24th May, UK: Leaving hospital after prostate cancer surgery, Frank Hibbard and his family felt a sense of relief that the worst was behind him. Frank, then 56, had been told the operation should rid him of the cancer, which was contained within the prostate gland.

The shock of his diagnosis was replaced by a sense of optimism that Frank, a long distance lorry driver, could enjoy many healthy years ahead with his wife Christine and their three children.

23rd May, Northern Ireland: An eight-year-old girl from County Antrim who was left profoundly disabled after being starved of oxygen at birth is to receive £5.3m.

The settlement was reached in a compensation claim against the Northern Health and Social Care Trust. The child, who cannot be identified, suffered hypoxia due to a delay in her delivery at Antrim Area Hospital in 2007.

18th May, Beijing – China: Wang Jun, a doctor in a hospital in southern China, was busy with a line of patients on Wednesday when, after a blow to his skull, he became the latest fatality in a plague of violence afflicting the country’s hospitals.

Dr. Wang’s assailants appeared to be family members of at least one patient waiting to be treated by him and his colleagues, news reports said.

14th May, Sydney – Australia: Randwick rugby club's doctor is being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars by a patient who will suffer lifelong disabilities after he was misdiagnosed as having a panic attack when he was in fact having a major heart attack.

Paul Raftos, a GP at Maroubra, in Sydney's east, sent Steven Iacovone home with a script for the anti-anxiety medication Xanax after the then 35-year-old patient visited his surgery complaining of chest pains on June 7, 2010. About two hours later, Mr Iacovone suffered a very serious heart attack resulting in cardiac arrest and hypoxic brain damage. His heart stopped beating for at least eight minutes and he remained in an induced coma for about 10 days.

13th May, Los Angeles – US: Melissa Rivers has settled her medical malpractice lawsuit with her mother Joan Rivers New York City medical clinic. Last year, the TV personality sued Yorkville Endoscopy, where Joan went into cardiac arrest in 2014, and several employees there, claiming negligence.

Melissa sought unspecified damages and said she sued to ensure that nobody else will ever experience what happened to her mother, reported ABC News. "In accepting this settlement, I am able to put the legal aspects of my mother’s death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation," she said.

7th May, China: A doctor who was attacked by a patient he had treated more than 20 years ago was still in critical condition after eight hours of treatment on Friday afternoon.

According to the Guangdong General Hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, the hospital is organizing senior experts and doctors to help save Chen Zhongwei, who is in the intensive care unit for further medical observation and treatment after surgery.