Chinese Virologists Are Fighting A New Outbreak. Here's What They're Looking For
The new strain of coronavirus is from the same family as SARS, but doesn't appear to spread easily between people.
Medical Treatments
Progress On Lung Cancer Drives Historic Drop In U.S. Cancer Death Rate
The U.S. cancer death rate dropped more than 2% between 2016 and 2017, the biggest single-year drop ever, according to the American Cancer Society. Better treatment for lung cancer is a factor.
Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints
Matching the sickest patients with social workers and medical support doesn't reduce costly hospital readmissions, a study finds. Still, some believe greater social investment could make a difference.
Stakes High For Democrats And Republicans In Bid To Rush ACA To Supreme Court
Both sides say they want the high court to quickly weigh in on a case that could invalidate the federal health law. Whatever the court decides will likely have consequences in 2020 elections.
Effort To Control Opioids In An ER Leaves Some Sickle Cell Patients In Pain
People with sickle cell disease aren't fueling the opioid crisis, research shows. Yet some ER doctors still treat patients seeking relief for agonizing sickle cell crises as potential addicts.
Massachusetts May Drop Requirement That Minors Get Permission For Abortion
The state now requires women and girls under 18 to obtain permission from their parents or a judge. But in a recent poll, most Massachusetts voters favored letting minors decide on their own.
A Decade Marked By Outrage Over Drug Prices
Nearly 1 in 4 Americans has trouble affording prescription drugs, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Over the past decade, high prices of several medicines have become flashpoints.
Opinion: Placenta-Eating Went Mainstream When Many Doctors Stopped Listening
Preparers of pills made from placental tissue have gained online momentum, claiming to support each new mom in her slog to recovery. A historian traces the trend to a mother's need to be heard.
1 Year After Losing Its Hospital, A Rural Town Is Determined To Survive
Anger and fear have turned to pragmatic hope in the year since the people of Fort Scott, Kan., lost their hospital to corporate downsizing. A community health center remains. So far, so good.
A Young Mississippi Woman's Journey Through A Pioneering Gene-Editing Experiment
NPR tells the exclusive, behind-the-scenes story of the first person with a genetic disorder to be treated in the United States with the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR.