Health reporter for Stuff.co.nz and the Sunday Star-Times.
Each year thousands of New Zealanders give part of themselves away for nothing in return. In Stuff's five-part series, Hannah Martin spoke to those who give and receive everything from organs to sperm about the lifesaving and life-changing effects of their actions.
Each year thousands of anonymous, everyday New Zealanders give part of themselves away for nothing in return. In Stuff's five-part series, Hannah Martin spoke to those who give and receive everything from organs to sperm about the lifesaving and life-changing effects of their actions.
"My heart was pumping all my blood into my chest...I died on the table," recounts Bill Dickason, whose heart stopped twice after routine surgery went catastrophically wrong last year. Laying on an operating table in Auckland City Hospital, his chest yanked open and pooling with blood, it could have been the end for the 62-year-old.
Each year thousands of New Zealanders give part of themselves away for nothing in return. In Stuff's five-part series, Hannah Martin spoke to those who give and receive everything from organs to sperm about the lifesaving and life-changing effects of their actions.
Each year thousands New Zealanders give part of themselves away for nothing in return. In Stuff's five-part series, Hannah Martin spoke to those who give and receive everything from organs to sperm about the lifesaving and life-changing effects of their actions. Tucked away in a laboratory overlooking Auckland Domain is an inconspicuous chest freezer, containing hundreds of human brains.
Bowel cancer patients living in Auckland are more than twice as likely to survive surgery than those living elsewhere in New Zealand. It's an "unacceptable" finding - one which has prompted Bowel Cancer New Zealand to call for an urgent investigation into the "wide variation" in mortality rates across the country.
Thousands of Aucklanders have had hospital appointments and operations put off as a result of the ongoing doctors' strikes. Figures released to Stuff under the Official Information Act show that during the first strike alone, January 15 to 17, more than 1000 appointments had to be delayed across Auckland's three district health boards.
A common fertility treatment has been shown to have "no benefit at all" and researchers want IVF clinics to stop offering it. Endometrial scratching is among a number of IVF "add-ons" offered in the hope of boosting success rates.
A breast cancer drug known to extend life for up to eight months has languished for more than 10 years on Pharmac's waiting list. It is one of nearly 100 drugs which have been positively recommended for funding but remain stuck behind red-tape, some up to 11 years.
Clinics and pharmacists are prescribing the morning-after pill to women, too embarrassed to warn them it is unlikely to work for any woman of above-average weight. In May last year, Terrie Caldow, 33, had no idea her weight would mean the emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) would not prevent an unwanted pregnancy when she went to a sexual health clinic in Tauranga.
Alcohol health warning labels on bottles and cans could help people drink less, though many New Zealanders remain "delusional" about how bad their drinking is, according to the world's largest annual study into recreational drug use.
More than 30 people developed bowel cancer after missing check-ups due to a botch up in a free bowel screening pilot programme, the Ministry of Health has revealed. The Ministry announced on Tuesday that "many more people than first thought" didn't receive invitations for free bowel screening during the pilot programme.
One of the country's largest district health boards is under "close scrutiny" following revelations it is in financial strife. Counties Manukau Health chairman Lester Levy said he was "very, very worried" about the "difficult and challenging near-term financial future" the organisation faced.
A new bottle-feeding campaign argues that health authorities' exclusive breastfeeding regulations are harming some babies. Is it scaremongering that unnecessarily undermines years of public health education - or is it true that "fed is best"? When Chelsea Martin's twins were born three weeks early the "pressure was on" for them to gain weight.
When New Zealand's first national election was held in 1853 only British men over the age of 21, who had at least £50 worth of land to their name and were not serving a criminal sentence, were eligible to vote. The Māori electorates were established 14 years later, ensuring Māori could vote, while women waited four decades for suffrage.
After losing several family members to cancer, Freeman Apou was inspired to pursue a career in oncology. But the medical student's dream of being able to treat those struck down by the disease hangs in the balance after he reached the lifetime student loan borrowing limit.
Australia will deport a convicted criminal to New Zealand who has never set foot on our shores. It comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last month Australia should only be deporting New Zealand-born criminals who still have genuine links to New Zealand.
A Pukekohe High School student says she was rejected from a university after the school failed to submit her NCEA results on time. A number of Year 13 students had to resubmit an internal assessment but they say the school did not upload their credits in time - the result was they were officially recorded as not having passed Level 3 or gaining University Entrance (UE).
Parents of preschool children will soon be able to assess their mental health with a new app being developed by psychologists. University of Auckland Professor Sally Merry is leading the development of an app which aims to be a a "Fitbit for mental health" for young children, called 'Super kids'.
"Overworked, undervalued and underpaid" nurses are making their frustrations heard at a rally at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital. The first New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) Rally for Health kicked off at 6.30am on Tuesday - with a second rally scheduled for 2pm. The rain wasn't dampening nurses' spirits as close to a hundred people turned out in support, waving placards.
Young people are suffering in silence as New Zealand schools fail to support students' mental health. Only 11 of 68 schools evaluated by the Education Review Office were found to be "well-placed" to promote and respond to student wellbeing. A national report on the Prime Minister's Youth Mental Health Project (YMHP) indicated schools varied in how well they could support students.
Elderly people are visiting doctors' practices not for illnesses or injuries, but because they are lonely. A United Kingdom study, the Campaign to End Loneliness, shows one in 10 visits by older people to their GP are motivated by loneliness rather than physical malady.
A mother's successful appeal against a decision to pay her part-time for the full-time care of her disabled son has shown the system needs to change, the Disability Rights Commissioner says. Auckland woman Diane Moody, 76, is a caregiver for her 51-year-old son, Shane Chamberlain.
Christmas means different things to all of us. For one family, their first Christmas in New Zealand is also their first Christmas ever, and the celebration comes after years in limbo. Mohamed Kassim bin Noor Ahmad arrived in New Zealand seven months ago with his wife and two young children - 21-years after fleeing persecution in his home country of Myanmar.
The death of Auckland woman Heather Bills was no accident, the chief coroner has confirmed - but her death largely remains a mystery. Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall released her findings into the death on Friday following an inquest in September.
Jess Spence hurried in from the rain having just finished yoga class. Looking at her, you wouldn't guess that the 32-year-old's body is riddled with incurable cancerous tumours. Spence has neuroendocrine (NET) cancer, and her best option for treatment is not available in New Zealand.
Auckland mum Becky Ogilvie knew something was wrong when her son was experiencing excruciating pain, vomiting, had a rash and was unable to walk. Mike Ogilvie, 8, from Clevedon, was a healthy and active little boy until he got into a bicycle accident last June and was left with an internal injury in his leg.
Haley McLaughlin had just three hours to pack up her family's lives in Hamilton when their 3-year-old son Hamish was rushed to Starship Hospital. What they thought would be a two-week hospital stay, turned in to six months. Hamish is fighting a brave battle against a "one-of-a-kind" form of acute myeloid leukaemia.
A police witness said the mock arrest of a 17-year-old to scare him off having sex with his underage girlfriend was "inappropriate" and "poor practice". Inspector Hurimoana Dennis and Sergeant Vaughan Perry are on trial in the High Court at Auckland before a jury and Justice Edwin Wylie for allegedly kidnapping a teenager.
New Zealand has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, and Kiwis are dying early because of it.
Only a small percentage of the country's homeless community are sleeping rough by choice. Why are so many people out on the streets? Hannah Martin reports.
Women in New Zealand are waiting later to have children, but at what cost? Hannah Martin reports.
Te Waha Nui
One in every 15,000 Kiwis suffers from an incurable and untreatable condition, which gets only one day of awareness ‘exposure’ each year
The transgender community is calling for more gender neutral bathrooms in public places
The waiting list for young mothers wanting to continue education is growing