Guantanamo: Still Abusing After All These Years

Staff / Truthdig Sep 12, 2007 Despite fleeting promises by the administration to shut the place down, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba is still up and running, complete with many of the terrible conditions we've all come to know and be ashamed of, according to transcripts recently obtained by the Associated Press. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Soldiers and Doctors Struggle With Brain Injury

Staff / Truthdig Sep 10, 2007 More and more troops are coming home from Iraq with brain damage, the result of repeated exposure to explosions, and doctors are having a difficult time keeping up. For many, the damage causes problems experts have never seen before and aren't sure how to treat. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bad News for Older Smokers

Staff / Truthdig Sep 4, 2007 Cigarette smoking is even worse for your health than previously thought. Dutch researchers have found that smokers over the age of 55 are 50 percent likelier to develop some form of dementia. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Bush School of Medicine

Mr. Fish / Truthdig Aug 11, 2007 Dig deeper

The GOP’s Big Health Scare

Joe Conason / Truthdig Aug 9, 2007 Listening to the Republican candidates for president warn against "socialized medicine," you might believe that national health insurance is really a plot to institute Soviet rule in the United States. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Grand Jury Rejects Katrina ‘Mercy Killing’ Charges

Staff / Truthdig Jul 25, 2007 In a case of life imitating art and vice versa, a New Orleans grand jury refused Tuesday to indict a doctor for the alleged mercy killing of four critically ill patients during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Anna Pou maintained her innocence throughout the affair, which was recently fictionalized by the left-leaning drama "Boston Legal." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Watch ‘Sicko’ and Call Your Congressman in the Morning

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Jun 28, 2007 The rudimentary equation of the health insurance industry is that to make a profit, it must take in more money than it pays out in claims. This is why the public, as distinct from the political class, will intuitively understand and likely appreciate Michael Moore's new film, "Sicko." Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Michael Moore, Oprah and ‘Sicko’

Staff / Truthdig Jun 12, 2007 Documentarian Michael Moore takes clips from his latest to Oprah for a discussion of the healthcare crisis and why even Republicans are responding warmly to the film: "I don't want this to be a political issue When you get sick, you get sick The illness doesn't care whether you're a Democrat or a Republican". Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Another Classic Appointment From George W. Bush

Staff / Truthdig Jun 8, 2007 Meet the president's pick for our next surgeon general, Dr. James Holsinger, a man who once wrote that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy: "When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur." Injuries? Can't we just do without a surgeon general for a couple of years? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

New Jersey Considers Mandatory HIV Test

Staff / Truthdig May 12, 2007 A new proposal would make New Jersey the first state to require HIV testing for pregnant women and their babies, unless the women decline the test in writing. Currently four states test just mothers, and two others only newborns. The bill is opposed by the D.C.-based Center for Women Policy Studies on the grounds that it limits health rights. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Greatest Threat to Choice

Chris Hedges / Truthdig May 7, 2007 When it comes to abortion, the Christian right presents a false choice between self-condemnation and a life of struggle. Until the impoverished and imperiled, so frequently driven into the arms of demagogues, are truly cared for, the freedom of all women will be at risk. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

The Ultimate Diet Pill

Staff / Truthdig Apr 30, 2007 Researchers have found a way to trigger a gene that causes the body to burn fat -- without exercise. Mice tested with the wonder drug not only lost weight, but kept the pounds off while eating fatty foods. Needless to say, the same effect can be achieved through a healthy lifestyle, but who has the time? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )