Lung cancer is known as the “invisible” or “forgotten” disease but lung cancer is a stark reality for more than 37,000 new patients in the UK every year – that’s one every 15 minutes.

The government's plan to fine hospitals for not hitting Clostridium difficile targets is unfair, experts say.

A ruling is expected later that could have profound implications for asbestos-related cancer victims and their families.

Children held in UK detention centres are not getting the medical care they need, a leading medical journal warns.

Police are tackling the growing problem of drink-related crime by offering youngsters a re-education programme.

The makers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra have withdrawn an application for the medicine to be available without a prescription.

A man from north Oxfordshire credits his pet Rottweiler with sniffing out his skin cancer.

Almost two in five people who drink to excess lie to their doctor about how much alcohol they really consume, says a survey.

Parents of children whose organs were removed at Liverpool's Alder Hey hospital have until May to reclaim their body parts.

Opposition parties say health strategy in Wales is failing as new statistics show A&E waiting times are missing targets.

The direction a child is facing in their pram could affect their development and stress levels, a study suggests.

AP - Some advanced lung cancer patients already treated with chemotherapy might be able to skip some of the bad side effects of another series of chemo by taking a pill instead, a study suggests. An international study showed patients on Iressa, an expensive, newer targeted treatment, survived about as long as those on another course of chemotherapy.

AP - Two years after the government urged making HIV tests as common as cholesterol checks, there are small gains but still one in five people infected with the AIDS virus doesn't know it, scientists said Thursday.

AP - D'Zhana Simmons says she felt like a "fake person" for 118 days when she had no heart beating in her chest. "But I know that I really was here," the 14-year-old said, "and I did live without a heart."

AP - The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions — but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage.

AP - Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, a cardiac surgeon who performed the nation's first human heart transplant and who also developed lifesaving medical implants, has died. He was 90. Kantrowitz died Friday in Ann Arbor of complications from heart failure, said his wife, Jean Kantrowitz.

Reuters - Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

AFP - Pfizer has dropped its bid to market its potency pill Viagra over the counter in Europe, the US pharmaceutical giant announced Thursday.

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of CenterWatch:

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Experts hope that letting kids have their fingers do the texting will increase compliance with the food diaries that are such a critical part of successful dieting.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- The stress of providing care for a loved one with Alzheimer's results in 25 percent of family caregivers having at least one emergency room or hospital visit every six months, says an Indiana University study.

WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) -- The CDC's 2006 recommendation that HIV testing should be essentially universal in healthcare, even for low-risk patients, has been largely unheeded, in part because many clinicians have declined to go along, said researchers here.

CAMPINAS, Brazil (MedPage Today) -- Performing water aerobics during pregnancy may ease the pain of delivery, a small, randomized trial found.

HOUSTON (MedPage Today) -- For second-line treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), oral gefitinib (Iressa) may be as effective as standard chemotherapy, researchers found.

MINNEAPOLIS (MedPage Today) -- The bathroom scale used at least once a week may encourage overweight teens to find healthy ways to shed unwanted pounds, researchers reported here.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (MedPage Today) -- Variation in the gene for the serotonin transporter appears to be linked to how much some alcoholics drink, researchers here said.

NEW YORK (MedPage Today) -- Expressions of religious feeling by participants in the Women's Health Initiative translated into a greater likelihood of survival during the study, researchers here said.

BERLIN (MedPage Today) -- The long-term prognosis for stroke patients is better at community hospitals equipped with monitoring technology, trained multidisciplinary teams, and teleconsultation capability, researchers found.

PHILADELPHIA (MedPage Today) -- A practice guideline on the use of second-generation antidepressants, issued here this week by the American College of Physicians, has earned cheers as well as jeers from psychiatrists.

WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) -- Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today unseated the longest serving current member of the House, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), an automaker ally, to lead the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee in the next Congress.

SAN FRANCISCO (MedPage Today) -- In vitro fertilization is associated with an increased risk of ovarian malignancies, particularly borderline tumors -- but the absolute risk of these uncommon malignancies remains small, a large study showed.

Six of the country's biggest restaurant chains have pledged to serve more salad and slash levels of fat and salt in their products in an historic shift.

More than 10,000 people die needlessly each year because their cancers are not diagnosed in time, a study says.

Doing aqua-aerobics during pregnancy can ease the pain of childbirth, research shows.

A mother whose newborn baby died in a botched hospital delivery today told how she has lost faith in the NHS. Adrienn Both lost her son after doctors at the Royal Free Hospital used the wrong technique during labour.

A toddler with one of the world's rarest medical conditions has undergone a life-saving operation to repair her damaged brain - with medical superglue.

The secrets of eternal youth are being unlocked by scientists. Experiments show that an enzyme called telomerase could be the key ingredient in an 'elixir of life'.

A teenager survived for nearly four months without a heart until she was able to have a transplant, American doctors say.

A mother of two has become the first person in the world to undergo a whole organ transplant grown from her own stem cells. The British scientists are hailing a new dawn in transplant surgery.

Three cups of green tea a day could help keep obesity at bay, scientists claim.

Our wallets will not be the only thing suffering as we buy presents this Christmas. A study has found festive buying increased blood pressure to dangerous levels in 50 per cent of shoppers.