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Public health officials declare an outbreak of syphilis in Idaho
The agencies that oversee public health for Idaho’s populous southwestern region this week announced one new and one ongoing outbreak of syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection. Central District Health and Southwest District Health departments issued public announcements March 2 about outbreaks in their regions, which include the Boise-Nampa metropolitan area and several surrounding counties. There […]
Idaho is a surrogacy hub. A new bill would set legal ‘best practices’ for the first time.
A bill headed for the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives would be the first Idaho law to specifically address surrogacy — a thriving Idaho industry in which women act as “gestational carriers” for parents who cannot have a baby on their own. Idaho has been called the “unofficial surrogacy capital” of the United […]
Idaho budget committee votes to cut funding for child care, family supports
Idaho lawmakers on Monday removed about $38 million from state budgets for the coming year that would have gone to child care providers and to efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee of the Idaho Legislature voted to approve several of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s budgets after making […]
Surgeon’s arrest for sexual battery a ‘catalyst’ for Idaho health care workers to talk about abuse
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual battery, harassment and bullying. Emily Garringer was assigned to a surgery in operating room No. 8 at the St. Luke’s hospital in Meridian. It was March 2019 — her eighth year working as a surgical technologist but her first time in surgery with Dr. Stanley Waters. […]
Idaho House passes bill to criminalize false reports of child abuse
Legislation is making its way through the Idaho Legislature that would make it a crime to file a false report of child abuse or neglect. Several other states have similar laws on their books. House Bill 66, sponsored by Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, passed the House on a mostly party-line vote Wednesday. Rep. David Cannon […]
A law meant to save lives of Idaho mothers is on the chopping block. Will lawmakers keep it?
A special committee that was created four years ago to study maternal deaths in Idaho will end in July if the Idaho Legislature does not pass a bill to remove or change its sunset date. The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is tasked with studying Idaho deaths during pregnancy or within one year of giving birth, […]
Debate gets personal, as Idaho House passes trans youth medical care bill
Two Idaho legislators on Tuesday described how they felt upon learning that a family member was transgender. Their surprise and confusion gave way to acceptance and empathy, they said, as they came to understand what it meant for their loved one to identify as a gender that differed from the sex they were assigned at […]
The danger is ‘part of the fun‘: Idaho bill may change liability for outdoors industry
The owners of small outdoor-recreation businesses went before an Idaho Senate committee Monday to support legislation that would limit their legal liability when something goes awry on a trail ride, in whitewater rapids or on a hunting expedition. The legislation, Senate Bill 1051, spells out that people who hire a licensed guide or outfitter can […]
Idaho health committee chair says Medicaid expansion repeal bill is just to open ‘discussion’
One of Idaho’s health-policy lawmakers on Friday proposed repealing the state’s Medicaid expansion law — going against his own recommendation to the Idaho Legislature, to keep the program mostly untouched for now. Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, who chairs the House Health and Welfare Committee, said his intent is to open a discussion about Medicaid’s […]
He had a stroke and sued for medical malpractice. A jury awarded millions — rare in Idaho.
A jury in Ada County last week decided that one of Idaho’s largest groups of emergency medicine providers must pay $13.5 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit that took nearly five years to make its way through the courts. The case against an Emergency Medicine of Idaho LLC physician and the company itself could be […]
St. Luke’s cuts 2% of workforce as COVID relief wanes but costs remain high
St. Luke’s Health system announced Wednesday that it plans to cut its workforce by 2% by April. It has already eliminated about 150 jobs through attrition, but it will now lay off nearly 200 employees over the next two months. St. Luke’s employs more than 16,000 people, primarily at hospitals and clinics in the Treasure […]
Idaho panel approves a bill that would make medical care for trans youth a felony
Republican lawmakers in an Idaho House committee voted Tuesday to restrict the rights of parents to decide on, and physicians to provide, medical care for transgender Idahoans under age 18. The Idaho House Judiciary, Rules and Administration committee voted 14-3 along party lines to send the bill to the House with a “do pass” recommendation. […]