Indiana

Four Midwestern states have infant mortality rates “significantly higher” than the U.S. average, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control says.

A few dozen people stand on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis to protest the state’s new work requirements. “Hoosier healthcare is under attack,” a protester yells through a megaphone. “What do we do? Stand up fight back.” 

A Catholic high school in Indianapolis says it has decided to fire a gay teacher to remain in the local archdiocese.

In a letter to the community, leaders of Cathedral High School said they had been in talks with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for 22 months before deciding to cut ties with the teacher.

Earlier this year, police dispatchers in Evansville, Indiana, received a chilling call. A man said he was holding his wife at knifepoint, and he warned police that he was heavily armed.

Cigarette smoking has declined among middle and high school students for years. But now, e-cigarette sales are rising, with young people using them at epidemic rates. Public health officials are concerned about the impact – including exposure to addictive nicotine.

As the opioid epidemic continues, hospitals are looking for new ways to treat pain and combat addiction. At Indiana University Health, which has 16 hospitals across the state, that means change. They’re cutting back on opioid prescriptions and giving more advice to patients.

Updated at 2:10 p.m. ET

The Supreme Court is leaving in place part of an Indiana law that mandates that aborted fetuses be buried or cremated.

The court did not take up a second part of the law that banned abortions because of fetal abnormality, the fetus's race, sex or ancestry. A lower court struck down that part of the law in addition to the burial provision. The Supreme Court, though, said it will wait for other lower court rulings before weighing in on the fetal characteristics provision.

When health researchers make headlines, it’s often for a sensational project – like manipulating genes to create a baby. But others are examining broader issues, including how – and where – you live affects your health.

Richard Lugar, the former Indiana senator whose work in pursuit of nuclear nonproliferation helped cement his place as one of the Republican Party's most influential voices on foreign policy, died Sunday at the age of 87.

Panelists at Side Effects Public Media’s two-part Happier Birth Days conversation answered viewer questions about maternal and infant health disparities in Indiana’s black communities. But there wasn’t time to answer all questions. Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr.

Some doctors see access to birth control as a tool in the fight to decrease maternal and infant mortality. Indiana has one of the nation’s worst rates of new mothers and infants dying, and those rates are even worse for black women.

But a history of abuse has led to distrust of health care professionals in communities of color. 

Former Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh died Thursday morning at the age of 91.

He was an icon in Indiana and a titan of the U.S. Senate, serving three terms from 1963 to 1981. Among his accomplishments was his authorship of Title IX in 1972, a law guaranteeing women access to educational and athletic programs in higher education.

Bayh said his inspiration for that – and his work on the failed Equal Rights Amendment – was his wife Marvella. They met at the 1951 National Farm Bureau speaking contest; as Bayh put it, "She won the competition, I won the girl."

An estimated 21 percent of Hoosiers smoke – one of the highest smoking rates in the country. 

But of the nine bills related to smoking, cigarettes, and e-liquids introduced at the Statehouse this session, only two are moving forward. 

The National Alliance for Mental Illness says about two million people with mental illnesses are booked into jails every year.

But most counties aren’t properly equipped to treat those people while they’re in custody. The problem is especially big in Indiana, where many jails are housing far more inmates than they are supposed to. 

Latosha Poston says she made a lot of mistakes in her life. Her legal troubles began in her teens after her first child was born in Indianapolis. Over the years, bad decisions led to some arrests, some convictions.

"Sometimes we get stuck in our past and let our past guide us," she says.

The 44-year-old has worked hard to straighten out her life. But her criminal records — all involving misdemeanors — continued to haunt her as she tried to find a decent job and place to live.

Indiana Medicaid recipients are getting better access to drugs for treating hepatitis C,  a change triggered by a class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Indiana launched a new work requirement program through Medicaid on the first of the year.  It’s called “Gateway to Work” and is billed as a community engagement opportunity to help connect people with better employment opportunities.

But some worry the changes will result in Hoosiers losing health insurance.

Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Ind., announced last week that he intends to run for president.

An openly gay man and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Buttigieg has been identified by top Democrats — including former President Barack Obama – as a potential future leader for the party.

The Indiana University School of Medicine’s (IUSM) Evansville campus has a new home.

Once located on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana, the med school moved late last year to downtown Evansville. 

Side Effects asked Dr. Steven Becker, the school’s director and associate dean, about the move – and his plans.

In another step to lower its high maternal death rate, Indiana has joined the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health.

The alliance is a national group of public health organizations and hospitals that works to reduce poor birth outcomes. It analyzes hospital data and provides training materials on addressing health complications during pregnancy.