Deadline for Medicare drug plan looms

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Operators are standing by to help the estimated 5 million eligible Americans who have not enrolled in Medicare's prescription drug benefit program, the Health and Human Services secretary said Sunday.

Separated girls start first day apart

ROCHESTER, Minnesota (AP) -- For the parents of conjoined twins Abbigail and Isabelle Carlsen, placing their baby daughters on an operating table was one of the hardest moments.

Survey: Scissors used as floss in UK

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- More than 60 percent of Britons use items such as screwdrivers, scissors and earrings to remove food from between their teeth, according to a survey published on Friday.

Suicide warning issued for young Paxil users

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The antidepressant Paxil may raise the risk of suicidal behavior in young adults, GlaxoSmithKline and the Food and Drug Administration warned Friday in a letter to doctors.

More veterans may need extra help for post-combat stress

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Less than one-quarter of the U.S. military's Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who show signs of post-traumatic stress are referred for additional mental health treatment or evaluation, a government study finds.

Doctors attempting to separate conjoined girls

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- Abbigail and Isabelle Carlsen have never been more than inches apart.

Angry debate over right-to-die law

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A controversial bill to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives was condemned in the House of Lords on Friday as "morally indefensible."

No agreement on role of RU-486 in fatalities

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Scientists disagreed Thursday over whether the abortion pill RU-486 played any role in the deaths of four California women who died from a rare bacterial infection.

How to ration vaccine in a flu pandemic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Who should get the first flu vaccine during a worldwide outbreak -- the 60-year-old grandmother with a weak heart and lungs or the healthy 4-year-old with decades ahead of her?

Study: Heart deaths would plunge without passive smoking

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Eliminating exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke could reduce the number of deaths related to heart disease in the United States by more than 500,000 over the next 25 years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

Anti-smoking pill receives federal approval

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Pfizer drug shown to help more than one in five smokers quit the habit received federal approval on Thursday, adding another option to the limited pool of effective stop-smoking prescription medicines.

Rare germ killed more than RU-486 users

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A rare germ that killed four California women who took the abortion pill RU-486 has been implicated in the deaths of even more women after childbirth or miscarriage, broadening the debate beyond abortion on the eve of a meeting to examine the bacterial mystery.

Texas teen fights for life after rabid bat bite

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- A Texas teenager bitten by a bat while he slept in his Houston-area home was in critical condition with rabies in a local hospital Wednesday, health officials said.

Wheat or white? Now you don't have to choose

(AP) -- Whole wheat is looking a whole lot less wheaty these days.

States address fears from bird flu TV movie

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- As a TV movie about a fierce bird flu outbreak aired, callers to a North Carolina consumer hot line had questions ranging from how they could protect their families to whether they could eat chicken.

FDA rejects health claim for green tea

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There is no credible scientific evidence that drinking green tea reduces the risk of heart disease, federal regulators said Tuesday in rejecting a petition that sought to allow tea labels to make that claim.

'It's life and death every day'

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "Don't let me die! Please, don't let me die," the U.S. soldier said repeatedly as medics carried him to the trauma room.

CDC: Most infected lens wearers used same cleaner

ROCHESTER, New York (AP) -- Nearly two-thirds of contact-lens wearers who contracted a potentially blinding fungal eye infection reported using Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s newest lens cleaner, health authorities said Tuesday.

Bush rejects extension of Medicare drug deadline

SUN CITY CENTER, Florida (AP) -- President Bush has heard pleas for an extension of the deadline to sign up for new Medicare drug coverage from lawmakers, seniors advocacy groups and finally two women in his audience Tuesday. He's rejected them all.

Senate opens drive to expand health insurance coverage

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers could get a cheaper alternative when it comes to health insurance for their workers, under provisions of legislation that advanced Tuesday in the Senate.