Category: NPR

Hospital Emergency Rooms Struggle With Overdose Spike During Pandemic

The CDC says hospitals saw a lot more emergency cases involving drug overdoses, as well as mental health crises and suicide attempts. Many emergency departments weren’t ready.

Indoor Visits With Nursing Home Residents OK, New CDC Guidance Says

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services now recommends that visitors and residents, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, be allowed to meet in person under most circumstances.

Lawsuit Argues ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ Could Invalidate Thousands Of Health Rules

In its final days, the Trump administration created a rule that could eliminate thousands of regulations created by the Department of Health and Human Services. A lawsuit is challenging the rule.

Inside The Fight For The Right To Die: Logistical And Ethical Challenges

Katie Engelhart explores the complexity of physician-assisted death in the book, The Inevitable. She says patients seeking to end their own lives sometimes resort to veterinary drugs from overseas.

Pandemic Aid Package Includes Some Relief From High Health Plan Premiums

If passed, Biden’s relief bill would significantly expand the number of people eligible for federal help in paying their health plan premiums, and would boost the size of those subsidies.

COMIC: How One COVID-19 Nurse Navigates Anti-Mask Sentiment

At work every day, Agnes Boisvert attends to ICU patients “gasping for air” and dying from COVID-19. But communicating that harsh reality to her skeptical community has been a challenge.

Vaccine Misallocations Sparks One Medical Congressional Hearing

One Medical is seeing the shutoff of vaccine allocations, new reports of wrongdoing, and a congressional hearing as fallout deepens following NPR’s investigation of its COVID-19 vaccination practices.

Merck Will Help Manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine

Merck traditionally has been a leader in vaccines but has not had success with a COVID-19 vaccine. It’s lending a hand to Johnson & Johnson, where production is running significantly behind schedule.

5 Medical Appointments You Should Stop Putting Off

If you’ve been delaying routine medical care in the past year, now’s the time to catch up, doctors say. The consequences of missing some key screenings and health checkups can be lethal.

‘Providers Don’t Even Listen’: Barriers To Alzheimer’s Care When You’re Not White

Nonwhite Americans looking for care for a loved one are much more likely than whites to encounter discrimination, language barriers, and providers who lack cultural competence, a new report finds.