Doctor

Suzanne Rogers, who has spent more than five decades as a cast member on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” has enviable endurance. This past summer, she learned she was even stronger than she’d thought.

For six weeks between June and July, Rogers, 82, underwent treatment for Stage II colorectal cancer, she told TV Insider in an interview published Thursday. The actor said she was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year after consulting a doctor about a nagging feeling that something “wasn’t quite right” with her body.

Colorectal cancer is a term for cancer originating in the colon or rectum. Chances of occurrence increase with age, and experts recommend regular screenings for those age 45 and above, continuing until at least age 75.

Rogers suspected her health issues might be serious when her doctor told her he would like to do a slew of tests, including a colonoscopy, MRI and PET scan. Still, when he confirmed the bad news, the Daytime Emmy winner — who already did routine colonoscopies — couldn’t believe it.

“I think I was in shock for several days because I take pretty good care of myself,” she told TV Insider. Fortunately, her doctor said, “It’s a good thing you caught it in time.”

After wrapping on “Days” in June, Rogers began daily radiation and chemotherapy treatments. She said the intense regimen made her treasure her weekends “because I didn’t have to go to and see a doctor. I was so tired of seeing doctors.”

Luckily, the Peacock soap happened to be on hiatus at the time, so Rogers had no trouble making her appointments. On top of that, her onscreen daughter Linsey Godfrey, who herself battled Hodgkin‘s lymphoma as a teenager, was able to accompany her on treatment visits, which made the ordeal less daunting.

“We really feel like a family,” Rogers said, adding that other cast and crew members regularly called to check in on her, and the “Days” producers never rushed her recovery.

“They all said, ‘Don’t worry about a thing, take care of yourself, get yourself well. That’s the most important thing. We are here,’ ” Rogers said. As the actor heads back to the “Days” set next week, she said she is “feeling really good,” albeit nervous that lingering fatigue might hold her back.

“That’s the only anxiousness I feel. It’s not because of my illness, let’s put it that way,” she said. When she does return to the screen, Rogers will still be sporting her famous ginger mane, as she didn’t lose her hair during chemo.

“Days of Our Lives” premiered on NBC in 1965 and is currently airing Season 61 on Peacock. In July, the classic daytime drama announced it had been renewed for a 62nd and 63rd season on the streaming service.

Russell T Davies has spoken out after Disney+ ended its partnership with Doctor Who and jokingly suggested some festive titles for the upcoming Christmas special

Russell T Davies has spoken out after Disney+ ended its partnership with Doctor Who. The showrunner, 62, took to social media in the hours after it was announced that his sci-fi programme would be solely produced by the BBC going forward after two years under the global streaming service.

Earlier in the day, Lindsay Salt, director of drama at the BBC, said Disney+ had been “terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons”, before confirming that a Christmas special is on the way. She added: “The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026.

“We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC.”

READ MORE: BBC issue shock Doctor Who update after Disney pulled fundingREAD MORE: Doctor Who star Varada Sethu breaks silence on exit after needing time to ‘process’ things

In the hours that followed, Russell posted an image of the famous TARDIS onto his Instagram page, where he jokingly asked fans what they thought of some potential titles for the festive special. He wrote: “Here we go. Away in a Danger? Jungle Hells? Silent Night? Hark the Weeping Angels Sing? O Come All Ye…um, Nimon?”

Following the news that the show was no longer part of Disney, fans instantly flooded social media with their reactions, with many praising show bosses for the move to step away from the media corporation. One wrote: “Maybe without Disney’s sanitized grip, Doctor Who can return to its roots, weird, dark, brilliant storytelling that doesn’t need a corporate logo to feel epic.”

Another said: “Time for Doctor Who to feel British again, not branded,” whilst a third joked of the streaming service: “this app is literally screaming at us all month to end our memberships.” Another fan simply said: “Good tbh. The Disney era was kinda meh!”

At the end of the last series, viewers were shocked to see Ncuti Gatwa’s doctor seemingly regenerate into the likeness of Billie Piper, who starred as Rose Tyler alongside Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant following the programme’s initial revival in 2005. A comeback for her has not been confirmed, and some fans seem to think that Ncuti could be stepping back into the role after all.

One said: “Ncuti walking out of the Tardis on Christmas 2026 and pretending like nothing happened,” and another said: “billie is gonna go find 14 and then ‘fuse’ with him which will cause an ACTUAL regeneration and its just Ncuti again lmao.” A third agreed, writing: “I would LOVE for Ncuti Gatwa to be back!”

This festive season will be the first to not have a Doctor Who special for 20 years. The BBC said that the announcement about the 2026 Christmas episode had been prompted by Disney+ confirming that it would not be partnering on the next season of the sci-fi show – as widely anticipated – after international viewing figures proved disappointing.

In a statement yesterday, the BBC said that it remained “fully committed to the show and will announce plans for the next series in due course to ensure the Doctor’s adventures continue”.

At the end of this year, Doctor Who spin-off The War Between The Land and the Sea will air, as well as a brand-new animation series for CBeebies.

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WASHINGTON — A federal jury convicted an infertility specialist, who admitted inseminating patients with his own semen, of 52 counts of fraud and perjury Wednesday.

On the fourth day of jury deliberations in Alexandria, Va., Dr. Cecil Jacobson was found guilty of lying to women about the identity of the sperm donor used in their artificial insemination procedures and of telling other women that they were pregnant when they were not.

The case has provoked an inbtense debate, raising disturbing ethical questions about medical practices and the doctor/patient relationship and initiating calls for tougher regulation of sperm banks and fertility clinics.

Critics contended that Jacobson’s behavior violated his patients’ right to privacy and their right to be fully informed about their treatments.

Furthermore, the case is expected to prompt action on the federal or state level toward tighter controls on the fertility industry, which is now only loosely regulated. Such legislation is already pending on Capitol Hill.

Jacobson, 55, who may have fathered as many as 75 children in the Washington area during the late 1970s and early 1980s, faces up to 280 years in prison and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced May 8.

Jacobson showed no reaction when the verdict was delivered but said afterward: “I spent my life trying to help women have children. It’s a shock to be found guilty of trying to help people. . . . I certainly did not willfully or intentionally harm anyone. . . . I did not break any law.”

Prosecutor Randy Bellows, who characterized Jacobson to the eight-woman, four-man jury as “a man who routinely lies to his own patients,” declined to say whether he would recommend that Jacobson go to jail.

Jacobson, who remains free on bond, is expected to appeal.

Jury foreman Daniel Richard told reporters gathered outside the courtroom that “we knew Jacobson was lying to those patients.” Another juror, Deborah Earman, said that she believed Jacobson “was a good man” who “went wrong somewhere and mistreated a lot of women. He definitely did some wrong.”

Jean Blair, a former patient who testified that Jacobson had told her six times that she was pregnant and had miscarried, said she hopes that Jacobson goes to jail. Her husband, James Blair, said Jacobson “fooled a lot of people for a long time and I’m glad he didn’t fool this jury.”

Jacobson is a former George Washington University geneticist believed to have been the first physician to perform amniocentesis in the United States. For a long time, he was one of only a few practitioners in the Washington area who could perform the prenatal procedure, which detects Down’s syndrome and other abnormalities in a developing fetus.

Later, Jacobson opened his Reproductive Genetics Center Ltd. It was while treating women there that the incidents for which he was charged occurred. In addition to lying to them about the source of the semen he used, he was also charged with fooling 10 women into thinking that they were pregnant by injecting them with unusually frequent doses of a hormone that he knew would create false positive results in a pregnancy test. Later, the prosecutor charged, he told the women that their fetuses had died and been reabsorbed by their bodies.

A series of witnesses–who testified anonymously out of concern for their children–said that Jacobson had told them he would find donors who would match the physical characteristics of the patients’ husbands and that the donor would not be aware of their identity. Genetic tests on 15 of the children, however, showed that Jacobson was 99.99% likely to have been the father, the prosecution said.

But defense attorney James Tate argued that Jacobson had been very successful in helping many high-risk women become pregnant and give birth to healthy babies. Jacobson, testifying in his own behalf, said he was unaware that the hormone he was using could cause false positive pregnancy test results.

In comments made before the trial, Jacobson acknowledged that he had used his own semen, saying that he did not believe he had done anything wrong. He said that he believed his own fresh semen was more effective than a bank’s frozen sperm. And, he said, because he had been faithful to his wife, he was confident he would not transmit any dangerous infectious diseases to his patients.

There is some evidence that Jacobson’s actions, while unusual, were not isolated. The results of a 1987 survey conducted by the federal Office of Technology Assessment–virtually ignored at the time–showed that as many as 2% of the fertility doctors polled had done exactly the same thing as Jacobson, using their own sperm to inseminate patients.

In a separate case several years earlier, Jacobson was prohibited from practicing clinical medicine in Virginia after the state medical board determined that he had misled women who had paid $5,000 for fertility treatments. Jacobson, a native of Utah, returned there to conduct privately funded genetic research.

British actor Samantha Eggar, the Oscar-nominated star of films including “The Collector,” “Doctor Dolittle” and David Cronenberg’s “The Brood,” has died. She was 86.

Eggar died Wednesday evening, her daughter Jenna Stern announced Friday on Instagram. Stern said her mother died “peacefully and quietly surrounded by family” and recalled being by the actor’s side “telling her how much she was loved.” A cause of death was not revealed.

Stern described her mother, who was also a prolific TV actor, as “beautiful, intelligent, and tough enough to be fascinatingly vulnerable.”

Eggar pursued a film career that spanned the 1960s to the 1990s and was most celebrated for her work in “The Collector,” directed by William Wyler. The psychological horror movie, based on John Fowles’ novel of the same name, featured Eggar as the youthful art student abducted by a reclusive young man portrayed by Terence Stamp. For the thriller, Eggar collected the Cannes Film Festival‘s actress prize plus a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination.

After the film’s release, Eggar secured numerous roles, notably in the 1967 iteration of “Doctor Dolittle” opposite Rex Harrison, “Walk, Don’t Run” with Cary Grant, “The Molly Maguires” and “The Walking Stick.”

One of Eggar’s most memorable roles was in Cronenberg’s “The Brood,” released in 1979. She starred as Nola Carveth, a mental patient receiving radical psychotherapy treatment amid a series of mysterious murders. The film also starred Oliver Reed and Art Hindle.

Throughout her film career, Eggar also appeared in scores of television series ranging from “Anna and the King” (opposite “The King and I” star Yul Brynner), “Starsky & Hutch,” “The Love Boat” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Her more substantial TV roles included a voice-acting part in the animated series “The Legend of Prince Valiant,” which ran for two seasons, and a stint as Charlotte Devane on the daytime drama “All My Children.”

The actor also lent her voice as Hera in Disney’s “Hercules,” then reprised the role in the animated classic’s spinoff video game and TV series.

Eggar was born March 5, 1939, in Hampstead, London. Her father was a British Army brigadier and her mother served as an ambulance driver during World War II. She studied art and fashion at the Thanet School of Art and pursed acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, according to a statement her daughter shared. Later in life, Eggar returned to the stage, performing “The Lonely Road” at the Old Vic and “The Seagull” at Oxford Playhouse and Theatre Royal, Bath.

She also brought her talents to radio, lending her voice to more than 40 productions for the California Artists Radio Theatre. Eggar was an animal enthusiast and supporter of several environment and health causes.

“Samantha Eggar will be remembered not only for her unforgettable performances but for her generosity, wit, and love of life,” the statement said.

Eggar is survived by her children Nicolas and Jenna, grandchildren Isabel, Charlie and Calla; and sisters Margaret Barron, Toni Maricic, and Vivien Thursby.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a suite of privacy protection bills for transgender patients amid continuing threats by the Trump administration.

But there was one glaring omission that LGBTQ+ advocates and political strategists say is part of an increasingly complex dance the Democrat faces as he curates a more centrist profile for a potential presidential bid.

Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required insurers to cover, and pharmacists to dispense, 12 months of hormone therapy at one time to transgender patients and others. The proposal was a top priority for trans rights leaders, who said it was crucial to preserve care as clinics close or limit gender-affirming services under White House pressure.

Political experts say Newsom’s veto highlights how charged trans care has become for Democrats nationally and, in particular, for Newsom, who as San Francisco mayor engaged in civil disobedience by allowing gay couples to marry at City Hall. The veto, along with his lukewarm response to anti-trans rhetoric, they argue, is part of an alarming pattern that could damage his credibility with key voters in his base.

“Even if there were no political motivations whatsoever under Newsom’s decision, there are certainly political ramifications of which he is very aware,” said Dan Schnur, a former GOP political strategist who is now a politics lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley. “He is smart enough to know that this is an issue that’s going to anger his base, but in return, may make him more acceptable to large numbers of swing voters.”

Earlier this year on Newsom’s podcast, the governor told the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk that trans athletes competing in women’s sports was “deeply unfair,” triggering a backlash among his party’s base and LGBTQ+ leaders. And he has described trans issues as a “major problem for the Democratic Party,” saying Donald Trump’s trans-focused campaign ads were “devastating” for his party in 2024.

Still, in a conversation with YouTube streamer ConnorEatsPants this month, Newsom defended himself “as a guy who’s literally put my political life on the line for the community for decades, has been a champion and a leader.”

“He doesn’t want to face the criticism as someone who, I’m sure, is trying to line himself up for the presidency, when the current anti-trans rhetoric is so loud,” said Ariela Cuellar, a spokesperson for the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network.

Caroline Menjivar, the state senator who introduced the measure, described her bill as “the most tangible and effective” measure this year to help trans people at a time when they are being singled out for what she described as “targeted discrimination.”

In a legislature in which Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses, lawmakers sent the bill to Newsom on a party-line vote. Earlier this year, Washington became the first to enact a state law extending hormone therapy coverage to a 12-month supply.

In a veto message on the California bill, Newsom cited its potential to drive up health care costs, impacts that an independent analysis found would be negligible.

“At a time when individuals are facing double-digit rate increases in their health care premiums across the nation, we must take great care to not enact policies that further drive up the cost of health care, no matter how well-intended,” Newsom wrote.

Under the Trump administration, federal agencies have been directed to limit access to gender-affirming care for children, which Trump has referred to as “chemical and surgical mutilation,” and demanded documents from or threatened investigations of institutions that provide it.

In recent months, Stanford Medicine, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Kaiser Permanente have reduced or eliminated gender-affirming care for patients under 19, a sign of the chilling effect Trump’s executive orders have had on health care, even in one of the nation’s most progressive states.

California already mandates wide coverage of gender-affirming health care, including hormone therapy, but pharmacists can currently dispense only a 90-day supply. Menjivar’s bill would have allowed 12-month supplies, modeled after a 2016 law that allowed women to receive an annual supply of birth control.

Luke Healy, who told legislators at an April hearing that he was “a 24-year-old detransitioner” and no longer believed he was a woman, criticized the attempt to increase coverage of services he thought were “irreversibly harmful” to him.

“I believe that bills like this are forcing doctors to turn healthy bodies into perpetual medical problems in the name of an ideology,” Healy testified.

The California Association of Health Plans opposed the bill over provisions that would limit the use of certain practices such as prior authorization and step therapy, which require insurer approval before care is provided and force patients and doctors to try other therapies first.

“These safeguards are essential for applying evidence-based prescribing standards and responsibly managing costs — ensuring patients receive appropriate care while keeping premiums in check,” said spokesperson Mary Ellen Grant.

An analysis by the California Health Benefits Review Program, which independently reviews bills relating to health insurance, concluded that annual premium increases resulting from the bill’s implementation would be negligible and that “no long-term impacts on utilization or cost” were expected.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said Newsom’s economic argument was “not plausible.” Although he said he considers Newsom a strong ally of the transgender community, Minter noted he was “deeply disappointed” to see the governor’s veto.

“I understand he’s trying to respond to this political moment, and I wish he would respond to it by modeling language and policies that can genuinely bring people along.”

Newsom’s press office declined to comment further.

Following the podcast interview with Kirk, Cuellar said, advocacy groups backing SB 418 grew concerned about a potential veto and made a point to highlight voices of other patients who would benefit, including menopausal women and cancer patients. It was a starkly different strategy than what they might have done before Trump took office.

“Had we run this bill in 2022-2023, the messaging would have been totally different,” said another proponent who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

“We could have been very loud and proud. In 2023, we might have gotten a signing ceremony.”

Advocates for trans rights were so wary of the current political climate that some also felt the need to steer clear of promoting a separate bill that would have expanded coverage of hormone therapy and other treatments for menopause and perimenopause. That bill, authored by Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, who has spoken movingly about her struggles with health care for perimenopause, was also vetoed.

In the meantime, said Jovan Wolf, a trans man and military veteran, patients like him will be left to suffer. Wolf, who had taken testosterone for more than 15 years, tried to restart hormone therapy in March, following a two-year hiatus in which he contemplated having children.

Doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs told him it was too late. Days earlier, the Trump administration had announced it would phase out hormone therapy and other treatments for gender dysphoria.

“Having estrogen pumping through my body, it’s just not a good feeling for me, physically, mentally. And when I’m on testosterone, I feel balanced,” said Wolf, who eventually received care elsewhere. “It should be my decision and my decision only.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.