Fifty years ago a hospital dedicated to women and their babies opened in Auckland. Andrew Stone talks to Linda Bryder, author of a new book on its chequered history

A district health board already scrutinised for mental health service failings has been criticised by a coroner in his findings on the death of a 17-year-old.

Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland is taking extra precautions to protect against norovirus after more than a dozen people there fell ill with the stomach virus.

Auckland's Middlemore Hospital is on alert after an outbreak of the stomach bug norovirus, with 11 patients and three staff affected..

The UK-based New Zealand mother who lost a legal battle over her son receiving treatment for his cancer says he is cancer-free and looking forward to returning to school.

At Auckland City Hospital, about 10 surgery patients in every 1,000 will suffer a major internal infection after their operation.

A baby is the latest casualty of a highly infectious measles outbreak, as health workers treat fresh cases in the Taupo region.

A Friday-night assault of a Waikato businessman, now in a coma, is another example of unnecessary violence fuelled by alcohol, a top emergency department doctor says.

The all-clear has reportedly been given to a young boy whose New Zealand-born mother fought against life-saving cancer treatment for him in Britain.

Being a mother sometimes feels like I'm carrying a donkey, writes Deborah Hill Cone.

Apart from the serious threats they pose to personal and community health, resistant infections also carry a large economic impost, says Kevin McCracken.

We hear a great deal about Obamacare and the debate over health insurance in the US, yet there is little media comment on NZ's health insurance issues, says Brian Gaynor.

A mother and her newborn baby who died after delays in taking them to hospital are among 30 cases of 111 calls gone wrong.

No, I dislike it intensely! I am no queen. I am a hard worker trying to raise as much money as I can for children and their families at Starship.

Increasing understanding of Maori and Pacific health and more funding for community health are among the goals for new members on Auckland's district health boards.

Governments ignore warnings of antibiotic-resistant strains, and the feeding of drugs to animals, at their peril, writes Sue Kedgeley.

A woman whose spinal tumour was misdiagnosed several times by hospital staff has been denied compensation because ACC says the mistake didn't cause further injury.

A woman with a life-threatening spinal tumour was told by staff she was just stressed and needed to take a "long holiday".

The shattered family of Casey Nathan, who died hours after giving birth to son Kymani, are coping with the tragedy.

Mothers of sick children are offered more meals per day at public hospitals in Auckland than in Hamilton, and whether a mother is breastfeeding plays a lesser role or none at all.

A woman has been denied accident cover after she was told her workplace injury was the result of childbirth - despite giving birth 37 years ago.

The Government has agreed to post full audit reports of rest homes online - but will take them down again after a six-month trial if people don't bother reading them.

The number of emergency department patients being seen on time has slipped at the Waikato District Health Board.

A "life-changing" new drug designed to treat the hepatitis C virus can almost treble the cure rate for patients, studies have shown.

The Auckland District Health Board is in the firing line again after yesterday admitting it accidentally kept 14 tissue samples from 10 dead patients, despite the coroner ordering a return to families.

Mother-of-three Nicola Mapletoft has been put off having a fourth child because her last birth was a caesarean.

Few hospitals are meeting government benchmarks for emergency department treatment, with many urgent cases not being seen by a doctor within recommended times.

The son of a Kiwi mother is recovering from the radiotherapy which he finally underwent despite her fears, with no signs of cancer on his last scan.

Young Jimi Samuels changed remarkably after he had a battery-powered device surgically inserted to treat a problem with his heartbeat.

A 90-year-old woman was sent home from hospital at 1.30am - with a drip attachment still in her arm - in what her family say was a traumatic discharge.