Scott Hensley

Walk past a patient's hospital room, and the flashing control panels on devices by the bed might make you think you're peering at the cockpit of a 737.

Medical technology can make patient care better and more precise. But the gadgets and computers can cause trouble, too. One big problem ...

When you face a choice about hotels, restaurants or cars, the chances are you head to the Web for help.

Online ratings have become essential tools for modern consumers. Health care is no exception to the ratings game, especially when it comes to hospitals.

Many people check up on hospitals ...

After a few cases here and there, measles is making a big push back into the national consciousness.

An outbreak linked to visitors to the Disneyland Resort Theme Parks in Orange County, Calif., has sickened 67 people in California and six other states according to the latest count from the ...

Americans, by and large, don't seem all that worried about what happens to the information in their medical records.

A NPR-Truven Health Analytics Health Poll found that data privacy didn't appear to bother most respondents. Privacy worries ran highest for information held by health insurers, but even then only ...

Part of the fun we have here at Shots is never knowing what the day will bring. There are always so many intriguing stories that come our way.

Among the more than 1,000 pieces we published in 2014, a few really stood out. Even before crunching the numbers, we could ...

Vroom! Vroom! Ow!!!!

When it comes to toys that cause serious injuries, those little scooters kids push along with one foot are unique.

A look at trends in injuries that sent kids to the emergency room over more than 20 years shows an Everest-like mountain of problems with ride-on toys, ...

When it comes to health records, how concerned are Americans about what happens to their personal information?

We asked in the latest NPR-Truven Health Analytics Health Poll. And, in a bit of surprise to me, the responses showed that, in general, worries don't run very high.

First, we learned that ...

How much is a fast track for the Food and Drug Administration review of a new drug worth? Try $125 million.

In an auction, Gilead Sciences, a maker of HIV and hepatitis medicines, just bought a coupon good for the accelerated review of a drug of the company's choice ...

World Cafe's Sense Of Place visit to Lafayette, La., has to include a long look at zydeco music. As the host of The Zydeco Stomp on KRVS — and food and culture editor of the Lafayette newspaper The Daily Advertiser -- Herman Fusilier has made zydeco his life. Here, Fusilier ...

The wheels of drug research grind slowly, but they can grind exceedingly fine.

Merck said Monday that its cholesterol drug Vytorin was vindicated by a nine-year-long clinical study that aimed to find out if adding a drug that blocked the absorption of cholesterol to a statin, long the gold standard ...

The evidence has been piling up that properly done CT scans can help doctors find tiny lung tumors in longtime smokers while the cancer can still be treated effectively.

Now Medicare is proposing to pay for annual scans for beneficiaries at a high risk for lung cancer. To qualify, ...

Electronic medical records were supposed to usher in the future of medicine.

Prescriptions would be beamed to the pharmacy. A doctor could call up patients' medical histories anywhere, anytime. Nurses and doctors could easily find patients' old lab results or last X-rays to see what how they're doing. The computer ...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has once again changed the number of cars included in a massive and urgent recall over an inflator defect in air bags made by the Japanese company Takata.

Initially, 4.7 million vehicles were recalled, but in a list released on Wednesday, NHTSA added ...

How do Americans feel about Ebola and the U.S. response to the outbreak so far?

NPR and our partners at Truven Health Analytics asked more than 3,000 adults in a poll conducted online and by phone (mobile and landline) Oct. 1-15.

Nearly everyone — 97 percent — knew about the ...

Drugs that are commonly prescribed to help people cope with Parkinson's disease have been linked to bizarre changes in behavior that patients and doctors should be on guard against, researchers say.

The disturbing side effects include compulsive gambling, uncontrollable shopping and a sudden obsession with sex.

The problems with the ...

How are Americans sizing up the threat from Ebola?

A Harvard School of Public Health poll finds that more than a third of Americans (38 percent) are worried that Ebola will infect them or a family member over the next year.

Most (81 percent) believe Ebola can spread from ...

Some people like to bet on horses. Others wager on football games. And while there may not be any money in picking the next Nobel Prize winner, that's no reason not to have a little fun trying.

On Monday Oct. 6, a scientist or two, or maybe even three, will ...

There's another pill to help people lose weight.

After years of study and lots of questions from the Food and Drug Administration questions, a pill called Contrave finally got the agency's OK Thursday.

It's the third diet medicine to get the regulatory go-ahead in recent years. But the other ...

If you have old or unused narcotic painkillers in the medicine cabinet, your main choices for getting rid of them have been to toss them in the trash, flush them down the toilet or drop them off at the police station.

But soon it will be possible to take ...

All of a sudden there's some movement in the development of vaccines against Ebola.

Johnson & Johnson said Thursday that the company is speeding up work on its part of an experimental two-shot vaccine being developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. J&J's Crucell unit ...