Prognosis: Misconception

Inside China's Chaotic Mask Market

The shortages of protective masks that keep healthcare workers safe from Covid-19 are well documented by now. To meet the need, U.S. hospitals have taken the extreme step of turning directly to Chinese manufacturers. Reporter Riley Griffin reports that the demand has helped spur a Wild West scenario, where Profiteering middlemen ratchet up prices. Buyers must sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to try to ensure quality.See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. Misconception, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as she uncovers the business of fertility. Along the way, she finds a fractured industry — a profit-driven field of medicine that thrives on dueling messages of hope and fear as people gamble everything for a chance at a baby.