Health and Medicine

In 10 other states, doctors are allowed to prescribe life-ending treatment for terminal patients. Illinois could become the 11th.

At Illinois Tattoo Company in Bloomington, owner and artist Chad Ramsay offers nipple reconstruction tattoos for free to women who have undergone a mastectomy.

Twin Cities native Shashi Salavath is the youngest person to ever present research at the International Conference on Computational Science. He is a rising senior at Illinois Math and Science Academy.

The state of Illinois will receive about $29 million from a nationwide settlement announced in a lawsuit over potentially cancer-causing baby powder.

A state senator who represents parts of Bloomington-Normal said the newly-passed $53.1 billion state budget is about as good a document as can be expected in a difficult year for funding.

A disease that kills white-tailed deer has moved further into central Illinois. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources said Chronic Wasting Disease is now in Ford County. It’s also been found in Livingston and 19 other Illinois counties.

Chestnut Health Systems is changing its top leader. Chief Operating Officer Puneet Leekha will become CEO next year. Current CEO Dave Sharar will transition to do more research with the Lighthouse Institute wing of Chestnut.

Illinois State University grad student Sarah Eckstine uses self-portraiture and writing to process years of trauma related to medical conditions causing sexual dysfunction. She found confidence—and community—by putting a taboo topic out in the open.

The sport of pickleball has had explosive growth over the last 10 years. About nine million people now play in the U.S. In Bloomington-Normal, parks and rec departments have added a lot of courts, and a private concern is building an indoor pickleball facility. But along with the rise in the number of players, there has been huge increase in the number of injuries.

A panel of Illinois lawmakers began hearing testimony Wednesday on Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposals for sweeping changes in the state’s health insurance industry.