Our roundup of the health news headlines on Tuesday 10 January.
NHS staff will have to get nosier. The Guardian reports that the Government plans to make it obligatory for doctors and nurses to ask patients about their unhealthy lifestyles, as Pulse revealed last week. However, the BMA points out that dealing with lifestyle issues is already a crucial part of a GP's work.
Nurses, have your needles at the ready. Days after Prime Minister David Cameron questioned nurses' compassion, it is the NHS Future Forum's turn to criticise the profession, suggesting that many nurses do not understand the values of the NHS. Christie Watson, nurse and writer, hits back in the Guardian, arguing that the real villain is understaffing: ‘It is not nurses who are failing patients, but the Government'.
But don't get too sad about it - you can die from a broken heart, a study by researchers at Harvard Medical School reveals. It found that mourners are 21 times more likely to suffer a heart attack due to stress, lack of sleep and forgetting to take medication. And aspirin won't help, say researchers at St George's, University of London. According to the study, which made the news in several papers, the risk of bleedingoutweighs the benefits of reducing heart attacks and strokes.
