Tens of thousands of Victorian patients are using their health insurance in public hospitals without any guarantee it will get them faster care, a choice of doctor or a private room.

Lobbyists for 'big food' are potentially swaying health policies in favour of their corporate bottom line in Australia, new research has claimed.

Doctors diagnosing less severe autism have caused the dramatic rise in diagnoses, which is putting pressure on the public purse.

Only 35 per cent of Australian women eligible for medical abortion are choosing the procedure over surgery, a new study has found.

A child's birth date is a powerful predictor of whether they will be medicated for ADHD, suggesting we may be overdiagnosing and over treating children.

"One in five Australian children are obese before they start school – that number just speaks for itself, that we're not doing enough."

Women are forgoing food and bills to fund abortions in Australia as costs remain in the hundreds of dollars despite the introduction of an abortion drug, a national study reveals.

The head of the influential doctors lobby has called out the opposition's criticisms of the health system under minister Jillian Skinner as unhelpful and corrosive and urged Labor not to use hospitals to push its own political agenda.

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The shocking maps of Sydney that turned an economics report into a stark health warning.

The thought of being investigated for prostate cancer terrified Paul Davies. About a year ago, Mr Davies was told to see a urologist about a high PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test.

Disadvantaged women are 25 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than their male peers and the gap is probably not because of bad lifestyle habits.

A new study has found links between medical researchers' financial ties with pharmaceutical companies and "positive" results in clinical trials.

At what point in your life does should you take out private health insurance?

Every 15 minutes a child is abused in Australia, data shows. A new campaign is determined to break the cycle of violence.

Patient advocacy groups should be forced to declare their commercial funding, experts say.

Two people are in a stable condition in Blacktown Hospital after they contracted rare flesh-eating bacteria overseas.

Ever lost your cool in a hospital? New research suggests you would be wise to stay calm.

Nepean Hospital issued a stern statement emphatically stating no ambulances were diverted its ED on Monday when the hospital struggled to cope with its huge patient load. 

He may have a license to kill, but it turns out James Bond has given his old smoking habit the Goldfinger.

Two paramedics unions have been dragged before the Industrial Relations Commission for advising members to shed their hot and heavy uniforms during the recent heatwaves. 

Ambulances were forced to bypass a major hospital in Sydney's west on Monday morning after Nepean Hospital's emergency department reached capacity, paramedics and hospital staff say.

The chances of a patient with pancreatic cancer receiving potentially life-saving surgery varies greatly depending on where they live.

Australia's voluntary euthanasia debate has been mired in smear campaigns, misinformation and manipulation, a leading euthanasia expert has warned. 

The suitability and effectiveness of aerosol spray sunscreens is being questioned after numerous reports of people still getting sunburnt.

Dengue fever cases in Australia reached a 20-year high last year, driven by travellers being infected in tropical areas such as Bali and bringing the virus back with them.

The government is under pressure to rescind a 'blatantly discriminatory' Medicare rule for nursing home residents.

Chewing a piece of gum could be more effective than a common drug for relieving nausea, new research by Melbourne doctors suggests.

As Sydney comes up for air after enduring its first heatwave of 2017, the true extent of the negative health effects caused by soaring temperatures won't be known for some time, health experts say.

Health authorities have warned Sydneysiders to be on alert as the baking sun sends temperatures and ozone levels soaring and triggers a total fire ban.