The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a controversial bankruptcy reorganization plan for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would have shielded members of the Sackler family, who owned the company, from opioid litigation.
Why it matters: The 5-4 decision means victims of the addiction crisis won't receive billions of dollars in settlement funds, but it sets a new bar for whether investors or lenders can skirt legal exposure in other cases using a technicality in bankruptcy law.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a closely watched abortion case — a temporary victory for abortion-rights supporters that allows doctors to perform emergency abortions in Idaho.
The big picture: The court did not resolve the case's central questions about how state abortion bans and federal directives on emergency health care mesh.
Magic mushrooms are the most-used psychedelic drug in the United States, according to a new report from RAND.
Why it matters: The close look at Americans' use of psychedelics can help policymakers figure out how to regulate the substances as mental health treatments or even legalize them for recreational use.
Employee health care costs are increasingly eating up larger shares ofpayroll costs for America's smallest businesses, according to a new analysis from the JPMorgan Chase Institute.
Why it matters: The pain of health care costs is nothing new. But this analysis, based on de-identified data from Chase business banking accounts, offers a more granular look at the disproportionate burden on the smallest businesses that often isn't captured by other data.
More than 20 years after a landmark report chronicled the existence and drivers of health inequities in the U.S., a sequel published Wednesday finds little has improved.
Why it matters: Despitegreaterawareness, inequities are baked into the U.S. health care system and will take intentional policy change and structural redesign to dislodge, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded.
Scientists unveiled Tuesday a humanoid robot face they created from lab-grown, self-healing human skin.
Why it matters: The researchers from the University of Tokyo, Japan, hope the breakthrough could one day prove "useful in the cosmetics industry and to help train plastic surgeons," per a statement announcing the breakthrough.
Totally Cool, a Maryland company, has recalled nearly 70 ice cream products sold under 13 brand names because they could be contaminated with listeria.
Why it matters: Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immunes systems, according to the recall notice on the Food & Drug Administration website.
