Emergency surgeries are gnawing away at U.S. health care spending, with racial disparities fueling the bill, a new study says. Emergency surgeries cost about 33% more than planned procedures, averaging $13,645 more per patient, researchers write. And costs for these emergency procedures are even higher among Americans of color, results show. Emergency surgeries are needed…  read on >  read on >

A Texas woman has died after using tap water in a sinus rinse, leading to a rare but often fatal brain infection, health officials report. The 71-year-old woman died from a condition called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is caused by a microscopic organism called Naegleria fowleri. This brain-eating amoeba can live in warm freshwater…  read on >  read on >

Prompt treatment with a drug combo can effectively manage chronic kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes, a new clinical trial shows. Patients prescribed the combination of finerenone and empagliflozin experienced a 52% decrease in their urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. An elevated ratio is a sign…  read on >  read on >

Attorneys general from four states are asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lift restrictions on mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortions. The request came Thursday from top officials in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. They said in a petition that the current rules make it too hard for doctors…  read on >  read on >

Immunotherapy combined with chemo can give people a fighting chance against stomach and esophageal cancers, a new clinical trial says. People treated with durvalumab and chemotherapy were much more likely to go into remission, according to clinical trial results published June 1 in  The New England Journal of Medicine. “This is a major step forward…  read on >  read on >