Humboldt Independent Practice Association Chief Medical officer Candy Stockton has been confirmed by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to serve as Humboldt County’s Public Health Officer. She is slated to begin the new post July 18. “Having spent years practicing medicine in rural Northern California has given me a deep understanding of the challenges […]
Medical
Posted inLetters + Opinion
New Laws and Greening the Senate
If you spent New Year’s Eve rolling around town smoking joints in the back of a party bus, you may have had a rude awakening after the clock struck midnight. While state law has always prohibited drivers and passengers in cars from smoking cannabis, puffing vape pens or any other form of imbibing, Senate Bill […]
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Newsom’s Move: Not Yet Health Care For All, But Health Care for More
It was way easier for candidate Gavin Newsom to endorse single-payer health care coverage for everyone than it is now for Gov. Newsom to deliver it. Yet hardcore advocates say they’re pleased with the moves he’s made thus far — even if it may take years to come to fruition. “This is a governor that is […]
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What we did, and didn’t, learn from the state’s audit of skilled nursing facilities
Brius Healthcare, LLC, did nothing illegal when its local skilled nursing facilities spent millions of dollars on related party transactions, according to a state auditor’s report on the practice that was released May 1. In 2015, Brius spent $65.7 million on services such as building leases, medical supplies and administrative services from companies also owned […]
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Sessions: Marijuana Only ‘Slightly Less Awful’ than Heroin
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions tossed some more shade on marijuana this week, adding to growing concerns that a federal crackdown is looming for the $7 billion industry. Speaking about efforts to combat violent crime and “restore public safety” before a group of state and local law enforcement in Richmond, Virginia, Sessions spoke about the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
A Singular Solution
The reason Republicans haven’t come up with a credible plan to replace Obamacare over the last seven years is because they’ve never thought it was important for all Americans to have access to health care. “Replace” was only recently tacked onto their dogged, unthinking attempts to repeal when they realized that taking away health insurance […]
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OB-Gone
By the end of December, there will be just five OB-GYN (obstetrics and gynecology) physicians left in Humboldt County — down from at least 10 just four years ago. And of those who remain, four are older than 60 and only one sees patients in his office full time: Deepak Stokes, 64, who practices in […]
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Nurses Set Stage For Possible Strike
St. Joseph Hospital nurses voted last week to authorize a strike — but that doesn’t mean they’re about to strike. It means they’ve handed their nurse representatives a big cudgel to raise high in threat above the bargaining table where they’ve sat for weeks haggling with hospital administration over their new contract. “It’s used as […]
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Pain Doc Loses Her License
Effective at 5 p.m. today, former Eureka doctor Fran Day will not be allowed to practice medicine in the state of California. The doctor’s license already had been suspended for more than two years. Today the Medical Board of California officially revoked it, after Day, who specialized in pain treatment and psychiatry and practiced medicine […]
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Vote Could Shape Future of SoHum Health Care
The little hospital and clinic that provide basic care in Southern Humboldt could soon get a new board of directors, in a vote that’s in part a referendum on the controversial hospital director. The Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District has been through a bankruptcy and bouts of heavy turnover, and now is in a heated […]
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OB-Gyn turmoil at St. Joe’s
St. Joseph Hospital’s gynecologic chief of staff has resigned in protest of a near-ban on sterilizations, according to two other gynecologists who attended a meeting about the new rules yesterday. The physician, Dr. Bill Weiderman, did not return a call seeking comment. [Update, 5:05 p.m.: Weiderman confirmed that he has resigned over the policy, but […]
Posted inNews
Old Safeway Morphs Into…
the new Veterans Affairs medical clinic. You might have driven past the shell of the old Safeway on Harris Street recently and wondered what all that construction was about. The Safeway closed when the big new Safeway opened farther up the road. Pierson Company has gutted the old structure and is now upgrading it to […]