Medical Treatments

Demonstrators affiliated with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association protested the federal shutdown at a Capitol Hill rally earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

Federal Shutdown Has Meant Steep Health Bills For Some Families

3:15pm January 18, 2019

by Julie Appleby

An air traffic controller is just one employee locked into the terms of a health plan because of the ongoing federal shutdown. It's meant his child's hospital bills are "out-of-network."

Researchers studying mouse brains identified the cells that encode pain's unpleasantness.

Scientists Find Brain Cells That Make Pain Hurt

3:17pm January 17, 2019

by Jonathan Lambert

Researchers have pinpointed the neurons that give pain its unpleasant edge. By turning these neurons off in mice, the scientists relieved the unpleasantness of pain without numbing sensation.

Antibiotics might be appealing as a remedy, but often aren't the answer.

Health & Safety

When A Trip To The Doctor Leads To A Chat About Antibiotics

6:23pm January 16, 2019

by Scott Hensley

The latest NPR-IBM Watson Health Poll finds that medical visits for symptoms of infections are common and that many people get an antibiotic under those circumstances. But a talk is in order first.

A filing by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey detailed the Sackler family's role in Purdue Pharma's marketing of OxyContin.

Health & Safety

Massachusetts Attorney General Implicates Family Behind Purdue Pharma In Opioid Deaths

9:30am January 16, 2019

In a detailed memorandum, Attorney General Maura Healey alleges eight Sackler family members and nine Purdue board members or executives played key roles in the nation's deadly opioid epidemic.

A migrant worker in a Connecticut apple orchard gets a medical checkup in 2017. A proposed rule by the Trump administration that would prohibit some immigrants who get Medicaid from working legally has already led to a lot of fear and reluctance to sign u

Clinics Struggle To Resolve Fears Over Medicaid Sign-Ups And Green Cards

5:00am January 15, 2019

by Ana B. Ibarra

Should doctors warn patients of a policy threat that may not come to pass? That's the question pending, as the Trump administration weighs whether to deny green cards to immigrants on Medicaid.

Surgeons performed more than 21,000 kidney transplants and 8,000 liver transplants in 2018, according the United Network for Organ Sharing.

A Surgeon Reflects On Death, Life And The 'Incredible Gift' Of Organ Transplant

1:57pm January 14, 2019

by Dave Davies

Joshua Mezrich has performed hundreds of kidney, liver and pancreas transplants. He shares stories from the operating room in his book, When Death Becomes Life.

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Babies of moms who are in the ICU with severe flu have a greater chance of being born premature and underweight.

Severe Flu Raises Risk Of Birth Problems For Pregnant Women, Babies

10:30pm January 10, 2019

by Patti Neighmond

Pregnant women in intensive care with severe cases of the flu have a higher risk of giving birth to babies prematurely. The risk of breathing problems for the baby is also substantially higher.

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Dr. Lisa Hofler runs a University of New Mexico clinic that stocks mifepristone but doesn't routinely provide prenatal care. She and her colleagues can schedule same-day appointments for women diagnosed with miscarriages elsewhere.

Health & Safety

A Drug That Eases Miscarriages Is Difficult For Women To Get

6:07pm January 10, 2019

Despite evidence that mifepristone can help recovery from miscarriages, access to the medicine, which is commonly used to provide abortions, remains limited.

Hillary Frank is the creator of the podcast The Longest Shortest Time. Her new book is Weird Parenting Wins.

Childbirth Injury Led A New Mom To Start A Parenting Podcast 'To Feel Less Alone'

6:38pm January 07, 2019

by Terry Gross

Hillary Frank struggled after a childbirth injury left her in chronic pain for months. Her podcast The Longest Shortest Time, and her book Weird Parenting Wins aim to give other parents a voice.

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A colorized image of a brain cell from an Alzheimer's patient shows a neurofibrillary tangle (red) inside the cytoplasm (yellow) of the cell. The tangles consist primarily of a protein called tau.

Alzheimer's Disease May Develop Differently In African-Americans, Study Suggests

5:44pm January 07, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Black Americans are more likely than whites to develop Alzheimer's. Yet black people studied appeared to have lower levels of a toxic substance associated with the disease, researchers say.

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