Martha Bebinger

Suboxone, a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, helps many people addicted to opioids wean themselves from an escalating drug habit. But counseling and social support are key to successful treatment, too, experts say.

Opioid Addiction Is 'A Disease Of Isolation,' So Pandemic Puts Recovery At Risk

Martha Bebinger

People in recovery from opioid or alcohol addiction are weathering a new storm of depression, anxiety and isolation these days, as 12-step programs move online and detox centers close their doors.

Transmission electron micrograph of particles of SARS-CoV-2 — the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Why Hoarding Of Hydroxychloroquine Needs To Stop

Martha Bebinger

Despite Trump's public remarks, infectious disease experts say it's premature to think hydroxychloroquine will help against COVID-19. And patients with lupus or rheumatoid arthritis rely on the drug.

Arthur Jackson (right) gets blood tests during home visits in Boston from nurse Brenda Mastricola. He's also getting intravenous penicillin to treat a serious bone infection in his foot. The medication's pump is connected to an indwelling IV catheter. It's still uncommon for patients with a history of injection drug use to be sent home with an IV.

The Case For Sending Drug Users Home From The Hospital With Open IV Lines

Martha Bebinger

When patients need long-term treatment with IV antibiotics, hospitals usually let them do it at home — but not if they have a history of injection drug use. A Boston program wants to change that.

A Massachusetts woman who had an abortion when she was 15 stands outside the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston. Right now, girls facing that decision who don't want to tell their parents must get a judge's approval.

Massachusetts May Drop Requirement That Minors Get Permission For Abortion

Martha Bebinger

The state now requires women and girls under 18 to obtain permission from their parents or a judge. But in a recent poll, most Massachusetts voters favored letting minors decide on their own.

The MX908 can check for the presence of fentanyl mixed with other drugs and such testing may help prevent overdoses. Sarah Mackin of the Boston Public Health Commission prepares the machine for testing some samples.

Built For Counterterrorism, This High-Tech Machine Is Now Helping Fight Fentanyl

Martha Bebinger

Public health officials are adopting a law-enforcement tool, the mass spectrometer, to instantly identify potentially deadly levels of opioids in local drug supplies.

Officer Brian Cregg checks in with a man who says he is homeless and living in his car in Concord, N.H. In Concord, as in many parts of the Northeast, widespread use of meth is new, police say, and is changing how they approach interactions with people who seem to be delusional.

Is It A Meth Case Or Mental Illness? Police Who Need To Know Often Can't Tell

Martha Bebinger

Calming techniques officers learn during training for intervening in a mental health crisis don't seem to work as well when a suspect is high on meth. Police say meth calls can be much more dangerous.

A rock of crystal methamphetamine lifted from a suspect in Orange County, Calif. This fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to begin collecting more local information about the rising use of meth, cocaine and other stimulants.

Seizures Of Methamphetamine Are Surging In The U.S.

Martha Bebinger

The amount of meth seized in the U.S. more than doubled from 2017 to 2018. That translates to lots more meth, along with cocaine and other stimulants, on the streets — and likely more deaths.

Dr. Mary Rice walks with Michael Howard at a Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare clinic in Chealsea, Mass, as they test his oxygen levels with the addition of oxygen from a portable tank. He has COPD, a progressive lung disease that can be exacerbated by heat and humidity.

Has Your Doctor Talked To You About Climate Change?

Martha Bebinger

Some physicians say connecting environmental effects of climate change — heat waves, more pollen and longer allergy seasons — to the health consequences helps them better care for patients.

Opioid Addiction Drug Going Mostly To Whites, Even As Black Death Rate Rises

Martha Bebinger

A study looked at who gets prescriptions for buprenorphine, and found that white patients are almost 35 times as likely to get the lifesaving addiction treatment than African Americans.

Purdue Pharma, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., the Sackler family, which owns the company, settled a case brought by the Oklahoma attorney general.

Purdue Pharma Agrees To $270 Million Opioid Settlement With Oklahoma

Martha Bebinger

The maker of OxyContin will pay to settle a historic opioid lawsuit brought by the attorney general of Oklahoma. Will other drugmakers named in the lawsuit follow?