Some TEXAS MONTHLY Stories on Health
GI Woe »
The esophagus explained.
by Jim Atkinson [December 2007]
Take Heart »
Let’s have a heart-to-heart.
by Jim Atkinson [October 2007]
Do Sweat It »
Sweat 101.
by Jim Atkinson [August 2007]
Getting Antsy »
Fire ants forever. (sigh.)
by Jim Atkinson [June 2007]
Hot Shot »
The ABCs of HPV.
by Jim Atkinson [April 2007]
Eating Myself Alive »
Ten foods to gorge on in 2007.
by Jim Atkinson [February 2007]
The Big D »
The unsweetened truth about diabetes.
by Jim Atkinson [December 2006]
Under My Skin »
The newest nightmare disease.
by Jim Atkinson [October 2006]
The Mosquito Diaries »
The buzz on mosquitoes.
by Jim Atkinson [August 2006]
Welcome To the 03 »
Why ozone is indeed a menace.
by Jim Atkinson [June 2006]
Bleeding Edge »
Blood will tell.
by Jim Atkinson [April 2006]
Casualty Of War »
A real-life G.I. Joe, Master Sergeant James Coons hardly seemed like a candidate for post-traumatic stress disorder. But when his demons got the best of him, there was nothing anyone could do—not that anyone really tried.
by Skip Hollandsworth [March 2006]
The Eyes of Texas »
Oh, say, can you see?
by Jim Atkinson [February 2006]
Scent and Sensibility »
Sweaty socks, cat urine, dead skunks: Three cheers for having no sense of smell.
by Suzy Banks [January 2006]
Oh, Lardy »
Fat versus Fit.
by Jim Atkinson [November 2005]
Culture of Strife »
Frozen embryos are destroyed every day in the name of in vitro fertilization. Tell me again what’s so wrong with stem cell research?
by Michael Ennis [October 2005]
Dr. Evil »
By almost any measure of performance, including the sheer number of patients who are crippled and maimed, the medical profession has rarely seen anyone like Houston orthopedic surgeon Eric Scheffey. So why did he get to keep his license for so long?
by S. C. Gwynne [September 2005]
The Doctor Will Mistreat You Now »
What to do if your doctor is a quack.
by Jim Atkinson [September 2005]
Medical Drama »
Executive editor S. C. Gwynne on examining one of the state’s most litigious, at times lethal, MDs.
Interview by Ryan Vogt [September 2005]
See Spot. See Spot Grow. »
Here comes the sun.
by Jim Atkinson [July 2005]
The Good Rats »
Cancer used to be something you died from. Now, thanks to clinical trials, it’s increasingly something you live with.
by Jan Jarboe Russell [June 2005]
Nothing to Sneeze At »
Sneeze play.
by Jim Atkinson [May 2005]
Till Death Do Us Part »
The marriage of Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital should have been made in heaven—and until recently, it was. Their nasty breakup is a bell tolling for American medicine.
by Mimi Swartz [March 2005]
Pick Your Poison »
Remedies are coming from unexpected places.
by Jim Atkinson [March 2005]
Relief Pitchers »
Pain, pain, go away
by Jim Atkinson [March 2005]
Cutting Deep »
A year after state legislators kicked tens of thousands of children off the taxpayer-funded health insurance rolls, our biggest public-policy problem has reached crisis proportions. And the bleeding shows no signs of letting up.
by Pamela Colloff [December 2004]
The Good Doctor »
Can one of the state’s best writers change modern medicine as we know it? Abraham Verghese hopes so—one story at a time.
by Jan Reid [December 2004]
Shock Therapy »
For several months, TV shrink Dr. Phil McGraw has been picking apart— in full view of his national audience—the life choices made by residents of the Central Texas town of Elgin, who are apparently too fat, too horny, and too domestically violent for their own good. The diagnoses have not been, shall we say, well received.
by Katy Vine [December 2004]
Suffer the Little Children »
Senior editor Pamela Colloff on how cuts in the taxpayer-funded Children’s Health Insurance Program have resulted in a health care crisis.
Interview by Susan Shepard [December 2004]
Invasive! »
The unmaking of medical privacy.
by Christopher Keyes [November 2004]
"Their Last Good Chance to Get Better" »
The state's public mental health system was woeful to begin with, and now legislative budget cuts have made it even worse. For thousands of mentally ill kids like Grant Williams, the only place to get treatment is a juvenile prison.
by Skip Hollandsworth [November 2003]
Perilously Plump »
Texans love to say that everything’s bigger here, but when it comes to the waistlines in one in four of our largest cities, that’s nothing to brag about.
by Jim Atkinson [April 2002]
Susan Powter »
by Eileen Schwartz [September 2001]
Sober »
\More than a decade ago I wrote about the virtues of the drinking life and the comforts of what I called a “bar bar.” Then I hit rock bottom. It’s been eight years now since I took my last drink—and I’m finally ready to tell the rest of the story.
by Jim Atkinson [July 2001]
Killer Bugs »
I learned a shocking lesson when I visited San Antonio's "hot lab," where some of the world's deadliest microbes are studied. The germs are winning.
by Jim Atkinson [June 2001]
To Hell and Back »
After he was shot by a Mexico City cab driver—and told that he might be paralyzed—Jan Reid was flown to Houston, where Dr. Red Duke and a team of therapists literally got him back on his feet. In an excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, The Bullet Meant for Me, Reid reconstructs the grueling nine weeks of recovery before he and his wife, Dorothy, finally headed home to Austin.
by Jan Reid [June 2001]
Curing the Colonias »
The prescription to treat the sickest areas in Texas isn't what you think.
by Jim Atkinson [April 2001]
Vocal Heroes »
The doctors at Abilene’s Voice Institute of West Texas can treat all manner of problems with the way you talk? Speech, speech!
by Jim Atkinson [July 2000]
Rx for Trouble »
As surgeon general—the nation’s top doctor— C. Everett Koop was much beloved and undeniably respected. So why is the Web site that bears his name in such disarray?
by Alexandra Biesada [June 2000]
Self-help • Phillip McGraw »
Oprah’s guru.
by Skip Hollandsworth [September 1999]
Health • Lance Armstrong »
The ride of his life.
by Jim Atkinson [September 1999]
Addicted to Sex? »
Even if you’re not, many Texans are: Sex Addicts Anonymous has 61 chapters across the state, tending to the tattered psyches of exhibitionists and other tormented souls.
by Jim Atkinson [December 1998]
Home Away From Home? »
Texas’ largest nursing home chain says it provides a “better place to live” for more than six thousand elderly men and women. State investigators tell a much different story.
by Skip Hollandsworth [November 1998]
Skin Care »
A Houston company’s breakthrough burn treatment.
by Patricia Sharpe [October 1998]
HEALTH • Jack Roth »
The doctor is in.
by Helen Thorpe [September 1998]
How to Have Great Sex Forever »
Since I started taking Viagra, I have had the time of my life. You can too—but there’s more to romance than a little blue pill.
by Gary Cartwright [July 1998]
State of the Heart »
Bypass surgery with almost no pain, and you get to go home three days later? Don’t have a coronary: It’s happening right now, in Texas.
by Jim Atkinson [June 1998]
The Needle and the Damage Done »
In 1979, as an undercover cop in Tyler, I got hooked on drugs. Nearly two decades later I’m clean, but the consequences of my addiction haunt me still.
by Kim Wozencraft [April 1998]
Health • Eric Moon-shong Tang »
Smoking out the truth.
by Jim Atkinson [September 1997]
Nothing To It »
Bolstered by his favorite phrase, my son Mark faced life with grace, dignity, and good humor. I knew he’d face death the same way.
by Gary Cartwright [June 1997]
45 Years (Sat Nov 22 at 5:28 PM)
Can You Spare Some Change I Can Believe In? (Sat Nov 22 at 4:10 PM)
Even Worse, They're Cutting Back on Monocles (Fri Nov 21 at 8:39 AM)
