health care

RaDonda Vaught and her attorney, Peter Strianse, listen as verdicts are read at her trial in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday, March 25. The jury found Vaught, a former nurse, guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult in th

Former nurse found guilty in accidental injection death of 75-year-old patient

7:25pm March 25, 2022

by Brett Kelman

RaDonda Vaught's conviction could lead to years in prison. It's a rare case of a medical mistake being deemed a crime, and many worry it will have a chilling effect on the entire nursing profession.

The COVID fund for the uninsured is shutting down, which will likely drive spread

4:43pm March 25, 2022

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Congress failed to approve billions in new funding to fight COVID-19. Among threatened program cuts are free treatments for COVID patients who are uninsured.

While Sean Deines and his wife, Rebekah, were traveling in Wyoming in 2020, Sean got very ill and was diagnosed with an aggressive leukemia. A huge air ambulance bill added to their stress.

Health & Safety

The case of the $489,000 air ambulance ride

6:52am March 25, 2022

by Julie Appleby

Diagnosed with aggressive leukemia while on a trip to Wyoming, a man thought his insurance would cover an air ambulance ride home to North Carolina. Instead, he got hit with an astronomical bill.

Reseach is showing that people who are vaccinated, even with just one dose, tend to have lower rates of long COVID-19 after catching the virus than those who are unvaccinated.

Evidence grows that vaccines lower the risk of getting long COVID

12:53pm March 24, 2022

by Will Stone

Though findings are preliminary, many studies suggest that vaccinated people have good protection against the condition, although just how much is still up for debate.

RaDonda Vaught, a former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse charged in the death of a patient, listens to the opening statements during her trial in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

In nurse's trial, witness says hospital bears 'heavy' responsibility for patient death

5:00am March 24, 2022

by Bret Kelman

Nashville nurse RaDonda Vaught is on trial for reckless homicide for giving the wrong medication to a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

A procedure room at Planned Parenthood in Meridian, Idaho, one of the few clinics in the state to offer abortions. Access to abortion is about to become even less available in the state as a six-week ban became law.

Idaho prepares to ban most abortions in the state as governor signs Texas-style law

4:08pm March 23, 2022

by Sarah McCammon

Barring legal challenges, Idaho's law is scheduled to take effect in about a month. It bans most abortions after about six weeks and allows health care providers to be sued.

A doctor chronicles life in a Chicago ER during the first year of the pandemic

1:16pm March 23, 2022

by Dave Davies

Though he fully expected to be infected with COVID, Dr. Thomas Fisher says he was committed to providing medical care to the Black community on Chicago's South Side. His new book is The Emergency.

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Reeny Pereira had been a licensed nurse in Maryland for years. But when she moved to Pennsylvania, that state wouldn't recognize her license. Pereira had to wait five months for a new Pennsylvania license.

Health & Safety

Nurses are frustrated by months-long delays to get licensed in some states

5:00am March 23, 2022

by Brett Sholtis

Nurses trying to practice in Pennsylvania have some of the longest waiting times in the nation. After wading endlessly through red tape, some have given up and left, worsening the staffing shortage.

The U.S. omicron outbreak has dramatically slowed, cutting wait times for tests. But health officials worry a new uptick in cases fueled by the BA.2 variant could be on the way.

U.K. COVID cases are rising. Health officials are watching to see if the U.S. is next

5:00am March 19, 2022

The rise of the more infectious BA.2 variant in the U.S. — plus signals in the sewage — also point to a possible uptick in cases, and have health officials on alert.

A nurse holds bottles of medications. The Lviv hospital had about three weeks of reserves on site.

World News

Fighting to survive: Ukraine's cancer patients' struggle to find care while fleeing

3:42pm March 18, 2022

Supplies are running low at Lviv's regional cancer hospital in Ukraine. The patient load has doubled and supplies in Kyiv are inaccessible. But hospital staff choose the duty of care over safety.

Queue Listen Now