Some researchers argue that the roles of social environment and personal choice have to be considered in order to make progress in treating people addicted to drugs.The message emblazoned on a walkway window at the airport in Burlington, Vt., is a startling departure from the usual tourism posters and welcome banners:“Addiction is not a choice. It’s a disease that can happen to anyone.”The statement is part of a public service campaign in yet another community assailed by drug use, intended to reduce stigma and encourage treatment.For decades, medical science has classified addiction as a chronic brain disease, but the concept has always been something of a hard sell to a skeptical public. That is because, unlike diseases such as Alzheimer’s or bone cancer or Covid, personal choice does play a role, both in starting and ending drug use. The idea that those who use drugs are themselves at fault has recently been gaining fresh traction, driving efforts to toughen criminal penalties for drug possession and to cut funding for syringe-exchange programs.But now, even some in the treatment and scientific communities have been rethinking the label of chronic brain disease.In July, behavior researchers published a critique of the classification, which they said could be counterproductive for patients and families.“I don’t think it helps to tell people they are chronically diseased and therefore incapable of change. Then what hope do we have?” said Kirsten E. Smith, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a co-author of the paper, published in the journal Psychopharmacology. “The brain is highly dynamic, as is our environment.”The recent scientific criticisms are driven by an ominous urgency: Despite addiction’s longstanding classification as a disease, the deadly public health disaster has only worsened.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

SuppliedA hospital trust has apologised to the parents of a baby who was given another mother’s breast milk after being born prematurely.

A vaccination programme to protect newborn babies and older people against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is being rolled out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Monday, following a similar scheme in Scotland.

In one recent study, the challenging regimen added 77 days of life after three years. Often, kidney disease can be managed in other ways.Even before Georgia Outlaw met her new nephrologist, she had made her decision: Although her kidneys were failing, she didn’t want to begin dialysis.Ms. Outlaw, 77, a retired social worker and pastor in Williamston, N.C., knew many relatives and friends with advanced kidney disease. She watched them travel to dialysis centers three times a week, month after month, to spend hours having waste and excess fluids flushed from their blood.“They’d come home weak and tired and go to bed,” she said. “It’s a day until they feel back to normal, and then it’s time to go back to dialysis again. I didn’t want that regimen.”She told her doctors, “I’m not going to spend my days bound to some procedure that’s not going to extend my life or help me in any way.”Ms. Outlaw was mistaken on one point — dialysis can prolong the lives of patients with kidney failure. But a new study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine analyzed data from a simulated trial involving records from more than 20,000 older patients (average age: about 78) in the Veterans Health Administration system. It found that their survival gains were “modest.”How modest? Over three years, older patients with kidney failure who started dialysis right away lived for an average of 770 days — just 77 days longer than those who never started it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

An NHS Trust is investigating after reports a man was slumped dead over a table in a hospital coffee shop for several hours.

Acadia Healthcare is one of America’s largest chains of psychiatric hospitals. Since the pandemic exacerbated a national mental health crisis, the company’s revenue has soared. Its stock price has more than doubled.But a New York Times investigation found that some of that success was built on a disturbing practice: Acadia has lured patients into its facilities and held them against their will, even when detaining them was not medically necessary.In at least 12 of the 19 states where Acadia operates psychiatric hospitals, dozens of patients, employees and police officers have alerted the authorities that the company was detaining people in ways that violated the law, according to records reviewed by The Times. In some cases, judges have intervened to force Acadia to release patients.Some patients arrived at emergency rooms seeking routine mental health care, only to find themselves sent to Acadia facilities and locked in.A social worker spent six days inside an Acadia hospital in Florida after she tried to get her bipolar medications adjusted. A woman who works at a children’s hospital was held for seven days after she showed up at an Acadia facility in Indiana looking for therapy. And after police officers raided an Acadia hospital in Georgia, 16 patients told investigators that they had been kept there “with no excuses or valid reason,” according to a police report.Acadia held all of them under laws meant for people who pose an imminent threat to themselves or others. But none of the patients appeared to have met that legal standard, according to records and interviews.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

FAMILY HANDOUTEarlier this year a new drug to treat severe alopecia – an autoimmune condition that causes hair loss – was given the green light for NHS use. Some are keen to try it, others aren’t – and some even think it could potentially be life-changing.

BBCJack Berman takes a long drag and then exhales, slowly, in the covered terrace of a 150-year-old pub in a Sydney beach suburb.

Seven million pounds of Boar’s Head meats have been recalled since late July, when reports of serious illnesses and deaths began to occur.In the last month, nine people have died and dozens have been hospitalized in a listeria outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meats that has led to a recall of seven million pounds of its products.The outbreak has been traced back to a Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt, Va., where federal inspectors had documented repeated problems. The inspections records show that they found black mold, water dripping over meat and dead flies.The plant has been temporarily shut down in the wake of the outbreak. But reports of illnesses and deaths have continued to accumulate, prompting public health officials to issue more warnings to consumers to ensure they discard certain Boar’s Head lunch meats that may still be in their refrigerators.Here’s what you should know.What is listeria?Listeria monocytogenes is a bacteria that can be deadly. The largely food-borne Listeria illness can be contracted through foods like contaminated deli meats and unpasteurized milk products, according to the Mayo Clinic.People may also fall ill by touching a listeria-laden surface before touching their mouths.Federal public health experts said the Boar’s Head case was the worst listeria outbreak since 2011, when tainted cantaloupe killed 33 people and hospitalized at least 143.Anyone can become sick from the bacteria, but it is most likely to cause severe illness in pregnant women, adults older than 65 and people with weakened immune systems.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

A drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity could also slow down the process of ageing, researchers believe.