Man Survives 'Alien' Tumor: Health Journalism at its Finest

Here's the latest in health and health journalism news from Reporting on Health.

Cancer: You know you want to click on this story from Chico, Calif.: "Man Survives Huge ‘Alien' Tumor." We won't judge you.

Obesity: The FDA approves wider use of Allergan's Lap-Band in bariatric surgery for obese patients, leading to patient safety concerns, P.J. Huffstutter and Andrew Zajac report for the Los Angeles Times. Our Antidote blogger William Heisel examines Allergan's role in irresponsible marketing of the Lap-Band.

Immigrant Health: New research suggests a surprising reason that immigrants tend to live longer than native-born people in wealthy countries: they smoke less, reports Bryan Walsh for Time's Healthland blog.

Medicaid: Texas and other states are pressing federal health officials for Medicaid "waivers" that would allow them more flexibility in administering the government-paid health coverage plan for the poor, with uncertain and potentially troubling results, Emily Ramshaw and Marilyn Werber Serafini report for Kaiser Health News/New York Times.

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Photo credit: Natalie Woo via Flickr