Critical conditions
Longtime Bronzeville resident Etta Davis has been going to Mercy Hospital & Medical Center since Michael Reese Hospital shuttered a decade ago. Now, as Mercy prepares to close early next year, Davis is left wondering where she'll go next—and how much more time it will take her to get there.
But in the midst of a public health crisis and following two contentious Chicago-area hospital closures late last year, the stakes are higher this time around.
2020 Lisagor winner, best in-depth reporting at a non-daily newspaper or magazine
Racism ‘influences who lives and dies' from COVID-19
COVID-19 is incapable of discriminating, yet black and brown people in Chicago and other cities are dying from the virus at much higher rates than whites.
That disparity is shining a harsh light on a long-standing reality of life in Chicago that led to a 30-year difference in life expectancy between upscale Streeterville and low-income Englewood.
For minorities, COVID-19 poses an old problem wrapped in a new pathogen.
Why Illinois' newly recognized ‘fundamental right' is getting harder to exercise
Despite a new law enshrining reproductive health care as a "fundamental right" in Illinois, hospital industry trends are restricting the availability of contraception, sterilization and abortion.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month signed the Reproductive Health Act, eliminating virtually all state restrictions on these procedures. At the same time, consolidation is bringing more Illinois hospitals under the control of expanding Catholic organizations that don't provide the full range of reproductive care.
Nonprofit hospitals forced to defend hundreds of millions in property tax breaks
Chicago's nonprofit hospitals face new pressure to justify property tax exemptions worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Nonprofits in Illinois are exempt from property taxes, in return for providing free or discounted services to poor and underinsured people. But activists are alleging the hospitals don't provide enough free care to warrant the break.
A peek behind the curtain on hospital prices
Here's something hospitals would prefer you didn't know: The average price private insurers pay for a major hip replacement surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville is $39,897—32 percent more than the average price of the same procedure at Amita Health St. Joseph Hospital 3 miles away in Lakeview.
This information became publicly available for the first time under a new law requiring hospitals to disclose the rates they negotiate with private insurers.
Caregivers: Supporting the supporters
Cancer has been a painful part of Radka Lakosilova's life. From four cycles of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, to losing weight, hair and friends, she's felt every moment.
But the pain she feels is secondhand. It's her 18-year-old daughter, Daniela Lakosilova, who has battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia for seven years.
Germanwings tragedy puts spotlight on employee fit-for-duty procedures
The devastating effect a single employee in a safety-sensitive position can have if he or she evades fit-for-duty procedures was brought chillingly into focus last month when a Germanwings co-pilot, who reportedly hid his mental illness, deliberately crashed a commercial jet into the French Alps.
College 'sugar babies' date for cash
With tuition for two courses at her California university demanding $2,300, it's not the workload that has Serena Cervantes putting off the final class she needs to graduate.
The 25-year-old has worked as a maid and retail clerk to make ends meet, but she says that dating the men she encounters on Sugardaddie.com has proved to be a more lucrative endeavor.
When Teachers are the Bully's Target
Brendesha Tynes was taken aback when she received an email from one of her former students. The note directed her to a Facebook event for an all-night bar crawl – an event with which Tynes, an assistant professor at the time, had nothing to do. But it featured an offensive image and listed Tynes as the host.
As an educator and researcher, Tynes had spent years looking into cyberbullying. Now, she was a victim.
Movie, TV extra work: The fallback career?
Dressed in a dark gray blazer, Paul Barlow waits to take his seat in the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center's auditorium for a special concert by the Dekalb Symphony Orchestra. But the musicians aren't playing for Barlow. They're playing for Billy Crystal, Bette Midler and the rest of the "Parental Guidance" cast.
Once the violins sound and the cameras start rolling, Barlow will merely fade into the background, along with the other 300 movie extras on set.
fall tv fashion series
Some fashionistas will look to the runway for inspiration as Mercedes Benz Fashion Week kicks off in New York this week. Others will simply turn on the TV.
Outfitting 'Revenge' | Outfitting 'Pretty Little Liars' | Outfitting 'Scandal' | Outfitting 'Gossip Girl' | Outfitting 'The Vampire Diaries'