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ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. For users of breathing machines made by Philips Respironics, recent years have been a nightmare in multiple acts. First came complaints of illnesses and injuries caused by the devices. Then came reports of deaths. Then came a large-scale recall that...

One class of drugs has already found success in treating the painful, disorienting and common attacks. Excitement is building about a slew of additional drug targets. For Cherise Irons, chocolate, red wine and aged cheeses are dangerous. So are certain sounds, perfumes and other strong scents, cold weather and thunderstorms. Stress and lack of sleep, too. She suspects all of these things can...

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Uncovered - How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients More in this series Every day, patients across America crack open envelopes with bad news. Yet another health insurer has decided not to pay for a treatment that their doctor...

It’s probably best to enjoy your Halloween spoils in moderation. Jupiterimages/The Image Bank via Getty Images ~~~~~ Each October, as the days shorten and the air grows crisp, millions of Americans prepare for the beloved – and often sugar-fueled – tradition of Halloween. From jack-o’-lanterns glowing on porches to costumes ranging from the whimsical to the gory, Halloween is a time of playful...

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. In 2018, Darryl Young was hoping for a new lease on life when he received a heart transplant at a New Jersey hospital after years of congestive heart failure. But he suffered brain damage during the procedure and never woke up. The following year, a...

In promising experiments, phage therapy forces bacteria into a no-win dilemma that lowers their defenses against drugs they’d evolved to withstand Peering through his microscope in 1910, Franco-Canadian microbiologist Félix d'Hérelle noticed some “clear spots” in his bacterial cultures, an anomaly that turned out to be viruses preying on the bacteria. Years later, d'Hérelle would come to use...