health care

Dr Donald Pinkel, first medical director at St. Jude, led the hospital's leukemia research trials in the 1960s.

How 2 Children With Leukemia Helped Transform Its Treatment

9:50am March 25, 2015

by Amanda Aronczyk

Cancer treatment for kids has changed dramatically since the 1960s. Back then, doctors experimented with approaches that seemed promising but were also potentially toxic. Some survivors look back.

Queue Listen Now

Why The War On Cancer Hasn't Been Won

12:26pm March 24, 2015

by Richard Harris

Medical researchers have made only modest progress treating the most common cancers since the war on cancer was declared in 1971. The disease has proved far more complicated than doctors had hoped.

Queue Listen Now

Find other stories in the Living Cancer series at WNYC.org.

Stats Split On Progress Against Cancer

8:33am March 24, 2015

by Richard Harris

When you dig into the number on cancer, the results are mixed. Overall, deaths are up. But survival five years after diagnosis has improved for many forms of the disease, including breast cancer.

Grey lines connecting health care workers (marked with "+") and patients represent contacts between them. The red figures are carriers of MRSA.

Wireless Sensors Help Scientists Map Staph Spread Inside Hospital

5:34pm March 23, 2015

by Scott Hensley

Over four months of tracking and testing, French researchers mapped the hops that bacteria made from one person to another. Within a month, a third of patients were newly colonized with staph.

If You're Going To Die Soon, Do You Really Need Statins?

4:30pm March 23, 2015

by Nancy Shute

Many older people are taking a lot of meds, and some drugs may not be doing them much good. When terminally ill people went off statins, they said they felt better. And it didn't increase their risk.

Health & Safety

Despite A Wave Of Data Breaches, Fed Says Patient Privacy Isn't Dead

8:08am March 23, 2015

by Charles Ornstein

Hackers may have gained access to records for 11 million people covered by Premera Blue Cross. It's the latest lapse keeping an obscure government agency that investigates the breaches busy.

If you're a New Yorker shopping for health insurance on the state's exchange, you won't be able to find a health plan with out-of-network coverage unless you live around Albany or in the far western part of the state.

Most N.Y. Marketplace Plans Lack Out-Of-Network Coverage

9:20am March 19, 2015

by Michelle Andrews

With a few exceptions, all the policies sold on New York's health insurance marketplace won't pay for routine expenses from doctors or hospitals not in their networks.

Health & Safety

Workplace Suicide Rates Rise Sharply

8:30am March 19, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

Overall, men were more likely to take their lives than women on the job. And workers between the ages of 65 and 74 were more likely to commit suicide at work than their younger counterparts.

Is the benefit from antipsychotic drugs for people with dementia symptoms worth the risk?

Health & Safety

Risks Run High When Antipsychotics Are Prescribed For Dementia

8:29am March 19, 2015

by Scott Hensley

Results from an analysis of veterans' health records show a higher risk of death among people taking antipsychotic drugs for symptoms of dementia than has been documented before.

Blue Shield Of California Loses Its Tax-Exempt Status

6:03am March 19, 2015

by Richard Gonzales

One of California's largest health insurers, Blue Shield of California, could be on the hook for a massive tax bill after the state revoked its tax-exempt status. The company is appealing the decision which could cost the health insurer tens of millions of dollars a year. The dispute comes as the nonprofit is facing mounting criticism for operating like a for-profit company.

Queue Listen Now