Philadelphia (CNN) — Beth Rutstein rolls up the sleeves of her T-shirt, juggles a stack of fliers and knocks on the door of a stranger’s home. She’s on a mission to save lives.After wiping sweat from her face beneath the sweltering afternoon sun on a recent Thursday, she ascends another set of stair

(Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis told India’s top court it had demonstrated the improved efficacy of its cancer drug Glivec as the final hearing began on Tuesday of a patent case that could change the rules for the country’s healthcare sector.A patent would recognize Novartis’ property rights, i

(Reuters Health) – When people with chronic health conditions have lower out-of-pocket costs for medications, they are more likely to actually fill their prescriptions, according to a new research review.The findings, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, sound logical. But they lend some har

Hospitals in England could be on the brink of collapse because of rising demand and the increasing complexity of patients’ conditions, doctors warn.The Royal College of Physicians’ report said the number of beds had been cut by a third over the past 25 years.It said at the same time emergency admiss

Breast cancer screening saves the lives of two women for every one patient who receives unnecessary treatment, according to a major European review.There has been a fierce debate about the use of screening, and policy is being reviewed in England.The latest study, published in the Journal of Medical

(Reuters Health) – People in developing countries with heart problems may not be able to afford new pacemakers, but a new study suggests devices removed during autopsies may have enough remaining battery life to be donated and used again.Researchers found that of 334 autopsies preformed at the Unive

(Reuters) – Yosemite National Park expanded a warning about the deadly hantavirus to 230,000 more recent visitors and confirmed on Thursday that a ninth person had contracted the virus, which has already killed three people.The Californian, the latest person confirmed to have been infected with hant

(Reuters) – Alabama, one of two U.S. states that segregate inmates with HIV from the rest of their prison population, will seek to defend the policy against a class action lawsuit headed to trial in federal court on Monday.The American Civil Liberties Union sued Alabama in 2011 for what the group co

(Reuters Health) – People who smoke or drink heavily may develop pancreatic cancer at an earlier age than folks who avoid those habits, a new study suggests.It’s long been known that smoking is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer – a disease that is rarely caught early and has a grim prog

(Reuters Health) – The short-term benefits of weight loss surgery are well known in severely obese people, but a new study finds that improvements in diabetes and blood pressure may hold up for years after the procedures.At six-year patient follow-ups, three quarters of people who’d undergone gastri