intensive care

Kristopher Kelly near his home in Concrete, Wash., in February. He broke his pelvis and all his ribs in a work accident last year. The resulting infection he developed in the hospital almost killed him.

Did An IV Cocktail Of Vitamins And Drugs Save This Lumberjack From Sepsis?

5:42pm February 21, 2018

by Richard Harris

A 51-year-old man nearly died from septic shock, when a crushing injury led to overwhelming infection. After getting an experimental treatment, he's recovering well, but some doctors want more proof.

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Two-year-old Robbie Klein has hemophilia, a medical condition that interferes with his blood's ability to clot normally. Without insurance, the daily medications he needs to stay healthy could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more each year.

In Massachusetts, Proposed Medicaid Cuts Put Kids' Health Care At Risk

7:30pm July 17, 2017

by Martha Bebinger

Doctors, consumers and politicians say big federal cuts to Medicaid funding would jeopardize the treatment a lot of kids rely on. The state would either have to make up lost funding or cut benefits.

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As baby boomers age, more older Americans are visiting the emergency room, which can be an overcrowded, disorienting and even traumatic place.

Can Comfort Care At The ER Help Older People Live Longer And Suffer Less?

4:57am May 26, 2017

by Melissa Bailey

Many older patients have problems that an emergency room is ill-equipped to handle, but often there is nowhere else to go. So some hospitals are adding palliative care consultants to the front lines.

Of the million or so Americans a year who get sepsis, roughly 300,000 die. Unfortunately, many treatments for the condition have looked promising in small, preliminary studies, only to fail in follow-up research.

Doctor Turns Up Possible Treatment For Deadly Sepsis

9:15am March 23, 2017

by Richard Harris

Research hasn't yet confirmed the early hints that a mix of IV vitamins and steroids might stop the fatal organ failure of sepsis. But an effective treatment for sepsis would be a really big deal.

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Kate Teague, a registered nurse at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, in Palo Alto, Calif., holds a premature baby's hand.

In Caring For Sickest Babies, Doctors Now Tap Parents For Tough Calls

3:43pm November 16, 2015

by Jenny Gold

Doctors were once unquestioned authorities on how aggressively to treat the sickest and most premature babies. Then parents started pushing back for more say. The responsibility can be excruciating.

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Omar looks through Kai's photo book. The charges for the infant's six months of care in the neonatal intensive care unit totaled about $11 million, according to the family, though their insurer very likely negotiated a lower rate.

An Ill Newborn, A Loving Family And A Litany Of Wrenching Choices

6:01pm November 13, 2015

by Jenny Gold

As families consider how far to push an infant's medical care, a chasm can open between the parents' hopes and what doctors and nurses consider realistic. How do you measure a baby's quality of life?

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