Buenos Aires, Argentina – 19th October, 2017: WhatsApp use by ambulance doctors in Argentina was associated with faster treatment of heart attack and lower mortality in an observational study presented today at the Argentine Congress of Cardiology (SAC 2017). The free messaging application was used to send diagnostic electrocardiograms (ECGs) directly to hospital catheterisation (cath) laboratories, enabling patients to bypass the emergency department.

Hampshire, UK – 23rd October, 2017: A boy who suffered brain damage as a baby due to hospital failures has been awarded £16.5m in damages.

Midwifery staff failed to recognise neonatal hypoglycaemia, leaving him with neurological injuries including epilepsy, visual and mobility problems and learning difficulties.

Quebec, Canada – 21st October, 2017: The complaints commissioner at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) has ruled that an incident where a 33-centimetre metal plate was left in the abdomen of a cancer patient was not caused by negligence on the part of staff.

Commissioner Geneviève Frenette wrote in her report that "it seems that no negligence was involved in the event, but rather that it was a failure of procedure." As a result, the hospital is pledging to update its procedures during surgery.

Trinidad – 18th October, 2017: A 50-year-old woman who went to the Arouca Health Centre on Monday seeking medical treatment for an intense back pain alleges she was forced to seek further medical treatment for injuries she sustained when she was allegedly cuffed in the head and slammed against a wall by a medical doctor. However, the North Central Regional Health Authority is claiming it was she who attacked the doctor.