Jackie Farwell
Health Editor
Jackie Farwell of Gorham is health care editor for the Bangor Daily News. Farwell began her career with the BDN a decade ago, leaving in 2006 for a job with The Associated Press in New York. She most recently was employed by Mainebiz. In addition to health care, Farwell covered energy, real estate development, banking and finance for Mainebiz. Working from Portland, Farwell will cover both health care finances and health issues that directly affect Maine residents. Outside of her workday, Farwell is a fitness enthusiast who hikes, cross-country skis and rides horses. She completed her first 5K road race this summer.VIDEO
Husband and wife therapy team treat couples on the brink at luxury retreats
Christiane, a mother from New Jersey, had endured years of conflict with her husband when the couple met Portland psychologist John Stewart. After their son was born with muscular dystrophy, the couple struggled to reconcile their widely different approaches to parenting, she said. Christiane, the youngest of six children, drew ...
Lyme disease bill favored by patients passes
AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill that pitted a vocal group of Lyme disease advocates against the medical mainstream was approved Friday by the state Legislature. The bill, LD 597, requires the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the state’s official source of public health information, to include on its ...
Fort Kent doctor stripped of license found to have worked while intoxicated
FORT KENT, Maine — A Fort Kent physician temporarily stripped of his medical license last month was intoxicated while caring for patients, according to new information released by a state licensing board. Dr. Robert K. Desai’s blood alcohol content was almost five times the legal limit for operating a motor ...
Maine psychiatrists disciplined for unprofessional behavior
A state licensing board has disciplined two Maine psychiatrists in separate incidents involving unprofessional behavior. William Fannin, an adolescent and child psychiatrist, accepted a conditional license after his employment at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston was suspended “as a result of unprofessional behavior that put himself and the ...
EMHS on budget as other Maine hospitals struggle financially
BREWER, Maine — About 60 percent of Maine hospitals are operating at a loss, but Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems isn’t among them, according to EMHS President and CEO Michelle Hood. Hood, citing 2012 figures compiled by the Maine Hospital Association, laid out the system’s financial picture Wednesday at an annual ...
Maine Medical Center moves closer to $40M expansion
PORTLAND, Maine — A proposed $40 million project to add five new operating rooms at Maine Medical Center has won approval from the hospital’s parent organization and was given its first audience with the Portland Planning Board Tuesday. The MaineHealth board of trustees voted on June 6 to support the ...
‘Jeopardy’-winning supercomputer helping Maine doctors in cancer research
Just over two years ago, IBM’s supercomputer Watson appeared on television to trounce expert quiz show contestants on “Jeopardy!” Now, doctors are looking to Watson for answers. The Maine Center for Cancer Medicine is one of two medical groups chosen to test Watson’s lightning-quick computing power in an effort to ...
POLL QUESTION
Lyme disease bill pits frustrated patients against the medical mainstream
At just 12 years old, Sally Jordan has spent a third of her young life tormented by a mystery illness that wracked her body with disabling pain and forced her to give up dancing and other activities she loved. She remembers spending days confined to her bed with fevers, rashes ...
POLL QUESTION
Study finds high rates of attention deficit disorder in Maine
Children and adults in Maine are being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder at rates far exceeding the national average, fueling higher spending on treatment and medication, according to a national study by Express Scripts, one of the country’s largest pharmacy benefit management companies. Maine saw a 35 percent growth rate ...
Chronic breathing disease striking Maine women, study finds
More than 48,000 women in Maine, about 8 percent of the state’s population, suffer from a chronic respiratory disease that’s increasingly threatening the health of women across the country, according to a new report. Women are 37 percent more likely than men to be diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ...
Portland residents likely will vote whether to legalize marijuana this fall
PORTLAND, Maine – A push to legalize recreational marijuana in Maine’s largest city appears poised to go before Portland voters this fall. A coalition of political groups and activists who want make possession of the drug legal for adults turned in a petition Thursday with more than 3,200 signatures, twice ...
As Maine hospitals grow, prices and access to medical care are put on the line
Dr. Michael Ciampi took over his father’s practice, located in the home on Stevens Avenue in Portland where he and his five siblings were raised, in 1999. Back then, he was one of many independent doctors in Maine. That changed a decade ago when Ciampi moved his practice to a ...
VIDEO
South Portland doctor stops accepting insurance, posts prices online
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Dr. Michael Ciampi took a step this spring that many of his fellow physicians would describe as radical. The family physician stopped accepting all forms of health insurance. In early 2013, Ciampi sent a letter to his patients informing them that he would no longer accept ...
Central Maine hospitals partner with Mass General to treat cancer patients
LEWISTON, Maine — Brian Jordan remembers feeling lethargic when he visited the doctor on March 17, 2011. The Livermore Falls man never expected that later that day he’d receive a diagnosis of leukemia that would turn his life upside down. In an unlikely twist of fate, Jordan, 54, was sickened ...
Doctor exhibited ‘odd behavior’ at Fort Kent hospital before license suspension
FORT KENT, Maine — A physician deemed a danger to patients this week by a state licensing board exhibited “odd behavior” while working at Northern Maine Medical Center, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Dr. Robert K. Desai was immediately removed from caring for patients on May 7 after staff witnessed ...
Fort Kent doctor deemed a danger to patients, barred from practicing
FORT KENT, Maine — A Fort Kent physician described by licensing officials as an “imminent danger to his patients” has been temporarily barred from practicing medicine in Maine. In an uncommon disciplinary move, the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine “summarily suspended” Dr. Robert K. Desai, prohibiting him from treating ...
Ellsworth doctor warned over man’s failed laser hair removal
ELLSWORTH, Maine — An Ellsworth doctor has been warned by a state medical licensing board after a patient complained about his failed laser hair removal. Stephen Nightingale of Coastal Skin Center also was placed on probation for one year, according to a Thursday press release from the Maine Board of ...
Weight Watchers looks to light a fire under first responders in Maine
Last winter, Jackie Conn decided she needed to help Maine’s first responders to get fit. Conn, general manager of Weight Watchers in Maine, learned that a friend of her daughter’s had lost her father, a firefighter, to a heart attack. The Worcester, Mass., man was snowblowing after a blizzard when ...
New health insurer prepares to sell policies in Maine, reaches agreement with physicians group
One of two carriers that will offer policies through Maine’s health insurance exchange has lined up a group of central Maine physicians to treat patients with the new coverage. Maine Community Health Options, a consumer-run health insurer based in Lewiston, announced this week that it has contracted with the Kennebec ...
Bills seek to open Maine hospital board meetings to public
AUGUSTA, Maine — Two bills that would open hospital board meetings to public scrutiny went before lawmakers Tuesday. One bill, LD 1118, seeks to make board meetings of hospitals that receive significant taxpayer funding open to the public. The law would apply to hospitals that receive more than 50 percent ...
Report: University of Maine System teacher-training programs rank among worst in nation
We don’t understand female politicians
LePage fails to surprise on Medicaid expansion
Bangor ballot
Maine Sports Hall of Fame revokes Dana Wilson’s 2012 induction
Pellerin enthusiastic about job as new Lawrence High School boys varsity basketball coach
Rask gives Bruins 2-1 series lead
Retiring Hermon High School athletic administrator Soucy maintains love of sports
25 things to do this summer — boats, barbecue, the Bard and everything else
UMPI solar system model expanding into Canada
Saying goodbye to our Pakistani daughter