Illness

PHOENIX--Zack Greinke's strange spring got a little stranger Wednesday when he was scratched from his scheduled start against Mexico's World Baseball Classic team. Stephen Fife will start in Greinke's place. Greinke, who skipped a bullpen session Sunday because of tightness in his right foreman, complained Wednesday of flu-like symptoms. He is at least the fourth Dodger to miss a game with illness. Luis Cruz missed two days last week after spending time at an urgent care facility with an apparent case of food poisoning.

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Ted Lilly 's return from shoulder surgery hit a bump in the road Tuesday when he was scratched from his scheduled Cactus League appearance against the San Diego Padres. The left-hander's 2012 season ended May 23 after eight starts in which he went 5-1 with a 3.14 ERA. He pitched once this spring, going two innings against the Angels, allowing just a run on Howie Kendrick's solo home run. Lilly, 37, one of four starters likely battling for the final spot in the Dodger rotation, was to follow Clayton Kershaw to the mound Tuesday but he has been out of camp a couple of days with illness.

A lot of us find our way to the doctor with strange aches and pains that are very, very unlikely to be caused by serious illness -- headaches, back pains or stomach troubles, to name a few. To be on the safe side, physicians will often order tests to rule out the scary stuff and, the thinking goes, provide reassurance.  But a recent examination of 14 randomized, controlled trials found that ordering diagnostic tests for people who have a low...

SACRAMENTO - California prison officials have opened a new psychiatric center for inmates, contending that the $24-million treatment facility is proof the state is ready to shed federal oversight of mental health care for prisoners. The new building, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, will provide outpatient treatment for mentally ill inmates who do not require 24-hour care. "It's time for the federal courts to recognize the progress the state has made and end costly and unnecessary federal oversight," Jeffrey Beard, secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in prepared remarks.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been hospitalized because of an undisclosed form of cancer, spending time in the intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to multiple team personnel. A Lakers spokesman declined to comment on his condition. Several current and former Lakers players have visited Buss, including Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Buss, 79, has been in the hospital numerous times over the last two years. He underwent an undisclosed surgery last August and was admitted a month earlier for what the team said was dehydration.

Prolifically produced worldwide since its 1979 premiere, Peter Colley's comically dark thriller, “I'll Be Back Before Midnight” now receives a belated Los Angeles premiere at the Colony in Burbank. Stephen Gifford's moldering farmhouse set, lighted with creepy virtuosity by Luke Moyer, is the ideal milieu for Colley's roller-coaster play, which contains the kind of stomach-dropping twists that will make you hoot with laughter even as you clutch your theater companion's sleeve.

The essence of much effective horror is an ability to tap into the churning fears of a moment in time. The low-budget, grimly realized "Would You Rather" is explicit about this approach, introducing us to a young woman (Brittany Snow) in dire financial straits with a terminally ill brother to care for. She agrees to attend a dinner hosted by an eccentric, wealthy philanthropist (Jeffrey Combs, enjoying himself) who promises a form of help. Instead, she and seven other guests find themselves coerced into playing a cruel version of the titular game, predicated on committing atrocious acts upon one another (or oneself)

Hope Rising (yes, her real name) says that the day she watched her husband pull out of their driveway for the last time, she collapsed, clutching her stomach in pain. That was, she says, in March 2012, a day before the couple's seventh wedding anniversary. Rising says she begged him not to go, and after he left, she couldn't get out of bed for days, though she rarely slept. "Usually I'd just lie in bed and stare at the wall or the ceiling," Rising, 47, said. "I was angry that he left, and then I'd think about what I could have done differently for him not to leave.

SACRAMENTO - As the state moves to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Californians under President Obama's healthcare law, it faces a major obstacle: There aren't enough doctors to treat a crush of newly insured patients. Some lawmakers want to fill the gap by redefining who can provide healthcare. They are working on proposals that would allow physician assistants to treat more patients and nurse practitioners to set up independent practices. Pharmacists and optometrists could act as primary care providers, diagnosing and managing some chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and high-blood pressure.

Re "Prison's revolving door," Editorial, Feb. 5 Crime and arrests in Los Angeles County continue to decline. On the countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee's website, the first annual report on public safety realignment shows recidivism rates lower than expected for people transferred from state prison to county supervision. Yet the same report says the population of L.A. County jails has risen by 22%. Why? In a 2007 study, USC psychiatry professor H. Richard Lamb found that 95% of the severely mentally ill men in the county's Twin Towers jail had been there before.