November 19th 5:15 pm ET

Health

Teen lives 4 months with no heart, leaves hospital
D'Zhana Simmons says she felt like a "fake person" for 118 days when she had no heart beating in her chest. "But I know that I really was here," the 14-year-old said, "and I did live without a heart."

Insurers make pitch for health coverage mandate
The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions — but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage.

Surgeon who did first US heart transplant dies

In this photo released by L.VAD Technology Inc., Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz is shown in New York in 1968. Dr. Kantrowitz, who performed the first human heart transplant in the United States in 1967 also pioneered development of mechanical devices to prolong the life of patients with heart failure, died in Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday, Nov. 14, 2008. He was 90. (AP Photo/L.VAD Technology Inc.)

Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, a cardiac surgeon who performed the nation's first human heart transplant and who also developed lifesaving medical implants, has died. He was 90. Kantrowitz died Friday in Ann Arbor of complications from heart failure, said his wife, Jean Kantrowitz.

Doctors transplant windpipe with stem cells
Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs. "This technique has great promise," said Dr. Eric Genden, who did a similar transplant in 2005 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. That operation used both donor and recipient tissue. Only a handful of windpipe, or trachea, transplants have ever been done.

Ginkgo fails to prevent Alzheimer's in large study
The dietary supplement ginkgo, long promoted as an aid to memory, didn't help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the longest and largest test of the extract in older Americans. "We don't think it has a future as a powerful anti-dementia drug," said Dr. Steven DeKosky of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who led the federally funded study.

Panel urges revised warning on facial filler risks
Cosmetic surgery patients who think facial fillers are a magical antidote to aging must be better informed of possible risks, government health advisers said Tuesday.

Family history can trump breast cancer gene test
If breast cancer runs in the family, women can be at high risk even if they test free of the disease's most common gene mutations, sobering new research shows. The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are linked with particularly aggressive hereditary breast cancer, and an increased risk of ovarian cancer, too.

Doctors hoping for new era of artificial ankles
What was left of Dan Sivia's ankle simply didn't work. He limped through his 30s by sheer force of will, one foot almost completely immobile from repeated broken bones and surgeries. Then a doctor offered his last hope: An ankle replacement. A what? Sivia knew about hip, knee, even shoulder replacements. But ankles?

W. Virginia town shrugs at poorest health ranking
As a portly woman plodded ahead of him on the sidewalk, the obese mayor of America's fattest and unhealthiest city explained why health is not a big local issue.

Burlington, Vt., is healthiest city, CDC says
What's the healthiest city in America? It appears to be Burlington, Vt.