The immediate Boston area can get pretty congested, but once you head west of Boston (and especially past Interstate 495), the landscape begins to change quite a bit, from busy city streets to leafy suburbs to wide open spaces where homes and streetli…
Massachusetts
Teenager injured after shooting in Stoughton
A teenager was severely injured after a shooting in Stoughton, Massachusetts on Friday night.
Stoughton Police say they received 911 calls reporting gunshots in the area of McEachron Drive at around 11:20 p.m.
Authorities say that they found she…
Governor Healey wants Steward Health Care to leave Massachusetts
The office of Gov. Maura Healey said Friday that the embattled Steward Health Care system has to get out of Massachusetts.
“The financial information that Steward provided this week continues to be incomplete and insufficient. What Steward must do from this point forward is clear – complete an orderly transition out of Massachusetts”, said the Governor’s office in a statement.
Elected officials have been pressuring Steward, the owner of nine health care facilities across the state, including Carney Hospital in Dorchester, to turn over its financial records. But so far, the Dallas-based company has failed to do so.
The for-profit health care system is reportedly $50 million dollars behind on its rent. And employees say Steward is not paying their vendors, so they’ve been short on supplies. They also say construction on the Norwood Hospital that flooded in 2020 has come to a halt because it’s not paying the contractors.
Health care workers here say this financial crisis is taking a toll on patient care.
Earlier this week, Senator Warren blamed private equity for stepping in years ago, stripping Steward Health of its assets and leaving behind a shell of a hospital system.
“For the CEO to sit offshore on his yacht and for the private investors who already took away literally hundreds of millions of dollars while people suffer here in this commonwealth is not. It is important the first we make sure everybody’s got the health care coverage that they need but also that the people who have wrecked this institution are held accountable for it.”
Many are concerned that if Steward shuts down locations like Carney, other hospitals in the city won’t be able to handle the influx of patients.
Meanwhile, the financial crisis are showing even in the little things such as the shortage of supplies due to not paying their vendors. Workers at two Boston locations say patients have already stopped coming in assuming hospitals are closed or are concerned about the care they may receive.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to get paper, water, some extension sets for IVs in the emergency room,” said a health care worker during a Boston City Council meeting Thursday.
Chilly Saturday to kick off the weekend in New England
More cold air has moved into New England this morning. While we didn’t feel its pinch last night, it will muffle any attempts at a warmup today with a gusty northwest wind. Wind chills turn from cold to frigid after sunset. If you’re stepping out this…
‘I have to do something’: Pregnant DoorDash driver helped girl injured in Foxborough crash
A pregnant DoorDash driver rushed into action after encountering a crash between an ambulance and an SUV in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
It was a horrific head-on collision that Jamie Jarvis came up upon shortly after making a food delivery Thursday …
Alabama embryo ruling raises concerns for IVF availability across the country
One week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are considered children under state law, the decision is putting the future of IVF treatments at risk.
While clinics in Alabama start to pause fertility treatments as a result of the decision, patients in Massachusetts said they are concerned about what could come next.
“The last few days, I just keep thinking about it constantly. I am concerned tremendously,” Rebecca Schauer said.
Schauer conceived her first child though IVF two years ago. She has four other frozen embryos stored at Boston IVF and said the ruling has her worried about the impact on her family-planning.
“It really is just total confusion, total panic,” Schauer said.
Boston IVF said all treatments, including embryo storage, remain unaffected, but advocates fear that could change if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with the Alabama decision. Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said she does.
“To me, embryos are babies,” Haley told NBC News.
Meanwhile, GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump has voiced support for IVF and called on Alabama lawmakers “to find an immediate solution to preserve” the services’ availability in the state.
Democratic President Joe Biden ripped the ruling as a “direct result” of the Supreme Court’s decision to roll back abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said. “The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”
In Massachusetts, advocates for reproductive rights said the ruling is a wake-up call.
“I think finding an embryo to be a legal child is just such an unforeseen next step, and the consequences could be very broad,” said Polly Crozier, the director of family advocacy at GLAD.
Crozier said while she hopes Massachusetts continues to be a beacon for fertility treatment, the war on reproductive rights could have consequences everywhere.
“It’s cause for pause for every American to understand that we’re treading in really dangerous ground,” Crozier said. “Nothing is only in one state at this point.”
More on the Alabama ruling
In a statement, Rebecca Hart Holder, the president of Reproductive Equity Now, also blasted the decision.
“Not only does this ruling put IVF and family planning at risk in Alabama, but it paves the way for the far-right’s use of ‘fetal personhood’ statutes, which can and will be used to broadly restrict access to abortion, contraception, and assisted reproduction nationwide,” Hart Holder said.
Schauer said she is not only worried about her embryos, but also concerned it will make the path to parenthood for so many others even more challenging.
“I hope that Massachusetts is progressive enough and my rights are safe here, but you just never know,” Schauer said.
