A majority of patients are satisfied with the care they receive during a hospital stay but many are unsatisfied with communication and pain control, according to a study published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, USA Today reports. Authors examined data collected by the federal government in an ongoing patient survey at all hospitals that receive Medicare payments.

Many HIV-positive people in China do not seek treatment because of HIV-associated stigma, and stigma also prevents many people from being tested for the virus, Edwin Cameron, a South African Supreme Court justice and HIV/AIDS advocate, said Thursday, Reuters reports.

UK researchers found that drinking a small amount of alcohol in pregnancy, as in no more than 1 to 2 units a week, does not harm children in that they were at no greater risk of developing behavioural difficulties than children of mothers who abstained while pregnant.

Women generally pay "much more" than men for identical individual health insurance policies, according to data from insurance companies and online brokers, the New York Times reports. The Times analyzed premiums charged by major insurance companies like Humana, UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, and WellPoint subsidiary Anthem, health plan quote provider eHealth Insurance and state high-risk pools.

Reaching for fast foods and energy drinks to get through exams may lead to worse outcomes on the report card, dietitians have warned. A recent survey of US teens found 35 per cent regularly use energy drinks, up from 19 per cent in 2003. And many Australians have these drinks on a daily basis, without realising they are usually packed with kilojoules and sugar, and not much nutrition.

There is no way of knowing how many little boys and girls dream of growing up to be veterinarians...but it's a whole lot. A recent survey of the profession shows that kids have got it right, veterinarians love their jobs. The 2007 Member Needs Assessment, conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), surveyed members regarding job satisfaction and happiness.

A New York Times opinion piece by Dorothy Samuels on Thursday examined a 1992 decision by the operating board of Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley's community hospital to bar physicians from performing abortions at the hospital except in cases of rape, incest, when the pregnant woman's life is in danger or when a physician documents "the fetus has a condition that is incompatible with life.

A recent study that calls into question the "widely held belief that uninsured people are clogging the nation's" emergency departments to receive no-cost care for minor ailments "leaves another troublesome implication: that many uninsured patients are simply going without needed care until they become so sick that they can't stay away," a New York Times editorial states.

The Westside Gazette on Wednesday examined the results of a recent National Foundation for Infectious Diseases survey looking at parents' awareness of risks for meningococcal disease.

What else could you do with $150,000? That's the sum the Republican National Committee famously spent on wardrobe and makeup for Gov. Sarah Palin. Contrast that with a registered nurse who can be outfitted in scrubs for just $10 for a hospital shift.