health care

Oregon's Criminal Justice System To Be Examined Over Treatment Of Mentally Ill People

6:10pm June 10, 2019

by Conrad Wilson

Some Oregon inmates with mental illness are in jail rather than a state mental health hospital. A federal judge will hear arguments Tuesday that Oregon is not providing timely, appropriate care.

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Thor Ringler (right) interviewed Ray Miller (left) in Miller's hospital room at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wis., in April. Miller's daughter Barbara (center) brought in photos and a press clipping from Miller's time in

Health & Safety

Storytelling Helps Hospital Staff Discover The Person Within The Patient

7:00am June 08, 2019

by Bram Sable-Smith

VA hospitals are recording patients' life stories to help strengthen understanding between patients and their caregivers. Including such stories in medical records may even improve health outcomes.

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The best help for patients struggling with addiction, eating disorders or other mental health problems sometimes includes intensive therapy, the evidence shows. But many patients still have trouble getting their health insurers to cover needed mental heal

'Mental Health Parity' Is Still An Elusive Goal In U.S. Insurance Coverage

5:00am June 07, 2019

by Graison Dangor

The Affordable Care Act and other U.S. laws sought to put insurance coverage for mental health conditions on equal footing with coverage for physical conditions. But patients say that's not happening.

Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas speaks during a protest against recently passed abortion-ban bills at the state Capitol on May 21 in Atlanta.

Poll: Majority Want To Keep Abortion Legal, But They Also Want Restrictions

5:00am June 07, 2019

by Domenico Montanaro

An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey found that three-quarters of Americans want the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade. But there is also complexity — and contradiction — in respondents' views.

The Social Security Administration didn't deduct premiums from some seniors' Social Security checks that were supposed to pay for Medicare Advantage and private drug coverage.

Health & Safety

Social Security Error Jeopardizes Medicare Coverage For 250,000 Seniors

3:50pm June 06, 2019

by Susan Jaffe

A billing glitch could cause lapses in private drug policies and Medicare Advantage plans that provide both medical and drug coverage. Premiums weren't deducted from some Social Security checks.

Former nurse Niels Högel was found guilty of killing patients in his care by injecting them with drugs and then trying to resuscitate them. He's seen here in court, awaiting his verdict in Oldenburg, Germany.

Former German Nurse Guilty Of Killing 85 Patients In Serial Murder Case

1:45pm June 06, 2019

by Bill Chappell

Niels Högel admitted to injecting patients with heart drugs so he could try to resuscitate them. He was initially accused in a handful of deaths but was found to have been involved in dozens more.

What Missouri's Fight Over Abortion Means For An Illinois Clinic Across The River

4:25pm June 05, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Alison Dreith, the director of Hope Clinic in Granite City, Ill., about how the uncertainty of Missouri's last abortion clinic is affecting her patients and staff.

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Map showing states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Utah) that have passed new laws in 2019 to tighten restrictions on abortion.

Health & Safety

Early Abortion Bans: Which States Have Passed Them?

4:21pm June 05, 2019

So far in 2019, nine states have passed laws to outlaw abortion or forbid it past a certain point in pregnancy. None of these laws are in effect, and many are being litigated in the courts.

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie On Allowing More Veterans To Seek Private Health Care

5:44pm June 04, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Robert Wilkie, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, about a new program that launches June 6 that would allow more veterans to seek private health care.

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Dr. Omar Ibrahim: "You have to be calm because people are scared, the civilians and the patients are scared, and they can't see you scared."

Health & Safety

As Bombs Fall, A Neurosurgeon Tells How He Keeps Calm In Syria

7:31pm June 03, 2019

by Diane Cole

Dr. Omar Ibrahim spoke to NPR via Skype from the only working hospital in south Idlib province. The staff, he says, has "just moved into the basement [because of] the attacks."