By LAURAN NEERGAARD (AP Medical Writer) NEW YORK — Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart. Lisa Pisano’s combination of heart and kidney failure left her too sick to qualify for a traditional transplant, and out of options. Then doctors at NYU Langone Health devised a novel one-two punch: Implant a mechanical pump to keep her heart beating and days later transplant a kidney from a genetically modified pig. Pisano is recovering well, the NYU team announced Wednesday. She’s onl ..read more

I’ve completed 17 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles in the past 14 weeks. Mostly by myself. Over that same time, I also cut way back on booze, halved my phone screen time (okay, it’s maybe 30% less), and gone on a dozen hikes. All without losing a single cardboard piece. I never really saw myself as a puzzler, but it’s become a nice way to put aside the problems of the world and focus on something else for five or 10 minutes, or for a couple of hours. It helps with my sometimes short attention span, and puzzles are extremely satisfying to finish. And while 17 puzzles might sound like a lot, it’s noth ..read more

The head of the prosthetics department at Aurora’s Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center improperly canceled 1,000 orders without contacting veterans who sought artificial limbs, hearing aids and other devices to help them live more functional lives, a regional Veterans Affairs leader acknowledged. Sunaina Kumar-Giebel, director of the VA Rocky Mountain network, which includes the Aurora hospital, confirmed The Denver Post’s reporting from November that first uncovered the prosthetics order-deletion scheme that left vets without necessary equipment. “The consults were closed outside of gui ..read more

A bill in the Colorado legislature, filed in response to reports that patients were confused when a company they’d never heard of sued them over medical debts, would limit how collection agencies can pursue payment. HB-1380, which passed the state House on Wednesday, would require debt collectors operating in the state to disclose who initially held the debt, and would only allow the collector to sue if they had complete freedom to settle the debt. Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors, said he is pushing it in response to a 9News and Colorado Sun investigation t ..read more

Colorado is experiencing an alarming spike in syphilis among newborns, leading the state to issue a public health order Thursday aimed at curbing the disease’s spread through wider testing. In 2023, 50 infants in Colorado were born with syphilis, up from only seven in 2018. So far this year, the state is halfway to last year’s total, with five infected babies who were stillborn and two who died in their first months of life, state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said. “We’ve already had 25 cases so far this year, putting us on track to have maybe 100 cases,” she said at a news conference, ad ..read more

State lawmakers have yet to fund an $11 million effort to reform Colorado courts’ long-troubled competency system, raising alarm among supporters as the end of the legislative session looms. If funded, the bill, HB24-1355, would create a statewide diversion program aimed at shifting thousands of people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system and into comprehensive care in a first-of-its-kind effort to slow the flow of people into Colorado’s overcrowded court competency system. The state’s competency process aims to ensure people are not prosecuted for crimes if they are too sick ..read more

Colorado’s only psychiatric hospital west of the Front Range is in danger of closing in the coming months if it doesn’t receive a cash infusion, the head of its parent organization warns, after the facility spent its reserves trying to prove it had fixed problems flagged in state audits. West Springs Hospital, in Grand Junction, has 48 beds for inpatient treatment of mental illnesses and substance use disorders, and is one of only 11 behavioral health hospitals in the state. The facility also operates a psychiatric emergency room, which is an alternative to a general emergency department for p ..read more

By DEVI SHASTRI and MIKE STOBBE (Associated Press) Measles outbreaks in the U.S. and abroad are raising health experts’ concern about the preventable, once-common childhood virus. One of the world’s most contagious diseases, measles can lead to potentially serious complications. The best defense, according to experts? Get vaccinated. Here’s what to know about the year — so far — in measles. How many measles cases has the U.S. seen this year? Nationwide, measles cases already are nearly double the total for all of last year. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention documented 113 case ..read more

A state agency that planned to house some sex offenders in a Northglenn neighborhood — near an elementary school and a children’s playground — will no longer do so after neighbors and public officials rose up in loud opposition. The Colorado Department of Human Services will move forward with a 32-bed mental health transitional living facility at 11255 and 11275 Grant Drive but agreed late last week to bar registered sex offenders from residing there, according to an announcement by the north suburban city. The prospect of people with convictions for sex crimes living at the home brought out a ..read more

For the first time in years, Jay Ortengren has seen his 16-year-old son, Ethan, reach milestone after milestone as he lives with a severe form of autism. Ortengren and his family uprooted their lives in search of the best treatment for Ethan after he was diagnosed as a young child. Finally, they seemed to find it when they moved to Jefferson County during the pandemic. At Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health, Ethan has benefited from true wrap-around services, with two-therapist teams helping him for 40 hours a week. Ethan began hitting goals with his motor functions, social skills and sensory t ..read more