Thousands of critically ill or unconscious patients have been enrolled without their consent in clinical trials to test treatments in New Zealand hospitals.

St John is failing to get to emergency callouts in Auckland and some rural areas inside the time limits set for it, according to an internal report aimed at improving its service.

Three patients lost their lives after St John's life-saving defibrillators failed in a blunder linked to the ambulance service's poor record keeping.

Working at the hospice reminds you of what life is about - being with the people you love and who love you the most.

In an election year, it can be easy for the big issues, such as health, to become just political footballs, writes Ian McPherson.

PM John Key says leaving some synthetic drugs on the market was “a mistake” and Government should have banned all products until a rigorous testing regime was in place.

New Zealanders whose lives have been blighted by the dangers of legal highs are thrilled by plans to pull them from sale within a fortnight.

A nurse bequeathed $315,000 by an elderly couple who she cared for has been cleared of unethical behaviour by the health watchdog.

Labour will roll out a nationwide bowel cancer screening programme within three years if it is elected, leader David Cunliffe announced this afternoon.

A rural doctor has been found guilty of professional misconduct for giving women drugs to induce abortions.

Many Kiwi couples trying to conceive are ignorant of the risks to their fertility through delayed childbearing, smoking, alcohol and being overweight, research shows.

Family and friends commented on what beautiful skin Elliott Gulliver had when she was born - unaware of the jaundice her olive skin was masking.

The father of a young Auckland mother who died in hospital two days after complaining of a sore arm says staff failed to tell him how serious her condition was.

A St John Ambulance call log shows the service received only one call from a woman stung dozens of times by wasps after claims she she tried calling 111 numerous times.

Poor old bowel cancer has struggled to grab headlines for many years, write Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons.

Jason Tamaiti Kihi Phillips admits he was one of those guys who was too shy to ask for medical help until it was nearly too late.

Shayle Pilcher admits to having slept in the same bed with at least one of her babies - by accident and through sheer exhaustion.

Public health authorities are working to prevent a measles outbreak after 19 students from an Auckland high school contracted the disease.

Any weakening in the New Zealand dollar would provide the "cream on top" for medical device exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

Report exposing flaws in Counties Manukau maternity care prompts Govt call for action.

Auckland's public health authority fears a highly infectious measles virus may be starting to spread in the city independently of imported cases of the disease.

Extra nurses and doctors were on duty to help shift vulnerable newborn babies as part of a major relocation of services at Middlemore Hospital.

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.