News

Rap star DMX has been indicted in Arizona on charges that he used a false identity to try and avoid paying medical expenses incurred during a hospital visit, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Essential health care workers would be immunized first if a flu pandemic broke out in the United States, the government said on Wednesday.

Britain's 150,000 doctors will have to show they are fit to practice once every five years in the nation's biggest change to medical regulation for 150 years.

Only a quarter have emergency plan, less than half have educated staff, study finds

Emmy-winning actress Estelle Getty, best known as a wise-cracking octogenarian on the popular 1980s and '90s sitcom "The Golden Girls," died on Tuesday. She was 84.

Patients often fail to fully comprehend the treatment they receive during an emergency department visit or recall instructions for their care after they leave, new research suggests.

People who are overweight as adolescents are at greater risk of dying from a number of causes in early adulthood and middle age, research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology demonstrates.

Doctors can earn additional money by initiating computerized prescribing systems

A Bush administration plan to define several widely used contraception methods as abortion is a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult" to women and faces tough opposition, Sen. Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

Not all homes are the same, but common sense measures can reduce the risk, expert says

The health situation in parts of China hit by the massive earthquake in May remains grim though there have been no epidemics, the government said on Friday.

The United States fails on most measures of health care quality, with Americans waiting longer to see doctors and more likely to die of preventable or treatable illnesses than people in other industrialized countries, a report released on Thursday said.

Lack of access to insurance called a primary stumbling block

In patients with hay fever, a nasal ointment containing the antibiotic mupirocin can eliminate Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in the nose, but this does not improve symptoms, Israeli researchers report.

In what likely is the last big showdown between President Bush and congressional Democrats over the popular Medicare health care program, the U.S. Congress Tuesday voted to override his veto of a bill to keep doctors' payments from being slashed.

More people will be able to choose to die at home under a 300 million pound investment in extra community services and nurses, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said on Wednesday.

Study found it improved satisfaction with visit by 15% to 19%

Barack Obama and John McCain agree that the U.S. health care system is a mess. They agree Americans spend too much and get too little for it, and they agree that 47 million Americans without health insurance need coverage.

Only half of Americans over 50 tested; education, insurance play role, group says

New research suggests that there may be a "disconnect" between patients and hospitals when it comes to reporting adverse events that occur during hospitalization.

Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama unveiled a proposal on Sunday to give $6 billion a year in tax credits to small businesses that provide health insurance plans to their employees.

Lunch break dialogues drew both together to discuss attitudes, health issues

A Medicare bill opposed by the White House won final congressional approval Wednesday with the help of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who returned to the Senate floor for the first time since brain surgery last month.

The American Medical Association, the largest physicians' group in the United States, apologized to black doctors on Thursday for a history of racial discrimination.

The government's healthcare watchdog has told hospitals to improve maternity services in England after a survey found shortages of beds, dirty bathrooms and sparse consultant attendance on wards.

The poor, the elderly and people without health insurance especially vulnerable, study says

A coalition of unions, think tanks and other groups launched an advertising campaign on Tuesday saying they want to ensure that health-care reform tops the U.S. political agenda after the November elections.

- is associated with the subsequent development of disability and with risk of death in non-institutionalized elderly individuals, Connecticut-based researchers report.

Legislation that cut fees doctors receive for giving chemotherapy to Medicare patients has not affected care so far, researchers reported on Tuesday.

A Moscow court convicted a man of fraud on Monday for preying on people mourning loved ones by saying he could resurrect the dead.

Study says Medicare Modernization Act yet to show drop-off in access predicted by critics

An outbreak of highly infectious hepatitis E has killed 67 people in northern Uganda since late last year and made more than 4,000 others ill, a government official said on Monday.

Doctors' leaders hit back on Thursday at claims by a health minister that GPs were deliberately blocking choice by agreeing not to accept each other's patients.

The European Union unveiled new social measures on Wednesday, including giving people the right to shop across the bloc for health care, in a bid to counter charges it is detached from the day-to-day worries of its citizens.

International aid to Africa should be used to boost doctors' salaries and bolster the recruitment and training of medical staff, World Health Organisation (WHO) experts said on Wednesday.

Offer clear instructions

Dutch scientists launched field tests in India on Tuesday of universal spectacles they have designed to help the vision of children in developing countries.

Britain's health-effectiveness watchdog NICE will aim to complete appraisal of newly launched drugs within a few months rather than the two or more years it takes a present, the Department of Health said on Monday.

The durable medical equipment industry, which sells supplies like oxygen tanks, lost a legal battle with the U.S. government Monday when a court ruled in favor of competitive bidding in the Medicare program.

The U.S. government proposed payment changes in the Medicare health insurance program on Monday that could impact reimbursement of medical imaging, diagnostic testing and dialysis providers.

The federal government has a new message for people 50 and older who use complementary and alternative therapies, and their physicians too: do ask, and do tell.

Retailer Kmart said on Monday it has expanded its generic prescription drug program to include more than 500 common medications from about 300 and cut prices for some products as of June 22.

A Chinese court has ordered a hospital and three pharmaceutical companies to pay 3.5 million yuan ($509,800) in compensation for a fake-drug case which killed 14 people, state media said on Friday.

A New Jersey dentist behind a scheme to steal body parts from corpses, including that of British journalist Alistair Cooke, was sentenced on Friday to a minimum of 18 years and a maximum of 54 years in prison.

By one vote, Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill to shave billions of dollars from health plans that contract with the federal Medicare program and avert a pay cut for doctors.

The Iraqi government is trying to entice back hundreds of doctors who fled the country because of rampant violence, and says improved security is already leading some to return.

A surgeon dubbed "Dr. Death" by some and charged with killing three patients in Australia, signed papers in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday agreeing to be sent to Australia.

Britain's healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE is expecting a funding boost from the government to allow it to evaluate more treatments, its chairman said on Friday.

A U.S. judged dismissed on Wednesday a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that claimed the government was failing to meet the mental health needs of former troops, who have a rate of suicide far higher than the general population.

The number of emergency department visits by elderly individuals is increasing and is probably going to continue to increase as the population ages, according to a report published in the latest issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Private health plans contracting in the federal Medicare program have underestimated profits, which could inflate government reimbursement, a congressional watchdog group said on Wednesday.

HIV/AIDS infection rates are growing among intravenous drug users, prostitutes and gay men around the globe but they are often viewed as outcasts and refused treatment, according to a report issued on Thursday.

About 20 percent of the U.S. population delayed or was unable to get access to medical care when they needed it in 2007, up from 14 percent four years earlier, a study released on Thursday found.

Prescription use dropped about 17% after introduction of policy, Oregon study finds

Mark the surgical site. Ask about allergies. Count the sponges. Count the needles.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a major capital punishment decision struck down on Wednesday the death penalty for child rape, its first decision in more than 30 years on whether a crime other than murder can be punished by execution.

U.S. consumer groups, insurers and privacy advocates together with Google Inc and Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday they have agreed to standards intended to speed adoption of personal electronic health records.

Radio frequency identification chips (RFID) used to track and trace products could cause critical care medical devices such as pacemakers and ventilators to fail, Dutch researchers said on Tuesday.

The House Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would shave billions of dollars from health plans that contract with the federal Medicare program.

The World Health Organisation urged Senegal on Tuesday to decontaminate an area of Dakar where nearly 1,000 residents remain exposed to high concentrations of brain-damaging lead after 18 children died.

Economic status, access and language barriers affect who goes for tests, study concludes

A study in the June issue of Diabetes Care suggests that enhanced treatment of depression in diabetic patients improves their depression outcomes without an increase in long-term costs when compared with the costs of usual care.

Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs, dirty words and the demise of humanity, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday. He was 71.

U.S. drug regulators are close to allowing doctors to electronically prescribe potentially addictive medications like painkillers, rather than requiring written orders, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Crop workers are dying of heat stroke at a rate far higher than the overall U.S. work force, with foreign-born workers at greatest risk -- although the deaths remain relatively uncommon, officials said on Thursday.

Nearly two-thirds of this high-risk population went without the vaccine, U.S. study shows

Terminally ill Medicare beneficiaries have the right to decide how they receive end-of-life care, according to new regulations from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Indonesian health ministry has reported two deaths from bird flu in recent weeks, easing concerns about whether Jakarta would share information about the disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

European Union governments fail to rely enough on scientific evidence in health care spending decisions and are sometimes influenced by political factors, World Health Organization officials said on Wednesday.

Over 33,000 people took their lives in Japan last year, topping 30,000 for the tenth consecutive year despite a government campaign to reduce what is one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

U.S. nursing homes are pushing against an effort in Congress to invalidate arbitration clauses in admissions contracts, a change that would make it easier for residents to sue for shoddy care or wrongdoing.

Men with type 2 diabetes or the metabolic syndrome, or both, are prone to have low testosterone levels. If so, testosterone replacement therapy with a gel applied to the skin may improve their response to insulin and their sexual function, according to the results of a new clinical trial.

Britain has agreed the outlines of a deal with drug companies that will cut the cost of medicines sold to the state-owned National Health Service (NHS) by 5 percent.

Employers have been passive in helping to drive change in the health-care system, even as they fret about the soaring costs of providing health care, several industry and government officials said on Monday.

Many U.S. hospitals have taken steps to rid their facilities of a drug-resistant type of "superbug" bacteria called MRSA but there is still a lot of room for improvement, infection control experts said on Tuesday.

More than a quarter of NHS trusts in England are at risk of losing their licence to treat patients because of a failure to comply with hygiene regulations, the government's health watchdog said on Monday.

Middle-aged adults who enjoy a few cups of coffee every day apparently have a lower risk of dying from heart disease than people who don't drink coffee, researchers reported Monday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Monday that rising U.S. government spending on health care risks triggering runaway budget deficits that could put economic stability in danger.

British insurers have agreed to extend a freeze on genetic tests to 2014, allowing consumers to continue taking out cover without disclosing the adverse results of tests to predict a predisposition to cancer or heart disease.

Health care plans that restrict members' access to certain arthritis medications due to cost concerns may actually wind up spending more money on care, a new analysis of Medicaid expenses from Arizona shows.

A New Jersey dentist behind a scheme to steal body parts from corpses, including that of British journalist Alistair Cooke, faced relatives of the dead in court on Thursday and apologized for the anguish he caused.

More than 1.2 million people have signed a petition objecting to the government's plans to create "super surgeries" across England, the British Medical Association said on Thursday.

Epilepsy drugs are associated with a higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior, U.S. drug reviewers said in an analysis that was released on Wednesday and mirrored earlier findings.

Patients have yet to see any significant benefits from the government's billion-pound overhaul to the National Health Service, two independent watchdogs said on Thursday.

People with a history of skin cancer are more apt to check their skin regularly for changes indicative of skin cancer if they, and their partners, are taught how to do it, research shows. Having a good quality relationship with their partner also helps.

U.S. life expectancy hit a record high of 78.1 years in 2006 while Alzheimer's disease crept up a notch to No. 6 on the list of leading causes of death, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.

U.S. health insurers are targeted for billions in cuts in must-pass legislation that lawmakers will begin debating this week, though other health companies may see benefits.

Researchers who compared two diabetes trials said on Friday they are getting some insight into why patients in one were more likely to die after aggressive treatment, while patients in another were not.

Police have arrested 14 suspects in an investigation into fraud and murder at a Milan health clinic where prosecutors say doctors performed unnecessary surgery to get more money from insurers.

Microsoft Corp and Kaiser Permanente, the biggest U.S. health maintenance organization (HMO), are working on a patient information exchange pilot program to help give patients more control over their health records, The Wall Street Journal said on Monday.

A new study of Medicare beneficiaries with glaucoma demonstrates that vision loss is associated with a greater risk of depression, nursing home admission, and femur fracture.

Math converts two systems into better measurement, study says

Hispanic workers in the United States are killed at work at a 25 percent higher rate than other U.S. workers with many deaths coming in construction, federal health officials said on Thursday.

Public health officials investigating a 2004 outbreak of whooping cough, or pertussis, among newborns in Texas identified the source as a health-care worker where the babies were born.

Indonesia has changed its policy on reporting bird flu cases and will only announce the death toll from the disease every six months, the health minister said on Thursday.

Health care has ranked among the top issues with U.S. voters in this presidential election cycle, and the Social Security retirement program is a perennial issue for the country's influential elderly population.

Failing NHS hospitals and authorities will be given a near two-year deadline to shape up, or risk having private companies brought in to overhaul them, under controversial government plans announced on Wednesday.

Studies find mistrust, cultural barriers, segregation of care contribute to inequalities

Disinfectant wipes routinely used in hospitals may actually spread drug-resistant bacteria rather than kill the dangerous pathogens, British researchers said on Tuesday.

China's top food and drug safety official on Tuesday took personal charge of an investigation into the deaths of six patients after they were given injections from a batch of immunoglobulin, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of the 20,000 people who once lived in this outback mining town in western Australia, at least 1,000 are dead of asbestos-related diseases. Just about everyone else left long ago.

French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has died at the age of 71, hailed as a 20th century cultural innovator who revolutionized the way women dressed.

The number of uninsured U.S. young adults, who already represent a major chunk of the American population without health coverage, rose again in 2006, according to a study released on Friday.

An older person's likelihood of entering a nursing home or other long-term care facility is particularly high immediately after the death of a spouse, new research indicates.

The U.S. Army on Thursday said suicides among active duty troops in 2007 had reached the highest level on record, due partly to the stress caused by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

A top German court ruled on Friday that civil servants using anti-impotence drugs such as Pfizer Inc's Viagra do not qualify for state assistance even if they are prescribed as a result of a serious illness.

Study finds 13.7 million without coverage, mostly because of cost

Health insurer Aetna Inc ranked No. 1 in a national survey of health plans and their dealings with physicians, including being least likely to deny claims and the fastest to pay doctors.

Major U.S. health insurers on Thursday pitched several clinical and payment policy changes, adding their voice to a growing debate over reforming the nation's costly and often inefficient health care system.

The developer of the "Bodies" exhibitions, which display human bodies and body parts at locations around the world, has agreed to end its practice of using bodies of undocumented origins in its New York displays, the state's attorney general said on Thursday.

A 64-year-old woman set herself on fire close to Italy's presidential palace in Rome on Thursday, in what local media said was a failed suicide attempt to draw attention to claims of medical malpractice.

Swedish nurses and employers reached an agreement on Wednesday to end a five-week strike over salaries, a health care employers' group said.

The global food crisis could reverse some of the progress Africa has made in bringing down child mortality, the head of the United Nations' children's agency said on Wednesday.

California's state Senate failed on Tuesday to pass a bill approving nearly $7 billion in bond financing for prison health-care facilities but its advocates plan to bring the legislation back for a vote on Thursday.

Czech patients will have to pay for doctor visits, the country's top court ruled on Wednesday, upholding the cornerstone of the centre-right government's plan to reform the public health system and cut waste.

Those that have the most access to insurance tend to have healthier children

Hollywood filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who won a pair of Academy Awards for the epic romance "Out of Africa" and earned praise for acting stints in films including "Tootsie" and "Michael Clayton," died on Monday after a battle with cancer, his spokeswoman said. He was 73.

A new focus on drug safety is delaying the approval of some medicines as regulators impose requirements meant to minimize side effects, a top U.S. drug regulator told Reuters on Tuesday.

Sense of quality higher in low-expenditure areas than in high-expenditure ones, study shows

Study finds patients with deficiency more likely to be poorer and without insurance

The use of Luminol, a bioluminescent chemical used in crime investigations to detect trace amounts of blood, might improve infection control in hospitals, Dutch researchers report.

The number of people admitted to hospitals in England with alcohol-related illnesses has doubled in the last decade, figures on Thursday revealed, suggesting that a binge-drinking culture is taking its toll.

More than 80,000 people are dead or missing from China's worst earthquake in decades, the government said on Thursday, as concerns rose that disease, the rainy season and aftershocks could bring yet more pain.

Ad campaign promotes awareness of quality measures at almost 4,000 centers

A congressional panel on Wednesday said it has bipartisan support for a bill requiring health insurers to pay for a minimum 48-hour hospital stay after breast cancer treatment, to combat what critics call "drive-through" surgeries.

A study hints that doctors working in intensive care units (ICUs) are less comfortable discussing prognosis, and do it less often, with critically ill African American patients than with critically ill white patients.

Studies show experience, hospital volume, race and location all matter

China raised the number of dead or missing from a devastating earthquake to more than 70,000 on Tuesday, as rescuers found another survivor eight days after the huge tremor hit.

Among older adults, two components of the so-called "metabolic syndrome" - namely, high blood pressure and high blood sugar -- are better predictors of death from heart disease, or any cause, than all five components of the metabolic syndrome as a whole, research shows.

New York's counties, cities and towns will have to spend "tens of billions" of dollars on health care for retired public workers, the state comptroller said on Tuesday, issuing one of the first such estimates.

Chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke, often associated with a Western lifestyle, have become the chief causes of death globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Medicare program may expand reimbursement for bariatric surgery for the obese, in light of a study that found the treatment can help reverse diabetes, the agency said on Monday.

White men more likely to have operation before emergency procedure is needed

The young doctors of Myanmar treating cyclone survivors may see things many doctors never see.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) assembly again rejected Taiwan's bid for observer status on Monday, declaring that mainland China had responsibility for health issues affecting the island's 23 million people.

British researchers are working on a new drug, which is placed as a gel in the nose, that may offer new hope in the fight against the hospital superbug MRSA.

They're 4 to 5 times more likely to suffer symptoms, but trained counselors could help

A free hotline for patients to report serious medical side effects should be mentioned in television commercials and also needs to be more widely promoted on pill bottles and pharmacy packaging, U.S. health experts said on Friday.

Canada said on Friday it was scrapping a nuclear reactor project designed to produce medical radioisotopes, a move that means half the world's supply will be made by a 50-year-old reactor that was temporarily shut down for safety reasons last year.

Sales of cancer drugs will grow at nearly double the rate of the global pharmaceutical market and could reach $80 billion by 2012, according to IMS Health, which tracks prescription drug sales.

The death toll from China's earthquake could soar to more than 50,000, state media reported on Thursday, as rescuers struggled to help survivors and hope faded for the thousands buried under rubble.

After hospital, they're twice as likely to be injured, so prevention strategies are key

ZOSTAVAX could prevent two thirds of shingles cases, expert says

Health ministers from around the world will try next week to bridge differences over how to overhaul drug patent rules that developing countries say make life-saving medicines costly and inaccessible.

Socioeconomic inequalities blamed for increasing disparity overall, study finds

A coming wave of Chinese pills is set to push down the price of generic drugs, as more low-cost finished medicines from the country win approval in major markets, according to a report on Tuesday.

"Do not leave infants less than one month old in a sitting position for a long period of time," suggests Dr. Aurore Cote, because this may place them at increased risk for sudden infant death.

Lack of money prevents hospitals that treat the poor from improving, study finds

'Gainsharing' gives physicians cash rewards to keep expenses down, researchers say

U.S. pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly will donate $1 million to train doctors treating tuberculosis (TB), a disease that infects 9 million people every year and kills nearly 2 million.

A requirement that all companies help fund health insurance in the United States and a new public plan option are keys to a plan proposed on Tuesday to dramatically shrink the rolls of the uninsured.

Survivors of Cyclone Nargis are overwhelming army-ruled Myanmar's crumbling health service and it faces a "worst-case scenario" of disease outbreaks unless aid is ramped up, a U.N. health expert said on Sunday.

China's most devastating earthquake in three decades killed nearly 9,000 people on Monday, with the toll likely to soar as authorities struggle to reach casualties in large areas cut off from relief.

Lying on a sagging mattress and wincing slightly, Anna Lado laughs at the idea that she should have been afraid of giving birth to her first child, now lying in a crib near her in a hospital in south Sudan. "It's natural," she smiles.

Ingredients can be bought over the counter and safely used at home

The government promised on Friday that its planned reform of the NHS, which would see the creation of large health centres, would benefit patients and be driven by clinical needs not cash concerns.

Companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans would have to modify sales commissions to stop salesmen from switching beneficiaries to a new plan each year to earn the highest possible fee, a U.S. government agency proposed on Thursday.

New York City is trying to block two nonprofit health insurers from converting to a for-profit company by questioning if it was legal to grant stock options to the chief executive officer of one of them, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.

The gutted, hollow shell of the Ali Abad training hospital in Kabul is a symbol of the state of Afghanistan's medical system, battered by decades of war.

Chinese officials said on Tuesday a Chinese-made blood thinner was not to blame for fatalities linked to the product, and accused U.S. drugmaker Baxter International Inc of obstructing the investigation into the cause of the problem.

Myanmar's military government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta.

The Philippines and Peru are doing the best job of vaccinating children and treating them for critical diseases compared to other developing nations, Save the Children reported on Tuesday.

A one-day snapshot of emergency room conditions at 34 U.S. hospitals shows they are all overwhelmed and none is prepared to handle a big event like a disaster or attack.

It pays to shop around for the best prescription prices, survey finds

Waiting period could negatively affect health status of enrollees, study says

Doctors have long been the butt of jokes for their illegible handwriting, but GPs in India are being urged to neaten and computerize their scrawl to prevent patients being given wrong drugs that could prove deadly.

Myanmar's military junta believes at least 10,000 people died in a cyclone that ripped through the Irrawaddy delta, triggering a massive international aid response for the pariah state in southeast Asia.

The sharply contrasting health care visions of Republican John McCain and his Democratic presidential rivals offer the promise of a grand campaign debate -- if the candidates find room on a crowded agenda.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc expanded its low-priced drug program, saying on Monday that it is now offering more than 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less and selling some 90-day generic prescriptions for $10.

More than 40% of middle class children with no health insurance don't see a doctor all year

Employers need to cover more of the costs, reports find

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said the military had made mistakes in treating returning combat troops including in their physical and mental health care and by providing some sub-standard housing.

Suggestions to keep busy

The government's Medicare program Thursday proposed payment cuts to reimburse nursing homes that treat more than 1 million of the nation's elderly.

High-deductible health plans, touted by some health insurers as a way to contain runaway medical costs, are attracting wealthier individuals than typical plans, a government report on Wednesday found.

Doctors don't universally discuss the option of breast reconstruction with all women undergoing mastectomy, results of a new study confirm.

Saying 18 U.S. veterans commit suicide every day, a lawyer representing veterans' groups asked a federal judge on Wednesday to order the government to provide better mental health care.

U.S. troops who seek psychological care after combat will no longer face the possibility of losing their security clearances, a major policy shift that may lead more military members to seek needed help.

Families who claim the corpses of more than 1,000 relatives were dismembered and sold in an illegal body-parts scandal sued funeral directors and others on Tuesday.

Is your doctor's practice on the cutting edge of medicine? If not, maybe he or she needs a little peer pressure.

Europe is launching a 2 billion euros ($3.1 billion) scheme to boost drug discovery in a bid to re-establish itself as the "pharmacy of the world" and close a growing gap with United States and Asia.

Medicare is lurching toward disaster and it is too late for the Bush Administration and Congress to do anything about it, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Tuesday.

Families who claim the corpses of more than 1,000 relatives were dismembered and sold in an illegal body-parts scandal sued funeral directors and others on Tuesday.

A woman hemorrhages to death as she lies screaming in agony in a spartan hut in a remote region of Afghanistan. There is no doctor or midwife to help and the hospital is several days journey away.

The U.S. Medicare insurance program for the elderly on Monday proposed cutting reimbursement for hospice facility wages, which would hurt big chains Odyssey Healthcare and Chemed Corp.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain called on Tuesday for greater competition for health care coverage for Americans, saying more choices for insurance will drive down costs and improve the system.

Expenditures will continue to rise as the population ages, experts say

Report finds premiums have jumped 30%, while incomes have only gone up 3%

The rate of accidental deaths among young children in the United States has declined dramatically in recent years, but remains the leading cause of childhood fatalities, a safety advocacy group said on Monday.

In another indication of racial disparities in U.S. health care, a study found that blacks in Chicago are five times more likely than suburban whites to have a limb amputated, researchers said on Monday.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Monday will argue the way to improve U.S. health-care coverage lies in lowering costs and increasing competition rather than the "big-government" schemes he says the Democrats advocate.

Expanding coverage, subsidies best way to meet low-income group goals, report says

Revamping reimbursements could ensure high-quality care at best cost, study says

Life expectancy may have reached an all-time high for the United States, but it is declining in many poor counties, especially among women, researchers reported on Monday.

Even breathing in a little ozone at levels found in many areas is likely to kill some people prematurely, the National Research Council reported on Tuesday.

Lax U.S. oversight of drug ingredient makers in China and other countries is putting Americans at risk of exposure to more dangerous medicines like the tainted blood-thinner heparin, lawmakers said on Tuesday.

The U.S. program to help elderly people pay for medicines has made them less likely to trim spending on things like food and housing to buy drugs, but the sickest still skip medications due to cost.

Heart attack patients who arrive at the hospital at night or on weekends or holidays undergo fewer overall procedures to open clogged arteries and have significantly longer wait times for these procedures than their counterparts who arrive during the day, new study findings indicate.

More getting drugs they need, but sickest still going without, study finds

Mechanism unclear, but nursing home study says risk greatest week after meds begin

Talks between Indonesia and the United States over the future of a U.S. naval medical lab have become entangled in an international dispute over how to share crucial bird flu samples, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Monday.

WellPoint Inc, the biggest U.S. health plan, will likely follow the lead of U.S. regulators, who are moving toward restricting the use of widely used anemia drugs sold by Amgen Inc and Johnson & Johnson, a WellPoint official said on Monday.

Afghan labourer Chaman travelled a whole day to bring his son to Kabul to have a kidney stone removed after doctors in their home province turned them away because they could not afford the fees.

The Supreme Court on Monday followed up on its ruling last week upholding the commonly used lethal injection method of execution and rejected appeals by 11 death row inmates in 7 states.

For Tommy Arthur and around 19 other U.S. death row inmates, a Supreme Court ruling approving lethal injection will likely signal early execution dates.

President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled plans on Thursday to improve the efficiency of France's public hospitals by grouping them into regional clusters.

Four factors beyond gestational age influence whether an extremely premature baby will survive and grow up healthy, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

Hong Kong said on Wednesday that getting the public to contribute more to health costs would not be easy and that it had not decided whether employers should contribute to a proposed new healthcare financing scheme.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a challenge to the lethal three-drug cocktail used in most U.S. executions, clearing the way for a resumption of executions halted since last September.

State hospitals in Sudan's capital Khartoum are to give free surgery to the poor, with the annual health budget of $230 million boosted by oil revenues to one of Africa's fastest growing economies.

Singer and actress Barbra Streisand has donated $5 million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a women's heart education and research program, the hospital said on Wednesday.

Twenty-two thousand nurses went on strike in Denmark on Wednesday, demanding higher pay and causing thousands of patients to have their hospital appointments cancelled.

Vitamin supplements taken by millions of people in the hope of extending their lives may actually increase the risk of premature death in some cases, researchers said on Wednesday.

The U.S. government could do far more to force hospitals to prevent infections that kill up to 99,000 people every year, according to a nonpartisan congressional report released on Wednesday.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain will outline economic proposals on Tuesday that would increase drug costs for wealthy seniors and freeze billions in government spending for a year.

Health insurer WellPoint Inc said on Tuesday it is developing a system that will use its 35 million-member database to monitor and help to more quickly identify potential safety problems of approved medicines.

For elderly patients with flare-ups of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hospital-quality care delivered at home produces better results than inpatient treatment, according to Italian and US researchers.

U.S. lawmakers should rein in government subsidies for a fast-growing and lucrative part of the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, an advisory group's staffers said this week.

Wealthier, better-educated communities have more facilities offering the end-of-life care, study finds

From 1995 to 2004, deaths related to infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) rose by 123 percent in the US, according to a new report

Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of earlier death, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

Humor can bring a human touch and help to relieve tension and worries associated with hospital care, Canadian researchers said on Wednesday.

Mistakes resulted in 238,337 preventable deaths from 2004-06, survey finds

Oscar-winning U.S. actor Charlton Heston, whose chiseled features and commanding presence won him epic roles from Moses to Michelangelo and became the face of American gun rights, died on Saturday night at age 84.

Two people have died in Spain from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the human form of mad cow disease, the health department at the regional Castilla-Leon government said on Monday.

Advanced kidney disease appears to increase the risk of sudden death in women with heart disease, according to findings from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley asked Amgen Inc to explain why some doctors received higher rebates on purchases of the company's anti-anemia drug Aranesp, a letter released on Thursday said.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Thursday that it has finalized coverage guidelines for patients undergoing kidney dialysis that do not include changes in anemia treatment.

But spike in plan fees did not cause employers to abandon benefits, study finds

Huge gap exists between best and worst states, with Vermont on top and Louisiana at bottom

Survey finds 59% feel fragmented system is obstructing good patient care

AFL-CIO report found 95 percent of those surveyed feel U.S. system needs overhaul

Review found vets with the syndrome were more exposed to particular compounds

Infants at lower risk for environmental, biological diseases if same physician is used

Signs that you need a break

Web search company Google Inc is testing in the United States an online storage bank where individuals can store and access their medical records, the company said on Thursday.

Like every U.S. hospital emergency room, the one at Washington Hospital Center is overwhelmed -- on any day patients lie on gurneys in the corridor, hooked up to monitors. Others wait for hours to see a doctor.

Writer and commentator William F. Buckley, a witty and patrician intellectual who helped found the modern conservative movement in U.S. politics, died on Wednesday. He was 82.

Drug addicts who refuse to accept treatment will lose their state benefits for up to six months, under new measures announced on Wednesday.

All three Chinese who died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu this year had contact with sick poultry, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, adding there was no evidence of transmission between humans.

The U.S. Congress needs to place a moratorium on implementing proposed Medicaid regulations that will increase costs for states that are already grappling with rising health-care costs, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano said on Tuesday.

Iraqi hospitals remain unable to cope with mass casualties and many Iraqis still die due to ill-equipped centres, despite a drop in violence in some areas, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday.

Spending could hit $4.3 trillion, account for one-fifth of gross domestic product

Old people with advanced dementia who are near death in nursing homes often are given antibiotics to fight infections, possibly prolonging the dying process and promoting drug resistance, researchers said on Monday.

U.S. health-care spending will devour an expanding share of the U.S. economy during the next decade, almost doubling to about $4.3 trillion in 2017, government officials forecast on Tuesday.

Incidence has declined, but survival gains place burden on Medicare, analysis finds

AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines, on Monday said the flight crew had administered oxygen and used a defibrillator to assist an ailing passenger who died on a flight from Haiti to New York last week.

Visiting Web sites that provide general patient information on prostate cancer is not the best way for men to get help deciding whether to be screened for the disease, a new study shows.

Among patients who survive a heart attack, those who don't fill their prescriptions for heart medications appear to have a higher mortality rate one year after they're discharged from the hospital, Canadian researchers report.

Benefits are unclear, and resistance to drugs is a worry, study says

AstraZeneca Plc said on Thursday it would appeal a jury ruling that it pay $215 million in damages, in an Alabama lawsuit related to drug pricing under the Medicaid health program for the needy.

Five children have died and 96 other people have fallen seriously ill in eastern India after eating sweets and rice offered to a goddess at a village shrine, health officials said on Friday.

Web search company Google Inc is collaborating with Cleveland Clinic, one of the premier U.S. health institutions, to pilot an exchange of data that puts patients in charge of their own medical records.

A man from China's southern Guangxi autonomous region has died of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the third death from the disease since late last year, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

A Czech man was jailed for life on Thursday for killing seven people with lethal injections and trying to murder 10 more when he worked as a hospital nurse in 2006.

An outbreak of cholera has killed 48 people in Mozambique, the health ministry said on Wednesday, compounding humanitarian problems after floods hit the southern African country.

The collection of old red-brick buildings and a big 1970s concrete structure on the edge of Washington does not usually make headlines like the White House or the Capitol, half a dozen miles away.

Infectious diseases kill a surprisingly large number of women during pregnancy, according to a study published on Tuesday that suggests many maternal deaths in the developing world are preventable.

More patients would take recommended medications, study says

Uninsured, those on Medicaid more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancers, American Cancer Society reports

Uninsured Americans and those in a government health program for the poor are far more likely to have advanced diseases when diagnosed with cancer than those with private coverage, researchers said on Sunday.

Most Democrats say "socialized medicine" would be better than the current U.S. health care system, while most Republicans say it would be worse, a poll by the Harvard School of Public Health showed on Thursday.

Death attributed to tobacco smoking is likely to account for nearly one million deaths per year by 2010, with more than two thirds of these deaths likely to occur in people who are middle-aged, researchers warn in The New England Journal of Medicine.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday he is conducting an industry- wide probe of health insurers into an alleged scheme to defraud consumers by manipulating reimbursement rates.

The known increase in the risk of a baby succumbing to sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS when the mother smokes during pregnancy may be due specifically to the effect of nicotine, Canadian researchers report.

Hungary's parliament approved a key reform bill on Monday which will allow private capital into the country's health insurance system from 2009 and is an essential element of the government's reform programme.

Actor Roy Scheider, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his roles as a small-town police chief in "Jaws" and his portrait of famed choreographer Bob Fosse in "All That Jazz," died on Sunday at age 75.

Merck & Co agreed to pay more than $649 million to resolve litigation related to its cholesterol drug Zocor and painkiller Vioxx, a federal prosecutor said on Thursday.

Household robots may help human carers look after the growing number of elderly Norwegians in years to come, enabling them to live longer and more comfortably in their own homes, a project leader told Reuters on Thursday.

An Indian doctor who secretly filmed his patients and put their naked pictures on the Internet was sentenced to life on Thursday.

A ban on grumpiness, gossiping, mini-skirts and rudeness is what the doctor orders to improve patient care in Serbia's hospitals, according to new rules issued by the country's Health Ministry.

People may inherit a genetic predisposition to dying from influenza virus infection, according to an analysis of genealogy records linked to death certificates in Utah over a period of 100 years.

The largest study of suicidal behaviors ever conducted has found that 9.2 percent of the world's population has contemplated suicide, but fewer than 3 percent actually make an attempt.

Hospital-based programs to routinely vaccinate children against influenza could prevent illness among children at highest risk for complications, according to a new study.

Actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of six prescription drugs, with a combination of painkillers, tranquilizers and sleeping aids found in his system, officials said Wednesday.

To count the dead they ride motorbikes, charter planes and wade through snake-infested rivers.

A woman who died after mistakenly being given an epidural in her arm during childbirth was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury has ruled.

Persistent depression is associated with worse physical health a year after heart attack or severe chest pain -- known by the umbrella term "acute coronary syndrome" (ACS), researchers from Canada report.

Health experts denounced President George W. Bush's 2009 federal budget request on Monday, calling it a disaster for the health of Americans and saying they would look to Congress to change it.

A new study suggests that older adults with a history of depression may live a shorter life than those without the disorder -- but past battles with post-traumatic stress disorder may not carry the same risk.

But FDA budget would rise by almost 6 percent, much of it to oversee food safety

China published rules on Monday guarding the rights of its nurses, seeking to give them protection against sometimes violent attacks by angry patients or their families.

A 29-year old Indonesian woman has died of bird flu, bringing the death toll from the virus in the southeast Asian country to 103, the health ministry said on Monday.

It was fear of the hefty bill as much as fear of the drill that kept American musician Don Clay away from U.S. dental clinics for 30 years.

More than half of all hospital patients are at risk of blood clots but many do not receive simple treatment that could prevent them, British researchers said on Thursday.

Mistakes and other incidents in hospitals ranging from administrative errors to drug overdoses frequently endanger newborns and are often preventable, French researchers reported on Thursday.

As many as 121 U.S. soldiers may have committed suicide in 2007, a record number if confirmed, according to Army statistics released on Thursday.

Agency is enthused about Part D's success, but critics say problems remain

A decline in mobility by older people outside of their neighborhoods may be an early predictor of frailty, researchers report.

African Americans who enroll in a hospice program near the end of life are more likely than their white counterparts to leave hospice to pursue life-extending therapies, a new study shows.

U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the explosive growth in a lucrative type of private health plan under Medicare, an independent advisor to the U.S. Congress told lawmakers on Wednesday.

New York City said its main provider of health insurance for public employees and retirees should not be allowed to convert to a for-profit company because it would "quickly and substantially" raise the city's premium costs.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday vowed to continue pressing for legislation that would provide health insurance to his state's uninsured, a day after a universal health care bill he supported died in a Senate committee.

The level of hospital-acquired infections in England is continuing to fall, official figures showed on Wednesday, suggesting that government-ordered measures to tackle potentially deadly superbugs are working.

Dr. Julius Pham's stomach churned when he saw a critically ill heart patient getting an antibiotic instead of a drug to support his blood pressure - the kind of mix-up that is increasingly common in the United States, according to a new report.

Patients who undergo heart transplant surgery in hospitals that perform 14 or more procedures each year achieve better outcomes than patients who undergo this procedure at hospitals that perform fewer heart transplants.

A California Senate committee voted on Monday to kill a closely watched bill that would have provided health-care insurance to millions of state residents at an estimated cost of more than $14 billion.

Trend will lead to health and economic trouble for U.S., report says

A weakening economy could lead to fewer members at U.S. health insurers, especially among large corporate clients, but their coverage for smaller firms, the poor and individuals not insured through work may cushion the blow, company executives said this week.

Matt Oglevie makes a good living as a self-employed house painter, is healthy and has no family to worry about. But he has been looking for a night job so he can get health insurance.

Workers at one U.S. nuclear facility have suffered higher-than-average rates of certain cancers, a study shows -- suggesting that on-the-job exposures are to blame.

Guidelines for determining brain death differ substantially between major U.S. hospitals, a national survey shows, and few stick to parameters established by the American Academy of Neurology.

The largest ever survey of maternity care in England has found widespread failings, with services in London criticised as the worst, the government's health watchdog said on Friday.

Conversations about organ donation with a deceased person's family members need to go beyond the familiar concept of the "gift of life" to address the dark side of organ donation, according to new research involving people who decided against donating a loved one's organs.

Only half as many Republicans as Democrats want to expand health insurance coverage for the uninsured, according to a survey in states holding early contests to choose party candidates for the U.S. presidential election.

Healthcare in California prisons has improved greatly since a federal judge seized control of the system two years ago, but the judge said on Wednesday that more steps are needed to bring standards to constitutional levels.

Medical experts are worried about how death rates for H5N1 bird flu have shot up in places like Indonesia, and studies are being carried out to see if victims require higher dosages of drugs.

A 30-year-old Indonesian man who had tested positive for bird flu died on Thursday, the health ministry said, taking the country's death toll from the virus to 98.

Botox and a similar injection should come with strong warnings following reports of 16 deaths and other serious problems after the botulinum toxin spread inside the body, a U.S. consumer group said on Thursday.

Even small co-pays made some women opt out of screening mammographies, study finds

A U.S. health insurance giant on Wednesday presented a proposal to reduce the number of Americans without medical coverage and said it was intended as a blueprint for U.S. policymakers.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday sustained President George W. Bush's second veto of bill to expand a popular federal children's health program.

The French health service is recalling thousands of patients who might have been wrongly diagnosed or infected at five substandard radiology clinics, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Malawi reduced the number of children who die before their fifth birthday by 29 percent in the six years to 2006, Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje said on Tuesday.

Rising oil revenues mean Sudan will give free healthcare to children under five and waive fees for caesarean sections from Feb. 1 in a move that will cost $20 million a year, a senior health official said on Monday.

Bulgarian doctors began a week of one-hour daily strikes on Monday to protest against insufficient funding for the Balkan country's ailing healthcare sector and demand reforms, officials said.

An eight-year-old Indonesian boy died of bird flu on Friday, the health ministry said, bringing the country's death toll from the virus to 97.

Piles of trash building up in Naples have filled the air with a putrid stench and spoiled the view for tourists, but the city's waste crisis may also be killing its people.

The late rock 'n' roll pioneer Ike Turner died of a cocaine overdose, the San Diego County medical examiner said on Wednesday.

Undernutrition causes more than one third of child deaths worldwide, but simple programs like promoting breast-feeding and providing supplements could keep some of those children alive, experts said on Thursday.

Iraq's healthcare is in disarray with doctors and nurses fleeing abroad and child death rates soaring, according to a report on Wednesday.

Five thousand children die every day globally because they do not have access to clean toilets, health experts said on Tuesday.

Health insurers, which took a major role in Medicare under Republican U.S. President George W. Bush, will likely remain a mainstay in the program for years to come, even if a Democrat wins the White House.

Patients seeking urgent care in U.S. emergency rooms are waiting longer than in the 1990s, especially people with heart attacks, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

As health care generates debate in this year's presidential campaign, about 68 percent of Americans say individuals should be required to have medical insurance, with government help for those who cannot afford it, a survey released on Tuesday found.

Only about 15 percent to 30 percent of people whose hearts stop get potentially lifesaving help from bystanders -- a "woefully inadequate" rate, the American Heart Association said on Monday.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Monday by two advocacy groups arguing that dying patients have a constitutional right to access experimental drugs that have not received regulatory approval.

Distrust of doctors and concern over being abused as human guinea pigs may explain why U.S. blacks have been less willing than whites to volunteer to take part in medical studies, researchers said on Monday.

San Francisco's universal health-care plan, a first-of-its kind local program to be funded in part by fees from employers, may go forward while under appeal, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday.

Shingles sends nearly 1 million Americans to their doctors every year seeking relief from the painful symptoms the virus causes, according to U.S. government statistics released on Wednesday.

Study found patients started using preventive medicines more often

Spanish abortion clinics began a week-long strike on Tuesday, criticizing the government for what they said was harassment since a series of police raids on Barcelona centers accused of illegal abortions.

France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

Annual growth in U.S. health-care spending increased slightly in 2006 and continued to outpace inflation and the nation's overall economic growth, government researchers said in a report released on Tuesday.

But Medicaid spending slowed for first time since its inception in 1965

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday in a death penalty case being watched around the world, to decide whether the lethal injections used to execute criminals cause unacceptable pain.

The British government is seeking a cut of 10 percent in the prices the state-run National Health Service pays for prescription medicines, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

A family who says its daughter died because a health insurance company refused to pay for an operation campaigned with Democrat John Edwards on Sunday, reinforcing his election message that corporate greed is hurting Americans.

China's health care system is struggling to keep pace with the country's blistering economic growth and faces a major challenge in looking after its 1.3 billion people, the health minister said on Monday.

One of the world's leading cancer hospitals will reopen key parts of its London facilities early next week, management said late Thursday, just days after a fire ravaged its top floor that forced a mass evacuation.

A program can be implemented primary care practices to reduce the mortality among older diabetics who also have a diagnosis of depression, U.S. researchers report.

Placebos are a surprisingly common prescription, according to a U.S. study in which nearly half of the doctors surveyed said they had doled out a dummy pill at some point.

Some of Zimbabwe's striking state doctors have returned to work on humanitarian grounds but most are still holding out for higher pay, the head of the doctors' union said on Thursday.

Study undercuts notion that they're given to help the poor, some experts say

Market forces must not dominate China's health service, because they lead to inequality and the vast and poor countryside is ignored, according to two top officials writing in an influential magazine.

A fire tore through the top floor of a leading cancer hospital in London on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of all staff and patients including some already in the operating theatre.

The crowd of African women are tired and angry after hours waiting in the hot sun, but the officials will not vaccinate their children until the president inaugurates the campaign on state television.

Patients with Parkinson's disease have a decreased life expectancy compared with the general population, according to data from the United Kingdom. Life expectancy is most severely decreased in those who develop the disease in their 20s and 30s.

Zimbabwe's state-employed junior doctors and nurses are on strike for higher pay, putting further strain on the country's crumbling public healthcare facilities.

Study finds substantial improvement in a number of health conditions

Neurotic people are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, while being extroverted seems to protect people from dying from respiratory illness, UK researchers report based on a study they conducted.

While the treatment of people with diabetes who suffer a heart attack has improved, along with subsequent survival rates, mortality is still higher than in non-diabetics, a study shows.

Patients should have confidence in the new planned NHS database despite 168,000 records going missing, a health boss said on Monday.

Japan's prime minister said on Sunday his party will draft legislation aimed at helping thousands of hepatitis patients, the latest development in a high-profile scandal that has drawn voter anger.

Total cost about $555, government analysis shows.

A former funeral home owner has been charged with fraud for allegedly giving families cremated ashes that were not the remains of their loved ones, Canadian police said on Wednesday.

Men, blacks do worse, as do those without private health insurance, study finds

People living along the southern Atlantic coast of the US, as well as those residing along the Mississippi River, die at a faster rate than the national average, while death rates are below the norm in the upper Great Plains, a new study shows.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that would extend through March 2009 the State Children's Health Insurance Program that currently covers about 6.6 million poor children.

The safety of premature babies could be at risk because of staff shortages and lack of cots in specialist units, a report by a UK independent watchdog said on Wednesday.

Report finds they're less likely to get screening tests, so have advanced disease

People who suffer from severe psoriasis die younger than people with mild cases or without the disease, for reasons that are unclear, researchers said on Monday.

The Canadian government-owned nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ontario, was back in service on Sunday morning and expected to begin producing medical isotopes within four days, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) said.

California's top insurance regulator filed an enforcement action against Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Co on Thursday, accusing the company of illegal behavior toward policy holders and seeking a $12.6 million fine.

Medical science and religion clashed this week over whether to switch off life-support equipment that is keeping an 84-year-old man alive in a Canadian hospital.

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia may have a particularly strong impact on life expectancy among the oldest elderly.

Following national recommendations for physical activity can lengthen your life, results of a study indicate.

Adults who routinely get too little or too much sleep may die sooner than those who get the standard 8 hours each night, a study suggests.

A vicious ice storm sweeping through the U.S. Plains left more than 600,000 people without power as frigid temperatures plunged and contributed to at least 14 deaths, authorities said on Monday.

Before placing a loved one in a nursing home, you might want to consult the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) newly released list of the nation's chronically poor-performing nursing homes. The report cites 54 of them in 33 states and the District of Columbia.

Overhaul of Medicare financing system may be needed, experts say

One measure of the troubled state of U.S. health care is the hordes of idealistic young people lining up to fix it.

Intensive care units are so noisy and disruptive that patients cannot get the restorative sleep that they need to heal, according to a report released on Monday.

Only one-quarter seek lifesaving tests, new research find

New relationships for those with little memory leave spouses, children facing their own altered reality, experts say

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to provide adequate care to immigrant detainees with HIV, putting their health and lives at risk, Human Rights Watch charged on Friday.

Ear, nose and throat specialist Abu Samir laments that he has only one colleague left to call after an exodus that has robbed Iraq of about 70 percent of its most qualified doctors.

A new strain of the deadly Ebola virus is thought to have infected 93 people and killed at least 22 in Uganda, including a doctor and three other medical staff looking after patients, a health official said on Thursday.

The rate of visits to U.S. hospital emergency rooms by senior citizens grew faster than that of any other age group between 1993 and 2003, straining the country's already overcrowded emergency care system, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Suggestions for caregivers

The government has backed plans to build a 500-million pound medical research centre in London to bring together the country's best scientists.

U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned on Tuesday if patients can sue medical-device manufacturers in state court over harm from a device that has approval from federal regulators.

A California appeals court revived a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Co of trying to avoid paying claims by retroactively canceling policies of insured individuals it accused of lying on their applications.

Widespread efforts to cut salt intake, curb smoking and to ensure those at risk of heart disease take needed drugs could prevent millions of deaths each year, international researchers said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of thousands of medical tests worldwide were in jeopardy on Wednesday after a key maker of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine said its Canadian reactor would be out of commission longer than expected.

Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife filed a negligence lawsuit on Tuesday against the makers of a blood thinner given to his newborn twins in an accidental massive overdose last month.

Lawmakers in Mexico City approved a law on Tuesday to allow terminally ill people to refuse treatment, the latest challenge to the church in the capital of the world's second-largest Roman Catholic nation.

Women who had their first menstrual period at a younger-than-average age may live shorter lives than their peers, the results of a new study suggest.

More than 40 million people in the United States say they cannot afford adequate heath care and go without drugs, eyeglasses or dental treatment, according to a federal report released on Monday.

Hungary's coalition government has agreed on changes to the country's health insurance system, seen by investors as a template for future reforms, the leader of the smaller governing party said on Monday.

Mortality after hip fracture is increasing among elderly people, results of a study from Denmark indicate. The study also shows an increase in the number of men sustaining hip fractures.

Nearly half of all U.S. doctors fail to report incompetent or unethical colleagues, even though they agree that such mistakes should be reported, researchers said on Monday.

Money, availability of care and lack of transportation combine to limit access, CDC report finds