Category Archives: Health

Newcastle hospital told woman whose unborn baby had died to go home and ‘book a slot to give birth’

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Trust admits Danielle Brown’s baby would have survived had she not been sent home from RVI days earlier

A seven-months-pregnant woman whose unborn baby had died was sent home from hospital with a booklet for bereaved parents and told to book a slot to give birth.

Danielle Brown, 31, had been discharged from hospital with pre-eclampsia, a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication. She returned to hospital days later where scans revealed that her daughter, Maisie, had died at about 29 weeks.

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Families in the US are opting for earlier measles vaccinations amid outbreak

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Parents are opting for a second shot of MMR vaccine sooner, which aligns with guidance in Germany, the UK and France

Measles cases are accelerating in the US, with twice as many confirmed cases as last year, and more parents are opting for earlier vaccination – especially with the second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which can be given as soon as four weeks after the first.

Giving the second shot soon after the first aligns with what some other countries, such as Germany, the United Kingdom and France, recommend – and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also says it’s an option.

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AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban

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Three-quarters of all responses were machine-generated in failed attempt to stop bill from passing into law, research finds

AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses in a failed attempt to stop the UK’s ban on disposable vapes.

Three-quarters of all the responses to the 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.

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Greens push for human override in aged care assessment after ombudsman’s scathing report into algorithm tool

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Investigation recommends government changes legislation so staff assessing people for home support packages can correct the outcome

The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, has used a scathing report from the commonwealth ombudsman to press the government to use the last two sitting weeks of parliament to restore human override to its “unfair” aged care assessment tool.

The 104-page ombudsman report, published on Monday, recommends the government change legislation so that aged care workers assessing older Australians for home support packages can amend the outcome when the algorithm-driven assessment tool makes an incorrect decision on funding.

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NHS consultants to go on two-day strike in England in November, says BMA

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Industrial action by senior doctors to begin on 25 November, with only emergency cover provided, union says

Senior doctors in England plan to go on strike for two days in November, the British Medical Association has said.

The industrial action by consultants is to begin at 6.59am on 25 November, with only emergency cover to be provided.

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Almost two-thirds of Australians bulk-billed for all GP care amid extra incentives for doctors

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Exclusive: RACGP survey reflects Medicare investments, but experts caution quality of care and outcomes also matter

The proportion of general practitioners bulk-billing all of their patients has more than doubled in a year, a report has found, after the government introduced financial incentives for doctors and practices.

And almost two-thirds (63%) of Australians are now bulk-billed for all their GP care, up from 56% in both 2024 and 2025, which the report says is “likely a reflection of the federal government’s recent investment in Medicare bulk billing incentives”.

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Ethnic minorities in England less likely to get breast cancer diagnosis from routine screening

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Exclusive: People from marginalised groups more likely to be diagnosed via urgent referral or in emergency setting, research finds

People from minority ethnic backgrounds in England are up to a third less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer via routine screening, and are more likely to be diagnosed in an emergency setting, analysis has found.

The research, carried out by academics at the University of Surrey and funded by the charity Breast Cancer Now, involved analysis of 86,564 adults diagnosed with the disease between 2009 and 2019, from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and the Cancer Registration Tumour and Treatment datasets.

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Additional 178 cases of measles reported by US health authorities amid outbreak

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 4,588 cases across the country, more than double the tally in 2025

Federal health authorities reported an additional 178 cases of measles in the US this week, as the vaccine-preventable illness continues to sicken people across at least 43 outbreaks.

The new data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) comes as experts criticize the agency for lack of transparency, and as health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr takes steps to further upend US vaccine infrastructure.

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India slashes cost of cancer drugs after court rules mark-ups are ‘extortion’

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Case filed in 2022 by patient unable to afford medicine leads to cap on drug prices for millions who face ruin if diagnosed

The Indian government has moved to reduce the price of cancer drugs after a retired bank clerk took her case to the supreme court.

From next month, 137 cancer drugs in India will be cheaper as the government tries to tackle the tragedy of poorer patients either forgoing treatment, selling land or falling into debt to meet the high cost of some medicines, which are making large profits for hospitals and pharmacists.

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Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn

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People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating toll

Heat killed a record 50,000 people in European cities this summer, new research suggests, with scientists blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths.

Morgues and funeral homes filled with bodies from June to August as the heat added by planet-baking pollution cut short an extra 32,000 lives in urban areas, the researchers found. Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering.

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Liechtenstein prince’s ‘surreal’ abortion veto dismays campaigners

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Alois uses the first veto of his reign to quash parliament-approved bill backed by a national petition

The hereditary prince of Liechtenstein has used his veto for the first time in his reign to quash a bill aimed at bringing abortion laws in line with much of Europe.

The legislation was approved by Liechtenstein’s parliament last month after the presentation of a citizens’ initiative signed by roughly a quarter of the nation’s voters.

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Child health in England at risk from sharp rise in NHS waiting times, report says

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CQC research finds long delays are making conditions harder to treat and highlights regional disparities in care

Thousands of children in England are experiencing some of the sharpest rises in waiting times for healthcare in the history of the NHS, a report has revealed.

While some adult waiting times have improved, children and young people are being “hit hardest” amid soaring demand and falling numbers of staff, according to the annual state of care report by the Care Quality Commission.

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Controversial US-backed vaccine trial in African newborns halted

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Hepatitis B study in Guinea-Bissau that was to be funded by CDC and that drew global backlash ‘will not move forward’

The US-backed hepatitis B vaccine trial in African newborns that drew global backlash was halted, the lead researcher said on Wednesday.

It was “now clear” that the study “will not move forward in Guinea-Bissau”, Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, a Danish researcher, wrote on LinkedIn, adding, “we were not given the necessary governmental approval.”

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Poland’s parliament votes to ease abortion ban but faces likely veto from president

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Measures would remove some penalties for those helping women access abortion but are ‘small-scale step’, say campaigners

Poland’s lower house of parliament has approved two bills aimed at loosening a near-total ban on abortions, in what campaigners have described as a “small-scale step” ahead of protests calling on the government to fulfil its promises to overhaul the country’s laws.

The new measures, which are likely to be vetoed by Poland’s nationalist president, would remove some of the criminal penalties for those who help women to access abortion care and allow terminations in cases of foetal abnormalities.

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New AI tool can predict cancer survival by a single patient selfie, study suggests

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System can estimate a person’s biological age and predict chances of cancer survival from a single photograph

Doctors have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can predict a cancer patient’s chances of survival from a single photograph of their face.

The AI system was custom-built by experts at Mass General Brigham, a nonprofit, integrated academic healthcare system in Massachusetts, to estimate biological age and directly predict survival outcomes in patients diagnosed with cancer.

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Indigenous woman shackled to hospital bed while in labour in Queensland

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Birth happens days before Labor and Coalition block bill to ban ‘barbaric practice’ of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth

An incarcerated Indigenous woman was shackled to a hospital bed in Queensland while she was in labour last weekend, an advocacy group has said.

The birth happened just days before Labor and the Coalition blocked a bill to ban the “barbaric practice” of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth.

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Millions of Medicaid recipients to face draconian requirements as of 1 January

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Trump’s reform law that seeks to make coverage harder to get, and to keep, includes working 80 hours per month

It is a date keeping US healthcare providers up at night: 1 January 2027.

As the midterm elections loom, everyone from hospital leaders and to patient advocates are focused on the New Year, when Republicans scheduled the most controversial elements of their healthcare reform law to go into effect.

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US maternity wards face wave of closures as Medicaid cuts kick in

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Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ spending cuts will be fully felt next year, but hospitals are already feeling the squeeze

Maternity wards across the United States are facing a wave of closures as cuts to federal Medicaid funding take effect, experts have warned.

According to analysis by the non-profit Protect Our Care, 52 maternity wards have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with a further eight having announced their upcoming closure.

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Physicians’ group calls for ban on raw milk – as it’s becoming increasingly popular in the US

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As raw milk industry experiences record growth, experts say it might contain pathogens that can sicken people

As raw milk becomes increasingly popular among Americans, there have been several recent disease outbreaks tied to the product, alarming public health officials.

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for a ban on sales of unpasteurized milk in the United States.

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