In brief

Bankruptcies from medical bills in US rise by 50%: Nearly two thirds of bankruptcies in the United States in 2007 were linked to illness and medical bills. The number rose by 50% from the 2001 figure, a study in the American Journal of Medicine found (doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.04.012). More than three quarters of people were insured at the start of the bankrupting illness, the study says.

Number of specialist doctors in Iraq falls: A study of doctors who left 12 tertiary hospitals in Iraq shows that the number of specialists in the hospitals fell from 1243 in …