Boston.com -- Health news

At long last, a prescription for healthy food that’s tasty

Erica Noonan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-29T02:04:35Z

NEWTON - The doctor is in . . . her kitchen. And with her new website, Dr. Deborah Chud of Chestnut Hill hopes to find her way into yours.

Knight life

Bella English, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T17:40:51Z

MARSHFIELD - The young knights are seated in high-backed chairs that circle a round table. There are replica swords, metallic tunics, and, most of all, missions to fulfill.

Nursing home clashes mar the golden years

Patricia Wen, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T05:19:11Z

For weeks last summer, 87-year-old Elizabeth DeCandia dreaded being in her bedroom in the Rosewood Nursing Home. She liked the space itself - relatively large, spanking clean, and decorated with photographs of her loving family.

When flu hits, health specialists urge passing up holiday meals

Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff — 2009-11-26T05:30:45Z

For today’s Thanksgiving feast, Emilio Ruggeri was planning to serve antipasto and soup and an array of appetizers including coconut shrimp and stuffed mushrooms before the turkey and all the trimmings. The two dozen family members filling his Canton home might be stuffed even before the turkey, he figured.

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2009-11-26T05:30:45Z

Health pushes firms’ tax up

Kay Lazar, Globe Staff — 2009-11-26T05:26:54Z

The Patrick administration intends to double a key tax on employers in an effort to save health insurance for thousands of laid-off Massachusetts workers, after a fund to help them has been virtually drained by the highest unemployment rates in three decades.

Cautious hope as H1N1 cases fall statewide

Elizabeth Cooney and Stephen Smith, Globe Correspondent | Globe Staff — 2009-11-26T05:24:27Z

The swine flu epidemic appears to be waning in Massachusetts, doctors and hospitals said yesterday, though state health officials are not yet ready to declare that the worst is over and specialists warned that the flu often comes in waves.

For mother, baby, Thanksgiving’s time to go home

John R. Ellement, Globe Staff — 2009-11-26T05:19:48Z

A Cambridge mother brought her daughter home for the first time yesterday, 141 days after she was born at a Boston hospital, where the baby weighed just 1 pound 8 ounces.

In health care debate, both sides being heard

2009-11-26T03:58:24Z

WASHINGTON - President Obama’s top aides met frequently with lobbyists and health care industry heavyweights as his administration pieced together a national health care overhaul, according to White House visitor records obtained yesterday by the Associated Press.

At last, a prescription for healthy food that tastes good

Erica Noonan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-26T02:05:45Z

NEWTON - The doctor is in . . . her kitchen. And with her new website, Dr. Deborah Chud of Chestnut Hill hopes to find her way into yours.

At last, a prescription for healthy food that tastes good

Erica Noonan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-26T01:17:08Z

NEWTON - The doctor is in . . . her kitchen. And with her new website, Dr. Deborah Chud of Chestnut Hill hopes to find her way into yours.

Hearings over tainted water begin

Kathleen Moore, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-26T01:16:58Z

The state Department of Public Utilities last week conducted the first in a series of hearings to determine who will pay the estimated $440,000 bill for last summer’s water contamination in Milford, but officials say a decision is likely to take months.

Hope (and skepticism) as man’s 23-year coma ends

Raf Casert, Associated Press — 2009-11-25T19:22:08Z

With a caretaker holding his hand, a Belgian man who was diagnosed as comatose for 23 years typed out a message yesterday that he felt reborn after decades of loneliness and frustration.

Caring for the elderly

Lewis A. Lipsitz — 2009-11-25T06:49:12Z

It’s ironic that at a time when thousands of Americans are struggling to find appropriate care for their failing parents, the field of geriatric medicine appears to be vanishing.

Cancer screening advice raises ration fears

Rob Stein, Washington Post — 2009-11-23T05:44:14Z

WASHINGTON - President Obama’s vision for making health care in America more effective and efficient collided last week with the realities of the nation’s medical system and fears that broad administrative changes would lead to rationing of care.

Text reminders increase sunscreen use

2009-11-23T01:49:44Z

Text messaging is a great way to alert someone to a changed meeting, traffic jam, or the score of a baseball game. Why not use texts for health alerts as well?

Why does eating quickly seem to lead to weight gain?

Bina Venkataraman — 2009-11-23T01:48:37Z

Q. Why does eating quickly seem to lead to weight gain, and what can you do to help yourself slow down?

Is there any way to predict the onset of schizophrenia?

Judy Foreman — 2009-11-16T02:38:45Z

Q. Is there any way to predict the onset of schizophrenia? A. There may be a way of predicting which teenagers at high risk for full-blown schizophrenia will go on to develop the disease.

Does swearing relieve pain?

Judy Foreman — 2009-11-09T02:33:20Z

Q. Does swearing relieve pain? A. Holy @//!#!, does it ever! Or so concludes a British study published recently in the journal NeuroReport.

Is there a link between heart disease and gum disease?

Judy Foreman — 2009-11-02T02:33:26Z

Q. Is there a link between heart disease and gum disease? A. There is growing evidence that there is, indeed, such a link, and if you have either condition, you should pay extra attention to treating the other as well. That’s the conclusion of a “consensus’’ statement written by leading gum disease specialists and cardiologists published online earlier this year ...

Are the elite academic hospitals always a patient's best choice?

Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff — 2008-12-28T05:00:00Z

Dr. Donald M. Berwick may be the most influential figure in a global movement to improve the quality of healthcare. His organization enlisted 4,000 American hospitals in a campaign to dramatically drive down medical mistakes that kill tens of thousands of people a year.