Regional children with congenital heart disease must move to Brisbane to be closely monitored after critical heart surgery. One mum is petitioning for change.

The nurses' union says a law requiring remote health workers to be accompanied when going on unscheduled or after-hours callouts is being undermined by the State Government.

Jigna Chauhan offers free henna crowns to women who have lost their hair during chemotherapy treatments, helping them feel more positive and confident.

Photos and documents show nurses in the Roy Fagan Centre for aged psychiatric patients use old pagers and duress buttons held together with sticky tape.

The head of the Royal Hobart Hospital's emergency department tells an inquest of a large increase in the number of mental health patients trying to access care, and of more suicide attempts at the facility.

A national fertility business attached to clinics in six Australian states and territories says its email system has been subjected to a "malicious cyber attack", with patients reporting receiving bogus messages that appear to be from the company.

Paramedics will return patients to ambulances for care if they are waiting more than half an hour in the ramping area of the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Last year, Edie Rayner wrote an open letter addressed to all the doctors of Australia. Like many regional towns, her Kimba does not have a permanent doctor but she's looking to change that.

Buried among the hundreds of witness statements submitted to the aged care royal commission is a table showing how one of the country's biggest for-profit chains employs just one registered nurse for 106 residents on the night shift.

In regional Victoria, palliative care patients are waiting hours and sometimes days for much-needed medications to help with pain and quality of life.

For the first time ever Israeli scientists have created a vascularized human heart that combines human tissue taken from a patient, using a 3D printer.

Software developed with the help of Alice Spring medical staff and Indigenous people from remote communities is set to break down the language barrier and ease the stress of patients undergoing dialysis treatment.

Eighteen months after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Regan Lions is fundraising as a way of saying thanks to the centre where she had some of her treatment.

In a bid to bring down costs and ease the burden during an already difficult time, the ACT Government may establish a dedicated fertility-preservation clinic for women undergoing cancer treatment.

Health authorities urge more than 500 patients of a dental clinic in Far North Queensland to be tested for HIV and hepatitis as the clinic is investigated over its infection control practices.

The Stroke Foundation says patients with brain clots and haemorrhages are being left for hours untreated in rural hospitals which do not have the equipment or expertise to support them.

A skin cancer specialist and plastic surgeon is acquitted of sexually assaulting three women during medical examinations.

A Newcastle immunologist on trial for abusing dozens of women has argued vaginal and anal examinations he performed on patients were for medical, not sexual reasons.

A father says the day he watched his infant daughter suffer a violent two-and-a-half-hour seizure was when he decided breaking the law was a small price to pay for her life.

Nic Dolbel wanted to improve the skin under her eyes, but a cosmetic laser treatment left her with lingering pain and what she says felt like "third-degree burns".

(Supreme Court of California) - Reversed. The City of San Diego authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. It decided that the dispensaries did not constitute a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act, so an environmental review was not necessary. Plaintiff challenged the failure to conduct an environmental review. The appeals court agreed with the City’s assessment. The Supreme court ruled that an improper test was applied under Public Resources Code section 21065 to determine whether a review was necessary or not. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

(Supreme Court of California) - Reversed. The City of San Diego authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. It decided that the dispensaries did not constitute a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act, so an environmental review was not necessary. Plaintiff challenged the failure to conduct an environmental review. The appeals court agreed with the City’s assessment. The Supreme court ruled that an improper test was applied under Public Resources Code section 21065 to determine whether a review was necessary or not. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

(Supreme Court of California) - Reversed. The City of San Diego authorized medical marijuana dispensaries. It decided that the dispensaries did not constitute a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act, so an environmental review was not necessary. Plaintiff challenged the failure to conduct an environmental review. The appeals court agreed with the City’s assessment. The Supreme court ruled that an improper test was applied under Public Resources Code section 21065 to determine whether a review was necessary or not. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

The latest in the presidential race and how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shape the political landscape. New state and local programs addressing food shortages, and ‘Sunshine Letters’ as a way of supporting hospice patients and their families.

BACKGROUND The anti–programmed cell death 1 (anti–PD-1) antibody pembrolizumab is clinically active against non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition to T cells, human natural killer (NK) cells, reported to have the potential to prolong the survival of patients with advanced NSCLC, also express PD-1. This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab plus allogeneic NK cells in patients with previously treated advanced NSCLC.METHODS In total, 109 enrolled patients with a programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) of 1% or higher were randomly allocated to group A (n = 55 patients given pembrolizumab plus NK cells) or group B (n = 54 patients given pembrolizumab alone). The patients received i.v. pembrolizumab (10 mg/kg) once every 3 weeks and continued treatment until the occurrence of tumor progression or unacceptable toxicity. The patients in group A continuously received 2 cycles of NK cell therapy as 1 course of treatment.RESULTS In our study, patients in group A had longer survival than did patients in group B (median overall survival [OS]: 15.5 months vs. 13.3 months; median progression-free survival [PFS]: 6.5 months vs. 4.3 months; P < 0.05). In group A patients with a TPS of 50% or higher, the median OS and PFS was significantly longer. Moreover, the patients in group A treated with multiple courses of NK cell infusion had better OS (18.5 months) than did those who received a single course of NK cell infusion (13.5 months).CONCLUSIONS Pembrolizumab plus NK cell therapy yielded improved survival benefits in patients with previously treated PD-L1+ advanced NSCLC.TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02843204.FUNDING This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) – Guangdong Joint Foundation of China (no. U1601225); the NSFC (no. 81671965); the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Construction Project of China (no. 2017B030314034); and the Key Scientific and Technological Program of Guangzhou City (no. 201607020016).

Systematic review produced by the EPPI-Centre in 2015.This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effect of HAART and ARV monotherapy on liver disease progression and liver-related mortality in individuals co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C, including in patients with haemophilia.

In Spain, the number of coronavirus deaths is climbing faster than in Italy. Dr. Inés Lipperheide is fighting to save her patients in an overcrowded intensive care unit. She reports conditions straight out of a "horror film."

Patient Jessica Ellision recalled how she broke down and sobbed Monday when she finally received her medication after a three-hour wait — much of it in the crowded hallway where she feared the other patients might be infected. “It was so intense and so stressful, and you feel like you worked so hard not to be sick, but this is it now — this is how it happens,” said Ellison, 39, of the Bronx.

Outraged community leaders joined staffers Tuesday outside the Linden Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, where demonstrators complained as many as 10 bodies were stored in an unrefrigerated fourth floor dementia unit where the dead reside among the living — and ailing residents are reportedly free to wander.

The algorithm was based on the faulty assumption that health care spending is a good proxy for wellbeing. But there seems to be a quick fix.

In this pandemic, we need an emergency increase in the number of green cards issued to immigrants with critically required skills.

Call them victory anthems. Every time a patient with COVID-19 is well enough to be discharged, hospitals in New York and elsewhere play songs of celebration over the intercom. A doctor explains.

Call them victory anthems. Every time a patient with COVID-19 is well enough to be discharged, hospitals in New York and elsewhere play songs of celebration over the intercom. A doctor explains.

(MedPage Today) -- There was no difference in risk of intubation or death in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 coronavirus infection treated with hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial also used in the treatment of certain autoimmune diseases, compared...

Treating patients with "moderate" COVID-19 is a way to stop the disease from progressing to a severe stage that would require mechanical ventilation.

A new study of 10 coronavirus patients in China gives further credence to the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy.

Several groups of researchers are testing different methods to divert critically ill COVID-19 patients from needing ventilators in the first place.

Doctors caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients are trying new ways to attack the coronavirus. One theory is that they have blood clots in their lungs.

A diagnosis of breast cancer is always accompanied by angst and uncertainty. It's even more fraught when it comes in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

With no treatment for the new coronavirus, some people are trying alternative medicines. In China and India, the government has advised them to do so.

Hydroxychloroquine, the drug President Trump hailed as a coronavirus killer, had no beneficial effect for COVID-19 patients in two controlled trials.

If you're a cancer patient, you should not avoid treatment because of the pandemic. Surgery and follow-up care cannot wait.

The virus that causes COVID-19 can be found in semen, Chinese researchers report in a small study that doesn't address whether sexual transmission is possible.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: As hospitals were overrun by coronavirus patients in other parts of the world, the Army Corps of Engineers mobilized in the U.S., hiring private contractors to build emergency field hospitals around the country. The endeavor cost more than $660 million, according to an NPR analysis of federal spending records. But nearly four months into the pandemic, most of these facilities haven't treated a single patient. Public health experts said this episode exposes how ill-prepared the U.S. is for a pandemic. They praised the Army Corps for quickly providing thousands of extra beds, but experts said there wasn't enough planning to make sure these field hospitals could be put to use once they were finished. "It's so painful because what it's showing is that the plans we have in place, they don't work," said Robyn Gershon, a professor at New York University's School of Global Public Health. "We have to go back to the drawing board and redo it." But the nation's governors -- who requested the Army Corps projects and, in some cases, contributed state funding -- said they're relieved these facilities didn't get more use. They said early models predicted a catastrophic shortage of hospital beds, and no one knew for sure when or if stay-at-home orders would reduce the spread of the coronavirus. "All those field hospitals and available beds sit empty today," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said last month. "And that's a very, very good thing." Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said: "These 1,000-bed alternate care sites are not necessary; they're not filled. Thank God." Senior military leaders also said the effort was a success -- even if the beds sit empty.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A new hydroxychloroquine study -- "the largest to date" -- was published Thursday in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. It concluded that Covid-19 patients taking the drug "do not fare better than those not receiving the drug," reports Time: Dr. Neil Schluger, chief of the division of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine at Columbia, and his team studied more than 1,300 patients admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Irving Medical Center for COVID-19. Some received hydroxychloroquine on an off-label basis, a practice that allows doctors to prescribe a drug that has been approved for one disease to treat another — in this case, COVID-19. About 60% of the patients received hydroxychloroquine for about five days. They did not show any lower rate of needing ventilators or a lower risk of dying during the study period compared to people not getting the drug. "We don't think at this point, given the totality of evidence, that it is reasonable to routinely give this drug to patients," says Schluger. "We don't see the rationale for doing that." While the study did not randomly assign people to receive the drug or placebo and compare their outcomes, the large number of patients involved suggests the findings are solid. Based on the results, Schluger says doctors at his hospital have already changed their advice about using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. "Our guidance early on had suggested giving hydroxychloroquine to hospitalized patients, and we updated that guidance to remove that suggestion," he says. In another study conducted at U.S. veterans hospitals where severely ill patients were given hydroxychloroquine, "the drug was found to be of no use against the disease and potentially harmful when given in high doses," reports the Chicago Tribune. They also report that to firmly establish whether the drug has any effect, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is now funding a randomized, controlled trial at six medical institutions of hundreds of people who've tested positive for Covid-19.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

People who feel so ill they needed treatment in intensive care can face a long recovery that may take months.

Most patients recover from Covid-19 quickly - but for some, symptoms linger for weeks.

1. Health Ministry issues fresh guidelines for discharging COVID-19 patients  Telangana Today
2. Coronavirus pandemic | Centre tweaks criteria for discharge of COVID-19 patients  Moneycontrol
3. Blood thinners may boost survival rates of Covid-infected patients: Study  ETHealthworld.com
4. Coronavirus blood-clot mystery intensifies  Nature.com
5. Could Blood Thinners Be Crucial For Patients With COVID-19 Related Clots?  Forbes
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Union Health Ministry issues fresh guidelines for discharging COVID-19 patients  Mumbai Mirror

A group of coronavirus patients staged a protest outside an isolation centre in northern Nigeria to demand increased medical attention and food, officials and residents have said.