Medical Treatments

Women Having A Heart Attack Don't Get Treatment Fast Enough

2:37pm April 06, 2015

by Maanvi Singh

Women under 55 are twice as likely to die after being hospitalized for a heart attack than men. Women delay treatment because they may not recognize the symptoms and they're reluctant to make a fuss.

Queue Listen Now

Maybe You Should Skip That Annual Physical

2:10pm April 06, 2015

by Jenny Gold

Americans spend billions of dollars every year on annual physicals. But there's little evidence that a yearly checkup helps healthy adults. Some doctors are telling patients to skip it.

Queue Listen Now

Reporter Covered Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things In Wartime

10:30am April 04, 2015

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist John Burns has announced his retirement. NPR's Linda Wertheimer speaks with Burns about four decades of reporting for the New York Times.

Queue Listen Now

This is what the inflammation of sinus infection looks like in a false-color X-ray. It hurts even more in real life.

Diagnosing A Sinus Infection Can Be A DIY Project

5:50pm April 02, 2015

by Nancy Shute

The nation's ear, nose and throat doctors want people to diagnose sinus infections themselves in an effort to reduce overuse of antibiotics. They're telling you how.

Acids, alcohol and pancreatic tissue were separated, bathed and mixed in this laboratory of a 1946 insulin factory in Bielefeld, Germany.

Why Is Insulin So Expensive In The U.S.?

7:57pm April 01, 2015

by Anders Kelto

The hormone that controls blood sugar among diabetics is one of the oldest medicines used today. But more than 90 years after its discovery, a low-cost version is no longer available in the U.S.

Queue Listen Now

Dan Swangard, a 48-year-old physician from San Francisco, was diagnosed in 2013 with a rare form of metastatic cancer.

Doctors With Cancer Push California To Allow Aid In Dying

2:55pm March 30, 2015

by Anna Gorman

Dr. Dan Swangard doesn't know if he would take lethal medications to hasten death. But as someone with metastatic cancer, he wants to have that choice. He's part of a suit to change California law.

Dr. Shane Avery (right) and Kevin Collins, Scott County's coroner, say the prescription opioid problem in their community has led to an HIV outbreak that's still expanding.

Indiana's HIV Spike Prompts New Calls For Needle Exchanges Statewide

2:32pm March 30, 2015

by Jake Harper

Southeastern Indiana is battling an HIV outbreak. The new cases are mostly linked to injection drug use and have reignited a debate over needle exchanges, which are currently illegal in the state.

Queue Listen Now

Mary Harris was relieved when Stella was born with a mop of thick black hair, as if she had been protected from the chemo somehow.

Pregnant With Cancer: One Woman's Journey

2:25pm March 30, 2015

by Mary Harris

Mary Harris found out she was pregnant the day before she had scheduled surgery for breast cancer. It turns out there is limited data on how chemotherapy during pregnancy affects a baby.

Queue Listen Now

Critic Faults Alcoholics Anonymous For Lack Of Evidence

9:34am March 30, 2015

by NPR Staff

Writer Gabrielle Glaser challenges the usefulness of Alcoholics Anonymous in April's issue of The Atlantic. The program's tenets aren't based in science, she says, and other options may work better.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

How Much Does Cancer Cost Us?

9:33am March 30, 2015

by Kathryn Tam

We asked people on Facebook to share their stories about coping with the cost of cancer care. See what they told us. Also, test your knowledge of cancer costs with a quiz.