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The cases, known in the field as “retained surgical items,” are rare occurrences that many medical professionals agree are largely preventable and should never happen. There’s no national source that counts all the incidents, but Hearst Newspapers identified thousands of cases of surgical items left in patients reported in national and state health data between 2015 and 2023. Those cases represent a fraction of a much greater number, years of medical research shows. (Munson and Darwiche, 4/16)

“I have Alzheimer’s.” Those are the three words that many of my patients most dread saying, even to their closest family. They struggle with whom to tell, when to tell, and what to tell. There was a time not long ago when this wasn’t an issue; by the time a person was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it was pretty obvious that something was wrong. But now, thanks to advances in our ability to detect the disease early, more patients are being forced to confront those questions. (Agronin, 4/13)

After the Trump administration cut its funding, a Nashville nonprofit is fighting to provide refugees with the support it promised, despite contending with depleted resources, layoffs and disillusionment. (Yurkanin, 4/15)

Being an executioner is not the sort of job that gets posted in a local wanted ad. Kids don’t dream about being an executioner when they grow up, and people don’t go to school for it. So how does one become a death row executioner in the US, and who are the people doing it? (Lain, 4/17)

The world is so close to wiping out polio. But in 2025, there are signs that the virus is not quite ready to go the way of smallpox — the only disease eradicated by humans. Two countries are seeing an increase in cases caused by the wild polio virus, which can cause paralysis and even death, particularly in infants and young children. (Joles and Kumar, 4/16)

Something worrisome was happening at Spurwink, a mental health clinic in Portland, Maine. Many patients being treated for opioid addiction had gone missing for days, even weeks, skipping prescription refills and therapy appointments. The counselors feared their patients were relapsing on fentanyl. But those who reappeared did not show the telltale signs — no slurred speech, pinpoint pupils or heavy eyelids. On the contrary, they were bouncy, frenetic, spraying rapid-fire chatter, their pupils dilated. They warned of spies lurking outside the building, listening devices in ceiling tiles, worms in their throats. (Hoffman, 4/16)

The devastating stimulant has been hitting Portland, Maine hard, even competing with fentanyl as the street drug of choice. Although a fentanyl overdose can be reversed with Narcan, no medicine can reverse a meth overdose. Nor has any been approved to treat meth addiction. Unlike fentanyl, which sedates users, meth can make people anxious and violent. Its effects can overwhelm not just users but community residents and emergency responders. Here are voices from one troubled neighborhood. (Rybus and Hoffman, 4/16)

Fentanyl overdoses have finally begun to decline over the past year, but that good news has obscured a troubling shift in illicit drug use: a nationwide surge in methamphetamine, a powerful, highly addictive stimulant. This isn’t the ’90s club drug or even the blue-white tinged crystals cooked up in “Breaking Bad.” As cartels keep revising lab formulas to make their product more addictive and potent, often using hazardous chemicals, many experts on addiction think that today’s meth is more dangerous than older versions. Here is what to know. (Hoffman, 4/16)