Today's Globe: costlier end-of-life care, child medicine errors, disease foundations

During their final years, chronically ill patients in Boston spend more time in the hospital, receive more care from specialists, and run up substantially steeper bills than senior citizens in much of the nation, according to a sweeping report released this morning.

Medicine mix-ups, accidental overdoses, and bad drug reactions harm roughly one in 15 hospitalized children, according to the first scientific test of a new detection method. That number is far higher than earlier estimates and highlights concerns already heightened by publicized cases such as the accidental drug overdose of the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid (left) in November. The Quaid babies recovered.

In addition to raising venture capital and launching stock offerings, Massachusetts biotech companies (including Epix Pharmaceuticals, where Shelli L. Kirstein studies cystic fibrosis) are increasingly turning to another source of funding to support early drug research: nonprofit foundations dedicated to fighting serious diseases