortion Ban Exceptions
The guidance lays out what the board will consider when investigating allegations of illegal abortions.
Making the Band: An Oral History of the Livestrong Bracelet
In 2004, a Texas nonprofit launched a yellow wristband. It became a must-have accessory and talisman of hope that changed the fight against cancer forever.
At This Anaplastology Lab, Each Lifelike Limb Is a Work of Art
"We cannot put back what God put there in the first place, but we can help make them feel whole again."
As told toRose Cahalan
As Texas Drops Millions Off Medicaid, Safety Net Clinics Face a Crisis
Community health centers contend with revenue shortfalls as their patients lose coverage, many without ever being deemed ineligible.
How to Win Friends and Not Poison Them With Barbecue
Many folks may be firing up the grill or smoker for the holiday weekend, but there are some basic food-safety precautions you need to know first.
The Texas Mosquito Apocalypse Is Upon Us
Our state belongs to the bloodsuckers. Humans just live here.
Oh, the Things an At-home IV Therapist Will See
This former Austin firefighter found his calling delivering hangover cures and vitamin infusions in the Texas capital.
As told toSasha von Oldershausen
An Austin Mother’s Decade-Long Search for a Cure
After her children were diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder, Alice McConnell founded a company to find a treatment. Despite the many setbacks, she persists in her mission.
Fighting a Syphilis Surge in Houston
Cases of the once rare disease are on the rise, crippling and killing infants. A new program hopes to prevent and treat the condition among those who are most vulnerable.
Where Your Ancestors Lived—More Than Your Race—May Explain Key Health Disparities
A new book by a UNT historian argues that American medicine overlooks how the ailments of many Black Americans are influenced by the diets of their African forebears.
No, Texans Don’t Need to Panic About Bird Flu—Yet
The risk of the avian influenza sparking a pandemic remains low, but viruses evolve, and experts urge vigilance.
In Texas’s Maternity Care Deserts, Nurses Offer Vital Help
A nonprofit forges one-on-one relationships with vulnerable first-time mothers to combat a maternal mortality crisis.
How Used Coffee Grounds May Fend Off Parkinson’s
A UT–El Paso study demonstrates that a by-product of your morning cup of joe could prove useful in fighting neurodegenerative disease.
As Texas Throws 1.8 Million Off Medicaid, Children Pay the Price
A procedural backlog is costing many eligible Texans the medical coverage they’re entitled to.