hospitals

Blue Cross Louisiana OK’d mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay a hospital’s full bills. For some claims, it paid nothing.

The strike is coinciding with a busy tourist weekend because of a trio of Taylor Swift shows.

The nurses union has been negotiating its first contract with LCMC Health for several months.

Legislative leaders say the money is needed to avoid rural hospital closures.

Emergency services in Louisiana are spending more time waiting to offload patients at hospitals and that means fewer are responding to calls at any given time.

The Louisiana Department of Health refuses to answer questions from doctors about the state’s abortion ban, making it difficult for physicians to determine what medical care for pregnant people might put them at risk for criminal charges.

Nancy Davis, a 36-year-old Baton Rouge mother of three, never expected she'd need an abortion. Nor did she expect she would ever be denied one. But Davis is facing a new reality in Louisiana: Even the few legal abortions are hard to get in a state where that access is now in the hands of hospital administrators.

Pregnancy can be treacherous, especially for people with a variety of health conditions, from heart failure or a history of dangerously high blood pressure to a cancer diagnosis. Doctors in Louisiana say these are the kinds of cases where someone might benefit from an abortion — but may no longer get one when Louisiana’s near total-abortion ban takes effect.

In emails, the heads of Louisiana’s biggest hospital systems reminded their staff of an existing state law: people who get illegal abortions and seek medical care for abortion complications in Louisiana are required to be reported to the state.

In the Gulf South, Mississippi has spent around $90 million on temporary medical staff. Louisiana has spent nearly $250 million.