Rimonabant, a controversial weight-loss drug, has been approved for use in the NHS

By: Jane Kirby, PA, The Independent
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
A controversial weight-loss drug has been approved for use on the NHS, it was announced today.
Rimonabant will be made available to overweight or obese patients who cannot take, or who have had no success with, two other drugs, orlistat and sibutramine.
It comes after concerns about [...]

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US issues health warning over mercury fillings

By: Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor, The Independent
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Amalgam dental fillings – which contain the highly toxic metal mercury – pose a health risk, the world’s top medical regulatory agency has conceded.
After years of insisting the fillings are safe, the US government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a health warning [...]

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Nurses’ clinics to compete with GPs’ surgeries

By: Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor, The Independent
Friday, 27 June 2008
Nurses are to run their own “companies” inside the NHS to compete with traditional family doctor surgeries and provide more services to patients.

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Genetic test will identify those most at risk of breast cancer

By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Thursday, 26 June 2008
The chances of getting breast cancer vary more than sixfold among women because of their genetic inheritance but the breast screening programme fails to target those at highest risk, scientists have found.

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Online contraceptive pill service launched

PA, The Independent
Monday, 23 June 2008
Women will be able to get the Pill online without having to visit their doctor under a new service being launched today. The medical website DrThom is offering three months’ supply for £29.99.
The service will initially be offered to women already on the Pill but will soon be expanded [...]

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Abortion rate hits record high among under-16s

By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Friday, 20 June 2008
The abortion rate is rising fastest among the youngest girls, official figures show. Each week in 2007, 84 children under 16 in England and Wales had abortions; three were under 14.
The annual total for under-16 abortions was up 10 per cent to 4,376. Among under-14s [...]

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One in four body piercings goes wrong

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Friday, 13 June 2008
For many young people, piercings of all parts of the body, hung with jewellery, have become an essential fashion accessory. But they carry significant risks, according to the first study to examine the complications arising from body art.
One in 10 adults in England has had [...]

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‘Dead’ patient comes around as organs are about to be removed

By John Lichfield in Paris, The Independent
Thursday, 12 June 2008
France may have to reconsider its medical definition of death after a heart-attack victim came alive in the operating theatre as doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant.
The patient, whose identity has not been revealed, recovered after a long period in intensive [...]

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MS sufferer wins landmark ruling on assisted suicide

‘I love my husband and I will not put him in a situation where he could end up in prison’
By Cahal Milmo, the Independent
Thursday, 12 June 2008
A multiple sclerosis sufferer who wants her husband to aid her in ending her life has won a landmark review of the law on assisted suicide.
Two judges gave [...]

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Breakthrough in migraine therapy ???

By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
New anti-migraine drugs that have fewer side effects than existing treatments could be on the market within three years, scientists said yesterday.
They have been developed thanks to improved understanding of the mechanism that makes the brain over-react to stimuli and will usher in a new era [...]

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