A Field That Interprets the Language of Genes
A YOUNG woman finds that she has a defective gene that increases her chances of breast cancer. A man must decide whether to be tested for the gene that causes Huntington’s disease, a debilitating neurological disorder. 
These days, patients who face hereditary risks like these are more likely to [...]

We need to have a candid debate about health care in 2008, but the odds are against it. The fact that covering the 47 million uninsured already looms as the centerpiece of this debate is a warning sign that it won’t be serious. We’re told that the uninsured are our biggest health-care problem, but they [...]

A new study warns that within three decades the Saskatchewan government will be dedicating 50 per cent of its budget on health care.
Provincial health-care spending continues to grow at an unsustainable rate and will consume more than half of all revenues in six of 10 Canadian provinces by 2035 unless changes are made, according to [...]

More than one in three doctors said they had, at some time, given a patient drugs in response to the request of hastening death, an Australian survey has shown.  The Victorian study of over 900 doctors also revealed three quarters of respondents had withheld life-sustaining treatment at a patient’s request.
Despite this, just over half, 53 [...]

Hundreds of hospice providers across the country are facing the catastrophic financial consequence of what would otherwise seem a positive development: their patients are living longer than expected.
Over the last eight years, the refusal of patients to die according to actuarial schedules has led the federal government to demand that hospices exceeding reimbursement limits repay [...]