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This is a MedPage Today story. Employees at HHS and its various sub-agencies are struggling to figure out how to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring them to report in-person to their work sites full-time, and how the changes will affect them. An Early Executive Order The in-person work requirement was outlined in an executive order signed by President Trump on January 20, his first day in office. The two-paragraph order stated that "Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary." The order was further explained in a January 27 memo to agency heads from both the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)….

This is a MedPage Today story. Erica Hayes, 40, has not felt healthy since November 2020 when she first fell ill with COVID. Hayes is too sick to work, so she has spent much of the last 4 years sitting on her beige couch, often curled up under an electric blanket. "My blood flow now sucks, so my hands and my feet are freezing. Even if I’m sweating, my toes are cold," said Hayes, who lives in Western Pennsylvania. She misses feeling well enough to play with her 9-year-old son or attend her 17-year-old son’s baseball games. Along with claiming the lives of 1.2 million Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has been described as a mass disabling event. Hayes is one of millions of Americans who suffer from long COVID. Depending on the patient, the condition can rob someone of energy, scramble the autonomic nervous system, or fog their memory, among many other symptoms. In addition to the brain fog and chronic fatigue, Hayes’ constellation of symptoms includes frequent hives and migraines….

This is a MedPage Today story. Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week. Malpractice Killed Mom What was supposed to be a routine procedure for a Texas mom instead became a tragic example of medical malpractice, according to reporting in Texas Monthly. Kimberly Ray had been getting injections in the lower lumbar region for pain from an old injury. But the injections stopped working, so her provider recommended getting a rhizotomy. Ray never woke up from the procedure. Her family ordered an autopsy, which found she "died as a result of complications following an injection procedure for pain." The family then hired a lawyer whose investigation found red flag after red flag associated with Integrity Wellness, the clinic where Ray sought treatment, and the medical staff associated with it. For one, the CRNA who administered anesthesia and performed the procedure wore a white coat and scrubs…

This is a MedPage Today story. Luigi Mangione, the person charged with murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, reportedly had spinal surgery for chronic back pain caused by spondylolisthesis. Spondylolisthesis occurs when a vertebra slips forward out of place onto the vertebra below, explained Jessica Stark, MD, spine surgeon at UTHealth Houston. This slippage, a sequela of arthritis, happens most often in the lumbar spine and can put pressure on the nerves around the spine. "Really arthritic backs can have varying degrees of spondylolisthesis throughout the spine, just because the joints have become overgrown and slipped at different spots," Stark told MedPage Today. Pain levels depend on the degree of slip and how the spondylolisthesis came to be. When patients come in with the condition, Stark begins by assessing the grade of severity and how much the condition is affecting the patient’s life. Many report having back and leg pain or numbness. "I always tell patients…