Surgery
Breakdowns between surgeons impacting patients: CEO
The head of the Southern DHB has admitted that breakdowns between surgeons - including personal attacks - have impacted on the delivery of care for colonoscopy patients. The DHB's colonoscopy service… Audio
Jon Potter: The man who gave his kidney to a complete stranger
Pittsburgh man Jon Potter says yes to anyone who asks him for help - regardless of who they are or what they need. This recently saw him donate a kidney to a man he had never met before. Audio
Growing bio-materials for eye surgery
Corneal transplant is a tricky business, but for many people it can be a life changing operation. However, cornea transplants are limited by donor numbers. Demand for corneal transplant organs far… Audio
Student schoolbags cause excessive pressure on young spines
New research by world-leading spinal surgeon Dr Ken Hansraj shows that heavy and overcrowded schoolbags are causing serious danger to children's growing spines. Audio
Carl Shuker - author of A Mistake
Carl Shuker is a former editor at the British Medical Journal and lives in Wellington. He's the author of four novels - The Method Actors (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005), winner of the Prize in Modern… Audio
Specialty trainee doctors criticise new rosters
Earlier we reported on a new junior doctors' union that says revised hospital rosters that thousands of doctors striked for have wrecked their training and may be unsafe for patients. Specialty… Audio
Andrew Leigh: 'More African-Americans are under criminal supervision now than there were slaves in 1850'
Australia's shadow assistant treasurer Dr Andrew Leigh is a proponent of evidence-based policy through the use of random trials. His book, Randomistas, reveals why data should be the basis for… Audio
Surgery tourists warned after patient's death
A trip to Asia to get a cheap operation that cost a man his life is being held up as a warning to New Zealanders looking for cut-price surgery.
Dairy robbery victim’s jaw surgery postponed twice
A Papakura woman whose jaw was broken during a violent dairy robbery last Monday is still unable to eat and having to drink through a straw, because her surgery has been postponed twice. Audio
DHBs critically underfunded, opposition parties say
A Dunedin man whose prostate cancer spread after he waited 10 months for urgent surgery has been failed by an underfunded health system, say opposition parties.
Audio
Cancer patient waits 6 months for urgent operation
Cancer patient Paul Schofield has been waiting for prostate surgery since a positive biopsy in February. The Dunedin man finally has a date for his operation - six months after his diagnosis. Video, Audio
Dunedin Hospital patient waited 26 hours to be admitted
An elderly man spent 26 hours waiting in Dunedin hospital's emergency department to be admitted, his daughter says, before a bed became available in a ward last week. Video, Audio
Southern DHB CEO has 'significant concerns' about urology department
Southern District Health Board's CEO Chris Fleming says a wait list for prostate surgery is unsatisfactory, and the urology department is not acting efficiently. Audio
10 people waiting for prostate cancer surgery at Southern DHB
Paul Schofield has been waiting five months for prostate cancer surgery. He hasn't heard anything about when it might be scheduled, and he says he's not the only one waiting. Video, Audio
How a balloon could help the world lose weight
Surgeries designed to promote weight loss by restricting the stomach's capacity, like the gastric bypass or gastric banding, have become a common treatment to help chronically obese patients lose… Audio, Gallery
Using VR to teach the surgeons of the future
The world's first virtual reality operation was streamed live from London recently to an audience in the tens of thousands in 140 countries. Video, Audio
Transgender people face up to 47-year wait for surgery
The transgender community wants the waiting times for gender reassignment surgery operations cut, saying new figures show it could take up to 47 years before they get one. Audio
Cut price medical treatment for those in need
Auckland Regional Charity Hospital is helping around 50 people a year who aren't considered sick enough to be treated in the public system, and it has capacity to help more patients from around the… Audio
The history of Anaesthesia
Before the 1840's, if someone needed an operation they needed to be held down by a group of strong men. That all changed in 1847, when doctors discovered an anaesthetic that could render patients… Audio, Gallery
Patients getting elective operations "more disabled"
A senior Dunedin surgeon says patients are now more severely disabled by the time they receive long-awaited elective hip or knee surgery Audio