It's been described as the one of the greatest medical mysteries of all time. All of a sudden, a patient is struck down by blindness. Others are paralysed. Some endure violent fits.

A former Mater Hospital anaesthetic technician faced court last week after allegedly taking fentanyl from operating trollies and replacing it with saline solution.

Health insurance premiums have been going up by about 5 per cent each year. Funds are now under pressure to limit it to 2 per cent.

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The federal government has approved MBS subsidies for 33 new treatments recommended by the Medical Services Advisory Committee.

Bioethicist finds removing reproductive tissue 'ethically permissible, but not ethically required'.

Just waiting 60 seconds before clamping a premature baby's umbilical cord can dramatically improve its chances of survival, Australian researchers say.

Australia's Chief Medical Officer has categorically rejected claims a "budget" flu vaccine is partly responsible for this year's horror flu season.

More drug-resistant golden staph infections are occurring in the community rather than in hospital settings, with researchers turning their attention to antibiotic overuse.

Steve van Aperen is the human lie detector who catches serial killers. Now he's helping GPs unmask lying patients.

Three quarters of Australians whose spouse suffers from insomnia are giving misguided advice that may actually make the sleeplessness worse, experts say.

The Health Minister says the Pharmacy Guild has 'reversed its position' in the fight to water down the impending changes to codeine-based painkillers.

• COMMENT

The report of the inquiry into the rules governing pharmacies and what they get paid is secret, for now.

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Medical students have defied their seniors by throwing their support behind voluntary assisted dying.

Mental health nurses have described fearing for their safety, and working on wards ill-equipped to manage violent or aggressive psychiatric and drug-affected patients without the use of seclusion and restraint.

Those suffering from hearing loss say that a new Apple-Cochlear device has changed their lives.

A new study shows the legal sector has the healthiest executives in Australia, followed by the banking and consulting sectors.

Action needs to be taken to reduce antibiotic resistance, otherwise deaths from treatable infections will overtake cancer deaths in 33 years, an academic says.

The soft drink industry said its fight against a sugar tax was "consuming vast amounts of resources", but by lobbying politicians and bureaucrats it had managed to keep the policy of the table.

Call to act on antibiotic over-use, or some operations 'will become too dangerous'.

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Jemma Caprioli is preparing herself for radical surgery to remove what could be a perfectly healthy stomach.

Cicadas' fairy-like wings have near-magical powers to withstand bacteria, a doscovery that has fascinated nanoscientists Gregory and Jolanta Watson.

The increase in several diseases in Queensland this year has prompted renewed calls for people to get vaccinated.

A Carnegie club is providing a lifeline to people who have lost someone to addiction.

The pill, which can stop people from contracting HIV, will now be available to 3000 people.

The move comes as people with disabilities in Canberra and across the country speak out about "soul-destroying" delays within the scheme.

A taskforce has found the after-hours home doctor is wasting taxpayer money, but the industry says if the government adopts the recommendations, it will have to shut up shop.

• EXCLUSIVE

The industries failing to protect the mental health of employees have been exposed by the NSW government's rigorous new benchmarking tool.

The colours of budgerigars spurred our top science prize winner to be a geneticist.

Not only can our gilled friends become depressed, but some scientists consider fish to be a promising animal model for developing anti-depressants.