Medicine and Health

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Health officials have reported Tennessee's first death from a vaping-related respiratory illness.

Nashville health officials on Thursday confirmed the adult male's death amid a national outbreak of vaping-related illnesses, including 53 cases reported in Tennessee.

State Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey recommended that Tennesseans consider stopping e-cigarette use and vaping while Tennessee's vaping-related illnesses are investigated.

U.S. health officials have reported about 1,300 vaping-related illnesses and at least 26 deaths nationwide.

NASVHILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- State health officials say Tennessee could be headed into a difficult flu season.

The State Department of Health says it's already getting reports of flu cases across the Southeast, unusual for the month of September. Another troubling indicator: It’s been a bad flu season in the Southern Hemisphere where winter is just drawing to a close.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- State lawmakers heard Thursday from rural county mayors struggling to pay for Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

Many rural Tennessee counties no longer have hospitals. EMS first responders are frequently the only emergency medical care available.

Jackson County Mayor Randy Heady gave lawmakers on the House TennCare Subcommittee just one example of what that can cost. Heady described a chronically ill county resident that has to be transported to Nashville for emergency care about once a month.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- Data provided by the state Department of Health suggests Middle Tennessee isn't immune to the state's ongoing epedemic of drug overdose deaths.

Davidson, Cheatham, and Robertson counties all report per capita drug overdose death rates well above the state average of 2.6 deaths per 10,000 residents.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT/TNS) -- In 2017 alone, 1776 Tennesseans died following a drug overdose. In reaction, state officials have launched a new campaign to raise awareness of how the opioid epidemic is impacting individuals, families and communities.

The "Tennessee Faces of the Opioid Crisis" campaign shares the stories of residents from counties across the state whose lives have been affected by opioid misuse.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- A first of its kind surgery has given a Tennessee boy the ability to breath and speak.

Doctors discovered by accident that Cooper Kilburn was developing in his mother’s womb without a larynx or voice box. Without an airway, the boy would have died at birth.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- The Nashville VA will this fall offer a combat trauma recovery program for veterans, active duty personnel, and their families. 

The VA began offering Reboot Combat Recovery in 2011 and holds the course twice each year. 

Topics include avoiding harmful coping mechanisms, dealing with guilt, finding forgiveness, dealing with the loss of comrades, depression, suicide and a plan for recovery.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man died this week after being infected with a flesh-eating bacteria during a trip to a Florida beach.

According to news reports, the man became ill shortly after returning from vacation in Destin Beach where he was visiting family for the 4th of July.

Cheryl Wiygul, the man's daughter, says the family discovered that a large sore had developed on her dad's back once they had returned home, as well as red bumps on his arms and legs. The man died on July 7, just 48 hours after his last swim in Florida.

JAMESTOWN, Tenn. (Osborne)    -- Tennessee will likely see another of its rural hospitals close this coming week.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- The number of Tennesseans receiving opioid prescriptions is getting a closer look following last months federal illicit drug sting that saw dozens of Tennessee doctors, nurses and pharmacists arrested.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows that Middle Tennessee’s Clay County has the state’s highest opioid prescription rate. In 2017 there were 191 opioid prescriptions written for every 100 county residents, enough to provide two opioid scrips to every man woman and child in the county.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE)  --  The Tennessee House today passed a measure that would prohibit all abortions in the state after a fetal heartbeat ca be detected. That point can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Memphis Democrat London Lamar spoke in opposition to the bill. She found it especially troubling the measure offered no exemptions for rape or incest.

“No woman, including myself, should have to carry a rapist’s baby.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee lawmaker says his bill to ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat has been detected does not include exceptions for situations involving incest or rape because he does not believe it's appropriate.

Republican Rep. Micah Van Huss told a House subcommittee on Wednesday he considers killing any child, including a fetus, as "evil." The panel — made up of all men — agreed to advance the bill to be heard by the full House Health Committee.

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Doctors performing abortions on girls younger than 18 years old would be required to preserve a sample of the fetal tissue for law enforcement under a bill making its way through the Tennessee Statehouse.

Currently the threshold is 13.

The proposal is the latest abortion related legislation Republican state lawmakers have introduced following newly elected Gov. Bill Lee's promise to support any bill that would reduce the number of abortions throughout the state.